We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2014-2015 application season. Here is their analysis for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan).

The MIT Sloan School of Management bucks conventionality this admissions season and has added to the word count for its application essays—moving from a maximum of 1,000 words to 1,250. The school’s first essay question remains the same as last year’s, but its second essay prompt presents an interesting challenge in that the admissions committee asks you to do exactly what it does not want you to do in reality: write your own recommendation letter. At least in this case, the school is allowing you to do so in the light of day. Thankfully, perhaps, Sloan has dropped its befuddling optional essay, which had invited applicants to share any additional information in any format. Candidates will be content to see clearer directives in the program’s essay questions. As always, our analysis follows…

Essay 1:  The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. Discuss how you will contribute toward advancing the mission based on examples from your past work and activities. (500 words or fewer)
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Good news for MBA hopefuls: A couple of recent stories indicate things are picking up at career offices, particularly if you’re interested in clean energy.

Last week we pointed to a Business Week piece about increased interest in European MBA programs. Now the mag tells us recruiting is also picking up at the continent’s top b-schools. Renewable energy companies are recruiting aggressively, along with biotech, public administration, and nonprofits, says the director of INSEAD’s career office. That fits with the news from the senior director of Sloan’s career office, who recently told the Journal she’s seeing a lot of action in consumer products companies, including clean tech and medical devices. The hiring process still isn’t easy, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel! If that’s too far in the future for you to worry about right now, rest assured that students are seeing more summer internship opportunities too.