I feel for you. I’m in the middle of editing essays too! I feel like I’m applying to B-school all over again (and over and over and over again) with my clients.
I’ll share some tips with you…
Proofreading – you’ve read your essays over so many times that you can recite them. Well, you should. The second best way to catch typos or grammatical mistakes is to read them out loud. Of course the best way is always to have someone else read them. Pay attention to errors that your Word program is highlighting. Finally, if you’ve been using the same main essay for all schools, double-check the terminology and make sure it’s related to that school – majors, electives, center names, club names and cities.
Deadlines Times – double-check all your school deadlines on their web sites. Is the deadline time PST (Pacific Standard Time) or EST (Eastern Standard Time)? And what to do with Kellogg’s CDT deadline? Is that a trick question? We switched over from daylight time months ago! It’s best to play it safe – submit your app the morning of the deadline when their system isn’t crashing yet.
The Resume – you thought this was the easy part, but you need to read the fine print on this one. Look for application instructions and tips on the school web site or as part of the online application. Some schools just ask you to upload your resume. Wharton only wants one page, in Word. MIT wants one page but no more than 50 lines and limited to only professional accomplishments, not job descriptions. Annoying!
Remove your Edit Tracking – make sure that your final upload is a clean copy, with no edit marks. Accept All Tracking, or convert the document to a .pdf (unless they specify Word).
The Trick Question – Ah, Admissions’ favorite question to judge character… “your reason for leaving” in the employment history section. You wouldn’t believe how often applicants get snagged by this one. Overall, keep it positive! This is NOT where you say you disagreed with management, got bored, wanted more money, etc.
Well, that was my break… back to editing. Good luck to everyone!
For more insights on MBA Admissions please visit www.mbaapplicationadvisors.com
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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