Soo's Diary

How to Write an MBA Admissions Essay

Be clear about your career goals and how business school can help you achieve them.
But most of all be yourself (By Francesca Di Meglio)

The admissions committees at top business schools want to meet the real you, the man or woman behind your GMAT scores, transcripts, and resume. They want to know who you are now - what motivates you, what sets you apart from others, and who you'd like to become - what career goals you have and how you'd like to achieve them. Revealing your inner self, your hopes and dreams, is the purpose of the business school application essays. "The essays are windows into who you are as a person, your heart," says Stacy Blackman, president of Stacy Blackman Consulting in Los Angeles. Your No. 1 priority is to communicate just how much your entrance into this business school means to you, and what you bring to the table.

Before you even think about writing your essays, you should take time for serious self-reflection by focusing on your strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations. Try to look at yourself objectively and contemplate what you'd be bringing to a business school and where B-school might help you improve. Also, reflect on the career you'd like to create for yourself after the MBA and how you could realistically achieve such goals. Finally, you must thoroughly research the schools, their programs and courses, and the campus culture.

After you have scratched all the above tasks off your to-do list, then you can start writing your application essays. Without getting hung up on what you think the admissions committees want to read, you should try to make your essays lively and fresh.

Whatever you do, don't get into "term-paper mode", warns Paul Bodine, senior editor at Accepted.com, an admissions consulting firm, and author of Great Application Essays for Business Schools (McGraw-Hill, November 2005). "Make it about self-discovery," he adds. "Make it fun." Keep in mind that the committee members read thousands of responses to the same questions as they consider applications, so you don't want to bore them. Using anecdotes, including vivid details, and avoiding spelling and grammar mistakes that could distract the reader are key.

GET REAL

One of the biggest mistakes applicants make, say admissions consultants, is failing to do what is asked of them. "The answer to the question being posed should be in every single essay," says Linda Abraham, president of Accepted.com. "It's not always there, and that's bad news." Having someone proofread your essays and then guess the original question is one way to stay on task, says Shelley Burt, director of graduate management enrollment at the Carroll School of Management (Carroll Full-Time MBA Profile) at Boston College.

Keeping it real is the golden rule of application essay writing. "You need to approach the essays with a certain level of integrity and sincerity," says Abraham. "What the adcomm wants to do is learn about the applicant, so if you try to hide yourself, then on some level you're failing." Abraham adds that you must recognize yourself in your work and that you must be the one to write the essays, even if others look them over for you or give you advice on how to improve them.

MAP YOUR CAREER GOALS

Sending the right messages about your candidacy throughout the application is imperative, and the essays are your chance to make certain points stick. For starters, you have to express your career goals and how you hope to achieve them. Many programs have a specific essay question that asks outright about your plans. One interesting way to approach the question in an essay, suggests Abraham, is to write about a typical day in your life as you imagine it to be five years down the road.

If you decide to try to do this, adds Abraham, you must be clear about the path you plan to take, the duties you'll be carrying out, and where you'll be working.

Simply saying you'd like to be a consultant is not enough. That is fine as a short-term goal, but it's not specific enough, say admissions consultants. You have to explain how your experience up to that point, combined with what this business school's program offers, can help you achieve both short- and long-term goals. Bodine says you might even go through the course catalog to see which classes might help you and mention their titles in the essays.

Make no mistake about it: Explaining your career goals in a thoughtful and detailed manner could be the difference between getting accepted and rejected. Increasingly, business school applications are being evaluated by career services looking for evidence of employability at graduation. "Schools are looking at the essays to determine if they can help the student achieve his goals, not just educational but professional as well," says Burt. In fact, the director of Career Strategy at the Carroll School sits on the admissions committee and scans the essays to determine if the school would be able to help the applicant succeed.

WHY THIS BUSINESS SCHOOL?

In tandem with your career goals, you must demonstrate your knowledge of the school and how you will fit into its distinct culture. Linking your personality traits with the culture of the school - noting that you led your college's comedy troupe and that you'd like to participate in this B-school's annual follies show, for example - is one way to prove that you're a good match.

Another way to show you would fit in well is by visiting campus and mentioning what you encountered there and why that appealed to you. "Share conversations you've had with members of the community," suggests Burt. The point is to show that you have an understanding of what your life would be like at this particular business school and that you'd be successful and happy on campus.

PROVE YOU CAN RULE THE WORLD

Leadership gets a lot of lip service in business school circles, and it's an important part of your application. But it's hard to define. Blackman suggests you think of it as an overriding term for 50 or so characteristics - from a good work ethic to an ability to motivate teammates. Once you start to look at leadership from that perspective, you can go through the list of characteristics that you come up with and choose the five that play to your strengths. Then, you can trumpet those in your application essays.

Repeating leadership-related buzz words is not the right road to take. If you'd like to demonstrate that you know how to mentor others, you might describe the bond you developed with the elementary school student you volunteered to tutor in math, and how you taught him to budget his allowance so that he could later afford a video game he really wanted.

FLAUNT YOUR PERSONALITY

Letting down your guard is a must. "Show unique characteristics," says Burt. "Show a little personality." Demonstrating how you're different from the competition is necessary, says Bodine. For example, if you grew up in Borneo in a large family, you could bring those experiences and your culture into an essay, says Bodine. Another candidate might have an unusual hobby or work experience. "You can always come up with five things that set you apart," says Bodine. Including your personality in your essays also will help members of the admissions committee see how you can play a role in creating diversity in the class that they are assembling.

COMMUNICATE WELL

Your pen - rather your keyboard - holds your destiny. Ultimately, the essays are the best way for schools to determine if you are a capable communicator, an attribute every leader must always strive to improve. Aside from demonstrating that you have the basics of writing nailed down - from proper grammar to organized structure - you should also personalize your writing for the school to which you are applying. "Students who write essays that can be repurposed at other programs are a red flag to us," says Burt.

Staying on track is also important. "Don't ever write about someone else," says Blackman. "Keep the focus on you, even if the question is, 'With whom would you like to go to lunch?'" Your message should be that this school is the place for you to gain the tools necessary to fulfill your dreams - and that you'll reciprocate the favor by contributing to the community in your own unique way. To make this point, write what you have to write concisely but with verve.

Di Meglio is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Fort Lee, N.J. 

GMAT Math를 준비하는 다양한 방식이 있겠지만, 처음 접하시는 분이라면 아래 방법을 권해드립니다.

700점 이상의 고득점을 노리는 Gmatter라면 Math를 최소 49점 이상 받아야 하고, (Verbal 35점 기준)

49점~51점 사이의 1점 차이는, 총점에 10~20점의 영향을 미치므로 실수를 최소화하는 게 중요합니다.

1. 문제 유형 및 기본 개념 익히기

GMAT Math에 나오는 개념들은 대부분이 우리나라 중학교 수학 정도의 수준입니다.

다만, 1) 영어로 표현되어 있다는 점, 2) Data Sufficiency(이하 D/S)라는 생소한 유형이 있다는 점에서

처음 GMAT Math를 접하는 분들은(특히 인문대 출신이라면) 꽤 어려움을 겪곤 합니다.

따라서, 1) GMAT Math에 나오는 기본 개념 및 용어를 습득하고, 2) D/S의 개념을 이해하는 것이

GMAT Math 공부의 첫걸음이자, 절반 이상이라고 할 수 있습니다.

1) GMAT Math에 나오는 기본 개념 및 용어 익히기

가장 먼저 봐야할 자료는 GMAC에서 출판한 Prep CD에 들어있는 Math 용어 및 문제 유형 설명입니다.

대부분의 수학용어들(지름, 반지름, 빗변의 길이, 거듭제곱, 십자리수, 소수 등등)이 제시되어 있고,

유형별로 대표적인 문제들과 풀이과정이 소개되어 있는 자료이므로 꼭 보는 것이 좋습니다.

(Prep CD가 없는 분은 [URL 삭제했음]에서 Math Review 부분만 다운받으세요.)

개념에 자신이 없는 분들은, 선택적으로, Math 개념들을 정리해 놓은 교재를 보는 것도 좋습니다.

국내 중학교 수학 교재 등을 찾아보는 것은 다소 광범위하고 겹치지 않는 부분도 있기 때문에,

가급적이면 원서로 설명된 교재를 보는 것이 좋고, 정 이해가 안되는 부분은 게시판 등에서 물어보셔야 합니다.

(원서 교재 추천: [URL 삭제했음]) 

2) D/S 개념 익히기

D/S라는 독특한 유형의 문제들을 공부하는 과정에서, 많은 분들이 정답을 고르는 데 혼동을 겪습니다.

D/S의 경우 정답 고르는 논리를 헷갈리면 상당수의 문제에서 실수가 가능하므로 주의해서 이해하셔야 합니다.

D/S의 개념을 아직 정확히 못잡은 것 같다면 [URL 삭제했음]를 참조하세요.

2. 수준별 추천 학습 방법

GMAT Math에 대해 기초적인 개념을 잡았다면, 충분한 분량의 연습 문제를 풀어보시는 게 좋습니다.

개인적으로는, GWD 또는 Prep Math를 1~2 set 정도 풀어보고 수준에 따라 공부량을 정하는 것을 추천합니다.

GWD 또는 Prep Math section 틀린 문제 수에 따른 추천 학습교재 및 학습방법은 아래와 같습니다.

1) 틀린문제수 <= 4

Math에 대한 기본 실력이 충분한 편이기 때문에, O/G 12th 문제들과 GWD 5 set 정도만 연습해도 괜찮습니다.

즉, 공부 초반에 독학으로 P/S와 D/S를 각각 200문제 정도 집중적으로 풀어서 개념을 잡아놓고,

감각을 잃지 않을 정도로만 틀린 문제 위주로 리뷰하시다가, 시험 전 Prep을 2 set 정도 풀어보시면 됩니다.

2) 4 < 틀린문제수 < 10

전반적으로 Math에 대한 감은 있지만 부분부분 기억나지 않은 개념이 있거나 간헐적인 계산 실수가 있는 경우이므로,

취약한 부분의 개념을 다시 잡고, 충분한 연습을 통해 계산 실수를 없애는 방향으로 공부하시면 좋습니다.

위에서 추천한 Prep Math와 KAPLAN/Manhattan 교재를 정독하고, O/G 문제를 2회 정도 꼼꼼히 푸시길 권해드립니다.

GWD는 최소 10 set 정도를 푸시고, 자주 틀리는 유형을 별도로 정리해서 마스터하시면 좋을 듯 합니다.

학원을 다닐 필요는 없으며, 잘 모르는 문제는 주변의 이과생들이나 본 사이트 게시판을 통해 해결하세요.

시험 전에는 Prep을 2~3 set 정도 푸시고, 후기 문제를 구할 수 있다면 보시는 게 꽤 도움이 될 것입니다.

3) 10 <= 틀린문제수

명확히 이해하지 못한 Math 개념이 상당수 있고, 계산 실수 등도 빈번한 편이므로 절대적인 공부량이 요구됩니다.

먼저 위에서 추천한 Prep Math와 KAPLAN/Manhattan교재를 정독하고, O/G 문제를 2~3회 정도 꼼꼼히 푸세요.

PT 문제를 전체(9 set) 다 푸시고, GWD는 최소 20 set 이상 풀어보시는 게 좋습니다. (1500제는 선택적으로)

한 문제를 풀더라도 개념을 확실히 이해하고, 자주 틀리는 유형은 별도로 정리해서 오답노트를 만드시는 게 좋습니다.

독학에 어려움을 느끼면 학원을 다니거나 스터디 그룹에 참여해서 주위 사람들의 도움을 적극적으로 받으세요.

특히 혼자서 잘 안 풀리는 문제들은 명쾌하게 이해될 때까지 질문을 통해 해결하시는 게 중요합니다.