How to Write Great Admissions Essays: Step 3

(This is part of a new series that we will roll out over the next several weeks, introducing our readers to our proven 10-step process for writing great admissions essays. Check back often for more MBA admissions essay tips!)

Step 3: Be Specific!
Most applicants know that they are supposed to be specific in their essays, yet the majority of writing samples are still filled with vague proclamations. Part of the reason for this disconnect is that there is some level of confusion as to what specificity means. It does not mean that you merely provide examples -- in fact, if you've ever heard the phrase "specific examples," then you know that the words mean different things (otherwise it would be redundant).

Writing with specificity means eliminating the diluted, vague statements in favor of detailed explanations. While that can often mean providing examples, sometimes being specific is as simple as expanding on an idea.

Consider the following sentence, which is typical essay fare:

"Upon conclusion of the deal, I had the opportunity to hear a diversity of opinions and enjoy the company of a variety of different types of people, from unique backgrounds."

The example sentence is the opposite of specific as it reads as vague, Inspiration 101 content. Consider a more specific alternative:

"Upon conclusion of the deal, I dined with a most unusual dinner party and bore witness to the sight of a died-in-the-wool Republican and a bleeding heart Democrat arguing their political views and opinions to a Korean businessman armed with just two days of American culture under his belt."

Granted, the second sentence burns up more precious words and while managing your word count is important, you never want to sacrifice specificity just to trim space. Lending a rich and powerful voice to trite sentiments is the surest way to keep your essay from being passed over and dismissed as standard fare.

The best way to inject specificity into your writing is to search your essay for anything that feels clichéd or "too easy." Look for buzz words that have lost their impact due to overuse and swap in the exact idea you are trying to convey. Most of all, examine your conclusions to ensure that they actually say something. If you examine the first example above, you can see that buzz words like diversity, variety, unique, and backgrounds populate the sentence, rendering it nothing more than a cliché. By articulating the message with specific details, the sentence is transformed into a rich statement on a truly memorable conclusion to a business deal.

Stay tuned for Step 4, coming soon. In the meantime, if you need help with your MBA admissions essays or personal statements immediately, give us a call at 800-925-7737 and talk to one of our admissions experts. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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Veritas Prep Gives Wall Street Journal Readers Some Tips for Thriving in Business School

Yesterday The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled "Return to the Classroom," highlighting some things that new MBA students should do to make the most of their time in business school. For the article, WSJ reporter Diana Middleton turned to our own Scott Shrum for advice on how students should organize their priorities in the hectic business school environment:

"You haven't even unpacked yet and you'll already have another calendar—school and the job search," says Scott Shrum, director of M.B.A. admissions research at Veritas Prep, a business-school admissions consulting firm in Malibu, Calif. "A lot of people tend to trip up on that."

Scott emphasized something that we experienced for ourselves when we went to grad school, and that many of our clients experience every year: Students tend to overestimate how tough the academic are, and underestimate how challenging it is juggle everything else, including the job hunt (of course) and getting involved with the seemingly hundreds of activities and new friendships that a business school student will experience.

Mr. Shrum says those who are switching careers need to take special care preparing for job interviews—which may mean spending less time on academics. "I'm not saying not to focus on your classes, but you're trying to get a lucrative job and you'll need to start prepping right out of the gate," he says. "It's nearly impossible to find someone who failed out of business school, so throw your energy into the career search."

By no means do we mean that the coursework in business school is easy -- many students find it very challenging. But, if you overcome tough odds and earn admission to a top business school, you probably have what it takes to do well in the classroom. What will probably catch you off guard is how business school is a 24/7 proposition... Classes, team meetings, socializing, company presentations, participating in clubs, doing community work, preparing for job interviews, running on-campus events... In no other environment will you be exposed to so much in such a compressed period of time!

The best thing you can do is just throw yourself into it with an open mind (and a big cup of coffee!):

Mr. Shrum warns that being an M.B.A. student can feel more time-consuming and difficult than your previous full-time job. When you aren't in class, you'll be doing group work, attending study sessions or reading on your own.

"You have to embrace the craziness, or it's going to drive you insane," Mr. Shrum says.

For more advice on getting into business school, visit veritasprep.com and take a look at our MBA admissions consulting offerings. Or, call us at (800) 925-7737 and speak with an admissions expert today!

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Fortune Asks: Why Don't More Women Get MBAs?

Last week Fortune ran an article titled "Why More Women Don't Get MBAs." The article was mainly an interview with Elissa Ellis Sangster, executive director at the Forté Foundation (a Veritas Prep partner), which didn't yield a lot of big "A ha!" insights, but did offer some interesting facts and thoughts about the continued gender gap in management education.

Interestingly, although law school are medical school classrooms now tend to hold as many women as men, women still tend to make up about 30% of a typical business school classroom (about the same percentage as twenty years ago). This statistics is especially surprising given the push that so many of the top school have made to improve their diversity, the pressure that companies have applied to those schools to produce a more diverse graduating class every year, and the work of organizations such as the Forté Foundation. If all of these important parties can't move the needle, then what's going on?

Sangster offered up four main reasons why women are still far less likely than men to pursue an MBA:

• Women are still very concerned about the challenge of balancing home life, work, and school if they go back to school;


• There still aren't many business role models after which women can pattern themselves;


• Many women doubt whether they have the quantitative and analytical skills needed to excel in a graduate business program;


• Their employers aren't eager to lose them and let them go back to school.

Since 2001 the Forté Foundation (along with other, similar programs) has done a lot for women to take some of the mystery and apprehension out of business school and the MBA admissions process. But, of course, there still seems to be a lot of work to do. Veritas Prep is proud to partner with the Forté Foundation to help achieve this goal and make the business school classroom a less foreign place for women in the workforce!

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GMAT Tip of the Week

Self-Scouting

(This is one of a series of GMAT tips that we offer on our blog.)

If you're at all like this humble blogger, you may be spending your Friday looking forward to a weekend that will include, among precious few other activities, watching copious amounts of football and spending some time on the beach reading a Ken Follett World War II spy novel (sounds pretty good, right?). What do the two have in common with each other, and with the GMAT?

Football coaches and wartime intelligence agencies have long been of the mind that extensive research on the opponent is a key attribute to success. In the spirit of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer," each group devotes resources to scouting the opponent to determine what tendencies it might favor when it comes to doing battle.

Less popular, but arguably just as important, is the notion that these groups should "self-scout," or conduct the same level of espionage on themselves as they do on the opponent. Such strategy has given rise to the "double agent," who enlists as a spy for the opposition, but does so in order to determine what the opponent will know about the original side. In this way, a military group or football team can determine weaknesses that an opponent has discovered and will attempt to exploit, and prepare to counterattack or strengthen those weaknesses.

How can you act as a double-agent in your own GMAT preparation?

Most students understand that scouting the opposition -- the GMAT -- will provide them with greater knowledge about the concepts and thought processes that they will need to succeed on the test. They study, make flash cards, take practice tests, etc., and improve their capacity to get questions correct.

Fewer students, however, conduct much self-scouting, and miss out on valuable points as a result. The GMAT is a test that exploits the mistakes that students often make (many of which have been covered in this space), so determining those weaknesses in yourself is a great way to minimize your blind spots.

To do so, track the errors that you make in homework sets and practice tests -- often just writing a few keywords such as "Data Sufficiency, forgot about 0" or "Critical Reasoning / Strengthen -- misread conclusion" -- so that you can review and see which errors come up most frequently. Simply jotting down reminders to yourself on test day ("remember zero" or "conclusion first") will help you to avoid these errors, and you'll minimize the number of points that you give back based on avoidable errors.

You may want to think of it this way -- "studying" can increase your ceiling on the exam, as the more that you know, the more questions you should be able to answer. Self-scouting, on the other hand, raises your floor. As you minimize the mistakes that you make, you drop fewer and fewer questions, and raise your score that way. As this weekend's football winners, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt can tell you, self-scouting is an essential part of your battle with a worthy opponent.

For more GMAT prep assistance, take a look at everything Veritas Prep has to offer. And, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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Focusing on Law School Job Prospects

Over the past nine months, there have been numerous indications that a job crisis was looming for law students. Firms were deferring start dates for new associates, cutting summer programs, and even introducing new apprenticeship models of initial employment. Veritas Prep has been actively following each development to the hiring landscape and has covered a variety of angles in great detail. For more information, please visit past entries regarding:

• Salary Freezes - the first indication that change was on the way


• Law School in a Recession - considerations for deciding whether to attend law school in a downturn


• Firm Job Deferrals - bad news for recent grads and an even worse sign for the direction of the job market


• Apprenticeship Programs - emergence of a new model created out of market turmoil


• Hiring Landscape - early returns on law school job prospects

However, until the fall hiring season actually rolled around, there was no way to know for sure how all of these developments would impact current law students.

Well, now the fall season is here and, according to Bloomberg.com, it's not looking good.

According to the Bloomberg article, the sting is being felt across the board, including at Harvard, which carries unique signifigance. HLS can be thought of as the castle on the hill when it comes to law school career prospects, so when the wolf is at the door of Harvard, you know the rest of the country has been overrun. According to Mark Weber, Harvard's assistant dean for career services, second and third year students have experienced a decrease of up to 20% for initial interviews, and there seems to be a legitimate fear that "callbacks" are going to be even worse. That certainly seems to be the case at another elite program (especially with regard to career placement), as NYU is already calling the reduction of callbacks "significant."

Again, if the truly elite programs are starting to panic, it does not bode well for every other law school beneath them in the pecking order. You can expect career service offices and students alike to start getting creative about the job search and you can absolutely expect admissions offices to start to think more about career prospects and plans than they ever have before. In fact, one of the things that has always made applying to law school so different from applying to business school is that JD programs have long been relatively unconcerned with career plans or prospects. However, it seems likely that we are entering a bold new world with regard to law schools admissions; one where career goals are of paramount importance. Plan accordingly.

For more information on law school admissions or for help incorporating career goals into the application, visit our website or call our offices at 1.800.925.7737. If you are interested in receiving an in-person consultation, contact us at law at veritasprep.com to find out more about these seasonal events in your area.

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The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition: We Review the Quant Section

A little while ago in this space, we published a review of our findings from the verbal section of the newly-released Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th edition. At the end of that post, we promised a similar review of the quantitative questions. If you have been patiently waiting for that installment, then an explanation is certainly in order. Why the delay: Well, quite simply, we didn't follow our own advice.

GMAT quantitative questions are quite a bit like snowflakes, in that, if you look hard enough, no two are alike; one may blend algebra with a statistics definition (solve for the variable in order to find the median of a set...), while another may involve a geometry formula used to solve for a variable. So, one might be classified as a statistics problem while the other is noted as a geometry one.

When you break them down to their essence, however, snowflakes are just pieces of somewhat-melted ice, and their practical value can be summarized relatively quickly: is it powder worth skiing, wet snow that will be difficult to shovel, or icy enough to cause traffic problems? Similarly, with GMAT problems, while you can designate each problem as unique, you'll find that the majority of questions are rooted either in arithmetic or algebra principles, tested through the lens of a problem solving or data sufficiency format.

In our attempt to comprehensively deconstruct the findings of the latest publication by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, our initial attempts broke from the more-useful "practical usage" strategy and tended toward the "unique snowflake" approach. (Note: your blogger uses collective pronouns like "we" and "our" in an attempt to spread the blame; in fact, it's his fault entirely) While comprehensive research is a noble pursuit, practical strategy is crucial on the GMAT, and a second (but not necessarily "closer") look at the 12th edition revealed some quite-useful practical points:

• The prevailing categories associated with each question tend dramatically toward Arithmetic and Algebra questions; put simply, the vast majority of questions primarily test Arithmetic and Algebra skills and knowledge.
• The most commonly-occurring "subtype" of question is Algebra - Linear Equations, followed somewhat closely by Algebra-Exponents/Roots. For your study purposes, a thorough and confident understanding of Algebra principles will be paramount.
• Furthermore, Word Problems, categorized separately from pure Algebra problems, constituted the highest tally among questions not labeled as Algebra or Arithmetic - and keep in mind that Word Problems extensively test your ability to convert descriptions of situations in to algebraic terms.
• Geometry questions comprise just over 10% of the quantitative questions in the 12th edition.

The Official Guide books display questions in ascending order of difficulty, so the books provide some insight in to the ways in which the GMAT derives its difficulty. A few findings include:

• On Data Sufficiency questions, questions that ask for a value far outnumber those that ask for a yes-or-no answer. However, the majority of yes/no questions appear in the last third of questions - presumably the most difficult third. This points to the GMAT's ability to disguise the ability of finding absolute certainty in a question, and encourages the test taker to consider his assumptions regarding the numbers in play (will a number with a different property provide a different result?)
• Probability and Statistics questions only constitute a small percentage of questions (combined, about 10%), but the majority of them appear in the most-difficult third of questions, suggesting that the GMAT derives difficulty from the presence and application of these "advanced" concepts.

Overall, our findings are consistent with the evolution of the Veritas Prep course materials and syllabus:

• With our new Math Essentials lesson, we emphasize thorough understanding of fundamental Arithmetic and Algebra concepts, which are crucial for success on a majority of GMAT problems.
• As the test has grown to feature more advanced applications of Statistics and especially Probability, we have expanded and better-featured our coverage of each discipline.
• Our addition of the Advanced Word Problems section of our final lesson is consistent with the evolution of Word Problems on the GMAT.
• The "logical certainty" emphasis of difficult Data Sufficiency problems reflects a focus on those problems as a test of logic as much as of mathematics, and logic has been a recurring theme in the Veritas Prep curriculum since its inception.

Overall, as your blogger humbly learned when initially attempting to deconstruct the 12th edition in to useful categories and recommendations, the GMAT quantitative section seeks to lull test takers in to the classic problem of "paralysis by analysis," getting you to think of each question as a challenge unique unto itself. In actuality, the GMAT tests a finite set of skills in a smaller-than-you'd-think series of standard formats. When you break down unique snowflakes, they're just water; when you break down the GMAT in to its basic composition, it becomes a much more beatable exam.

Remember: If you haven't yet purchased the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, we offer it on our site for just $10!

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How to Write Great Admissions Essays: Step 2

(This is part of a new series that we will roll out over the next several weeks, introducing our readers to our proven 10-step process for writing great admissions essays. Check back often for more MBA admissions essay tips!)

Step 2: Practice
It may sound strange to practice essay writing in the midst of an application process, but practice is the single most effective strategy to master this art form. While the old adage "practice makes perfect" may not be entirely true, there is no doubt that practice does breed comfort in word counts, themes, and structure, which is paramount to position yourself to get the most out of the process.

Consider that you will be working with your consultant on multiple versions of each essay and will be addressing critical components such as themes, content, structure, and style, as well as focusing on expressing fit with each program in question. This extensive model of evaluation is perfect for improving your writing, crystallizing your story, and polishing up your presentation. That said, your finished product will always be relative to your starting point. The Veritas Prep model of essay composition is designed to ensure that the essay remains "yours" throughout and does not become the work of the consultant. To that end, we specify the number of drafts and outline an exact process, providing guidance to maximize your candidacy without undermining the admissions process as a whole.

Think of the improvement you will make in this process as a guaranteed amount, limited only by your starting point. Put into simple terms, our experts and our methods will improve your essays by two letter grades. If you are starting with "C," we can take you to an "A" quality essay. However, if your essays are "D" quality to begin with, your likely finish line will be a "B" essay.

What does the above analysis mean for you? Try your very best to start with at least a "C," of course! The goal of creating an adequate and satisfactory starting point is the reason for this entire guide, but it is also the most compelling reason to practice writing. Before you ever send your first draft of an essay to a consultant, you should spend time examining great sample essays and practice, practice, practice.

After your initial call with your consultant, you will have ample time to develop your skills. Your consultant will be engaging in the most thorough analysis of your candidacy possible and crafting your Personalized MBA Game Plan™. During this time, you can start developing great writing habits by carving out a schedule and an ideal writing environment, as detailed above, and you can begin to turn essay-writing into second nature through practice. Immediate outcomes of practice include:

1. Improved efficiency with words and ability to adhere to designated word counts. There is no worse feeling than sitting down to write a 400-word essay, pouring your heart into a first draft, and subsequently realizing that you are over by 150 words. Practicing staying within the confines of various word counts will help you see the value in economical writing and enable you to consider ways of condensing your work so as to get more affirmative statements out of fewer words.


2. Improved clarity regarding your motivations. The more times you grapple with common essay questions and themes, the more clarity you will have when you sit down to craft responses on your actual applications. Answering the same question in multiple ways or addressing the same themes embedded in different answers is a great way to really hone in on your reasons for pursuing admission to graduate school. Getting comfortable with your motivation allows you to interject those answers into your application without resorting to contrived or forced answers.


3. Comfortable using the first-person narrative. One of the most consistent problems we see with candidates' essays is that they are not crafted as a bold and clear portrayal of the individual in question. In almost every instance, this issue stems from a discomfort with writing from a first-person, or "I" perspective. From the time we are old enough to write in complete sentences, our teachers have encouraged us to avoid using the word "I" when we write. However, the personal statement is the one time when using the word "I" is completely necessary. After all, it is your story - your case to make to the reader in question.

While many applicants are not comfortable with the usage of "I," most understand its necessity in the application essay. The main problem, then, is not an awkward avoidance of the word "I," but rather a massive proliferation of the pronoun. This syndrome is primarily due to a lack of comfort and skill with the first-person device, making practice the surefire way to gain that level of comfort. Practice does not even have to take the form of application essays -— instead, take a stab at writing a few short stories or essays that feature a first person narrative.

Write 600 words about taking a bus ride, completely from your perspective. Get comfortable with offering a genuine, first-person narrative without starting every sentence with "I." When you feel comfortable with the narrative style, you can stop worrying about counting your "I" uses and wincing at stilted phrasings, and instead focus on content and on telling a great story that encapsulates who you are as a person and an applicant and effectively articulates that message to the reader.

Stay tuned for Step 3, coming in a few days. In the meantime, if you need help with your MBA admissions essays or personal statements immediately, give us a call at 800-925-7737 and talk to one of our admissions experts. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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Last Chance to Register for QS TopMBA Connect 1-2-1 Events!

There's still time to register for QS TopMBA's Connect 1-2-1 events in North America! Not only will you get a chance to meet admissions officers from top MBA programs, but you'll also get to meet with a Veritas Prep GMAT and MBA admissions expert and get candid advice on your candidacy!

This week Veritas Prep will be at Connect 1-2-1 events in these cities:

• Washington, D.C. - September 23


• New York - September 26

More About Connect 1-2-1
Connect events provide the platform for prospective MBA candidates to meet with an exclusive alliance of top internationally accredited Business schools. They provide a unique opportunity to meet admissions representatives in person at pre-scheduled times, no waiting and no queuing - and because you have your own dedicated meeting slot - no interruptions. A Connect event provides the best opportunity to make a positive impression on admissions staff from the business schools that matter to you.

Time and space are limited, so register now for your chance to meet with admissions officers from some of the world's top business schools!

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GMAT Tip of the Week

Nothing to Worry About

(This is one of a series of GMAT tips that we offer on our blog.)

As any good street hustler knows, the key to "Three-Card Monte" or any of its variations is to show the unsuspecting victim something that seems easy enough to recognize, and then obscure it through a series of distracting motions so that the mark loses track of it, and loses his money at the same time.

Such is the case with the GMAT and the seemingly-innocent number zero. Zero is the bane of the existence of many a GMAT test-taker precisely because it is harder than you might think to follow. Is it an integer (yes), even (yes), positive (no), negative (no), prime (no), divisible by 3 (yes)? When the GMAT asks a math question, it often does so with the exact goal of getting the test-taker to forget about the number zero. Consider the following:

Is x negative?

(1) IxI = -x

Upon initial inspection, it appears that x has to be negative. The absolute value of a number either keeps a positive number positive, or strips a negative number of its negative - absolute value measures "the distance from zero", and is therefore never negative.

However, consider the number 0. Its absolute value is 0, and if you multiply it by -1 it is also 0. Therefore:

I0I = -(0)

And so zero satisfies statement (1), as well. Accordingly, zero is the lone number for which statement (1) doesn't provide a negative value, and is the only reason that the statement is insufficient.

The GMAT knows that you'll likely overlook the presence of zero - after all "zero" is "nothing", so it's easy to forget about.

If you're following the college football season, you likely remember those special players like Reggie Bush, Percy Harvin, Charles Woodson, and others who could play a variety of positions, and for whom defensive coaches needed to always be looking. (Is he at receiver? In motion out of the backfield? Lining up under center?) Similarly, on the GMAT you should always be aware of the potential impact of zero -- ask yourself whether zero has any bearing on the potential answer, because failure to account for it will often cost you.

For more GMAT prep assistance, take a look at everything Veritas Prep has to offer. And, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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New Law School Dean at Chicago

For those that follow faculty and administrative changes at top law schools like it’s a sport, you already know that the University of Chicago Law School has announced the appointment of its newest dean, Michael Schill. Dean Schill's appointment takes effect on January 1, 2010, which means that current dean Saul Levmore has a few months left on a gig that spanned over eight years.

The things we know about Schill -- that he was the dean at UCLA for five years, that he has a knack for recruiting top professors, and that he has authored a widely used casebook -- are interesting. But it's what we don't know about him that is far more fascinating.

The University of Chicago is a unique law school in many respects. It is dogmatic and relentless in pursuit of "the life of the mind," favoring intellectual rigor over practical legal study. It is steeped in law and economics, a scholarly foundation once in vogue but now viewed by many as a dinosaur in light of current financial and social changes. It avoids specialization. It prizes the Socratic Method. It shuts off Internet in the classroom. To put it simply: Chicago is not like any other top school. Not even close.

(Disclaimer: I graduated in Chicago in 2007 and loved it, both because of and in spite of the reasons above.)

So what happens when a new dean -- an outsider -- comes in and takes the wheel? When Levmore took over as dean for revered Chicago professor Douglas Baird, he did so as a fellow member of the faculty and as a "U of C guy." He was an insider who prized certain Chicago traditions and while Dean Levmore was more liberal and less libertarian than many of his peers, his dogged pursuit of "the life of the mind" was both singular and unrivaled. He took many of Chicago's unique features and not only preserved them, but actually exaggerated them.

Schill, on the other hand, seems to have a slightly different approach. His first comments on the record and the motivation behind his decision to accept the post both seem to place a premium on the Chicago Way. However, Schill built his legacy and the law school at UCLA by being very open to change and aggressively ushering his program into the 21st Century. He is known in part for creating new and exciting specializations and now he takes over at a law school that has stiff-armed the specialist approach to law.

So what will happen when Mike Schill takes over? Will his inclination for innovation and his passion for philanthropy move Chicago into a new age, one that features more specialization and a greater focus on social justice (at the expense of law and economics)? Or will the shared premium that both U of C and Schill put on "intellectual values" lead to more of the same (for better or for worse)?

It should be fascinating to see how this plays out.

For more law school admissions advice, visit veritasprep.com, or give us a call at 800-925-7737!

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How to Write Great Admissions Essays: Step 1

(This is part of a new series that we will roll out over the next several weeks, introducing our readers to our proven 10-step process for writing great admissions essays. Check back often for more MBA admissions essay tips!)

The process of executing a powerful and persuasive application essay is both an art and a science. Fortunately, you are not alone in this endeavor. In addition to being graduate admissions experts, Veritas Prep admissions consultants are also excellent writers who can help you refine your prose and style, each having used Veritas Prep's best practices and strategies for great writing for years.

We have gathered their collective wisdom over the past several months and boiled it down to ten critical steps, and will share it with you in this space over the next few weeks. By the time you have read all ten tips, you should be that much closer to a fantastic admission essay.

Step 1: Create a Writing Environment
One of the most common and easily avoidable mistakes when it comes to essay writing is one's setting —- applicants too often elect to write in the wrong place or at a bad time. What makes an environment inappropriate for writing? It could be many things, but it almost always centers around a negative impact on the author's ability to focus. Examples of contributing factors to a poor writing environment include:

• Noisy area


• Cluttered or messy workspace


• Too many distractions or opportunities to focus on other tasks


• Rushed time frame


• Writing at odd hours, particularly late at night


• Uncomfortable seating and lighting

While the problems above may sound trite and obvious, or like considerations from a bad copywriting manual, each example above is unfortunately very common. At one point or another -— out of necessity or otherwise -— you may have found yourself guilty of committing some of these writing environment sins. Working on an essay while riding the train to work, outlining your paragraphs in the student lounge, keeping one eye on your email inbox, slumped on the couch late at night in a dimly lit room... all are very realistic scenarios in which you might find yourself composing an essay. Considering the number of essays you will write and the busy lives that most graduate school applicants lead, it is not surprising to see people cramming in writing whenever they get a break in the action. As a result, you must be willing to make the commitment to your writing. If you want to write like a pro, you have to approach the task like a professional.

To create the proper writing environment, take these important steps:

• Block out time in your schedule to work on your essays. Ensure that the block of time is long enough to get significant work done, factoring in time to brainstorm as well as compose. "Writer's block" is bound to occur and you want to be able to push through any slumps before your session concludes. Additionally, adherence to a schedule is mandatory.


• Find a proper work space and use it every time you write. An easy way to create an environment conducive to focus is to sit at a desk with proper lighting and a comfortable chair. Try not to let your office or cubicle at work double as your essay writing work space; however, so long as you can disengage from the work day, writing in your office is often better than writing on the train, on the couch with your laptop propped up on your knees or amongst noisy roommates.


• Shut down your wireless connection. Nothing is more distracting than the looming temptation to check email, cnn.com, Defamer or whatever your Internet preference might be. For the duration of your essay writing session, turn off your phone, turn off your wireless connection and concentrate on the task at hand.


• Pay attention to the audio environment. Some people enjoy listening to music while others are distracted by it, or perhaps you need earplugs to drown out the sound of the TV from the other room. Discover what makes you comfortable and allows you to concentrate, and consider looking into the many available relaxation and concentration tools that are available in audio form. It’s all about getting comfortable, settled in, and focused.


• Eliminate mental clutter. There is nothing more difficult than writing while daydreaming or dwelling on problems. Your best writing will come when you are able to focus all of your attention to the task at hand—composition. Obviously, achieving total focus is easier said than done, but it can still be achieved if you eliminate tasks from your to-do list beforehand and vow never to write when you are upset or fresh off of dealing with a complicated issue.

Stay tuned for Step 2, coming in a few days. In the meantime, if you need help with your MBA admissions essays or personal statements immediately, give us a call at 800-925-7737 and talk to one of our admissions experts. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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Columbia Business School Essays and Deadlines for 2009-2010

As we round out our analysis of the top MBA program's application essays, here are Columbia Business School's application essays and deadlines for the September 2010 intake. Everything remains pretty the the same since last year, but we've put everything to make sure our readers have everything they need. Our comments follow in italics:

Columbia Business School Application Deadlines
Early Decision: October 7, 2009
Deadline for International Applicants: March 3, 2010
Deadline for U.S. Citizens & Permanent Residents: April 14, 2010

(No big changes here. These deadlines are nearly identical to last year's.)

Columbia Business School Admissions Essays

1. What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals? (750 words)
   
   (This is a fairly standard question that you no doubt have seen on other applications. Where applicants tend to go wrong most often, though, is by failing to explain why specifically Columbia is the best place for them to earn their MBA. The school's big name and proximity to Wall Street are obvious advantages, but what else does Columbia offer that you can't find anywhere else?)


2. Master Classes are the epitome of bridging the gap between theory and practice at Columbia Business School. View the link below. Please provide an example from your own life in which practical experience taught you more than theory alone. Watch the video. (500 words)
   
   (This question was new last year, but carries over unchanged this year. Columbia's emphasis on its Master Classes is clear -- the admissions committee seeks applicants who have rolled up their sleeves and made thing happen, rather than pure theorists. They'll also looking for introspection -- ideally you can illustrate what you learned, the impact it had on you, and how it made you a better business manager or leader.)


3. Please provide an example of a team failure of which you've been a part. If given a second chance, what would you do differently?
   
   (This question also carries over unchanged after being new last year. We're glad that this is a required question. Every year we talk to many clients who ask, "Are you sure I should discuss any failures in my application?" Yes, you definitely should, as long as you can show how you grew from the experience. In this way, your answer could end up overlapping with your answer to #2. So, it's best to not use a failure story for #2, and to save your failure story for this question.)

For more advice on applying to Columbia, visit Veritas Prep's Columbia Business School information page. For even more advice on applying to Columbia, download our FREE Veritas Prep Annual Reports! And, to get the most up-to-date information on Columbia and all other top business schools, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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GMAT vs. GRE: GMAC Strikes Back

After seeing ETS make some significant inroads into GMAT market share with its own GRE over the past year, GMAC is now hitting back with an article on its site that debunks ETS's GRE Comparison Tool for Business Schools.

"This GRE comparison tool is not as precise at it may appear, and using it is not as straightforward as presented. The comparison tool is about averages. Admission decisions are about individuals," argues GMAC in the article on its site.

Appropriately, GMAC turned to statistics to bolster its argument against the comparison tool:

"As a specific example, for a GRE verbal score of 660 and quantitative score of 670, the tool would predict a GMAT Total score of 650. In this case, 1 in 4 people with this predicted score would actually earn 600 or below if they were to take the GMAT exam. In addition to prediction error, there is also measurement error in both the verbal and quantitative GRE scores, so the chance that this individual would actually score something close to 650 is extremely thin."

Going further, GMAC then raises the question of whether comparing students with actual GMAT scores to those with predicted scores is fair: "To use predicted GMAT scores along with actual ones unfairly penalizes both sets of test takers, because applicants with valid GMAT scores could be displaced by applicants with predicted scores that are much too high."

Interestingly, ETS launched the GRE Comparison Tool GRE® Comparison Tool at www.ets.org/gre/comparison about a year ago, but now that web address redirects to a promotion encouraging business schools to start accepting the GRE. Maybe GMAC was able to apply enough pressure to get ETS to remove the tool? Maybe ETS decided it needs to go back to the drawing board?

While we expect that the GRE is here to stay in the graduate management education admissions business, we agree with GMAC that the GMAT is still the most proven measure of the skills an MBA applicant needs to succeed in the classroom. If you're thinking about grad degrees and general and are only somewhat interested in earning an MBA, then perhaps the GRE is the better place to start. If you're sure that a top-tier MBA is what you want, however, the GMAT is your best bet.

And, if you're ready to dig into the GMAT, start with the GMAT preparation tools and services available at Veritas Prep.

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GMAT Tip of the Week

Poise Under Pressure -- Emphasize the Process

(This is one of a series of GMAT tips that we offer on our blog.)

Many a line of work treats the autumn as its most high-stress season, with a crucial need for peak performance. High school teachers, harvest farmers, costume salesmen, Derek Jeter... for many, the September/October months almost exclusively dictate their overall success for the year. Perhaps no one feels as much pressure this season, however, as business school applicants and first-year college quarterbacks. In both cases, this season can determine how the next few years, and even beyond will play out. Accordingly, the stakes are raised, the pressure increases, and the degree-of-difficulty remains high.

How can you deal with this situation? As you prepare for four hours in a stress-filled cubicle, all by yourself, you might take a cue from an 18-year old who did the same...only his four hours were spent in a newly-renovated stadium of over 100,000 fans desperate for success. And Tate Forcier, University of Michigan quarterback, rose to the occasion:

Tate Forcier discusses his path to success

If you watched the video, you likely saw a unique level of poise and matter-of-fact confidence from an 18-year old, but the process he used is one that will undoubtedly serve you well on the GMAT.

Most striking in the Tate Forcier video is the way in which an excitable teenager describes arguably the greatest performance of his life to date -- almost emotionless, he breaks down his thought process on each play:

"The defense was showing me a cover two, so I read that my primary options would be..."

That thought process is critical in overcoming pressure -- if your mental focus is on the process, and not the circumstances, you'll direct your adrenaline toward your goal, and not allow it to alter your concentration. Much like Forcier, when your stress level rises on the GMAT, you should think:

"This question is asking me to strengthen the author's conclusion, so I need to look for the conclusion, then build from there..."

If your adrenaline is aimed elsewhere -- you don't like the subject matter, the clock is ticking too quickly, the math section seemed too easy -- you'll only waste time trying to refocus properly, and that stress will likely compound, as well. If you, instead, focus on the process on each question, the process will dictate the proper steps and provide you the proper focus, and allow you to reach your potential on the exam.

For more GMAT prep resources and advice, take a look at everything Veritas Prep has to offer, including a free practice GMAT.

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Michigan (Ross) Admissions Essays for 2009-2010

As we round out our analysis of the top business schools' admissions essays for the coming season, today we look at The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business' admissions essays. Ross's essays actually carry over completely unchanged vs. last year, and so our analysis remains pretty much the same.

When a school keeps its essays the same, that suggests that its essays are working well for the admissions office, meaning that they do a good job of helping the admissions team separate out the great applicants from the merely good ones. So, make sure you're sufficiently answering the questions they ask! That's always important advice, but in this case it's even more important (if that's even possible!).

Here are the Ross MBA admissions essays, followed by our comments in italics:

Michigan (Ross) Application Essays
Long Answers:

1. Briefly describe your short-term and long-term career goals. Why is an MBA the best choice at this point in your career? What and/or who influenced your decision to apply to Ross? (500 words)


2. Describe your most significant professional accomplishment. Elaborate on the leadership skills you displayed, the actions you took and the impact you had on your organization. (500 words)

(Note the emphasis on leadership in the second question. Ross not only wants to know what you accomplished, but also wants to understand exactly what you did to make it happen. Also, note that this question also focuses on the impact that your actions had on your organization. More than your role or job title, admissions officers care about what positive impact you truly have on those around you.)

Short answers:

1. If you were not pursuing the career goals you described in Question 1, what profession would you pursue instead? (For example, teacher, musician, athlete, architect, etc.) How will this alternate interest contribute to your effectiveness in solving multidisciplinary problems? (300 words)
   
   (This question provides a good opportunity to show another side of you that may not otherwise come out in your application. As long as you can tie it back to one of the core dimensions in your application, don't be afraid to write about something that seems to be off the wall here.)


2. Describe your experience during a challenging time in your life. Explain how you grew personally, either despite this challenge or because of it. (300 words)
   
   (As is the case with all "personal growth" questions, the most important part is the second one -- describing what you learned and how you changed as a result. While many schools ask more job-related failure/challenge questions, Michigan's focus here appears to be a little more on your personal life. If your most compelling story is a professional one, that's not out of bounds, but make sure you can tie it back to what you learned and how you grew.)

Optional Question:

1. Is there anything else you think the Admissions Committee should know about you to evaluate your candidacy?
   
   (If you really do feel the need to explain something, then address it and move on. In other words, don't dwell on it or provide that weakness with more stage time than it deserves!)
   

To learn more about Ross, visit the Veritas Prep University of Michigan (Ross) information page. For even more advice on applying to Ross, download our FREE Veritas Prep Annual Reports! And, of course, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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The Best Way to Get to Know a Business School

Continuing our new MBA admissions video series, this week we answer the question of how an applicant can get to know his target business schools. The question came up at a recent discussion among some of Veritas Prep's admissions experts, and we all agreed that the most powerful way to get to know a school still is the one that takes the most effort: visit the school!

The explosion of schools' web sites, video tours, online communities, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, etc., has made it very easy to start researching schools. None of these, however, can replace the value of visiting campus and having lunch with a current student, sitting in on a class, and seeing for yourself what makes a school unique vs. other top MBA programs. School visits not only help you learn whether or not a school is a good fit for you, but they will also help your admissions chances by allowing you to demonstrate your true enthusiasm for the program.



(You can go to YouTube and watch the video in a larger size.)

Of course, you may not always be able to visit every school that you're considering. These trips can be costly and require you to take time out of work. But, if at all possible, given how competitive the MBA admissions environment is, we always recommend that an applicant at least visit his top choice to make sure that it's really the best possible fit.

For more help in selecting your target schools, Veritas Prep offers the Diagnostic Session, and one-hour consultation with an admissions expert who can help you narrow down your school choices and evaluate the best -- and most realistic -- business schools for you. Just visit this page and scroll down to "Diagnostic Session" to enroll!

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HBS 2+2 Program Admissions Statistics for 2009

This past week Harvard Business School released its admissions decisions for the HBS 2+2 Program. HBS has admitted 115 students, which is nine more than last year, according to Director of Admissions Dee Leopold in an interview with the Harvard Crimson.

This year 843 rising college seniors applied to the program, an increase of more than 33% since last year, when 630 students applied. The number of students admitted also increased (from 106 last year), although the overall acceptance rate has dipped to just 13.6% (from 16.8% in 2008) because of all those additional applicants.

The increased number of applicants is at least in part a reflection of how much work the HBS admissions office did this past year to spread the word about the program. The HBS 2+2 staff visited nearly 60 undergraduate colleges and universities, according to the article. As word of mouth grows and HBS continues to market the program, we expect the number of 2+2 applicants to keep growing significantly over the next few years.

In the article, Leopold made a concerted effort to dispel the notion that the 2+2 Program is a Harvard-only program. Still, nearly a quarter of those admitted to the program are Harvard undergrads, so the program still has some work to do in diversifying its student body.

Also, all of our "older" clients likely won't be pleased to see that HBS has carved out another nine seats for 2+2 students. While this trend does not help you if you're already out in the working world, we still believe that HBS will have to add another section to its class by the time the first 2+2 students -- who graduated from college this past spring -- enter HBS in Fall 2010.

To learn more about the HBS 2+2 Program and what they look for in college undergrads, call us at 800-925-7737. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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GMAT Mythbuster #3

Myth: The verbal section is more important than the quant section, because more people do well on the quant section, so a high verbal score will have greater impact on your score.

Fact: Schools look at your individual section scores as well as your overall score, and ideal candidate will have a balanced, high score; in some cases, schools are particularly concerned with a candidate's quantitative abilities, as business school curriculum often requires strong math skills.

An admirable quality of business school aspirants is their desire to study as efficiently as possible (putting it nicely) or to beat the system (telling it like it is). Perhaps inspired by the efficiency models of Amazon, Ikea, and other leading business, GMAT students often look for an edge by attempting to determine which sections or quesitons count more than others. Some recent comments in the blogosphere and on GMAT message boards have led to a belief that the verbal section is such an edge. In this event, the logic goes that, because quantitative scores are higher on average than verbal scores, a high verbal score and an above-average quant score will give you a higher overall score than will the reverse (high quant, average verbal). While this can actually be supported, in a way, by evidence (99th verbal and 70th quant will produce a higher score than 99th quant and 70th verbal), the impact toward your applications may not follow this logic as directly as many believe it will.

Consider the following:

Everything here is hidden until the reader clicks on "read more"

1) Business school curriculum is often heavily rooted in math. Most schools will have you take required coursework in finance, statistics, and accounting, and every discipline involves the use and analysis of numbers. A GMAT score, even if high overall, that betrays a potential quantitative deficiency isn't one that will likely put your best foot forward. At quantitatively-intensive schools, such a score may indicate that you'll struggle to keep up with your classmates; at schools that are reputed as being a bit lighter on math skills, we have also found that the admissions committees are concerned about such a reputation as being "technically soft", and will often require higher quant scores as a credible commitment to employers that their students are just as quantitatively capable as their competition.

2) People have a tendency to emphasize the things that they do well. An unbalanced score may dictate to schools that you took the "path of least resistance" to a higher overall score, by focusing heavily on your stronger suit and just hoping to get by on your weaker subject. Schools make no secret of the fact that they prefer balanced excellence, and such a performance also demonstrates a willingness to address weaknesses in order to get there.

3) Practically speaking, the GMAT is going to give you 37 math questions and 41 verbal questions, with 75 minutes for each section, and your job is to answer them to the best of your ability in order to post a high score. You won't get a progress report on your scoring as you go, and any time that you save on one section will not carry over to the next. Effectively, you don't really have the opportunity to sacrifice performance on one section in favor of greater success on the other...there's just no mechanism for it. In an athletic endeavor, it may be possible to save energy during one part of a game in order to excel at the other, but there you're conscious of the score the entire time in case you need to "pick it up". Say that, in a triathlon, I decided to cruise through the swim to save energy for the bike and run, I'd be able to look ahead at my competition partway through the swim to determine if I were letting them get away and recalculate whether I could afford to stay on my strategy. On the GMAT, you won't know your score partway through the quant section (and, although it's a grueling test day, "saving your energy" by sluffing off the quant isn't all that likely to improve your verbal, anyway), so you can't rely on such a strategy without a fairly high risk of failure. Furthermore, if your quant score were to slip from "above average" (maybe 75th percentile) to "not really tolerable by a top program" (say, 55th), your study strategy to focus on verbal would have backfired. Again, there's not a reliable-enough benchmark for how you're tracking to try and cheat the system with such a strategy. Your goal should be to maximize your score by doing the best you can. If there's any way to "save your energy" effectively, it's probably to spend less time trying to game the system, and more time taking practice tests, analyzing your results, and making targeted improvements.

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Meet MBA Admissions Officers at QS TopMBA Connect 1-2-1 Events

Veritas Prep is excited to announce that we have partnered with QS on their upcoming Connect 1-2-1 events in Toronto, Washington, DC, and New York City. QS’s Connect 1-2-1 worldwide MBA events provide a very unique opportunity for prospective business school students to participate in one-on-one interview and information sessions with admissions representatives from the world’s leading MBA programs.

Business school applicants wishing to participate in the complimentary Connect 1-2-1 events must apply for interviews and be accepted by their business school of choice, at which point personal sessions will be arranged on the applicant’s behalf. This is an excellent opportunity to meet directly with admissions representatives from top programs and will provide you the chance to make a positive impression and learn more about your programs of choice.

Don’t forget to drop by the Veritas Prep booth – we look forward to meeting you there!

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The Fit Grid: How to Pick the Right School

One of the hardest and most critical tasks facing a grad school candidate is picking the right schools to apply to (and then attend). Fit is so important not just for improving admissions prospects, but for creating the best possible graduate school experience. Unfortunately, distinguishing top programs -- especially among law schools and business schools -- can be very difficult. Plus, there is a propensity to let the tail wag the dog. In other words, students decide the schools they like first and then make any sort of research (visits included) fit the existing paradigm, rather than coming to conclusions based off of authentic exploration.

So how should students go about determining "fit?" If you have the resources, we advise handing over your information -- background, skills, goals, etc. -- to a trusted expert and letting them give you an objective list of matching programs. Obviously, that requires a significant financial outlay and it starts to feel a little bit strange offshoring the whole operation.

Fortunately, there is a middle ground in the form of "The Fit Grid."

The Fit Grid is simply a way to prioritize on the front end, based on factors, and then create results on the back end that help move you away from preconceived notions. It is pretty simple and not a perfect solution, but it definitely helps.

Basically, what you want to do is create a list of important factors that you think will play a major role in shaping your graduate school experience. Common factors include: location, prestige of program, career placement (specifically in your area of interest), international program opportunities, ability to take classes in areas of interest, student organizations, cost, scholarship opportunities, admissions chances, and culture.

Once you create your grid on the y axis, you can put all of your schools on the x axis and start filling in the boxes with scores for each program in each area. The goal is obviously to focus exclusively on that factor at each place, so that, again, the preconceived ideas you have about the entire school don't weigh you down. You can also weight various categories based on what matters most to you.

One example might look like this, for Chicago's Booth School of Business (to keep things simple, I'll rate every category on a scale of 1-to-10):

Location -- 10, because I've always wanted to live in Chicago and it’s a great city

Prestige of the program -- 9, not quite as prestigious as many some others on my list, but right up there

Career placement -- 7, because I'm in marketing and while the program is sneaky good and the same companies recruit at Booth as do at Kellogg, the placement numbers still don't bear out a major trend in marketing jobs

International programs -- 9, not quite the pinnacle of global education (like, say, Wharton, Columbia, or Duke), but with the International Business Exchange Program (IBEP) and the opportunity to take five "global" classes to get an IMBA, Booth has great opportunities for someone like me who is interested in global studies

Scheduling flexibility -- 9, the only mark against Booth here is that the bidding system for getting certain professors can be tough, but the flexibility of the core is almost unmatched

If I stopped there, Booth would come in with a very high score of 44 of 50, and probably rate as one of my top choices.

Again, it can be difficult to remove yourself from the big picture in order to fairly and truly assess each piece of each school, but if you go through the exercise, you will be able to get a better handle on the schools that are truly a good match. More importantly, you will even start to understand your own goals and your own candidacy better as a result.

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Personal Statement Mistakes

With application season around the corner, the law school personal statement is becoming a hot topic around the Veritas Prep offices. With applications projected to rise for the 2009-2010 season and the personal statement increasing in importance, students are desperate to ace this difficult assignment and improve their chances. Unfortunately, the best efforts to do so are often misguided. As the basketball coaching legend John Wooden once said, "Never mistake activity for achievement."

With that in mind, it seemed a like a good time to address two extremely common philosophical mistakes that students make on the personal statement. Note that the two issues here deal with the approach to the writing assignment, not the execution.

1. Cherry picking a topic. It is human nature to gravitate toward the most interesting "talking point," but in the case of a law school application, students rarely have the luxury of writing about the most exciting aspect from their background. Instead, candidates must focus on the experiences and background elements that best address any weaknesses or unexplored themes in their applications. We ran a blog post last year that dealt with this concept in greater detail.

2. Reciting the resume. Another common mistake in approaching the personal statement is to simply spell out the details of your resume, rather than picking a conceptual starting point and using your experiences to establish that theme. This is one of the reasons that we constantly urge clients to explore MBA and medical school applications, in order to get a handle on the types of prompts that exist. Simply listing activities, jobs, and accomplishments is, quite frankly, a waste of space. Why? Because you already did that on your resume. The personal statement is the chance to tell the admissions committee something new - ideally, as discussed above, something that sheds new light on an explored idea or even turns a weakness into a strength (or at least neutralizes it).

The personal statement is a tricky writing sample to execute, but avoiding these two major philosophical mistakes is the best way to produce something that actually speaks to the concerns of the admissions officer and elevates a candidate's application and subsequent chances for admission.

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