HBS 2+2 Program Application Essays for 2010

Recently Harvard Business School announced the 2010 deadline for its HBS 2+2 Program. While the deadline has changed quite a bit since last year (it's several weeks earlier than before), but the program's admissions essays actually remain the same.

So, our comments and advice mostly remain the same, but it's still worth sharing them again. Note that there are a few subtle nuances in our advice that are new this year, based on feedback we've heard directly from successful HBS 2+2 Program applicants this past year:

HBS 2+2 Program Application Essays

1. What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600 words)
   
   This is exactly the same question on the traditional HBS application. While you are obviously younger than the typical HBS applicant, the school still expects to see several separate, concrete examples of how you made a positive impact on the organization, community, or people around you. Having a hard time coming up with many? That may be the first sign that you're not yet ready to apply to HBS (or to any top MBA program). If that's the case, don't despair... You just may want to consider the more traditional route of working for several years before applying to business school.


2. What would you like us to know about your undergraduate academic experience? (400 words)
   
   Being that you probably don't yet have any full-time work experience, the admissions office needs to dig a little deeper into your undergraduate experience to learn more about you. Don't simply recount your transcript here. Why did you choose your major in college? What motivated you to choose certain course? Were there any instances when you really pushed yourself out of your comfort zone? Focus on just one or two themes here, ideally showing how you have grown academically over the past three years. Harvard loves the idea of being able to transform you from young raw ingredients into a polished, finished product. Showing glimpses of such a transformation in the first three years of college can help the HBS admissions office picture you thriving at HBS.


3. What have you learned from a mistake? (400 words)
   
   This is also taken directly from the standard HBS application. Just like with all mistake essays, you want to show introspection (What did you learn?) and a motivation for self-improvement (How did you use what you learned to better yourself and avoid that mistake again?). While you won't have the same experiences as a twenty-five-year-old applicant to draw upon here, look for experiences in all aspects of your life where you learned a valuable lesson. There's a good chance that your richest story will come from outside of your academics.



4. Optional Essays (choose one)
   
   - Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization. (400 words)
   
   - What area of the world are you most curious about and why? (400 words)
   
   - What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you? (400 words)
   
   All three of these are also taken from the standard HBS application. We always recommend that applicants err on the side of discussing themselves, the decisions they've made, and the impact they've made on those around them -- not on a person or an idea that they hold dear. The former is really the only way the admissions office will get to you YOU, and without knowing you, how can Harvard admit you?
   
   These specific examples of your initiative and leadership are extremely valuable, especially if you are relatively inexperienced. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't answer one of the other questions, but be careful to avoid discussing big-picture generalities that don't let the admissions committee get to know the real you.

Every year we work with many applicants to the HBS 2+2 Program, and many of them get in! For more advice on getting into Harvard Business School, download our HBS Annual Report, one of 15 completely free guides to the world's top business schools. If you're ready to start building your own HBS 2+2 Program candidacy, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today!

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Kellogg Names Sally Blount New Dean

According to a news release put out by Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management early this morning, Sally Blount, the dean of the undergraduate college and vice dean of the Stern School of Business at New York University, has just been named dean of the school, effective this coming July. (The Wall Street Journal picked up the story, and quoted Veritas Prep in its article today.)

Blount, who is currently the Abraham L. Gitlow Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern, is an expert in the fields of negotiation and behavioral decision making and has extensive international experience in higher education. In 2007 she was appointed by NYU's president and provost as their special advisor for global academic integration.

In this morning's news release, Northwestern Provost Daniel I. Linzer said, "Dean Blount brings a remarkable combination of strong academic achievement and proven administrative experience at both the business school and university levels. She is someone who has a demonstrable record as both a scholar and as a leader in the field of global business education. We are very excited to welcome her back to Kellogg and Northwestern."

Blount will actually be returning to Kellogg, where she earned her PhD in management and organizations in 1992 after earning a joint bachelor's degree from Princeton University's engineering and Woodrow Wilson schools in 1983. After earning her PhD, Blount taught for nearly a decade at Chicago Booth (back when it was called Chicago GSB), where she she consistently earned high teaching marks from MBA and executive education students.

Not lost in the excitement of the announcement was the fact that Blount will be one of the very few female deans at a top business school. Today's Financial Times led with this headline: "Kellogg Appoints Female Dean," which unfortunately downplays all that she's accomplished but nonetheless points out just how rare is its for a woman to lead a business school. (Judy Olia at UCLA Anderson and Sharon Oster at Yale are the two other examples of women leading top-ranked MBA programs. Former Chicago Booth dean Edward Snyder will take over for Oster next year.) FT.com went so far as to say, "Prof Blount will arguably become the most influential female dean in the US."

This sounds like great news for Kellogg, which has been in a bit of a holding pattern under interim dean Sunil Chopra ever since Dipak Jain stepped down last year. That's no disrespect to Chopra; it's simply hard for a school (or any organization) to aggressively break new ground while its top leadership is anything other than permanent and 100% dedicated to the task at hand. Hopefully now the school can forge ahead with is plans for a new building and continued international expansion.

If you haven't already, this is a good time to check out our Kellogg Annual Report, one of 15 completely free guides to the world's top business schools. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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The MBA Waitlist: Additional Letters of Support

Waiting is not everyone's strong suit. Especially for "Type A" applicants dreaming of getting into the world's most competitive business schools, the idea of "Don't call us, we'll call you" just doesn't sit well. At this time of year, we get lots of questions from waitlisted applicants about whether or not they should solicit additional letters of support from their past supervisors and co-workers. Assuming that your target school welcomes additional input, such letters can help, but only if they meet certain criteria.

Just last week we spoke with an applicant who was ready to get two former co-workers, both of whom are current students at Fuqua (the applicant's target MBA program), to write letters of recommendation for him. While it can certainly seem like knowing someone "on the inside" has got to help, that's not necessarily the case.

In general, we do advise waitlisted MBA applicants to be fairly aggressive in communicating with the admissions office, especially with programs (like Fuqua) that are open to hearing from you. However, as was the case with this applicant, many applicants tend to overestimate the effectiveness of letters from current students. These letters often say nothing more than, "He's a really good guy and he REALLY wants to come to Fuqua," which the admissions office probably already knows. It's nice to communicate your enthusiasm (and you should certainly do that), but a current student probably can't add much to your application.

What matters more is what a new letter of support can say about the applicant to bolster themes in his application and/or shore up any perceived weaknesses in his profile. Perhaps he hasn't held any official management roles yet, but an additional letter of support could highlight new examples of how he displayed leadership skills, got a team organized to tackle a problem, etc. (Of course, ideally his original letters of recommendation did this, but they may not have done it enough, or he may have significant new examples to talk about in the three months since he applied.) This is what matters to MBA admissions officers, not that he knows current Fuqua students and therefore is probably Fuqua material by association.

When it's possible to do so, there's certainly merit to having a supervisor-type (maybe an alumnus, but doesn't have to be) write an additional letter of support. This needs to be someone who hasn't already written a reco for you, for that school. If that person can say, "I've worked with this applicant for the last few years, and I can confidently say he's a strong performer with a great deal of potential," that certainly helps. At worst, it doesn't hurt you. That letter can also emphasize your enthusiasm for the school, but "enthusiasm" by itself won't be enough... You need to give them another reason to consider you when they start to select applicants from the waitlist.

More generally, as far as giving the school significant updates goes, don't underestimate this. If you're able to get your waitlist contact on the phone (Kellogg, for instance, gives waitlisted applicants specific feedback), see if there's anything specific that would help, such as a higher GMAT score or some additional college coursework. Frequently the conversation will tend towards very obvious weaknesses -- e.g., a relatively low undergraduate GPA -- but use this conversation to learn as much as you can about why they waitlisted you and (perhaps even more importantly) why they DIDN'T reject you despite the weaknesses in your application. (We'll cover this latter idea in more detail in another post soon.)

For more help in getting admitted off of the waitlist or for more general MBA admissions advice, give us a call at (800) 925-7737 and speak with an admissions expert today. We have specialized services built just for helping waitlisted applicants get admitted to business school. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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GMAT Tip of the Week: U Can't C Me

Welcome back to Hip Hop Month on the Veritas Prep blog, where it just wouldn't be right for a West Coast blogger to mention Biggie without also highlighting the contributions of Tupac Shakur. A visionary in the world of rap, Tupac not only blended the realms of true-art poetry with self-promotional glitz and glamour and became a pioneer in the crossover from dance (he started as a backup dancer with Digital Underground) to rap to film (his starring roles included Juice and Poetic Justice), he also foreshadowed the text-message abbreviation craze by spelling his name 2Pac and titling songs with U in place of "you," C in place of "see," etc.

Ironically, this artist who seemed so attuned to our iPhone/Blackberry text culture a dozen years before it came to pass actually penned the lyric "you gotta learn to hold your own; they get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone," inferring that mobile phones were an item only for the truly wealthy and successful. If only Pac could see the world he left behind...

Tupac may also have been a GMAT visionary, as the idea of Data Sufficiency questions must have been in his mind when he wrote, in his first top-20 single I Get Around:

I hate to sound sleazy, but tease me. I don't want it if it's that easy.

Clearly, Tupac had an edge on Data Sufficiency questions. How?

On the GMAT, Data Sufficiency questions essentially have two paths to bait you toward a wrong answer: They can either make you think you have enough information when you don't, or make you think you don't have enough information when you really do. Tupac's epic lyric above is a great mantra for avoiding the second trap:

You think you don't have enough information when you really do.

The authors of the GMAT love to make you think that you need both statements, or answer choice C, when you in fact could do it with only one alone. If you think about the reward system, business schools (and corporations) should want to reward those candidates who can accomplish the most with the least number of resources, so it's only natural that these questions will often be written with that in mind. Human nature dictates that we'll feel much more comfortable with increasing amounts of information, so we have a tendency to lean toward answer choice C, which gives us all available information, and maybe steer clear of statements 1 or 2 alone, as they may appear to have some risk inherent in them.

How can we avoid this natural tendency? Channel Tupac and his line:

I don't want it if it's that easy.

If answer choice C seems too easy -- if, at a quick glance, you know that you can solve the problem quite easily given both pieces of information -- there's a good chance that "you don't want it," because the test is likely to reward you for finding a way to accomplish the task with only one piece of information, not needing both. Remember, answer choice C says that both statements together but neither alone is sufficient, so if it's possible to solve the problem with only one statement, C is incorrect. Therefore, if C looks too easy, you should return to each statement alone, and try to see which one (if not each of them) can solve the problem on its own.

One important clue: Because by this point you've already seen both pieces of information, a helpful method to using one statement on its own is to see if you can use it to derive the other.

Consider the question:

A rental car agency purchases fleet vehicles in two sizes: a full-size car costs $10,000, and a compact costs $9,000. How many compact cars does the agency own?

(1) The agency owns 7 total cars.

(2) The agency paid $66,000 for its cars.

Here, answer choice C seems to be a fairly easy choice -– the first statement tells us that the number of full-size cars plus the number of compacts equals 7 (or, F + C = 7), and the second tells us that the total value is $66,000, or that 10,000*F + 9,000*C = 66,000. Having both equations, we know that, with two equations and two variables, we'll be able to solve for the number of compact cars. If we assess the information in statement 2 –- that the cars cost $66,000 total –- let's see if it's even possible that the agency could have bought anything other than 7 cars. If not, then statement 1 is unnecessary.

If we try to purchase 8 cars, it stands to reason that if 8 of the cheapest cars cost more than $66,000, it's not possible to purchase 8, since they would cost 8 * 9,000, or a total of $72,000. Because 8 of even the cheapest cars -- substituting any of the cheaper cars with a more expensive one would only increase the total value above $72,000 -- costs too much for us to reach the $66,000 total price paid, then it's not possible to purchase 8 cars (or more). Similarly, if we test the price of 6 of the full-size cars, we will likely be able to eliminate that possibility. 6*10,000 is $60,000, which is not enough for us to reach the $66,000 total price. If we were to substitute a cheaper car for any of the more expensive cars in our set of 6, it would only decrease that total to below $60,000, so we can prove that the agency cannot purchase 6 cars for $66,000.

Because, based on the information in statement 2, the only number of cars that could be purchased is 7, the information in statement 1 doesn't need to be stated explicitly -- we already know that from our interpretation of statement 2. Therefore, the correct answer is B.

As Tupac has taught us, there's value in the struggle, and we shouldn't readily accept any answer that's too easy. Don't let the GMAT trap you with a too-easy answer choice C. As Tupac also famously said, you can't C me.

If you're just starting your GMAT preparation, try a free GMAT practice test. And, as always, be sure to subscribe to this blog and to follow us on Twitter!

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Alternative MBA Options: Part 2 (The EMBA)

A few weeks back we ran a post on part-time programs as part of a broader concept: finding and presenting alternative MBA options to those applicants who desire an MBA but do not fit the traditional profile for an elite, full-time MBA program. Today, we continue the theme by exploring the Exeuctive MBA (EMBA) and looking at some of the elite and interesting options available to students in that space.

As alternative paths go, EMBA programs aren't as universally appropriate as part-time MBAs and the experience doesn't come nearly as close to that of a full-time student, but for a select group of candidates, an EMPA is the ideal degree pursuit. Whenever applicants have north of eight years experience, are working in a management position, and simply need added fundamentals and pedigree, an EMBA is often a terrific choice. Another way to look at an EMBA is to think of it as a broader perspective on business issues -- executive programs are often known as the view from "50,000 feet."

Executive MBA programs often use a modular approach that takes students through all of the key functions of business and adds conflict resolution, ethical issues, EQ training, and presentation skills, which makes for a program designed to “round out” an already accomplished business professional. Ranging between 15 and 24 months in length, far more accessible from an admissions standpoint, and rather expensive (especially if the employer is not footing the bill), this is one way that quality candidates who are beyond the age range for full-time MBA programs can still get the kind of training, networking, and pedigree that they are seeking.

One the most interesting and noteworthy trends surrounding the executive MBA is that at present, fewer companies are sponsoring students (either fully or partially) than in years past. This is due in large part to current market conditions, but another theory suggests that employers are catching on to the fact that a large majority of EMBA students are positioning themselves for new jobs (either internally or externally) by attending the program. In other words, the return on investment is still worthwhile for the student, but is becoming less so for the company (at least in the short term) who might have sponsored that individual in the past. Many of the companies that are still aggressively sponsoring EMBA students are those that take a longer view on ROI and believe that they can create executives with advanced skills, networks, and problem-solving abilities by exposing them to the teachings, modules, and colleagues that an Exec MBA provides.

There are many attractive EMBA programs available, but the list is perhaps best split into two distinct groups: 1) Kellogg and Wharton, 2) Everybody Else. The primary difference is in the perception of the programs on the part of corporations, although that can be traced back to how closely the EMBA programs at Kellogg and Wharton emulate the training of the business schools' full-time philosophies and methodologies. Actual students sometimes enjoy the experiences more at other great EMBA programs, but at present, the reputational prestige of “the big two” makes it hard to pass up Kellogg or Wharton in favor of another intriguing option.

As for gaining acceptance, most programs feature much lower average GMAT scores than their full-time counterparts or don't require the GMAT at all, and favor far more management experience. Unlike part-time programs that can be a safe haven for both young and old applicants alike, EMBA programs are a much better fit for someone who is “too old” for traditional full-time work but has all the other tools and is looking for an edge in advancing his or her career. Most top programs feature a minimum work experience requirement ranging between five and seven years and often post an average work experience of 10 years and management experience of five years.

The Truly Elite EMBA Programs

Kellogg -- A 22-month program that brings students to Northwestern's Evanston campus every other weekend (Fridays and Saturdays), Kellogg features a dynamic curriculum housed in one of the best facilities the university has to offer. Group projects make up close to a third of the work in the Kellogg EMBA program, which provides for the sort of networking and leadership development often specific to full-time and part-time programs. Kellogg also offers an EMBA program in Miami and four partner programs (in Israel, Hong Kong, Germany, and Canada) and the total number of students in all seven programs (there are two in Evanston) comes to over 800 people. Average full-time work experience is 14 years and Kellogg requires a minimum of eight years of management experience (and 10 of work experience), resulting in an average age of close to 40. Only 15% of students self-fund and it is worth noting that the GMAT is not required. In other words, Kellogg is not the option for the traditional full-time student with a great GMAT score who is just a bit too old … this program is for honest-to-goodness executives.

Wharton -- A unique aspect of Wharton is that the school offers two locations for its two-year executive program ("MBA Exec"): the Penn campus in Philadelphia and a second location in San Francisco that is known as "Wharton West." Both locations feature a program that closely follows the blueprint of the full-time MBA, which is one of the things that makes Wharton so popular among EMBA students. Unlike other executive MBAs, this program "looks and feels" like a more traditional business school experience. While Wharton's Exec MBA program does not feature the severe work experience requirements of Kellogg, the admissions process is quite competitive, with an acceptance rate near 25% and an average GMAT close to 700 (yes, the GMAT is required at Wharton). As for noteworthy industries, over half of the students in each class go into either finance or technology.

Other Great EMBA Options to Consider

Thunderbird -- A program that students seem to enjoy and corporations also hold in high regard, Thunderbird is often viewed as a great international business school, but it also boasts an executive program that is among the very best in the nation. Shorter than some of the other top programs (16 months), Thunderbird features a high number of self-funded students (42%) and a broad range of management experience despite a fairly high number for average work experience (eight years). The school can request, but doesn't require, the GMAT, and offers a great value at $75,000 ($50,000 less than Kellogg). Many EMBA programs go out of their way to create group projects and hands-on learning opportunities, but Thunderbird takes a page out of Harvard's book and employs a teaching methodology that is heavy on case studies.

USC Marshall -- USC Marshall more closely resembles Kellogg's EMBA program than just about any other EMBA program on the west coast. Featuring averages of 14 years for work experience and 10 years for management, Marshall tends to attract a lot of "true executives" rather than near-miss traditional MBA students. It also features a very balanced teaching approach that includes simulations and team projects, with a lot of company-funded students. For those students who don't have corporate backing, the price tag isn't all that bad -- just under $100,000 for a 21-month program based in Los Angeles.

North Carolina -- The top-ranked school from the perspective of EMBA students, according to a recent Wall Street Journal ratings study, UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School is a top five overall option despite not receiving the same level of respect from many corporations that are polled for such rankings (UNC ranks 14th among corporations in the same WSJ poll). A 20-month program with pretty standard admissions requirements for work experience, Kenan-Flagler's average GMAT score hovers just over 600, making it more accessible for many students. UNC is notable for the fact that 31% of students "self fund," meaning they don't rely on corporate sponsorship to participate in the program. People working in software and consumer goods seem to gravitate toward UNC, as nearly 50% of the class is made up of professionals from those two sectors. Finally, it is worth noting that the program cost -- approximately $80,000 -- is just over half that of Wharton's, making for a very good deal.

Michigan -- Ross is another EMBA program cut from the same cloth as Kellogg, featuring extensive work experience requirements (10 years total, five in management) and a high percentage of company-sponsored students. Perhaps not surprising, given its proximity to the major auto manufacturers, Ross stands out for the fact that over a quarter of the class works in the manufacturing industry (healthcare is another popular sector for Ross students). Ross isn't cheap ($125,000) and it's a pretty small class, but the GMAT isn't required, so for someone with true executive experience, this could be a great option.

Name Brands with Quality EMBA Programs

The following are elite business schools with very solid EMBA options, with a notable comment for each:

Cornell (no minimum requirement for management experience)

Columbia (one of the most diverse EMBA programs)

Chicago Booth (huge percentage -- 90% - of classes taught by tenured faculty members)

Duke Fuqua (a mere recommendation -- 5 years -- for minimum work experience rather than a requirement)

Haas (extremely diverse; extremely expensive)

NYU Stern (incorporates global studies better than almost any other program)

UCLA Anderson (extensive career service offerings)

Columbia-LBS (joint program that often requires a high GMAT score; only one-third of students are American citizens)

For more insight into part-time programs or MBA admissions, give us a call at (800) 925-7737. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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Take the MBA Search Survey and You Just Might Win an iPod

We pride ourselves on making the Veritas Prep blog a source of reliable information and valuable advice for you as you progress through the MBA admissions process. The Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining high ethical standards in the world of admissions consulting, is conducting a survey to help us better understand our readers' goals and needs. As an AIGAC member organization, we'd like to invite all of our readers to share their school selection priorities and views on the MBA application process.

This online survey should take just 10 minutes to complete. We would love to receive as many responses as possible before the closing date of Friday, April 9th -- and will be giving away an iPod Touch and two iPod Shuffles as a token of our gratitude! Of course, we will also share the results of the survey this spring to help all candidates better understand the nature of today's applicant pool.

You can take the survey here.

Thanks in advance for your participation!

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Four Things that Make the Yale MBA Program Unique

Continuing our series of admissions insights clipped from Veritas Prep's Annual Reports, our in-depth insider's guides to 15 of the world's top business schools, this week we look at four traits that make the Yale School of Management unique among top business schools. (Our Annual reports are absolutely free with registration, but we thought we'd share some snippets here to help get you started in your Yale SOM research.)

The Yale School of Management discovered that the "silo" approach to teaching -– where each discipline is compartmentalized into the traditional areas of Marketing, Finance, Economics, Operations, and so on –- does not fully prepare students for the realities of 21st Century business needs. The silo approach was successful in the past when careers were developed by vertical movement within one specialized discipline. However, in today's environment, successful management careers no longer have boundaries, as they require expertise in each discipline in a cross-functional manner.

What follows are four things you need to know before you apply to Yale SOM:

1. Organizational Perspectives. In light of the program's philosophical shift, SOM has completely overhauled its core curriculum to allow for the complete integration of the disciplines in a manner more representative of the problems managers will face in the world of business. The core curriculum is now broken into eight multidisciplinary areas referred to as Organizational Perspectives. These perspectives focus on issues encountered both inside and outside the firm in a relevant context.


2. Increased International Focus. In addition to the new core, first-year students are now also required to travel to one of several destinations in the world as part of the International Experience Destinations program. These trips allow students to study their businesses of interest within another culture and setting. The trip is linked to the spring course State and Society and the year-long Leadership Development Program. This furthers SOM's long-standing history of maintaining a global perspective. The diverse student body is celebrated in October of each year through International Month as presentations are given by members of each parts of the global community. The culmination of the month-long celebration is the pot-luck dinner where students provide dishes that represent their cultures and styles of cuisine.


3. Hands-on Instruction. The faculty has embraced a hands-on teaching philosophy to augment SOM's new curriculum. Instructors routinely solicit student contributions in the classroom, rather than just delivering rote lectures. They also address social responsibility and corporate governance issues to maintain the school's long-held commitment to ethical behavior. Classes run the gamut from case method and lecture to student-oriented projects and presentations. Business leaders from all sectors often lead class discussions and interact with students to discuss real-world problems and potential solutions. It is commonplace to see team project competitions judged by the very business leaders who faced the same issues in real life.


4. "Raw Case" Approach. Yale SOM offers a unique version of the popular case method teaching style, known as the "Raw Case" approach to management education. Most case method programs use what are commonly referred to as "cooked" cases (or "closed" cases) that are packaged and synthesized before use. Yale SOM has developed its own set of cases which are housed on a multimedia platform and feature the types of open-ended, "fuzzy" source materials that a professional might encounter while analyzing a problem. It requires Yale students to sift through all the data and information to find what is pertinent and what can be ignored. Distilling information is often one of the most challenging aspects of real world problem solving and Yale SOM is attempting to teach its students how to jump over this hurdle before diving into an analysis.

Today's blog post was clipped from our Yale SOM Annual Report, one of 15 completely free guides to the world's top business schools, available on our site. If you're ready to start building your own application for Yale or other top MBA programs, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today!

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What If I Can't Get a Recommendation from My Boss?

Every business school application requires you to submit at least one letter of recommendation. These letters corroborate your admissions story, providing additional evidence of the leadership skills, analytical abilities, teamwork skills, and maturity that you have highlighted in the rest of your application. The best person to do this is normally your direct supervisor, but what if you can't (or don't want to) tell your boss yet that you're applying to business school?

Fortunately, MBA admissions officers know that many applicants face this situation, and they won't penalize you for it. Particularly in a rough economy, when job security seems to matter even more than usual, they know that you may take a serious risk by telling your boss, "If all goes according to plan, in a year I won't be here anymore." So, they're willing to accept recommendations from other sources, as long as they give admissions officers what they need.

What most schools want, more than anything, is to hear an assessment of your abilities by someone who knows you well and has been in a position to evaluate you. That's why your direct supervisor is your most obvious choice; he or she should spend a lot of time thinking about your performance, making it easy to provide an assessment of you as a young professional. Assuming that person is out of the picture, then you need to find someone else who meets these criteria:

1. Does the "substitute recommender" know you well, in a non-social capacity? This person must have worked closely with you for some period of time; otherwise, they don't really know your professional abilities and potential. We wrote "non-social" to make clear that this person needs to be more than an acquaintance, but we stopped short of saying "professional" since this person may come from outside of your job. For instance, if you devote serious time to a non-profit organization, someone who has served as a coordinator there may know you very well and may be a good person to provide a letter of recommendation.


2. Has this person worked with you recently? We frequently talk to MBA applicants who have a seemingly good candidate in mind, but they haven't worked with that person for a few years. When you're a young professional, a few years is an eternity in terms of your development. Ideally, your substitute recommender will have worked with you in just the last year or two, or (even better) still works with you now.


3. Does he or she have experience evaluating others in a professional setting?If your recommendation writer has never delivered a performance review in any setting, how will he or she be able to speak about your candidacy with authority? This doesn't mean that your recommendation writer needs to have managed an entire department for years; the point is to find someone who can deliver a fair, even-handed-sounding (but still glowingly positive!) review of your candidacy.


4. Does the person in question have enough time to do the job? This question always applies, even if your recommendation comes from your current boss. Too often, the recommendation writer will underestimate the task, or will simply say, "I don't have time. You just write it for me and I'll sign it." Make sure that your recommendation writer understands the task at hand, and devotes enough time to it. You can help a great deal by providing specific examples of your recent successes that he or she may not remember. Doing that makes the recommender's job easier, and makes the final product significantly stronger.

Keep in mind that what really matters is what your recommender writes about you, more than who exactly your recommender is. MBA admissions officers keep an open mind about these things, but it's critical that your letters of recommendation provide all the clues that schools look for. Not only should your recommendations emphasize the four dimensions mentioned at the start of this post, but they should also clearly demonstrate the enthusiasm that your recommenders have about you and your business school candidacy. Find someone who can do that, and you will be fine.

For more MBA admissions tips and resources, give us a call at (800) 925-7737 and speak with one of our admissions experts today. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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GMAT Tip of the Week: Whatever You Say I Am

It's Hip Hop Month on the Veritas Prep blog, and no discussion of contemporary rap would be complete without mention of Eminem, the controversial emcee who has earned Grammy award and platinum records at nearly the same pace as he has earned criticism and backlash for his honest, edgy lyrics and demeanor.

Like many great artists -- be they painters, poets, musicians, or filmmakers -- Eminem pours himself into his work, giving listeners an open, honest, and oftentimes eerie glimpse into the life that inspires him. Eschewing the trend for successful rappers to forego gritty portrayals of their innermost thoughts to focus on the glamour lifestyle of the rich and famous, Eminem continually derives his creativity from his strained relationships with his mother and ex-wife, his reluctant comfort with celebrity and wealth, and his introspective thoughts on his role and his art.

Eminem's unabashed honesty pervades each of his tracks, and even inspired a film, 8 Mile, that parallels his life. One of his first songs to offer an introspective look at his fame was The Way I Am; its lyrics detail the pressures that the artist felt from his fans and his record label after achieving success with his first album. In its chorus, Eminem attacks the celebrity culture that surrounds entertainers, with media outlets creating controversy and speculation around artists:

I am whatever you say I am. If I wasn't, then why would I say I am? ... I don't know, that's just the way I am.

In addition to serving as an anthem of frustration for one of the world's greatest entertainers, these lyrics may unlock for you a secret to success on the GMAT:

"I am whatever you say I am" can also be the anthem of any algebraic equation that the GMAT provides you on test day. That is, your success on math questions may depend on how you rephrase mathematical statements to serve your purposes (the same way that magazines reposition stories about Eminem to sell copies). As long as you "tell the truth" with an algebraic statement, you can rearrange it to fit your needs. Consider the question:

If x and y are nonzero integers, does x - y = y/x?

(1) y² = x²y – xy²

Looking at statement 1, it will be difficult to try combinations of numbers to prove anything about the question - combinations of x and y that satisfy the fact given in statement 1 will be somewhat tough to find, and then it requires effort transfering those values to the question to prove a trend of "yes" or "no". Accordingly, your goal should be to take statement 1 and rephrase it to see if you can match the question. The statement is "whatever you say it is", provided that you take the proper algebraic steps to make it match (it it wasn't, then why would the algebra say it is?). Taking that statement, you can start by dividing both sides by y, as there are no squared terms in the question:

y = x² – xy

Again, because there are no squared terms in the question, and because your goal is to equate x-y to y/x, you should recognize that factoring out an x from both terms on the right of the equation gets you closer to that goal:

y = x(x-y)

Then, if you divide both sides by x, you'll see that you've proven the answer to the question to be "yes":

y/x = x-y

This statement is exactly the same as the initial statement, just rephrased for our purposes. (To paraphrase Eminem, if it wasn't, then why would it say it was?) Because the question asks us to confirm an algebraic equality, our goal should be to take the algebraic facts that we're given and see if we can manipulate the algebra to get that confirmation. In these cases, two things are likely. Either:


1) You'll be able to rephrase the algebra to look exactly like the question, meaning that the statement is sufficient

or

2) You'll realize that you're one step off, meaning that the statement is probably insufficient (you should be able to find at least one set of values for which the answer would be "yes", but for most values the answer would be "no")

Overall, when GMAT quant questions provide you with algebraic equations for statements, your instinct should be to rephrase that algebra in a way that's more useful to you, as often the test will provide you with exactly the information you need, but just disguised as something that's a little less user-friendly than you'd like. In these cases, take a cue from Eminem and rephrase the statement you're given in a way that allows you to use it (the man did once rhyme "oranges" with "syringes" simply by pronouncing it a little different). On test day, the GMAT may just be asking if the real Slim Shady will please stand up.

For more GMAT prep tips and resources, give us a call at (800) 925-7737. Or, try a free GMAT practice test. And, as always, be sure to subscribe to this blog and to follow us on Twitter!

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Introducing the MBA Admissions Predictor iPhone App!

Building on the success of our GMAT Practice Quiz iPhone App, which has been downloaded more than 50,000 times, today we announce the release of the MBA Admissions Predictor, a 100% free, fun tool that will help you answer that time-honored question among business school applicants: "What are my chances of getting in?"

Adapted from the Veritas Prep Business School Selector, the MBA Admissions Predictor incorporates Veritas Prep's proprietary research on the MBA admissions process to help applicants know where they stand given their background and credentials.

How does it work? Just input some of your basic "stats," and the The MBA Admissions Predictor gives you a range of top MBA programs where the model predicts you have a decent chance of being admitted. Those stats include, but aren't limited to, your GMAT score, undergraduate GPA, amount of work experience and level of extracurricular involvement. The statistical data used is, in part, gleaned from nationally recognized publications such as U.S. News & World Report and BusinessWeek, while the school ranking order is based on our own proprietary criteria and weighting system, with special emphasis on variables deemed most critical in determining your chances of admissions success.

While there are no hard-and-fast rules for determining your chances in the somewhat subjective MBA admissions process, certain traits strongly correlate with your chances of admissions success at the top business schools. The MBA Admissions Predictor app can help you identify the highest-ranked schools to which you have a good chance of being admitted today.

Where the app is even more useful, however, is in helping you understand what improvements you can make to your candidacy to improve their chances of admission -- for example, the implications of a 50-point score improvement on the GMAT or an extra year of professional experience.

So go ahead! Download the FREE MBA Admissions Predictor at iTunes, play around with it, and see where you stand. Don't have an iPhone? No problem. Our Business School Selector will give you the same results via our web site!

If you're ready to start applying to the world's top business schools, take a look at our MBA admissions consulting services or give us a call at 1-800-925-7737. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and to follow us on Twitter!

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Eight Fantastic Professors at The University of Chicago Law School

One of the main reasons students cite for choosing a law school is the quality of the faculty, and there is perhaps no law school known more for its faculty than the University of Chicago. With the exceptions of Yale, Stanford, and Harvard (which is amassing a veritable army of academic elites), Chicago arguably stands alone as the staging ground for teaching excellence. In fact, while the school often ranks anywhere from 4th to 7th overall in rankings such as U.S. News, it is always near the top of the Faculty Rankings list generated by Brian Leiter (Chicago appears set to come in third in the upcoming 2010 version.) This, despite the fact that other top law schools have raided the U of C faculty over the past several years, enticing several elite professors to move to other programs. The exodus has included world-renowned legal scholars Richard Epstein (part-time to NYU, and then to retirement) and Cass Sunstein (to Harvard, and then to the Obama Administration), criminal law expert Tracy Meares (to Yale), beloved constitutional and legislative scholar Adrian Vermeule (Harvard), and law and econ guru Alan Sykes (Stanford).

Most institutions would be crippled beyond repair by such a loss of talent, yet Chicago has managed to retain its lofty perch at the top of any reputable ranking of educational quality. This is partly due to the fact that Chicago still retains its fair share of legal titans such as Seventh Circuit Judges Frank Easterbrook (Chief Judge), Diane Wood, and Richard Posner. However, the high ranking is also a byproduct of the fact that the school has made the hiring and grooming of young academics its highest priority. Between the “think tank” atmosphere, the many workshop and seminar teaching formats, and the Law School’s reputation for producing legal scholars, Chicago stands as one of the world’s premier learning and teaching centers.
For that reason, the U of C remains a place populated by dynamic professors and the list of "must take" classes grows every year. The following are some student favorites and particularly noteworthy instructors among the 53 full-time faculty members at the U of C – the names and faces that make Chicago one of the truly elite places to study law:

• David Strauss, Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law. Professor Strauss is an absolute must-take at the U of C and, in fact, half the incoming class will be assured of having him for a course as he serves as one of the two star professors who teach Chicago’s unique Elements of the Law class. “Elements” is an esoteric course focusing largely on the theoretical and historical underpinnings of today’s legal framework in America. Elements of the Law is a very popular required 1L course and Professor Strauss is the master in this setting. Even if students miss out on him during 1L year, however, there is ample opportunity to take a Strauss course going forward, as he teaches several constitutional law classes, including Con Law III, which focuses on due process and equal protection. One of Chicago’s most soft-spoken and thoughtful professors, Professor Strauss can still be very intimidating when he starts tapping his trademark highlighter against the back of his hand and wondering aloud about the answer to a particular tricky legal question. A true scholar’s scholar, Professor Strauss was recently rumored to be on the move in order to join his good friend and former Chicago colleague Barack Obama in Washington, but fortunately for U of C students present and future, he remains an anchor on the Law School’s faculty.

• Geoffrey Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law. A member of the U of C faculty since 1973, Professor Stone is not only a favorite of Chicago students (primarily for his ability to make Evidence an interesting course), but also serves as a prominent voice of the Law School, having authored several award-winning books (most notably 2004’s Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism, which won both the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for history) and appearing on many major media outlets. As one of the most liberal professors on a historically conservative (or, perhaps more accurately, libertarian) faculty, Stone’s special presentations and speaker series events on campus are often the most well-attended and tend to spark a great deal of discussion in the Law Quadrangle. Additionally, Professor Stone teaches one of the most innovative and challenging courses in the Law School, Constitutional Decision Making, which puts students in the roles of judges who must author opinions (including majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions) on difficult equal protection or First Amendment issues.

• Douglas Baird, Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law. Each year, the Chicago Law Foundation (CLF) hosts a celebrated auction at the law school, in which items and activities are put up for bid. It is both the biggest fundraiser for CLF and also the biggest social event of the year for law students, who often pool a great deal of money (especially 2L and 3L students coming off lucrative summer associate stints) to bid on outings with favorite professors. No event generates more charitable dollars than the annual brandy tasting night with Professor Baird. Beloved by U of C students -– many of whom take his contracts class as a 1L –- Baird is a Chicago institution. He was the Law School’s dean from 1984 to 1999, taking it to its loftiest heights and creating the academic culture that exists today. Professor Baird also lives near campus, making him highly visible, from the grocery co-op in Hyde Park to the gym at the university’s Ratner Center. Blessed with a wit as sharp as his legal mind, Professor Baird makes full use of the crazy cases that exist throughout contract law, turning the 1L requirement into one of the highest-rated courses at the law school. It is fortunate that most incoming students are not yet aware of how great he is, lest the half that gets left out protest its inability to take his contracts class.

• Lior Strahilevitz, Professor of Law and Walter Mander Teaching Scholar. One of the fastest professors to receive full tenure in the history of the Law School, Professor Strahilevitz is one of the funniest people (faculty member, staff, or student) at the Law School at any given moment, using his quick wit and vast knowledge of pop culture to keep terrified 1Ls relaxed and laughing. A testament to his popularity is the fact that an Intellectual Property class for 2L and 3L students required a move from a traditional classroom to the much larger auditorium … even after he had wireless Internet access turned off (prior to the school removing Internet connections in all classrooms). A savant when it comes to property (whether real or intellectual) law, Professor Strahilevitz is known for weaving current events into long-standing property law structures, such as his focus on the Kelo case in 2005 and 2006, as that legal battle shaped the law of eminent domain. Professor Strahilevitz also brings Chicago’s law and econ focus to the forefront in all of his classes as he lets the students chose which method by which the seating chart will be created. He takes a vote and lets the class choose whether to use an auction, a first-come-first-served model, or simply default to alphabetical order. Extremely available after hours, Professor Strahilevitz is often the first choice for academic-minded students seeking a 1L summer research job or for 2L and 3L students who wish to perform a publishable independent study.

• Emily Buss, Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law and Kanter Director of Chicago Policy Initiatives. Professor Buss is one of Chicago’s most active and influential professors in the areas of family law and children’s advocacy, overseeing many policy initiatives and opportunities for clinical work. In an environment that can often be extremely theoretical, Professor Buss can be a breath of fresh air with her commitment to actionable change and her preference for dealing with hot button issues and current events. Her primary areas of interest are often very specific and are best served in seminar settings with just 15 to 20 upper level students. Therefore, in keeping with the Chicago tradition, Professor Buss is annually tapped as one of the star 1L professors to teach the required courses. Her specialty in this area is Civil Procedure and hers is often the very first class that an incoming student will experience at the Law School. One of the sweetest and kindest people a student will ever meet, Professor Buss is still as tough as nails when it comes to the Socratic Method. She rarely lets a struggling student off the hook, unless a fellow classmate is the one rushing to the rescue. She is also one of the only professors in the Law School who will use role playing and mock trial type exercises to work through tricky areas of federal civil procedure – utilizing such creative teaching methods even in 90-person classes.

• M. Todd Henderson, Assistant Professor of Law. Professor Henderson is one of the reasons that Chicago can lose vaunted professors and keep on clocking in at the top of any educational quality rankings. A former associate in the elite appellate litigation practice group at Kirkland & Ellis in D.C. and then a star consultant at McKinsey & Company, Professor Henderson has brought his brash, quirky style to the Law School, where he teaches many of the key corporations and securities cases that are vital to any future corporate lawyer. Widely considered one of the toughest graders at the U of C, Professor Henderson actually tends to be a little easier than most with regard to the Socratic Method, as he relies mainly on volunteers to keep the dialogue going. Professor Henderson can be intimidating, given his height (at least 6’6”), incisive wit, booming voice, and slightly unconventional methods – to say nothing of the dense, complicated subject matter – but any student who goes through three years of legal education at Chicago and does not take a Henderson class is missing out. The Law School certainly seems aware of that fact, as almost all of his classes are held in the auditorium – an honor reserved for only the most popular 2L and 3L classes.

• Adam Cox, Assistant Professor of Law. Professor Cox is part of the new guard of Chicago professors: strongly against Internet usage in the classroom, incredibly smart, and a staunch, sometimes brutal administrator of the Socratic Method. Professor Cox is one of the few Chicago professors who will note when someone is absent from a class and then immediately pound that person with difficult questions the next time he or she dares to show up for class. That said, for all the stress that students endure in one of Professor Cox’s classes – often Civil Procedure II or an elective course dealing with elections, voting rights, or immigration – his fresh ideas and enthusiasm make the class well worth it. Not only that, but students can be sure that his demanding style comes from a good place, as he himself was a law student not so long ago (Michigan Law School, ’99). Professor Cox also taught at Chicago as a Bigelow Fellow in 2004 before joining the full-time faculty, and his ease around students is evident. Whether it is a debate about music (he’s a fan of indie bands), fashion, or the best coffee shops in Chicago, Professor Cox will drop everything to engage in conversation with members of the U of C community.

• Randal Picker, Paul H. and Theo Leffmann Professor of Commercial Law. Professor Picker has long been a favorite professor at U of C, dating back to the early 1990s, when he served as the school’s associate dean. However, his star – perhaps more than any other Chicago professor – has been on the rise in recent years due to the explosion of the Internet as it relates to legal policy. A specialist in the areas of intellectual property and antitrust, Professor Picker has become the go-to person for all things IP in Hyde Park. From students seeking his guidance and involvement in the Intellectual Property Law Society, to an influx of people taking his classes, to national media interviews, Professor Picker’s opinion is shaping the law on what seems like a daily basis. Additionally, Professor Picker is one of the most prolific and well-read contributors to the Law School’s Faculty Blog, which features posts from various faculty members on the key legal events of the day. His theories and ideas regarding digital rights management (DRM) are some of the most salient in the field. As a classroom presence, few compare to Professor Picker, whose natural enthusiasm is evident to all in attendance. From his highly detailed PowerPoint slides for every class, to his increasingly fast and high-pitched voice, to the removal of his sweater when he really gets going (a Picker class tradition), there is no doubt that he is totally and completely invested in every class.

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GMAC Expands the GMAT Fee Waiver Program

GMAC recently announced that it has expanded its GMAT fee waiver program for the coming year. The new program builds on an existing initiative that helps people cover the cost of taking the GMAT.

The expanded program permits business schools that use the GMAT to offer free access to the standardized entrance exam to a limited number of prospective students whose financial situations prevent them from paying the $250 fee on their own. Participating MBA programs will determine rules to select people to receive the fee waivers.

Interestingly, although GMAC underwrites the fee waivers (i.e., GMAC just forgoes the revenue; the school's don't have to pay anything), it leaves it to each school to determine who among its applicant pool is "economically disadvantaged." That means that you only need to make your case to your target school, rather than to GMAC. And, although GMAC only allows business schools to request up to 10 fee waivers at one time, they sound pretty open-minded about accepting more if a school has more applicants who have demonstrated need.

So, how do you get a GMAT fee waiver? Contact your target school and see if they have an official program in place to help underrepresented minorities or economically disadvantaged applicants. If they do, then just follow their instructions. If not, though, just send them to this page at GMAC.com and show them how easy it is. GMAC does a nice job of taking almost all of the administrative burden (not to mention the cost) off of the schools' shoulders, so for the schools, it's almost a no-brainer.

If you're just starting your GMAT preparation, give us a call at (800) 925-7737 and speak with one of our GMAT course advisors. And, be sure to subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter!

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One More Reason to Apply to HBS While You Are Young

If you've been reading our blog for a while, you no doubt have picked up on the fact that Harvard Business School has been the most vocal among top business schools about trying to attract younger applicants. By "younger" we mean that, while the mean number of years of work experience for students entering top business schools is still around 5 (note that's the number of years of full-time work experience at matriculation, not when they submit their applications), Harvard has made a point of encouraging applicants to apply with fewer than three years of experience. In fact, nearly half of the Class of 2011's 937 students has no more than three years of full-time work experience.

As if being an "old" applicant (i.e., someone with 5+ years of work experience) doesn't seem tough enough these days, now comes word that HBS is encouraging college seniors to apply in Round 3. As Dee Leopold wrote on the HBS Admissions Blog the other day:

If you are a college senior who wants to go to HBS - but not right away - then applying in Round 3 could be a smart choice.

Why?

1. The positive outcome is going to be "deferred admission" -- a guaranteed spot in the class of 2014 with the stipulation that you work for two years before matriculation.


2. No target or cap on the number of deferred admit spots we will offer. Last year 43 college seniors were offered deferred admission.


3. No downside: If you aren't admitted, apply again in a couple of years -- lots of denied college seniors are successful in the future.


4. The application fee is only $100.


5. GMAT/GRE scores are good for 5 years - why not take the test in college while you are still in test-taking mode?

Applying to HBS or any other top MBA program in Round 3 can be daunting enough on its own, but this doesn't help. However, this is great news if you're a college senior who missed the boat on the HBS 2+2 Program before your senior year.

Overall, if you're an older applicant, stop reading this post (lest you just make yourself more stressed). If you're a college senior or a fresh-out-of-college applicant, however, this is one more reason to think about applying to Harvard Business School sooner rather than later, provided that you're truly ready. This means that you have a competitive GMAT score, already have an idea of who can write great letters of recommendation for you, and have some good experiences to draw upon to demonstrate your leadership abilities and your maturity. If you already have these things (or have an idea of how you can get them within the next year), Harvard's signal is clear: They would rather that you apply now, rather than a few years from now.

For more advice on getting into Harvard Business School, download the free HBS Annual Report, one of 15 completely free guides to the world's top business schools, available on our site. If you're ready to start building your own candidacy, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today!

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GMAT Tip of the Week: Cause and Effect

Welcome back to Hip Hop Month in the GMAT Tip of the Week corner. One of the most underrated themes that one can find in 90s rap lyrics is the often-laughable unintentional use of cause-and-effect that rappers draw in their songs, using "(be)cause" as a connector of ideas with hilarious results. Take a line from the refrain of one of Biggie's biggest hits, Big Poppa:

...You got a gun up in your waist. Please don't shoot up the place. (Why?) 'Cause I've seen some ladies tonight that should be having my baby...baby...

Really, Big? The primary reason that someone shouldn't indiscriminately fire a gun around the nightclub is because you have an interest in some of the female patrons? Ethics...legality...these aren't primary concerns?

Ice Cube has another classic logical misstep in the title single from his cult classic movie Friday, in which he describes some horrific consequences of a disease, followed with the line:

And that ain't cool, fool, 'cause it's Friday.

Again, the logic is ridiculous. Any other day of the week would be fine for the kind of (explicitly-described) pain and suffering that he predicts? Just not heading in to the weekend?

As a favor to yourself, listen to your favorite hip hop lyrics from the 90s and seek out the comical cause-and-effect relationships that the rappers draw. It can be incredibly entertaining, and may also help you with your approach to Reading Comprehension questions on the GMAT. How?

When Reading Comprehension questions ask for specific details, they often ask you for either the cause or the effect of a cause/effect relationship. Questions can take the form of:

According to the passage, plants in desert regions can survive for weeks without rainwater because...

or

According to the passage, which of the following results from desert plants' retention of groundwater?

In either case, you're likely to return to the passage to analyze the portion that deals with desert plants and how they retain water. However, each question is asking for something completely different. The first asks for the cause of the plants' survival, while the second asks for the effect of the plants' water retention. Either question could have the same set of answer choices, and the passage will likely be written in a way that the intended answer to the question - cause or effect - will be a step farther from the key words (maybe "desert plants") for which you will be looking. The authors of these questions know that, when pressed for time and reading a passage that doesn't fall within your typical range of expertise, you're apt to simply find the answer choice that comes closest to the keywords from the passage and feel comfortable selecting that. In many cases, that answer choice will be the trap answer, giving you the cause if they ask for the effect, or vice versa.

To maximize your score on Reading Comprehension questions, look for and internalize the cause-and-effect relationships that are the subjects of the questions, and make sure that you know exactly which end the question seeks. Much like it will enhance your enjoyment of rap lyrics, isolating and focusing on cause-and-effect relationships will improve your score on the GMAT. And that's cool, you know, because it's Friday.

For more GMAT prep tips and resources, give us a call at (800) 925-7737. And, be sure to follow us on Twitter

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Law School Applicants: You Can Learn From Rappers

If you have been reading our excellent GMAT Tip of the Week series (penned by Veritas Prep's GMAT guru, lesson booklets co-author, and Director of Academic Research Brian Galvin), then you know one thing: it is "Hip Hop Month" here at Veritas Prep. The esteemed Mr. Galvin has been coming up with interesting and nostalgic ways to use rap music examples in order to better understand complex GMAT problems and solutions.

Today, it is our prospective JD readers who get to experience the joyful fusion of hip hop and graduate school admissions. This only makes sense, considering we once ran a blog post breaking down the legal implications of the Jay-Z song "99 Problems."

By now, you HAVE to be wondering: what can you, the law school applicant, possibly learn from a rapper?

It's pretty simple, actually: what you can learn is how to tell a story. Rappers - the good ones at least - are ultimately storytellers. The hip hop album generally considered to be the best ever recorded - Nas' Illmatic - is basically a spoken word version of his life's journal. The late great Tupac Shakur transitioned easily from "gangsta rap" to books of poetry and back again. These guys gave us tales of their life, made the words rhyme, and put it all over produced beats and sounds. That was their way of telling a story within the confines of a particular form.

Law school applicants also have the challenge of telling their unique story within the confines of a form ... the personal statement. We've written about the personal statement several times in the past (mistakes to avoid, how to write a great personal statement), but there is one critical mistake that applicants keep making ... they want to write about all the good stuff and ignore the bad.

If you click on the above links and read my previous offerings on the subject, you know that the personal statement is all about answering the admissions officer's biggest question. It's all about positioning. It's all about mitigating weaknesses. In other word, the best personal statements feature raw, honest, uncompromising storytelling. And now is where hip hop re-enters our discussion: the best rap songs are often not the brag and boast variety, rather, they are the tales told from the heart. Sure, there have been a few party anthems that have resonated over time and maybe this is me, but the hip hop tunes that have stayed with me over the years are tracks like 2Pac's "Dear Mama," "Keep Ya Head Up," and "So Many Tears," Common's love letter to rap itself ("I Used to Love H.E.R."), Jay-Z's "Lucky Me," and Biggie's "Juicy." Introspection, emotion, and brutal honesty is what elevated rap from shallow party music to something akin to literature. It made listeners sit up and take notice and to feel invested in the lives of the artists. There's a reason that so many people were devastated when 2Pac died and it wasn't because he penned "California Love."

Law school applicants would be wise to take a page out of the same book (of rhymes). Sure, you can brag about an accomplishment with artistry and make an initial impression - you may even have an admissions officer nodding her head for the rest of the day. But when admissions committee rolls around and precious few spots are up for grabs, your odds are better if your words have staying power - if you tell a story that resonates and makes the reader sit up and take notice. You want the reader to feel invested in your life as an applicant. Make them care about you and your story.

In short, when you write your personal statement, set out to write "Where I'm From" instead of "H to the Izzo."

For more information on law school admissions or for help incorporating career goals into the application, visit our law school admissions site or call our offices at 1.800.925.7737! And, remember to follow us on Twitter!

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Six Terrific Professors at Michigan (Ross)

Continuing our series of admissions insights clipped from Veritas Prep's Annual Reports, our in-depth insider's guides to 15 of the world's top business schools, this week we look at six of the Ross School of Business' most popular professors. (Our Annual reports are absolutely free with registration, but we thought we'd share some snippets here to help get you started in your Ross research.)

The Ross faculty is populated with many prominent business leaders, researchers, and teachers. Among Ross students, there are a handful of professors who are considered a "must" to have for a class, due to their reputation both as educators and as experts. This list isn’t merely a collection of famous names, but rather the instructors that Ross students deem to be essential for the full experience.

These notable professors include:

• Aneel Karnani, Associate Professor and Chair of Strategy. Known among Ross students as a "tell it like it is" straight shooter, Professor Karnani is most notorious for his ongoing academic battle with fellow Ross faculty member C.K. Prahalad. The two have been going back and forth about a concept known as "bottom of the pyramid" (exploring the market potential of the world's poorest people) for years.
  What students appreciate most is how candid Professor Karnani is about his work and his viewpoints and how willing he is to discuss somewhat controversial positions in class. All of this takes place as part of his interest in global competition – one of his two chief areas of research and instruction, with the other being basic strategic management.


• M.P. Narayanan, Professor and Chair of Finance. Professor Narayanan teaches in both the full-time MBA and EMBA programs at Ross and specializes in capital management and strategic growth. Known to pick up a racket and swing it with some of his students, Professor Narayanan is known and loved for making finance as simple and easy to understand as possible. His stated goal is to help students "connect the dots" between simple concepts and complex outcomes and he often does that through clever and entertaining metaphors.


• Christie Nordhielm, Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing. Recruited away from Kellogg in 2004 after being one of students' favorites there year after year, Professor Nordhielm is well known for her "Big Picture" method for strategically breaking down marketing problems. In fact, she was one of the first pieces in Dean Robert J. Dolan's vision for the school, which was to teach students how to be thought and action leaders in every segment of business. Having known about Professor Nordhielm's revolutionary framework (formally known as The Big Picture: Integrating Marketing Strategy and Execution), Dolan made it his first order of business to nab Kellogg's 2003 Professor of the Year. At Ross, Professor Nordhielm is teaching her marketing framework to not only individual classes and sections (as she did at Kellogg), but also to the entire faculty. With a style suggestive of her early career in advertising (at Leo Burnett), Professor Nordhielm is a engaging speaker who also presents seminars to top companies as well as to the Ross Executive Program (run through the Marketing Center for Excellence, which she also heads up). Finally, she is also a singer and songwriter who often has friends over to her house for an evening of singing. While she is extremely available to students, she draws the line at the singing parties.


• Andrew Hoffman, Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise. Professor Hoffman teaches at both Ross as well as the School of Natural Resources & Environment, and also serves as the Associate Director of the Erb Institute. He has published seven books and over 70 articles on sustainability and is a thought leader in every conceivable area of environmental impact on business. That said, Professor Hoffman's actually most popular for his Bargaining Behavior and Influence Skills course which almost always has the highest "market clear" price under the Ross bidding system. In some years, it will take more than half of a student's bid points to land a spot in Professor Hoffman's class.


• Gautam Ahuja, Professor of Strategy. A much decorated professor at the University of Texas, Ahuja has continued to rack up awards since coming to Michigan in 2003, where he was named the best professor in the entire PhD program in 2004. He is often cited by Ross students as a favorite professor despite his broad involvement in multiple programs and his research on innovation and technology as it relates to strategy has been groundbreaking.


• Linda Lim, Professor of Strategy. Often described as "plugged in," Professor Lim is a foremost expert on Southeast Asia and aims most of her research at that area of the world. Known for bringing her research to the classroom, Professor Lim's students enjoy looking at multinational problems from multiple angles, and often find themselves discussing her op-ed pieces or interviews from major publications. Her World Economy course is a very popular option for those students seeking to complete one of Ross' unique strategy requirements for graduation.

Today's blog post was clipped from our Ross Annual Report, one of 15 completely free guides to the world's top business schools, available on our site. If you're ready to start building your own application for Ross or other top MBA programs, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today!

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Chicago Booth to Eliminate PowerPoint Essay Question

A new BusinessWeek article titled Business Schools Revamp the Application investigates how some schools are breaking with tradition and exploring new approaches to the MBA admissions process. In some cases it's a matter of moving deadlines earlier or accepting the GRE in addition to the GMAT, while in others cases some schools are replacing traditional written essays with audio and video responses.

All interesting stuff, but what we actually found most intriguing was the fact that Chicago Booth will drop its PowerPoint question this coming admission season (2010-2011). This questions had been a staple of Booth's application for the past couple of years, but apparently it wasn't doing what the school had intended, so they put it out to pasture.

According to the article:

For the past few years, Booth has asked candidates to provide a PowerPoint presentation to show another side of themselves to the admissions committee. Although the committee has decided to eliminate the PowerPoint presentations starting with applications for the 2010-11 academic year, a new component -- as yet undisclosed -- will likely be in place this summer, says Rosemaria Martinelli, associate dean of student recruitment and admissions at Booth. The new addition to the admissions process may be something that MBA applicants will have to do after they get through an initial screening process, says Martinelli.

The PowerPoint slides didn't work, Martinelli says, because they became rote and entirely too easy to predict, They didn't showcase the applicant's personality and help the admissions committee determine who is and isn't a good fit, she said, adding that she hopes the new application procedure will do just that. "It's hard for us, especially when so much of the applicant pool is admissible," says Martinelli. "It comes down to who fits the life, spirit, and culture of an institution."

When a school adds or changes or deletes an essay question, it's a sign that the admissions office isn't quite getting what it needs. When reviewing every application, two main questions that goes through an admissions officer's mind are, "How well does this applicant fit with the school?" and "What about this applicant makes me want to choose him over other, similar applicants?" If a question generates similar answers from hundreds of applicants, or doesn't add anything new to most applicants' stories, then it's not getting the job done.

We suspect that many applicants' PowerPoint slides were nothing more than recaps of the rest of their applications, offering not much in the way of personality or useful information. This definitely wasn't the case for everyone -- some of our clients got into Chicago Booth this year with terrific PowerPoint slides -- but odds are that not enough applicants took full advantage of the medium, so Booth will move on.

Still, kudos to the school for trying something new. Also, we're very intrigued by the "may be something that MBA applicants will have to do after they get through an initial screening process" comment... The natural move would be for Booth to follow schools such as UCLA Anderson and offer a video or audio component. But, maybe it will be something else entirely, and maybe it will be something used as the admissions interview is used -- to get to know an applicant better after the school likes what it initially sees. We'll find out this summer, when Chicago Booth releases its application for the 2010-2011 admissions season.

For more advice on getting into Chicago Booth and other top business schools, download our Annual Reports, 15 completely free guides to the world's top MAB programs. And, as always, be sure to subscribe to this blog and to follow us on Twitter!

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GMAT Prep Classes Start Worldwide Tonight!

Today is one of those extra exciting days at Veritas Prep HQ, when GMAT prep classes start in dozens of cities worldwide (and in a few other cities, where they start tomorrow night).

We try to only sparingly use this space for blatant promotion of our products and services. However, for some of our newer readers who plan to apply to business school this coming fall, now is the ideal time to start preparing for the GMAT. Taking a class now enables you to take the GMAT before summer, so that you can get that stressful part of the application out of the way. Or, you can retake our class for free, if needed, and take the text again over the summer, still giving yourself plenty of time to purely focus on your apps before the Round 1 admissions deadlines come in October.

As you may have seen on our sweet new Veritas Prep web site, we have courses starting in these cities tonight and tomorrow night:

• Atlanta


• Austin


• Boston


• Chicago


• Dallas


• Denver


• Houston


• London


• Los Angeles


• Miami


• Minneapolis


• New Brunswick


• New York


• New Haven


• Philadelphia


• Phoenix


• Salt Lake City


• San Diego


• San Francisco


• San Jose


• Seattle


• Sydney


• Toronto


• Washington, DC

If you don't live near one of the cities, or if you just prefer to do your studying online, we also offer multiple online GMAT preparation options: a live online format and a self-paced "on demand" class.

If the time for you to start preparing for the GMAT is now, give us a call (800) 925-7737 and speak with a Veritas Prep admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to subscribe to this blog and to follow us on Twitter!

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