And the award goes to.....

After writing so many essays we decide to give mock awards for some these essays. Enjoy!

Hardest Essay:
Mads Mom: Consortium Mission Essay A) What have you done pre-MBA in your business, academic or personal life to demonstrate commitment to this mission? What will you do while enrolled in your MBA program to demonstrate your commitment to the mission? What will you do post-MBA with respect to community service and leadership involvement to demonstrate your continued commitment to The Consortium’s mission of diversity and inclusion? I wasn't involved in much community service in college because I played sports, so it was difficult to figure out something that I could relate to but in the end my sport actually turned into a great essay and goal for the essay.

Motown: Wharton - Discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life. (600 words). This was difficult b/c I was torn between a project I did in the community and a project I did at work. I ended up writing two separate essays for it...and then going with my original idea of writing about something I did at work...Even though I ended up going back to my original idea, I still heavily revamped the story.

Ms.HR: Johnson - What legacy would you hope to leave as a Johnson graduate?
Legacy is a strong word and after reading all the essays analysis on this question there were so many ways I could approach this essay.With only 200 words and endless possibility it took me awhile to decide on a legacy that I was happy with.


Enjoyed writing the most:
Mads Mom: Ross - Introduce yourself to your future Ross classmates in 100 words or less. I think my introduction will stand out and would be something my classmates would find informative.

Motown: Kellogg - Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would you and your peers select you for admission, and what impact would you make as a member of the Kellogg community? (600 word limit) This one was pretty hard for me...and took me several weeks to get it just write. To be more transparent, Kellogg was my FIRST essay deck I ever wrote. I ended up coming up with 7 versions of Kellogg Essay Decks..by the time I submitted. I think this one essay evolved the most b/c I changed the angle a few times as I edited it. Once I was done with it, I really felt that I had a unique but interesting story...and I liked how it was written.

Ms.HR: Johnson - You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. Please write the table of contents for the book. Note: Approach this essay with your unique style. We value creativity and authenticity. (400 words). A chance for me to be creative and tell my story in a unique way.  I really enjoyed coming up with chapter names.


Caused the most self- reflection:  
Mads Mom: Ross - Describe a personal challenge or obstacle and why you view it as such. How have you dealt with it? What have you learned from it?…There are many to it was hard to pick one and actually say that I learned something.

Motown: Ross - What are you most passionate about? (300 words max)
This one was fun for me and probably was the quickest essay I wrote...not b/c I rushed it...but because it was really genuine. This was also one of the last essays I wrote so it was quite reflective and felt like a good way to end my MBA journey

Ms. HR: Ross - What are you most passionate about?
I know my passion and why I love it but the "so what" was the hard part. Trying to convey my passion and explain why it matters  took some self reflection. I really had to sit and think on this essay.

Shortest word limit
Mads Mom: Ross - Introduction to classmates…only 100 words!

Motown - My shortest Word limit was also the Ross Introduction to classmates (100 words). But also, I struggled with the Wharton essay: What are your professional objectives? (300 words). By the time I wrote my Wharton Essay, I had my ST/LT goals down, BUT....to put it into 300 words was pretty dificult. I had to edit, edit, edit to get it down to the word limit w/o losing my message.

Ms. HR: Ross- Introduction to classmates. 100 words is barely nothing... luckily Soojin Kwon Koh gave a few pointers on the introduction.

Most rewrites:
Mads Mom: ST/LT Goals information for all schools…you gotta make sure that is solid.

Motown - HBS Tell us about three of your accomplishments. (600 words). Essentially I had 200 words per accomplishment. Not only did I have to become a master at wordsmithing, I also had to come up with 3 accomplishments and 3 setbacks (the 2nd question)....I kept changing a which 3 accomplishments that I wanted to share. I was super confident about this one project I did in the community, but the other 2 evolved for a while.

Ms.HR - In what ways would you impact Owen as a student and as an alumnus/alumna? How would you create change within the Owen community?(500 words maximum). A whole essay on what I bring to the table. I had plenty to say but not enough words. I think I had to rewrite this essay so many times because I had to keep on editing. Every time I would cut down a few words I would think of some other way I could impact Owen.


Readers Favorite ( The one essay that your feedback person enjoyed reading the most ) : 
Mads Mom: Consortium

Motown: When I asked for feedback on my essays from students/peers etc. usually most people really liked my Kellogg essay for the question: Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would you and your peers select you for admission, and what impact would you make as a member of the Kellogg community? (600 word limit)

Ms.HR:  Johnson - the book of Your Life Story.

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Guest Post: Journey to Kellogg

As mentioned previously in Motown's updates...MktgBadger...a future Kellogg Student is going to recap her journey into Kellogg below.  Enjoy!
 

Thanks Motown for such a heartfelt shout out! I cannot express to all of you how ecstatic I am to be attending Kellogg in the fall and hope that some of you will be joining me!
Since many readers are Rd 2 applicants, I’m going to focus more on the interview, but please as a disclaimer: feel free to reach out to me if/when you have questions about post-admit process which I am fully submersed in now!

As you know, Kellogg attempts to interview 100% of its applicants. In my opinion, this says a lot about who they are as a school. It means to me that they recognize we are more than just what we can cram into 4 essays and that we deserve a chance to show that. Kudos to Kellogg for this policy – I am a huge fan of it.

My interview was on campus with an admissions director and lasted ~40 minutes. It was nice that I had actually (briefly) met him before so I was able to start the interview with some small talk (where I was from, what I have done since I last saw him, etc). He then briefly told me the format of the interview and got started.

1. Resume walkthrough: I would say we spent the most time here … this was a guided by questions conversation about everything on my resume. Starting with college, going through internships, my current job, and even my extracurriculars. Extremely thorough, with a few curveball questions (i.e. what’s a common misconception about you?). HUGE focus on leadership here. Make sure you explain with stories you are a LEADER in whatever you did.

2. Goals: This was about a 4 minute conversation…briefly asked me short/long term goals and since I was a career switcher, why … I had a pretty solid answer here, so no follow up questions – but I would definitely BE ready for the why questions. Kellogg is very keen on knowing your career aspirations.


3. Why Kellogg: Another large portion of the time was spent on why Kellogg. Questions spanning from how I will interact w/ classmates to what groups I wanted to join. Lesson here: KNOW YOUR FACTS about Kellogg. I cannot stress enough that it’s a good idea to research. The last thing you want is not to know even one name of a club you want to join.

4. Add’l information: we had about 10 minutes to spare so he asked me if he had missed anything. I focused this part of the conversation to tell him what had happened since I applied (I had just gotten nominated to a new board position of an extracurricular) so we talked a bit about that. Whatever you use this time for … make sure you’ve thought about it.

As we walked out, we had a bit more small talk about the Chicago area social atmosphere. Remember that the interview begins from the minute you enter the building to the minute you leave. Have a mature and professional presence … and make sure to SMILE!!

Good luck to all the Round 2 applicants and beyond out there. I’m currently prepping to tell my employer the news that I will leaving (EEK!) and my trip out to Kellogg for their admitted student weekend. Happy that the application portion of the journey is over, wishing you all nothing but good luck with your paths to b-school!!

-MktgBadger

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The Waiting Game Begins

I know I previously said I wouldn't let a month go by without posting something but the applications and essays left no time for blog posts. December was such a busy month, I was putting final touches on my application, finishing some essays and trying to enjoying the holidays with my family.

Now that almost all of my applications are submitted ( one more left!!!) its time to wait and see what lies ahead for my future. I already made my list of stuff to do while waiting :)

• NOTHING. First thing on my list to do absolutely nothing for at least 2 weeks.
• Gather information about interviews- After doing nothing for a little bit I don't want to throw away all my hard work by not being prepared for an interview. While waiting, my plan is to gather interview information for all my schools so I have it ready when needed.
• Plan a vacation- March 29th is the last possible date that I would hear a admission decision. So guess what?  April 1st I will be on someones beach enjoying myself. It has been such a long process and a mini vacay is a MUST!
• Welcome back my social life - My social life has been put on hold for too long. Now its time to bring it back in full force!

What are you all doing while waiting for your admission decision?

-Ms. HR

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