Welcome to F1GMAT's weekend updates for the week ending July 2nd, 2022. I am Atul Jose.
Top MBA programs that have released the essays and deadlines for the 2023 entering class or the 2025 graduating class during the first week of July include Stanford Graduate School of Business and MIT Sloan School of Management.
Related: F1GMAT's Stanford MBA Essay Guide | MIT Sloan MBA Essay Guide
The deadlines for Stanford MBA are 1st Round: 13th Sep 2022, 2nd Round: 5th January 2023, and 3rd Round 11th April 2023.
MIT Sloan also has three deadlines with Round 1 on September 29th 2022, Round 2 on January 18th 2023, and Round 3 on April 11th 2023.
Stanford has stuck with two essays that have been a regular feature over the past 7 years. Essay 1 is “ What matters most to you and why.” This is a 650-word essay. For this essay, you must cite experiences, perspectives about life and quote people who had a huge influence over you both professionally and personally.
Essay 2 is Why Stanford. This is a 400-word essay where you must cite the Stanford GSB experience and connect with how the experience will help you reach your career and personal goals.
Unlike the open-ended nature of the Harvard MBA application, Stanford, in addition to the Why Stanford 400-word essay, also has one 200-word optional essay. The question is, “Think about times you've created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings.
What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others?”
There is also another 200-word question under the Personal Information section. This is applicable to those who come from an underrepresented group of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic background, and gender.
The question is, “We know that each person is more than a list of facts or pre-defined categories. With this question, we provide you with an optional opportunity to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices.”
MIT Sloan has also stuck with a format that has become an effective tool in shortlisting applicants with strong leadership potential without making the narrative all about a superficial definition of leadership. To do that, the school has continued with a cover letter and a 1-minute introduce yourself to the class video statement.
The 300-word or few cover letter prompt goes like this.
“MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity and respect passion.
Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should conform to a standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation).”
The 2nd deliverable is the 1-minute video. The prompt goes like this
“Introduce yourself to your future classmates. Here’s your chance to put a face with a name, let your personality shine through, be conversational, be yourself. We can’t wait to meet you!
Videos should be
• No more than 1 minute (60 seconds) in length
• Single take (no editing)
• Speaking directly to the camera
• Do not include background music or subtitles
That is the update for this week. Subscribe to F1GMAT's Winning MBA Admission Tips Podcast for Business School and admission-related tips, analysis, strategies, and news. I am Atul Jose.
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