Chicago Booth GSB 2011 Essays - Some insights

Chigago Booth released their 2011 essay questions yesterday.

Since many amongst you might be thinking of getting started on your essays even now, here is some insight as to what they might be looking for in each essay.

1. The Admissions Committee is interested in learning more about you on both a personal and professional level. Please answer the following (maximum of 300 words for each section):

a. Why are you pursuing a full-time MBA at this point in your life?
b. Define your short and long term career goals post MBA.
c. What is it about Chicago Booth that is going to help you reach your goals?
d. REAPPLICANTS ONLY: Upon reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application?

These short essays will require you to know yourself. You will need to understand where you have been and where you are going. Before you begin drafting the responses to these essays, take some time for self-reflection. Why do you want to return to school? Why is the MBA the right degree for you?

We know that many of you will use your MBA experience to help you figure out what kind of job to pursue next. Even though your future career plans may not be clear at this time, you should still be able to discuss your goals and how they relate to obtaining an MBA.

For reapplicants, question 1d is where you can tell them what, if anything, has changed since the time of your last application. What has occurred in your life or career that has either reinforced or changed your goals? What lessons have you learned or how have you grown since you last applied to Chicago Booth?

2. Chicago Booth is a place that challenges its students to stretch and take risks that they might not take elsewhere. Tell us about a time when you took a risk and what you learned from that experience (maximum of 750 words).

You’re probably wondering, “What kind of risk do you want me to discuss?” To be honest, it can be ANY form of risk that you have taken. It can be a risk related to your professional, academic or personal life. It can be a risk that resulted in either a positive or negative outcome. They just want to see how you have challenged yourself, and what you learned from that experience. How has that experience influenced your future actions?

3. At Chicago Booth, we teach you HOW to think rather than what to think. With this in mind, we have provided you with “blank pages” in our application. Knowing that there is not a right or even a preferred answer allows you to demonstrate to the committee your ability to navigate ambiguity and provide information that you believe will support your candidacy for Chicago Booth.

This is probably the trickiest part of the entire application. You have at your disposal 4 absolutely blank pages, to fill with whatever you think is necessary to make your profile standout.

(Please remember that they will taking printouts of this presentation. Hence flash, animation, music, etc are absolutely useless!)

Just because you are given absolute freedom, does not mean that you should abuse it. You have to be very careful about the content that you put here. Are there any blanks in the other areas of your application? Are there certain messages about yourself that you have not been able to communicate to the admissions committee? If so, then the presentation will be an opportunity for you to provide them with this type of information. After reviewing your presentation, they want to have a BETTER AND MORE COMPLETE understanding of who you are and how you think.

Also, please remember that it is the content – not the design – that should be the focus of the presentation. Not everyone is a design guru. So, whether it’s through photos, images, graphs, or just words, the goal is to communicate your messages as effectively as possible.

We at GMAT Toppers wish you all the best for your application

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