The Stanford Graduate School of Business has posted the essay questions and updated guidelines for letters of recommendation for the 2013-2014 MBA admissions season. The questions remain unchanged from last year’s application.

Essay 1: What matters most to you, and why?

• The best examples of Essay 1 reflect the process of self-examination that you have undertaken to write them.
• They give us a vivid and genuine image of who you are—and they also convey how you became the person you are.
• They do not focus merely on what you’ve done or accomplished. Instead, they share with us the values, experiences, and lessons that have shaped your perspectives.
• They are written from the heart and address not only a person, situation, or event, but also how that person, situation, or event has influenced your life.

Essay 2: What do you want to do—REALLY—and why Stanford?

Use this essay to explain your view of your future, not to repeat accomplishments from your past.

You should address two distinct topics:

• your career aspirations,
• and your rationale for earning your MBA at Stanford, in particular.

The best examples of Essay 2 express your passions or focused interests, explain why you have decided to pursue graduate education in management,  and demonstrate your desire to take advantage of the opportunities that are distinctive to the Stanford MBA Program.

Essay 3: Answer one of the three questions below.

Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.

• Option A: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.
• Option B: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you identified and pursued an opportunity to improve an organization.
• Option C: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you went beyond what was defined or established.

Essay Length

Your answers for all of the essay questions cannot exceed 1,600 words.

Stanford GSB suggests these guidelines as a starting point, but notes you should feel comfortable to write as much or as little as you like on any essay question, as long as you do not exceed 1,600 words total.

Essay 1: 750 words
Essay 2: 450 words
Essay 3: 400 words

Stay tuned for our Stanford MBA essay tips, coming soon, and here’s a reminder of the Stanford GSB important dates and deadlines.

James (Jim) W. Dean Jr.

Chancellor Holden Thorp and Chancellor-Elect Carol Folt announced Dean’s appointment, effective July 1, in an email to the campus community on May 23.

Dean was appointed as Kenan-Flagler’s dean in 2008. Thorp said Dean had successfully positioned Kenan-Flagler as a leading global business school that is a valued member of the campus community and a major contributor to the welfare of North Carolina, the nation and the world.

In a news release, Folt called Dean an “accomplished scholar and outstanding educator” who is widely respected for his “visionary leadership” and “interdisciplinary approaches he takes to ensure excellence in research, education and public service.”

“As the chief academic officer, his deep knowledge of university strengths across schools and commitment to providing an outstanding education for our undergraduate, graduate and professional students will assist me in engaging the entire community in building a bright future,” Folt said.

An interim dean will be announced later, along with plans for a search committee to find Dean’s successor.

A companion student exit survey, the 2013 Global Management Education Graduate Survey, shows that similar to last year, six in 10 business school graduates already had job offers in February or March. The annual employer and graduate surveys, looking at the current employment outlook from both sides of the market, were released Tuesday by GMAC.

graphic courtesy of GMAC

The 2013 Corporate Recruiters Survey of 935 employers around the world finds 75 percent plan to hire MBAs, up from 71 percent that hired MBAs in 2012. The proportion of employers planning to hire other types of business school graduates is up from last year for master in management, master of accounting, master of finance, as well as other specialized business master’s.

Both surveys show a healthier job market for business school graduates from five years ago, when just 50 percent of corporate recruiters planned to hire MBAs and 43 percent of class of 2009 graduates surveyed had early job offers.

“These results positively answer many of the primary questions MBA candidates ask about the opportunities an MBA degree may present to them, by not only confirming the value of the MBA degree in today’s dynamic job market, but also clearly illustrating the industries in which it might currently best be leveraged,” says Mark Peterson, president of the MBA Career Services Council.

The good news is that the GMAT does not demand any knowledge of advanced mathematics: trigonometry or calculus or beyond.  GMAT Math only covers up to about the level of ordinary Algebra Two and basic Statistics.  The challenging part, though, is that the GMAT is not satisfied if you can merely regurgitate math factoids back at it.  Rather, the GMAT wants you actually to know the mathematics and be able to reason mathematically.  What do I mean?

Many folks think if they know the GMAT formulas, then they know GMAT math.  Even the GMAT OG has a “Math Review” in which it lists all possible math factoid tested.  Are the contents of that OG’s “Math Review” identical to the mathematics you need to know?  Not quite.  The factoids themselves are not math, just as isolated pieces of vocabulary do not constitute fluency in another language.  Mathematics is using those factoids, exploiting their logical interconnections, and employing them ingeniously as tools for problem-solving.  The best GMAT books will begin to give you this latter perspective on math.

Relatedly, stop wondering whether you can use a calculator on the GMAT. You can’t. Folks who don’t understand what math is think that a calculator “does math” for them.  No.  Instead, when you don’t have a calculator, you are forced to think mathematically.  For example, you might use the information about a number’s prime factors to figure out by what one of its powers is divisible. Not having a calculator makes more relevant the divisibility patterns, estimation, and calculation shortcuts like the doubling & halving trick.  In fact, whenever you think a GMAT Quant problem is asking you to do a gigantic calculation, you inevitably are overlooking some particularly elegant simplification.

You don’t need to be a math genius to do well on the GMAT Quant section.  Furthermore, despite whatever GMAT-IQ correlation there may be, you don’t need to be in the elite IQ region in order to get an elite GMAT score.  You just need to work hard.  You need to follow a thorough and well-founded GMAT study plan.  You need to use excellent GMAT prep resources.  You need to put in hours of practice.  Math is not a spectator sport: you learn it only by doing it.  You need to learn to see patterns, and use these patterns in problem-solving.   You need to practice, make mistakes, read solutions & explanations, and learn consistently from your mistakes.   This assiduous work, and nothing less, is your passport to GMAT math.

This post was written by Mike McGarry, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.

INSEAD has posted the deadlines for the September 2014 intake. The three deadlines are:

Round 1
Deadline: October 2, 2013
Interview Decision Notification: November 8, 2013
Final Decision Notification: December 20, 2013

Round 2
Deadline: November 27, 2014
Interview Decision Notification: January 10, 2014
Final Decision Notification: February 21, 2014

Round 3
Deadline: March 5, 2014
Interview Decision Notification: April 11, 2014
Final Decision Notification: May 23, 2014

Applicants should note that competition for each round is relatively equal regardless of the intake or round you apply for. INSEAD reviews the pool of applications submitted within each round independently, keeping the “offer ratio” (percentage of candidates accepted vs. applications received) fairly constant across all rounds.

All applications must be submitted by midnight Central European Time on the day of the deadline.

Columbia Business School

Short Answer Question
What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (100 characters maximum)

Essay 1

Given your individual background, why are you pursuing a Columbia MBA at this time? (Maximum 500 words)

Essay 2

Columbia Business School is located in the heart of the world’s business capital – Manhattan. How do you anticipate that New York City will impact your experience at Columbia? (Maximum 250 words)

Please view the videos below:

 New York City – limitless possibilities

 New York City – fast paced and adaptable

Essay 3

What will the people in your Cluster be pleasantly surprised to learn about you? (Maximum 250 words)

Optional Essay

An optional third essay will allow you to discuss any issues that do not fall within the purview of the required essays.

For more information, please visit Columbia Business School’s admissions website.