Ask: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?

　　SW: Essays to me – I happen to like to write – they are like the “gimmes.” Here is the one element of the application where you can take your time, give it some real serious thought. You don’t have to think on your feet. So when someone does a crappy job on essays it’s really a shame and kind of a reflection on how they might prepare for other things. You can own this and take your time and make sure it is what you intend to tell us. So we have high expectations for the essays.

　　We know without a doubt that it is possible to give a very appropriate and successful response in the word limit we suggest. We have vetted all of these essays. Sometimes people are very committed to telling you what they want you to know instead of what you ask, and that’s usually the case when we get an essay that doesn’t adhere to the word limit restrictions.

　　You definitely want to avoid some of the really irritating things. You don’t want to stick out as that one who couldn’t follow the rules. You want to give it some good thought and then cut. Think of it as an executive summary. Most people don’t want to know everything, they want to know just the salient details.

　　Our first essay is kind of unique. We wanted a question before the question that asks what are your career goals. In trying to come up with what this question might be, we asked ourselves if there were things we might be able to do in the admissions process that could help applicants come to business school more ready to take advantage and be successful in the internship search.

　　One of the observations that our career team made was that the students who are struggling in the internship search are those who haven’t thought enough about what they are bringing to the table. Do you understand what has made you successful so far? What is your currency? What have you relied on thus far? Are there some things that you have that you haven’t put into the game yet?

　　Our first question is designed – we want people to be able to abstract and to understand – not just that it’s been leadership, or team work, or whatever it may have been. It’s really about being able to understand how you have been successful. “My ability to blank, blank, blank has allowed me to be successful until now, and this is how I plan to use this same attribute to compete in whatever my future goal is.” That’s what we are looking for in response to that first question.

　　We introduced that question a couple of years ago. I think this year might be the third season. Some people do a better job with it than others. But it helps us in admissions to see that people understand what they bring to the table and where they want to go.

　　There are some schools that have moved toward opening admissions to applicants without an established track record. We haven’t. We are still very interested in admitting people who are bringing significant experience and have produced results in whatever they have chosen to do before business school. We think this first question has helped us identify those people who have a pretty well reasoned case for the MBA – as opposed to those who are coming because they have always thought it might be a good idea to get an MBA or some graduate degree. We are looking for applicants for whom the goal is something else and who can tell us how business school will help them get there.

　　As for specific mistakes to avoid, I’d say not heeding the word limits or trying to force an answer that doesn’t fit the question asked. Applicants need to recognize that most schools look to the essays as a means of assessing a candidate’s readiness to do this and marketability. But there are also questions designed to help us assess is this the right environment. So if you don’t answer the questions that we ask, we aren’t able to compare you apples to apples to other candidates. It is really important for the applicant to respect that the school has assembled these questions for a reason. We don’t want to read any more essays than we have to. When someone is clearly not responding to the question that is asked, it’s not good.

　　Another piece of advice I would give is to be yourself. Sometimes people are trying to write stylistically in a way that they think we want them to be. Of course, you should be professional – and not so casual that we question your judgment. But we can take many different styles. Sometimes people make them so sterile. The tone of the essay should be a pretty good indicator of the tone and temperament and personality of the person.

　　Finally, we have an essay where you can tell us any information that is not presented anywhere else, Optional Essay Number Five. Here, optional means exactly that – optional. If the question doesn’t apply to you, don’t feel obligated to answer it. You can have a perfectly competitive application that does the required essays only.

　　Ask: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

　　SW: We certainly want to encourage people to come check us out. Interviews are by invitation only, but anyone can come and visit. We want people to come, sit in on a class, participate in our visit program. If you drop in – not as part of the official visit program – we will do our best to work with you. But sometimes prospective applicants drop in on a date when students are in exams.

　　If you do come and you are an official visitor, we will offer you a chance to have lunch with a group of students – and we even buy! These are not students who are evaluating you. You also can sit in on a class. A number are offered and we have a schedule of those online. We also have a tour of the business school facility led by a current student – kind of a “day in the life, here’s what’s happening at the school around these places” tour. It’s a great way of collecting people you can stay in touch with beyond the day that you visit. I would recommend to prospective applicants that you do your best to reach out to students and to alums because that is going to give you a good sense of what the school’s vibe is like and whether it is a network you want to be part of.