MBA ZoNe on NewsGator Online

Graduate Admissions News: Enrollments Are Up

Linda Abraham — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:36:22 GMT

Inside Higher Ed reports that according to a recent study by the Council of Graduate Schools, total graduate enrollment in the United States has increased by 3%. More interesting than the fairly typical across-the-board increase are the varying increases by demographic groups and field of study. Here are some highlights:

Health sciences saw the largest increase: 9%.

Education saw the second largest increase at 5%.

Humanities saw no changes in enrollment.

Business and Education both saw a 1% decrease.

Enrollments of non-U.S. citizens increased more than that of U.S. citizens (up 7% vs. up 3%).

Only time will tell how the current economic downturn will affect future enrollment changes. Based on previous downturns, enrollments may increase at even higher rates this upcoming year, as college graduates face tighter job markets.

For more info, please read the article from Inside Higher Ed.

MBA Scholarships

Rebecca Blustein — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:06:57 GMT

You don’t need us to tell you that Business School is expensive. But there are more resources available to help you pay for it than you might think. With some careful research into scholarship and fellowship opportunities, you could be on your way to funding your degree.

Funding for your MBA may be offered by specific universities or programs, or by outside private sources (such as foundations, alumni groups, or companies). The key for scholarship candidates is research. Start by thoroughly reviewing any funding opportunities at your chosen school. Do they offer a full-ride fellowship program for high merit students? Perhaps the university participates in a wider fellowship program, such as the

• Consortium Fellowship, which provides funding for outstanding applicants who demonstrate a commitment to the Consortium’s mission of promoting diversity and inclusion in American business and who are applying to member universities.
• Forté Foundation, which provides funding for outstanding women.

Next, consider your interests, affiliations and goals. Maybe you already have a professional connection with an organization or company that offers scholarships. Maybe there's an organization that offers scholarships to support the next generation of leaders in the field you intend to pursue. Maybe you’re a member of an underrepresented community, and there's a community-based MBA association (or alumni association at the school you plan to attend) that funds scholarships— see for example the National Black MBA Association or the National Society of Hispanic MBAs . International students planning to pursue their studies in the US might consider the Fulbright.

Finally, conduct a general scholarship search. Many companies and foundations offer scholarships for MBA students, and the web makes it easy to find them. Create a profile on a free database such as www.ScholarshipExperts.com or www.FastWeb.com (these contain a lot of undergrad listings, but they also have some MBA-specific scholarships). There are also targeted books available—a good one is Schlachter and Webber’s How to Pay for Your Degree in Business & Related Fields, published by Reference Service Press.

The requirements for your scholarship applications will be similar to your admission applications: essays, recommendations, academic transcripts, resumes. For large, school-based fellowships, finalists will often be interviewed. And remember to start your search early—don’t let opportunities pass you by!

By Dr. Rebecca Blustein, Accepted.com editor and former Student Affairs Officer at UCLA’s Scholarship Resource Center. Dr. Blustein can help you with your application or scholarship essays.

Stanford Dean Joss to Resign

Linda Abraham — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:14:40 GMT

Stanford Graduate School of Business announced today that D ean Robert L. Joss will step down from his position as dean at the completion of his current five-year term, which ends in 2009.

The two capstone achievements of Joss' ten-year tenure are:

The new MBA curriculum introduced in fall 2007.
Planning and breaking ground for the new 360,000-square-foot, environmentally friendly business school campus. (Planned completion date: 2011)

For the complete list of Joss' accomplishments as dean, please see the press relea se.

Stanford also announced the immediate formation of a dean's search committee headed by Stanford Provost John Etchemendy.

MBA Admissions: But Why Now?

Paul Bodine — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:18:40 GMT

Many business school goals essays explicitly ask you to explain why you are applying now. Why do they ask this? In one sense, it’s another way of getting a fix on how certain you are that an MBA is right for you. That is, the “why now?” question is a disguised maturity and focus question and, as such, a complementary variation on the goals and “why an MBA?” questions. You may have detailed, rock-solid career goals and an airtight case for how the MBA gets you to them, but if you can’t say why you need to begin the MBA process now – rather than two years from now – adcoms may conclude that you’re applying now for the wrong reasons. A good “why now?” message gives your application that extra sense of urgency or momentum that can move you from the ding or wait-list piles to the admit basket.

So, whether your school asks the “why now?” question overtly or not, you need to provide an explicit or implicit answer. The implicit answer will be the subliminal message that should be flashing throughout your goal essay’s career progress section: that the trajectory of your skills, leadership roles, and functional breadth has been rising inexorably, so only the lack of an MBA keeps you from bursting into glory into the management ranks. Your explicit answer will support the subliminal answer all along the following lines:

Career plateau. Your learning curve has flattened, and no new challenges are foreseeable in the next two years. If you stay any longer in your current career path, you will risk being pigeonholed as a “[insert your job here],” and breaking out will only become harder.

Goals epiphany. You have only just recently realized what your career’s purpose (post-MBA goal) is, and now that you know it, there’s simply no reason to delay.

Post-MBA goals have time element. Your post-MBA plans are linked to trends that will begin to gel about the time you earn your MBA. You can’t afford to wait to gain the skills to capitalize on these trends.

Maturity. You finally have the professional and personal savvy, balance, and perspective to make the wise decision to invest in your long-term future. (This is an acceptable way of saying ‘My age matches the median age of the people you admit.’)

Natural break in career. You’re approaching the end of a clearly demarcated career phase, such as a corporation’s two-year management training program or a one-year overseas posting.

By Paul Bodine, Senior Editor, Accepted.com, and author of "Great Application Essays for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Great Personal Statements for Law School," "Perfect Phrases for Law School Acceptance," and "Perfect Phrases for Medical School Acceptance." Excerpted from "Great Application Essays for Business School" by Paul Bodine (McGraw-Hill). Paul would be delighted to help you define your "Why Now" for round two and later applications.

Demonstrating a Growth Mindset

Jennifer Bloom — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:54:37 GMT

The New York Times' article "If You're Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow" was practically a step-by-step guide for applying to MBA programs. In it, science writer Jane Rae-Dupree discusses the three-decade research of Stanford Professor Carol Dweck.

The article discusses Dweck's research into brain development and learning behavior and Dweck's conclusion that business professionals with what she terms "a growth mindset" are leaders and team builders who will consistently deliver better results than those with what she calls a "fixed mindset." Those professionals who seek opportunities to learn new skills, develop collaborative teams, and uncover new levels of their own and others' talents are the resilient leaders capable of steering a company to long-term success. The top MBA programs agree – though they may not have read Professor Dweck's work directly – and they tend to seek evidence of these same qualities in applicants' essays.

Okay, so now that you know this interesting nugget, how do you bring examples of your growth mindset into your essays?

Nearly every program asks for an example of your leadership and/or growth mindset. For example,

Duke's " Leaders need adaptability, imagination, and emotional intelligence as well as business acumen. What impact do you hope to have as a leader of consequence?"

Columbia's: "Please provide an example from your own life in which practical experience taught you more than theory alone."

Wharton's " 4 a. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts."

When choosing the example or examples you will discuss in these and other essays, think about times when you recognized an opportunity to learn a new skill or business area and talk about your mindset in developing the team: how did you identify and select team members? What were you hoping to gain from the experience? Were you challenged by additional factors besides those you initially anticipated? By demonstrating how you have maintained a growth mindset in the past, you will be proving yourself capable of learning and growing in these esteemed MBA programs and your future career.

Senior Editor Jennifer Bloom has been with Accepted for 10 years, guiding applicants to demonstrate their commitment to learning and growing as leaders to succeed in earning admission to the top MBA programs around the world.

Approaching the Diversity Essay Question

Sheila Bender — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:29:56 GMT

Many applications now have a question, sometimes optional, geared to encouraging people with minority backgrounds or unusual educational or family histories to write about their background. If you are an immigrant to the US, the child of immigrants or someone whose ethnicity is a minority in the US, you might find this question an interesting one to show how your background will add to the mix of perspectives at the college you are applying to. If you are applying after having an unusual experience for applicants like joining the military, becoming part of a dance troupe, or caring for an elderly relative, you can use your experience to evoke the way in which you will bring diversity to campus.

Your family’s culture, situation and traditions, and the way they have helped you develop particular character and personality traits are of interest, as well unusual experiences that have shaped you. Perhaps you have grown up with a strong insistence on respecting elders, attending family events or learning your parents’ native language and culture. Perhaps you are close to grandparents and extended family who have taught you how teamwork can help everyone survive. Perhaps you have had to face and deal with difficulties that stem from your parents’ values being in conflict with those of your peers. Perhaps teachers have not always understood the elements of your culture or outside-of-school situation and how they pertain to your school performance. Perhaps you have suffered discrimination and formed your values and personality traits around your success in spite of the discrimination. Perhaps you have learned skills from a lifestyle that is outside the norm--living in foreign countries as the child of diplomats or contractors, performing professionally in theater, dance, music or sports, or communicating with a deaf sibling.

Understanding and explaining how your experience built your empathy for others, a strong will, and character is a good focus for the diversity question.

By Sheila Bender, Accepted editor and author of Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays and How to Write Great College Application Essays and Stay Sane. Sheila is available to advise you on the perfect phrases for your college application essay or personal statement.

MBA Admissions: Brownie Points for Visits?

Linda Abraham — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:34:30 GMT

School visits. They are time-consulting and expensive. And they contribute to global warming.

Furthermore, Dee Leopold in The Director's Blog at HBS' web site makes clear that HBS does not weigh a visit as a factor in an admissions decision. The Wharton adcom blog made a similar statement a few years ago.

Is personally visiting the campuses of your target schools a waste of time and effort? Absolutely not.

I am not disputing Harvard's or Wharton's statements that they don't award brownie points for visiting. However, whether or not your target programs award brownie points, a visit does mean you will have a better chance of being admitted -- not because of imaginary points, but because you will be a better informed applicant. You will know more about the school and its culture. You will know more about why it appeals to you, why its style matches yours, and how it supports your goals.

As Dee suggestions in her post, to profit the most from your trip, visit when class is in session. Then take a tour, meet with students, participate in the info session, and attend a class. In short, take advantage of whatever is offered.

What if you simply can't visit your target schools? If you live far away, don't worry about it. You still need to demonstrate a deep understanding of the school's culture and program, but the school won't hold your lack of visit against you. Even schools (e.g. Tuck and Darden ) that really value a visit as a sign of serious interest understand that international applicants can't necessarily come. Other schools explicitly ask what you have done to learn about their program, for example Haas queries "What steps have you taken to learn about the Berkeley MBA program?"

What steps should you take on the road to an MBA acceptance?

Scour the schools' web sites.
Attend the many receptions and events held by the schools.
Participate in MBA Tour events.
Talk to current students and/or recent alumni.
Read current student blogs to get a feel for campus life.

Here is a list of upcoming MBA Tour events in the US, but the Tour is international so check their website if you are outside the US.

September 2 : Chicago
September 4: Houston
September 6: New York
September 7: Washington, D.C.
September 9: Atlanta
September 11: Boston
September 13: San Francisco
September 14: Los Angeles

Demonstrating a Growth Mindset

Jennifer Bloom — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:57:00 GMT

Okay, so now that you know this interesting nugget, how do you bring examples of your growth mindset into your essays?

Nearly every program asks for an example of your leadership and/or growth mindset. For example,

Duke's " Leaders need adaptability, imagination, and emotional intelligence as well as business acumen. What impact do you hope to have as a leader of consequence?"

Columbia's: "Please provide an example from your own life in which practical experience taught you more than theory alone."

Wharton's " 4 a. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts."

Star Professors

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Getting Into a Top 10 MBA Program

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT

MBA Podcaster Day in the Life Series - The Wharton MBA

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT

MBA Summer Internships : MBA Podcast

MizWeb Communities — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:36:44 GMT

"Landing the best summer internship possible is of huge importance for first-year MBA students. It’s often referred to as the “12-week interview” since an internship can lead to your next full-time job. Every MBA student is encouraged to get a...

Should students care about faculty research?

whichmba — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:33:43 GMT

The AACSB—the world’s leading business school accreditation agency—has just announced that it has formally accepted proposals to try to improve the practical relevance of academic research. Under its plan, accreditation of business schools will, to some degree, be dependent on schools proving that their faculties’ research programmes have some relevance to real-life work issues, and, furthermore, will have to demonstrate its impact in the business world.

It has long been a bone of contention amongst business schools as to whether research has—or even should have—any practical benefit. Some argue that it is too esoteric and quantitative, and rarely surfaces outside of equally esoteric and quantitative journals, read solely by other academics (and often not even by them). Others argue that research is “translated” into the real world through, among other things, teaching on MBA programmes.

But opinion is divided on this matter. Kai Peters chief executive officer of Ashridge Business School in Britain, told the Economist that he saw no overlap between what is being researched and what is being taught, arguing for researchers to concentrate on solving useful problems. Robert Salomon, Assistant Professor of Management at New York’s Stern School, on the other hand, wrote on his blog that “it is up to [professors] to expose students to state-of-the art research, to discuss the important questions of the field, to synthesise the existing findings [and to] explain those findings in an accessible way.” He even goes as far as to say: “I feel that if we are not bringing research into the classroom, then we are failing our students.”

But, for students, there is another side to the research debate. Schools’ reputations, and therefore, eventually, students’ career prospects, often hang on the research output of their faculties. A good reputation means getting research published in academic manuals which have little concern for the everyday world. Having “guru” professors—even if they rarely actually do any teaching—can therefore be beneficial, even if the ideas they are researching never surface in the classroom.

All of which begs some questions: how much do students actually care about the research that is being carried out in their business school? Does it matter whether that research is being applied in the real world? And how often do you feel that research filters through into the classroom?

Back to Which MBA online

Ask the expert: Does size matter?

whichmba — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:13:14 GMT

Dear George,
I can’t decide whether I’m better suited to a large, full-range school, or if I’d be happier in a more intimate, smaller programme. What are the pros and cons?

Dear prospective MBA,
The first thing to say is that size (large or small) is not by itself an indicator of quality. The two oldest business schools in the world, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, both in the US, respectively admit around 800 and 250 full-time MBA students each year, but both are generally acknowledged as “alike in dignity”.

However, as you imply, the effects of the size of an MBA programme on students’ experience can be considerable. Both large and small programmes have advantages and disadvantages.

The emphasis on personal interaction with other students and close involvement with faculty is one of the key factors stressed by smaller MBA programmes.

Small programmes are generally seen as providing the best class cohesion and collegiality of approach. Faculty and staff know all the students well and students get to know each other closely. A small cohort fosters cohesion and loyalty. It also produces a strong alumni network. This can be hard to achieve effectively with a large number of individuals.

On the other hand, a hefty student body can support a large faculty, allowing breadth and depth in teaching—especially noticeable in the choice of electives—and a large career services effort. This is not always the case with smaller programmes.

Large programmes also allow a wide range of student clubs, which are an important element of the student experience, and attract good guest speakers. It also makes a school more attractive to recruiters and gives a school a large and extensive alumni network.

It is also worth pointing out that large programmes are inevitably broken down into classes of around 60 students and much smaller groups for group working.

In the end, the choice is down more to personal inclination. And the only way to find out what suits you is to visit a school and see for yourself.

What the real experts—the people who run MBA programmes and admissions directors—say is that size should not be an overriding factor in making a choice about which business school or MBA programme to attend. The most important consideration should always be the quality of the teaching on offer and how a programme fits with your aspirations.

George Bickerstaffe.

If you have any advice for our prospective student feel free to post it below. If you have a question for George Bickerstaffe please email it to: AskTheExpert@economist.com

Back to Which MBA online

Harvard at 100: case closed?

whichmba — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:24:33 GMT

So Harvard Business School is 100 years old this week. Many happy returns. Although the argument will continue as to whether it was Harvard or its near-neighbour, Dartmouth, which actually invented the MBA, few can argue that HBS has played the defining role in management education over the last century.

Perhaps most significantly, it was the first to have the bright idea of applying the case study—until then largely confined to law schools—to the world of the MBA. Harvard is still the world’s pre-eminent producer of business school case studies. Schools that teach almost exclusively through the case-study method—which also include West Ontario (Ivey) in Canada and IESE in Spain—point to the fact that it is the nearest a classroom will come to replicating real-life business situations. Furthermore, the cut-and-thrust atmosphere of the average case discussion inevitably breeds confident and persuasive speakers, able to think on their feet.

But the method is not without its detractors. One of the biggest criticisms is that it merely rewards those who shout loudest, not necessarily those with the most cogent arguments. With marks awarded for class participation, the clamour for “airtime” can lead to an overly competitive culture—something that most schools say they are trying to move away from.

Although the situation is improving, the other major criticism of the method is that cases also have a tendency to be US-centric. The question used to be asked about whether it was relevant for an Asian student, for example, to study case-after-case examining American business dilemmas. But in this world of globalisation, it is fair to wonder whether it is even relevant for US students any more.

So will the method continue into Harvard’s second century? A joke among management consultants tells of the freshly-graduated MBA who waltzes in to the office on his first day and demands: “bring me the first case!”. Business life has always been more complicated than that. But with the modern emphasis on learning through action—particularly with students being parachuted into real-life companies to solve real-life problems—surely there are better preparations for post-MBA employment?

Back to Which MBA online

Test of faith

whichmba — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:55:21 GMT

The cheating row surrounding the GMAT test and a website, ScoreTop.com, which gave users access to live questions, rumbles on. GMAC, the organisation which administers the de facto MBA entrance exam, seems to be softening its stance on cancelling the scores of anyone who paid $30 to ScoreTop in order to gain a jump on other prospective students.

Accessing a dodgy website is not the only option for those looking for an illegitamate way to bump up their score. Tales remain rife of professional test takers for hire, despite increasing levels of security at test sites.

GMAT scores have been on the rise for years. The average score at the top ten schools in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ranking has risen from 668 (out of 800) to 709 since 1997. Increasing competition inevitably leads, for some, to the temption to cheat.

So how much faith should we have in the GMAT? In your experience how easy would it be to cheat? And are the rewards worth the risks of getting caught?

Back to Which MBA online

Welcome to the game, first year MBA’s!

jcruse — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:36:18 GMT

Of things you battle with this year WILL be class participation. So let’s introduce the players in this game of wits [or lack thereof]. First, there will be those willing to let any random concoction of words flow from their lips in order to receive participation points. Then there’s the moderate school [...]

Personal Statement Tip: Setting Scenes

Sheila Bender — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:19:20 GMT

To write a compelling personal statement or application essay, you need to draw readers into your experience without much set-up. You have to get to the heart of the matter quickly and at the same time make the reader care to read on. Visualizing a particular moment from a situation that disappointed or thrilled you will show you how you can start an essay about a disappointment, an obstacle, an intellectual or creative passion or a lucky break with a short scene.

To write a scene effectively you can start with thee phrases to gather your images:

I smelled ...
I heard ...
I saw ...
I felt ...

Once you have the scene you might open with wholly detailed in your mind, you will have a much easier time writing in a way that will hook your audience. An essay that includes a scene might start this way:

My father showed us a home video shot when I was in Kindergarten, and I saw my young self at my older brother’s electronic keyboard. I saw that I was happy playing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” for an audience of Teddy bears. I realized I’ve always been happiest when I am playing a tune or classical piece for others. After many years of study, today, I am pianist in our state's best orchestra. Not only have I performed up and down the Eastern Seaboard, I have also traveled to Europe and the Mediterranean with the orchestra and heard many fine orchestras as well as played with their musicians.

There is no more effective way to involve the reader of your essay than with images and details used right from the start. Try your hand at collecting some using phrases that will help you get in touch with your senses.

By Sheila Bender, author of Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays, a great book on writing college application essays, but more about that soon. In the meantime, if you would like Sheila to personally guide you as you write your application essay, please review our application essay editing services.

Essay Writing Step One: Introspection

Paul Bodine — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:14:30 GMT

The essay-writing process begins with introspection; there's no shortcut around it. Before you begin writing, even before you know the questions your schools asked, begin developing a short personal marketing message or "handle" that integrates the key themes (strengths, experiences, interests) you want your application to communicate. Imagine the admissions process as a cocktail party. Your hosts' (the adcoms) time is limited. They must make the rounds with all their “guests” (applicants) before the night’s over. Since you can't give them your whole life story, everything you say must communicate a compact, multidimensional message that's distinctive enough for your host to remember long after other “partygoers” have made their pitch. Take your time, cast your net widely, and ask friends and family for their input, so the handle you devise reflects key uniqueness factors from your professional, personal, community, and academic lives.

As a rule of thumb, construct your self-marketing handle out of four or five themes, each one rich enough to build an essay around. If you come up with "a natural leader with strong analytical skills and a social conscience," you're thinking far too broadly. If your handle runs past a sentence or two, unless it's truly scintillating, business schools may lose it in the crowd. The blend of themes should emphasize your multidimensionality. That is, you're not only a testing team lead at IBM, but you’re also a Norwegian American raised in Ecuador who also loves taxidermy and tutoring immigrant kids for the Knowledge Trust Alliance.

Remember that your admissions "hosts" will be bringing a long memory of past conversations to your brief encounter. Simply telling them you're a banker or marketing manager will trigger all sorts of valid assumptions about your skills and professional exposures. If you’re applying from a traditional MBA feeder profession like consulting or investment banking, for example, your handle will come equipped with analytical and quantitative strengths. So round it out distinctively by including themes that B-schools don't automatically associate with your profession, such as creativity (e.g., your lifelong devotion to basket weaving), social-impact causes (e.g., that stint training subsistence farmers in Malawi), or out-of-the-box professional experiences (e.g., your first career as a geography teacher). Or look for unusual childhood or family experiences, distinctive hobbies, or international experiences that offset the predictability of your professional profile -- and incorporate these into your handle.

Although a distinctive multidimensional handle is ideal, it must truly capture who you are. Don't try to force a theme -- "internationalism," for example, or "creativity" -- onto your profile if you don't have the experiences to back it up. Again, each of your handle’s themes must be deep enough that you could write a full essay around it.

Excerpted from "Great Application Essays for Business School" (McGraw-Hill) by Paul Bodine.

The Many Faces of Leadership

Linda Abraham — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:41:39 GMT

“I figured it all out.”

That’s how I would paraphrase the essays many of my clients—MBA applicants and others—write in response to the ubiquitous “Describe a leadership experience” question. Now of course “figuring it all out,” my shorthand for “I came up with a creative solution to a tricky problem” or “I developed a killer spreadsheet model, the likes of which my team had never seen before” or similar achievements, is an important aspect of leadership.

But it’s just one aspect.

Skilled problem-solving, or “thought leadership,” as we called it at McKinsey and Company, where I worked as a business strategy consultant, was the mark of, well, a skilled problem-solver; but many of the most respected consultants at the firm, including senior partners, were equally or even more talented at something we didn’t have a formal name for: people leadership. By effectively leading our thinking on client firms’ problems as well as motivating us to work long hours to develop solutions to these problems and collaborate with our clients on implementing them, these colleagues were exemplary leaders.

So don’t forget to include strong elements of people leadership in your essays. Here are several to keep in mind:

Rallying others around a vision. Did you convince your team or group to follow a specific path/solution? How did you do it? Successful clients have talked about handling dissenting opinions diplomatically or presenting their teams’ detailed quantitative evidence for a recommendation. The more you can show that you understood your audience and tailored the content and form of your message to them, the better.
Harnessing others’ strengths—and expanding them. Did you provide team members tasks they could handle comfortably based on their capabilities, as well as opportunities to broaden their skills? For example, you may have handed your quant jock teammate the most complicated operations analysis as well as responsibility for leading a key client meeting. In this way you leverage teammates’ strengths while helping them develop new ones.
Getting through tough times. Did you model for your team enviable cool in pressure-cooker situations, maybe helping them keep the big-picture goal in mind or lightening the mood with humor? Did you reward teammates with praise, pizza, or both for working long into the night? Did you pitch in on others’ responsibilities as deadlines loomed? Helping your team handle stress while managing your own is a cornerstone of strong leadership.

These are just some of the leadership traits you can show in your essay to make it more compelling. And remember, you don’t have to be in an official position of leadership to demonstrate them. We all know peers who provide great leadership without any formal authority. Make clear that you’re one of them.

My fellow Accepted editors and I will help you include a powerful combination of leadership and other elements in your essays and interviews.

By Dr. Sachin Waikar .