MIT Sloan Essays

MIT Sloan Essay Analysis and Breakdown 2022-2023

MIT Sloan Essay Analysis and Breakdown 2022-2023

With one minor adjustment, the MIT Sloan application this year is mostly unchanged from the previous cycle. Once more, the school demands that applications include a cover letter, organizational plan, an optional short answer question, and 60-second video statement.

MBA Snapshot: Sloan School of Management

MBA Snapshot: Sloan School of Management

MIT’s Sloan School of Management benefits from the world-class reputation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but don’t think Sloan lives in the shadow of MIT’s engineering achievements.  Sitting securely at the intersection of business and technology, Sloan has established a unique reputation as a respected business school in its own right.  Here are three main reasons…

Most Common Mistakes on Round 1 MBA Essays

Most Common Mistakes on Round 1 MBA Essays

I just saw a whole lot of MBA essays over the past few months and now that Round 1 is (mostly) finished, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to jot down the most common mistake I saw for each of the most common essays I worked on with clients.  Round 2 clients can get a leg up by simply avoiding these traps.  

Thoughts on MIT Sloan's 2014-15 "Essays"

Thoughts on MIT Sloan's 2014-15 "Essays"

Quick post today, because time is short and nobody wants to read the screed I had in mind for MIT's new "essays." Why the quotation marks? Because writing your own letter of recommendation is not an essay. It's a gimmick at best, and, if I'm being honest, a bit of a mockery at worst. Yes, people write their own employee assessment reports, which is a great cheat for supervisors (heck, I had a high school "world studies" teacher who figured out that he could just the class to teach itself - no joke), but that also precedes a discussion that can (and usually does) flesh out the exercise. It's hard to imagine a company making huge promotion or bonus decisions based solely on a self-written employee report, with no discussion to follow. I mean, come on. Yet that is what MIT is basically suggesting when they draw a comparison between what takes place in the office and what they are asking candidates to do on the application. It's such a weird, weird assignment. (Okay, so I went on a bit of a screed.) That said, there are three things to keep in mind that can make it not only doable, but a chance to shine.

5 Tips for Applying to MIT Sloan

5 Tips for Applying to MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan is one of "those" schools - the ones that seem to slip into the nooks and crannies of the admissions process.

People don't talk about Sloan as much as its elite counterparts. Nobody immediately thinks about it in terms of being a top 5 program until you start digging and realize, wow, this program is insanely good. Most importantly, because of its unique end-of-October deadline and equally unique two-round admissions process, we would wager that application quality on Sloan apps is far lower than on other top programs (which is a *massive* problem if you want to be admitted there). Candidates often don't even start on their Sloan apps until after the October 3-16 gauntlet of deadlines and then they race to finish because they fear waiting until the "last" round. Indeed, since today is October 4th, it's something of a "last call" for Sloan interest. If you want to be serious about getting into MIT, you had better get started - and that includes bringing on a consultant.

5 Tips for Applying to MIT Sloan

5 Tips for Applying to MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan is one of "those" schools - the ones that seem to slip into the nooks and crannies of the admissions process. People don't talk about Sloan as much as its elite counterparts. Nobody immediately thinks about it in terms of being a top 5 program until you start digging and realize, wow, this program is insanely good.

Most importantly, because of its unique end-of-October deadline and equally unique two-round admissions process, we would wager that application quality on Sloan apps is far lower than on other top programs (which is a massive problem if you want to be admitted there). Candidates often don't even start on their Sloan apps until after the October 3-12 gauntlet of deadlines and then they race to finish because they fear waiting until the "last" round. 

With those things in mind, we are breaking out another of our 5 Tips posts, with an eye toward improving the quality of Sloan applications.