optional essay

($) Low GMAT Round 2 application tactics: Remediation

December 27, 2019 by EssaySnark

If you’re applying to business school with a subpar GMAT or GRE score, either a low total score or a significantly low subscore especially if it’s on the quant side, then in addition to the preamble talk we gave you yesterday about school strategy, there are in fact steps you can take to improve your...

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($) What do you tell the adcom if you’re not getting a recommendation from your boss?

July 31, 2019 by EssaySnark

All the schools prefer that you get a letter of recommendation from your current direct supervisor, yet they know that that’s not always possible. If you don’t plan to have your current manager write for you, that’s fine, but you need to explain to the adcom why not. In many cases, this needs to be...

($) Already have a Master’s degree? Why do you also need an MBA now?

June 27, 2019 by EssaySnark

Some schools don’t really focus on this issue but a few of them do – including Tuck in particular, who in the past wouldn’t even consider a candidate with a prior MBA or MBA-similar degree, like the PGP from India. They are (somewhat?) loosening those restrictions in the new admissions climate but even if you...

($) “How long should the optional essay be?”

November 29, 2018 by EssaySnark

Most MBA programs have clear requirements about length for all their admissions essays, and the optional essay is no different — usually. But even when the school is explicit that the optional essay must be XXX words maximum, there are still practical considerations, and strategic ones, that should be taken into account. The first is...

($) Explaining a low GMAT or GRE score in your MBA apps

August 2, 2018 by EssaySnark

You know your GMAT (or GRE) score is low. You’ve debated whether to take the test again, but it’s August. You’re getting stressed about deadlines coming. What if you just write the optional essay about your low score? Shouldn’t that be sufficient? You can tell the adcom that you’ll take the test again if they...

($) Special Case Situations for MBA Apps: What if you dropped out of grad school?

May 29, 2018 by EssaySnark

As promised in our previous post on What transcripts do you need for your MBA apps, we’ll go into detail on a situation that can cause much consternation for certain BSers: What if you enrolled but you did not graduate? What if you (eek!) dropped out of a program? What if you started at law...

($) So-called “alternative transcripts”: MOOCs, continuing education, and additional ed experiences in your MBA apps

April 30, 2018 by EssaySnark

In our impromptu series on gathering your docs for your MBA app, focusing on what transcripts do you need to submit, we’ll continue today with a question of strategy combined with tactics. The strategy is that, for some of you, your grades do not reflect your abilities (ugh please do not say that in your...

($) The very best messaging for handling an issue with low GPA

November 15, 2017 by EssaySnark

One of the most common statements that MBA admissions committees hear from applicants who have rocky academics is, “My GPA does not reflect my ability.” We have cautioned against this before as not quite the ideal. So then, what is? We’re reluctant to be too direct in making suggestions for what to say in an...

($) Low GMAT? Low GPA? Please don’t say these things in your essays.

August 17, 2017 by EssaySnark

First of all, if your GMAT is low, then we don’t recommend writing an optional essay about it at all. The optional essay is meant to explain, and thereby neutralize, issues and weaknesses in your app. If your GMAT is low, there is no amount of explaining that will neutralize it. The only thing that...

($) Optional essay for low GPA: “I have proven myself since then by excelling at my job.”

July 20, 2017 by EssaySnark

We see statements like that quite a bit in optional essays about poor academic performance in college and we had thought we’d done a post explicitly discussing it, but it appears that we have not. This one on “My abilities did not match my performance” touches on it. However it deserves a post of its...