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Accepted.com Odds 'N Ends
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What's New at Accepted.com |
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Comprehensive Help with Your Round 2 Applications: Save $100
Accepted.com is going to save you money if you start work on your
Round 2 applications immediately. If you sign up for our
Buy-7-Get-1 Free service before November 30, you can take an
additional $100 off the price.
"It's a 10!"
Share your MBA interview experience, and you can win "It's
a 10!". Every tenth MBA applicant who fills out an interview
feedback
questionnaire will receive a $10 gift card. Just fill out a
questionnaire after your interview for admission to an MBA program, and
you are automatically enrolled in our contest. For additional
information and contest rules, please visit our
contest details page.
Don't Miss the
Admissions Chatter!
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Nov. 7 |
10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/ 5:00 PM GMT |
CMU Tepper |
Laurie Stewart |
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Nov. 9 |
10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/ 5:00 PM GMT |
Michigan Ross |
Jim Hayes |
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Nov. 14 |
10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/ 5:00 PM GMT |
Chicago GSB |
Rose Martinelli |
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Nov. 15 |
10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/ 5:00 PM GMT |
MIT Sloan |
Rod Garcia
Jon McLaughlin |
If you would like to sign up for automatic chat reminders, please
visit our chat
subscription page.
And of course, last month's chats have generated must-read
transcripts:
A Sampler of Recent Blog Posts
Beyond Gray Pinstripes Ranks MBA Programs
Med School Application Volume Rises
Is There Life After Rankings? Yes, and With Rankings Too
Change Comes to GRE
How Schools Weigh the Writing Section of the SAT
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Essay Tip |
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5 Fatal Similarities between Flawed Essays and Baby Talk
During an all-too-short visit I enjoyed watching our 13-month-old
grandson, Avi, communicate -- something he does quite well considering
that he doesn't talk at all. I couldn't help but notice that he loves to
give speeches complete with gestures, hand motions, facial expression
and changes in volume and tone. He clearly thinks he is conversing
because he has the forms and seems to make the right noises.
Sometimes in reading essays, applicants make the right noises, including
"leadership" "communications skills," "teamwork," and "analytical
abilities." They may even embellish their essay with a rhetorical
flourish or two, but their essays are as empty and occasionally as
nonsensical as Avi's baby talk, and a lot less cute.
5 Fatal Flaws:
- Lack of substance - nothing demonstrates the qualities claimed.
- Failure to answer the question.
- Clich�d.
- Superficial.
- Lack of thought.
So if you want your essays to have more impact than Avi's speech, you
have a few options:
- Wait for next month's issue of Odds 'N Ends.
- Subscribe to my blog, the
Accepted Admissions Almanac,
where I will provide ways to protect your essays from these flaws
faster than in Odds 'N Ends.
- Purchase
Submit a
Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips to Help You Get Accepted,
where I cover these issues.
- Ask Accepted.com's
pros to edit your prose.
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Resume Tip |
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Community Service on Your Resume
Yes, single-handedly negotiating the largest deal in your
company's history will give your resume extra luster. But
another powerful way to make it stand out is to ensure it
adequately represents your community or volunteer activities. In
fact, it's virtually impossible for such involvements to convey
anything but the most positive impression of you. List them in
reverse chronological order under an appropriate heading like
"Community Service," "Volunteer Work," "Public Service,"
"Charitable Commitments," or "Civic Involvement." If your
volunteer activities can be grouped into two or more themed
categories, by all means do so. For example, your work for
Make-a-Wish Foundation and Christian Children's Fund could be
grouped under the subheading "Helping Children" and your work
for the symphony and local theater under "Cultural
Volunteering."
Don't list your role or title as "volunteer." If you tutored,
say "Tutor"; if you coordinated a project, say "Coordinator." As
elsewhere in your resume, always be specific. Don't say "Tutored
children" when you really mean "Tutored 15 developmentally
disabled first-graders in art and music."
Highlighting community activities on your resume offers an
additional benefit if they advertise skills or experiences that
employers need. The best thing about raising $10K for cancer
research is benefiting a good cause, but it also shows you know
how to attract revenue -- an effective theme when your goal is
to run a mutual fund or launch a startup. Similarly, supervising
15 volunteers on a Habitat for Humanity site underscores your
leadership ability. You may be surprised how many skills your
community work has entailed -- training others, writing, public
speaking, project planning, etc.
Volunteer activities can also be used to work against
stereotypes. If you are a database administrator, your work
organizing a major charity bike-a-thon or speaking to corporate
audiences about arts education will squash the Dilbert "cubicle
drone" image. Community activities can help portray you as a
well-rounded, energetic, committed "doer" -- every employer's
ideal.By
Paul Bodine, Senior Editor at Accepted.com
Author of
Great Application Essays for Business School
(forthcoming).
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| Wrap Up
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Our Services
Writing a personal statement is a tough challenge. A former
client, an NBC journalist with over twenty years of experience
in the field, once said that his personal statement "was the
toughest thing I ever had to write." He sought our help.
Shouldn't you?
Accepted.com's editors are here to help you write your best
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Check us out. Complete information on our services, including
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Information provided in this document
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Resume
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