Accepted.com
Odds 'N Ends
We have decided to publish this newsletter as a service to our clients and others who
register for it on our Web site. Accepted.com's Odds 'N Ends will bring you our
tip of the month, admissions information for grad, law, MBA, and medical school applicants,
and news about Accepted.com.
We also welcome contributions from readers. If you have comments, questions, or perhaps
an article idea, please e-mail our editor.
We cannot publish everything we receive, but we will try to respond to everyone. And as always,
we appreciate feedback.
Index
What's New at Accepted.com
Essay Tip of the Month
Resume Tip of the Month
Law Admission News You Can Use
MBA Admission News You Can Use
Medical Admission News You Can Use
College Admission News You Can Use
Grad Admission News You Can Use
Our Services
The Wall Street Journal Lauds Accepted.com
On January 10, 2002, The Wall Street Journal cited Accepted.com
as one of several services that help applicants "overcome what may be the
most daunting part" of the application process. In addition the article
quoted an Accepted.com client, Jim, who praised Accepted.com's service for
saving him time and helping him refine his personal statements for several
MBA programs. Finally the article selected an Accepted.com client's AMCAS
initial and final drafts to show how an editing service can improve an
applicant's personal statement.
Interview Service for Existing MBA Clients
Accepted.com is launching an interview coaching service and our existing
MBA clients are going to get to try it out for FREE. Here are your options:
- 1) Mock interview package: Have a twenty-thirty minute mock interview
for a selected school with an Accepted.com editor and then receive feedback and
advice for the real thing. Price: $150
- 2) Interview consulting: Consult with an Accepted.com editor on approaches
to interviews at different schools for up to one hour. Price: $150
Hey, wait a minute! If the price is $150, how can it be free? Simple, if you
participate in a second, ten-fifteen minute interview with your Accepted.com editor
after your MBA interview and provide your feedback, we will waive the fee.
Please note that the fee waiver offer is available to the first five clients
per editor who sign up for the service and provide the feedback. This offer is
limited to one free service per customer.
To sign up, please contact your editor.
Acceptances!!!!
Those acceptances are starting to come in! If Accepted.com played any role in your application
process — whether as an informative Web site or advisor and editor — please let us know
where you were admitted, how we helped you, AND how we can do better. E-mail
acceptances@accepted.com or visit our
share-your-success page.
Wait-Listed?
Visit our application services price
list for
information on how Accepted.com can help you with your wait-list letters.
Dinged?
If you received the skinny envelope and would like feedback
and suggestions for next year, please visit
/help/prices_app.htm#130
Wait Listed!!!
It's that time of year. Applicants are hearing Yes, No, or Maybe. This month's
tip focuses on those of you in the latter category: wait-listed.
First of all, follow the instructions provided in the letter advising you of
your wait-list status. If the letter says, "Jump!" and you want to go to that
school, you should respond, "How high?" That question is just the beginning. I
encourage you to seize the initiative and launch a campaign.
Unless the school discourages additional contact, take a pro-active approach.
You have already shown that you qualify for the school; otherwise you wouldn't
find yourself on the wait-list. They like you. Now give the adcom additional
reasons to admit you by writing a succinct wait-list letter:
- Reiterate your interest in the school's program. Briefly thank the school
for considering your application and mention how the school's philosophy and
approach fit in with your educational preferences and goals. Don't dwell on
your disappointment at not being accepted.
- Discuss recent developments. Did you have a 4.0 during the last quarter?
Have you led a project or organization? Volunteered? Have you taken your department,
business, or club in a new direction? Have you had an article published? Earned
a patent? Launched a business? Received a promotion or assumed additional
responsibility? Succeeded in a particularly demanding class or project? You
should bring out any recent accomplishments not discussed in your application
and ideally tie them back to some of the themes or experiences you raised in
your essay(s).
- Discuss how you have addressed shortcomings -- without highlighting them.
For example, if you are concerned about your English language skills and joined
Toastmasters to improve your English, inform the schools that you joined Toastmasters
two months ago, tell them of any awards you have won, and enlighten them as to how
much you are enjoying the experience. BUT don't say that you are doing all this because
you are concerned about your low TOEFL or sub-standard verbal score.
- If applicable, agree to take any additional courses recommended in the letter
informing you that you are on the wait-list and follow any additional instructions.
Express willingness to provide any additional information requested by the committee.
- If you are certain you would attend this school, make it clear that this is your
first choice and that you will attend if accepted.
Keep the letter short and sweet - two pages max. Don't succumb to the temptation
to rewrite your life history or essay(s), or even summarize them. Stay focused on
what you have accomplished since applying.
Three to four weeks after you send in this letter, submit an additional letter
of recommendation. After another three to four weeks go by, send in another update
letter. Follow this with a phone call, and offer to interview, either in person or
over the phone.
Somewhere along the way plan a visit to the school and see if you can set up an
appointment with a member of the adcom. If you haven't previously done so, ask for
a tour, attend a class, and meet with students. Then write the school and say how
the visit strengthened your conviction that you and School X are a match.
Updating Your Resume!!!
There are worse things than procrastination, but in the current economic climate
it's a good idea to make sure your resume gets a regular tune-up.
Whether you update it every 6 months or every year, it pays to have an "actionable"
resume ready to work for you as soon as you need it. Updating your resume regularly
ensures that it reflects your latest successes while they're still fresh in your mind.
Keeping your resume current will also give you a clearer picture of where you stand in
your current job. Your resume becomes a kind of "executive summary" of your career--a
way of gaining perspective on the "long line" of your career. This can help when you
ask for a raise or respond to your manager's performance review.
Begin with your contact information. Moved recently? Changed email or wireless
providers? Make sure employers know where to find you. If you are using an Objective
line, make sure it reflects your current goals, not last year's. Then focus on the
purely factual aspects in the body of your resume. Change dates as necessary. Obviously,
if you've been laid-off, that "1997 to present" needs revising. Did your last resume
refer to a "nine-month audit" that later became two years? Does it mention a "current
project" that's now in the past? If your software proficiency section refers to "Windows
98" and you're now using Windows XP, update it. If you used to work for Andersen Consulting
consider changing it to Accenture or adding "(now Accenture)" or "(formerly Andersen
Consulting)" for clarity. If you've taken any career-relevant coursework recently, add
it to your Education section. Are you a recent graduate? If you've been in the workforce
for a year or more, make sure your Education section now comes after your Professional
Experience section.
Most important, aside from making the obvious changes to job titles, ask yourself what
new skills you've learned and which of your achievements has affected your organization's
bottom line the most. Add these as new bullets to the section for your current position.
Then weed out some of the bullets from your earlier jobs. Now that you're senior manager,
your feats as a mailroom assistant are less breathtaking. Remember, you have control over
the prominence you give each accomplishment and stage of your career in the resume.
By Paul Bodine
Editor, Accepted.com
Member, National Resume Writers Association and
the Professional Association of Resume Writers
Aiming for the Younger Applicant
All of you know that applications have soared this year, and the
recession is taking most of the credit/blame for the increase. But
there's another factor, as reported in a January 15, 2002 Wall
Street Journal article: MBA programs are recruiting younger applicants.
According to the article, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Wharton, UCLA,
Chicago, and others are encouraging college seniors and those with less
than two years of experience to submit an MBA application. In addition
to the usual academic and leadership requirements, the schools want the
younger applicant to have worked in a position relevant to business school
at least on a part-time basis during school or full-time during the summer.
Not all schools are jumping on the youth bandwagon. Kellogg prefers
applicants to have five years of work experience, and Darden feels that
work experience is an important requirement for a case-study school.
Job Search in the Recession
According to The New York Times 30% fewer companies are recruiting
at business schools, and those that are recruiting are planning to hire fewer
MBAs. So what are the business schools doing to help the Class of 2002?
Lots. The University of Chicago is holding a workshop on interviewing skills.
All schools are reaching out to companies beyond their normal circle of traditional
MBA employers. For example, this year at Columbia students are considering employment
with Goodyear Tire and Unilever, quite different from Columbia's traditional
management consulting and investment banking recruiters of the past. The schools
are also networking more with alumni and urging them to consider this year's grads.
And of course the students themselves are taking more initiative and attempting
to prepare themselves for the current climate and fields with relatively more demand.
E-commerce is out. Bio-tech is in.
International MBA
The MBA Jungle had an interesting article on international MBA programs
that offer the IMBA degree. It profiled a number of programs and discussed how the
IMBA differs from a conventional MBA.
For more information, please visit
the article online
Pre-MBA Prep Program
In the summer and fall of 2002 Yale School of Management and Management Leadership
for Tomorrow (MLT), an organization dedicated to increasing the number of under-represented
minorities pursuing business education, will present a prep program for minority students
interested in pursuing an MBA education.
For more information, please visit http://www.ml4t.org .
Aiming for the Younger Applicant
The New York Times reports that applications to graduate
schools have soared as laid-off workers and college seniors decide
to ride out the recession in a graduate school safe haven.
While the staggering increases reported by business schools have
received the most publicity, other graduate programs are reporting
sharp increases too. For example, applications at the University of
Pennsylvania's School of Education increased a reported 70% over
last year.
What's driving the increase? According to the Times, the
weak economy has lowered the cost of attending graduate school. If
you are laid off or can't find a job, the opportunity cost of sitting
in a classroom plummets significantly.
For the complete article, please visit
the article online .
Heads Up Philosophy Students
I just stumbled across a Web site dedicated to students and
wannabe students of philosophy. The Philosophical Gourmet Report
provides a ranking of philosophy programs and regular updates to
subscribers about events and personnel changes in the field.
Check it out at
http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/gourmet/ .
Applications Are Up
According to The New York Times, Penn's law school reports
a 33% increase in applications and Yale Law school reports a 57% jump
from this time last year.
Civil, Law School Discussion Board
I received an e-mail this week about
www.lawschooldiscussion.org . This web site was recently
created with the sole purpose of providing a "friendly, organized
forum for the discussion of pre-law issues."
If you are tired of the hostile boards and forums and are interested
in a supportive community of pre-law and law students, participate in
lawschooldiscussion.org
AMCAS Promises New Post-Bac Resources
An article in The Advisor, the monthly newsletter of the
National Association of Advisors to the Health Professions, reports
that AMCAS is updating its information for post-bac students. It
is currently distributing a survey of post-bac programs and plans
to post the results on the Web site this spring. The current
post-back page is at this link .
MCAT Changing Course
AAMC is planning some minor changes to MCAT content for 2003,
according to The Advisor. In 2001, for the first time since
1988, AAMC sent surveys to 141 U.S. and Canadian AAMC schools asking
which science topics are most and least relevant to medical school
preparation. Current respondents ascribed less significance to general
and organic chemistry than did previous respondents, while attributing
increased importance to certain biology topics (Repair of DNA, DNA
Replication, Recombinant DNA, Eukaryotic Chromosome Organization,
Control of Gene Expression-Eukaryotic, Prokaryotic Cell-Genetics) as a
prerequisite for medical school. As a result of this survey and certain
other factors, the revised 2003 MCAT will include a few additional biology
questions focused on genetics and DNA and fewer organic chemistry questions.
AMCAS Promises New Post-Bac Resources
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that for the first
time since 1984 college endowments on average lost money. The average
drop in value was 3.6%, and two of every three endowments declined in
value. The schools' investments obviously reflected the decline in the
stock market, but there were still winners and losers and some schools
even made money -- especially those with well-diversified portfolios.
Yale had a return-on-investment of 9.2%, and Grinnell College reports
a gain of 18.8% for fiscal year 2001. But many more schools report
losses for 2001: MIT -3.7%, Notre Dame -7.5%, Duke -4.6%, Emory University -14.2%,
and Boston University -27.2%
Tell a Friend
Please share this issue with friends and colleagues who share your interest in graduate
school admission. Tell a friend or two about
Accepted.com's powerful array of online pre-professional resources. They will thank you
and so will we!
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 essays — eloquent,
compelling essays that distinguish you from the competition and transform you from a
transcript and test score into a competitive applicant and unique individual.
Check us out. Complete information on our services, including prices, testimonials, and
information about our top-notch professional staff, can be found on our
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