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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
New Web Site - It's Up!!!!
If you haven't visited Accepted.com lately, it's time to see our home after its recent remodel. We have added an extensive service catalog and FAQ to help you determine how we can best help you. And in case you want to look up something you saw at Accepted.com a few months ago, but aren't quite sure how to find it, Accepted.com now has a search box. In addition, we have streamlined navigation, updated our look, and continued to add great content and features.
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Acceptances
We've been hearing lots of good news! Thanks for sharing. 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 are admitted, how we helped you, AND how we can do better. Visit http://www.accepted.com/forms/acceptance_survey.asp or e-mail acceptances@accepted.com . Alternatively, let your editor know how you fared.
Seize The Moment
Which do you think is most effective?
- A story illustrating originality, ingenuity, and innovation
- A theoretical exploration of the importance of innovation
- A list of the times when you were innovative or served on an innovative team?
- None of the above
Oops. The title of this tip gives away the answer -- 1. Telling a story about a representative moment, event, or object is far more effective than an academic exploration of a topic. An abstract treatise will fail to personalize you. A list is boring and would merely repeat items found in other parts of your application.
But seizing a moment, or taking a "snapshot in time" as Accepted.com editor Sheila Bender says, can be the basis for an insightful, memorable, and revealing essay. When you choose that defining moment to illustrate an accomplishment, present a failure, or discuss your motivations for applying, you will reveal far more about yourself than just the outline of that event. You will demonstrate qualities and attributes as opposed to claiming them. For example, if you tell about the moment when you crossed the finish line in your fifth marathon, you will never have to use the words, "discipline" or "perseverance," because anyone reading your essay will know that you needed both qualities to complete those marathons. But you can use that essay to discuss other, less obvious aspects of the marathon experience - perhaps the concentration required to compete in cross-country running or camaraderie among runners.
Vivid, succinct language and judicious use of detail will allow your essay to make an impression on the reader. But don't become so wrapped up in the plot or description that your readers wonder why you are writing about that golden moment. Provide enough insight and analysis so that they understand how that that moment came to count more than any other.
Crafting A Resume To Highlight Your Competitiveness
There are times when your resume has to do more than portray your accomplishments with vividness and clarity, more than distinguish you from a group of professional peers. Sometimes, such as when you are applying to top-tier MBA, law, or medical schools, your resume also has to underscore your competitiveness. This is especially the case for MBA applicants, for whom work experience is a required criterion for evaluation.
If you are in this situation, first, keep the details of fairly obvious job responsibilities to a minimum. For example, for a Goldman Sachs analyst, that means foregoing the nitty-gritty of the financial analysis and modeling that virtually all analysts do. Or for a legal assistant, skip the list of research sources you are familiar with, impressive though it may be. These types of experiences only show you to be "on par" with your peers-competent, but not a standout.
Instead, select and present your resume points in the context of three factors:
- Leadership. Look for times in your work experience when you presented a solution or sought a change that surpassed the scope of your defined role, and then worked to gain support and engage others in implementing it. When you write about it in your resume, make sure to specify how it exceeded the expectations or requirements of your job.
- Impact. Did you complete a tough assignment successfully? Congratulations, but that won't lift you out of the "competent" and into the "standout" category. Look for times in your work experience when you made an identifiable impact that exceeded expectations or surpassed requirements. In writing about such experiences, note the difference between the expected and the actual outcome, and quantify if possible.
- Advancement. Have you assumed responsibilities that are usually shouldered by people with more experience or of a higher organizational rank? Or been promoted faster or higher than your company guidelines provide for? If so, make sure your resume reflects that fact explicitly.
Handling these three factors as suggested will make you stand out among your competitors, not just for your distinctiveness, but, frankly, for your power to succeed. Top graduate programs are looking for stimulating people - who are winners.
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
Member, Professional Association of Resume Writers
Early-Bird Special Thru 7/31
For 2003 MBA applicants, purchase essay or letter of recommendation packages by July 31 and save 10%. For details, please visit http://www.accepted.com/services/mbaservices.aspx.
Reapplicant Chat With Maxx Duffy
Maxx Duffy, a former member of the HBS admissions committee and current president of the admissions consultancy, Maxx Associates, will return to Accepted.com for a chat dedicated to MBA re-applicants. If you are determined to make your next application a successful one, please join us at http://www.accepted.com/chaton July 17, 2002 at 6:00 PM Pacific Time/-8:00 GMT (7:00 PM Mountain Time; 8:00 PM Central Time; 9:00 PM Eastern Time).
Review: B-School Survival Guide
The editors of MBAJUNGLE and Jon Housman, co-founder of Jungle Interactive Media, have published an entertaining guide to getting in, staying in, and getting out of top MBA programs. More than just an admissions guide, the B-School Survival Guide gives you an idea of what to expect in b-school and how to make the most of career opportunities when you leave.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738205117/acceptedcom
Does the MBA Pay?
That's a question people like to throw around as they contemplate the $100k+ it will cost them to earn one. Business 2.0 published two opposing views on that very subject in its July issue. "What's an MBA Really Worth?" examines the research of a Stanford GSB prof, who concludes that the degree rarely pays, and an AACSB study, which suggests that the MBA doesn't teach the skills that graduates need the most. In the same issue, "Tomorrow Belongs to Them" discusses the results of a survey of 2002 MBA grads at the 25 of the nation's top b-schools. They confidently feel that the MBA is their ticket to dream jobs and the good life, if not this year, then very soon.
80-Hour Limits For Residency Hours
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) announced new standards limiting the hours that residents may work and promising tough sanctions if hospitals violate the new rules.
Highlights of the new standards:
- Residents must not be scheduled for more than 80 duty hours per week, averaged over a four-week period, with the provision that individual programs may apply to their sponsoring institution's Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) for an increase in this limit of up to 10 percent, if they can provide a sound educational rationale;
- One day in seven free of patient care responsibilities, averaged over a four-week period;
- Call no more frequently than every third night, averaged over a four-week period;
- A 24-hour limit on on-call duty, with an added period of up to 6 hours for inpatient and outpatient continuity and transfer of care, educational debriefing and didactic activities; no new patients may be accepted after 24 hours;
- A 10-hour minimum rest period should be provided between duty periods; and
- When residents take call from home and are called into the hospital, the time spent in the hospital must be counted toward the weekly duty hour limit.
For more information, please visit http://www.acgme.org/new/wkgreport602.pdf.
Case Western Next In Line For $100 Million
Case Western and its new ally, the Cleveland Clinic, became the latest medical school to receive a $100 million gift. The gift, from Alfred Lerner, chairman of MBNA and owner of the Cleveland Browns, and his wife, will benefit the new Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, a program dedicated to training physicians and scientists for careers in clinical research.
For more information, please visit http://www.cwru.edu/pubs/cnews/2002/5-23/cwruclinic.htm .
Russia And U.S. Encourage Student Exchange
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Russia and the United States have slashed the cost of student visas in an effort to improve relations and increase the number of exchange students.
A few days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the University of Michigan Law School's admissions process, which uses race as a factor in the admissions process to ensure "the benefits of diversity" in the law school classroom.
As of June 1, the cost of a visa plunged from $500 per visa to $65. In addition Russia has agreed to expedite processing so that visa approval should come in no more than 10 days, instead of the several weeks it took up to now.
It's A Prof's Market
At least if you are an economics professor. The Chronicle, in "The Competition for Ph.D.'s" reports that schools are competing fiercely to hire and retain economics professors. The article further points out that MBA programs are having a harder time attracting econ professors because MBA's are seen as a more critical and demanding audience that undergraduate economics students.
Review: How To Get Into A Top Law School By Montauk
An exhaustive, in-depth study of law school admissions, this book covers criteria for choosing a school, marketing strategies, essay writing with excellent samples, letters of recommendation, and interview tips. It even advises you how to deal with the outcome - acceptance, rejection, or wait-list purgatory - and includes information on financial aid, study abroad options, and transfer attempts. While the depth and breadth of this work is most impressive, the insightful quotes from admissions directors, financial staff, and career services professionals on a broad range of admissions issues add immeasurably.
If you are applying and don't feel you know everything you need to know about law school admissions, buy this book at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735201013/accepted.com
Harvard Goes Clean On Grades
The Chronicle reports that Harvard faculty unanimously approved a number of steps to curb rampant grade inflation at Harvard. They voted to change Harvard's grading scale to the typical 4.0 scale, limit the number of students earning A's and B's in every class, and restrict the number of seniors who can graduate with honors.
More Scholarships Are Merit Based
The Los Angeles Times reports that college scholarships are increasingly awarded based on merit, not need. The article quoted Donald E Heller of Center for the Study of Higher Education as saying that 25% of all state grant dollars are now awarded without consideration of need, up from 10% in 1990. Many educators are concerned that tuition assistance is being funneled away from those who need it most to those who could manage without it.
For more details, please visit http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-finaid17jun17.story
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