In today's Businessweek, there's a great interview with the interim director of admissions for UCLA Anderson, where he gives good insight and tips for getting into the school.
One thing he was asked about was mistakes that students make in their application. Mainly, he says, that students "do not tell their stories effectively," and do not say exactly why Anderson is the school for them in their personal statement. I think this is a fundamental problem - and when admissions committees see this they automatically assume that the student has one generic letter that they then adapt to each application. This is a lazy mistake, and can be rectified by researching each school that you are applying to and writing a letter specifically for each one. It's not rocket science, but is substantially harder than writing a general "why I want an MBA" letter.
He also says that he encounters gramatical mistakes and typos. This is reprehensible - but the solution is easy: spell check your letter and have it proofread by a native English speaker. Even if you are a native speaker yourself, you can overlook things.
An interesting fact that the interim director menions is that their student body is diverse in terms of their pre-MBA backgrounds. Only about a fifth of the student body has a background in finance - and the rest come from all over the undergrad spectrum. But, if you don't have a quantitate background, you'll need to somehow demonstrate your quantitate skills - maybe you've taken a college level stats class, or the like. Mainly though, if you don't come from a finance background, they'll certainly look hard at your GMAT score.
Finally, he says that Anderson students are "confident, but not arrogant or cocky." There is a fine line here that is easily crossed when applying to b-schools. You need to be confident in that you know your background and know why the school you chose is right for you - but still be open to learning new things.
One thing he was asked about was mistakes that students make in their application. Mainly, he says, that students "do not tell their stories effectively," and do not say exactly why Anderson is the school for them in their personal statement. I think this is a fundamental problem - and when admissions committees see this they automatically assume that the student has one generic letter that they then adapt to each application. This is a lazy mistake, and can be rectified by researching each school that you are applying to and writing a letter specifically for each one. It's not rocket science, but is substantially harder than writing a general "why I want an MBA" letter.
He also says that he encounters gramatical mistakes and typos. This is reprehensible - but the solution is easy: spell check your letter and have it proofread by a native English speaker. Even if you are a native speaker yourself, you can overlook things.
An interesting fact that the interim director menions is that their student body is diverse in terms of their pre-MBA backgrounds. Only about a fifth of the student body has a background in finance - and the rest come from all over the undergrad spectrum. But, if you don't have a quantitate background, you'll need to somehow demonstrate your quantitate skills - maybe you've taken a college level stats class, or the like. Mainly though, if you don't come from a finance background, they'll certainly look hard at your GMAT score.
Finally, he says that Anderson students are "confident, but not arrogant or cocky." There is a fine line here that is easily crossed when applying to b-schools. You need to be confident in that you know your background and know why the school you chose is right for you - but still be open to learning new things.
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