Blog:
Tips for Your UNC Kenan-Flagler Application Essays
July 24, 2025
A huge change is happening at UNC in January 2026 as Stephen D. Bell Hall will become the home of the school’s MBA program and major renovations will begin on the school’s current home in the McColl Building. Given these significant changes, it is no surprise that UNC Kenan-Flagler has also made the biggest update…
Tips for Your UCLA Anderson Application Essays
July 23, 2025
UCLA Anderson Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026 UCLA Anderson stands out among MBA programs because of its location in a large city with many different industries, its collaborative culture, and the flexibility it offers to customize your business school experience. Anderson looks for applicants who embody the school’s three pillars: sharing success, thinking fearlessly, and driving…
Public Policy or Public Administration? How to Choose the Right Grad Program for You
July 23, 2025
If you want to be president, you run for office. But what if you want to work FOR the president—or elsewhere in the government or nonprofit worlds? Increasingly, having a master’s level public policy degree can make a difference. Usually, that means either an MPP (Master of Public Policy) or MPA (Master of Public Administration)….
Tips for Your Chicago Booth Application Essay
July 23, 2025
Chicago Booth Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026 Chicago Booth, while well-known for its quantitative approach and highly flexible curriculum, continues to use the application process to identify strong qualitative thinkers who offer a broad diversity of experiences that will bring variety to class discussions and add complexity to the team dynamics the school emphasizes. While the…
Tips for Your Texas McCombs Application Essays
July 23, 2025
Texas McCombs Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026 This year, Texas McCombs has rolled out a brand new set of essay prompts. According to McCombs, the revised questions “are purposefully designed to elicit thoughtful and introspective responses that reveal your motivations, values, and aspirations.” The McCombs application is your chance to show the adcom how you will…
Tips for Your Wharton Application Essays
July 23, 2025
Wharton MBA Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026 For the first time in many years, Wharton has made some changes to its application essay questions. Not only does Wharton’s admissions committee want to know that you have a clear professional plan that you can actualize upon arrival on campus, they also want to be convinced that Wharton…
Five Ways an MBA Can Help Future Entrepreneurs
July 18, 2025
Here at Stratus, aspiring entrepreneurs often ask us whether they should pursue an MBA, wondering whether the investment will truly pay off. Will they be better served with the on-the-job training of launching a new company rather than taking time away from work to go back to school? There are certainly high-profile examples of successful…
MBA Programs Offering GMAT Waivers in 2025
July 11, 2025
You have a killer GPA, excellent work progression, and the perfect letters of recommendation—and you even volunteer to save the whales or the environment or whatever other cause is near and dear to you. However, you’re not great with standardized tests, and you are afraid you’ll bomb the GMAT/GRE/EA. Does this one data point in…
How to Use the GMAC Common Letter of Recommendation to Enhance Your MBA Profile
July 8, 2025
In an emergency room, doctors follow predefined protocols and procedures when handling medical emergencies such as suspected heart attacks and strokes. In military situations, standard operating procedures guide soldiers in executing tactical maneuvers and providing logistical support so that soldiers act decisively in combat situations. This same kind of playbook exists for MBA applicants as…
Tips for Your Harvard Business School Application Essays
July 8, 2025
Harvard Business School Essay Tips, 2025–2026 In 2024, for the first time in more than ten years, Harvard Business School (HBS) changed the essay questions for its MBA application. The school’s essay prompts for this year are only slightly different from last year’s and focus on three specific themes, in contrast to the long, open-ended…
Tips for Your Georgetown McDonough Essays
July 7, 2025
Tips for your Georgetown McDonough 2025–2026 Application Essays Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business’s 2025–2026 application is one of the most flexible, with a required video essay, plus three options for your main essay. Which one should you choose? The answer will be different for everyone, so focus on the question that you can most…
Tips for Your Dartmouth Tuck Application Essays
July 7, 2025
Dartmouth Tuck MBA Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026 Known for its extremely close-knit, down-to-earth community, Dartmouth Tuck wants to learn about you and how you will contribute to and support the individuals in it. Through its application essays, Tuck asks you three questions intended to highlight aspects of you that are not conveyed in the other…