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| Prologue: Harvard or Bust | |
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| Kick-Starting Your Candidacy | |
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| Ready, Set… Grow! | |
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| Stats, Story, and Experience | |
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| Three Parts Beat as One | |
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| Leadership: How to Live as a Leader | |
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| Ego Versus Mission | |
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| Community Service and Extracurriculars: The Extracurricular Equation | |
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| Admissions Directors on the Role of Extracurriculars in Your Application | |
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| The Wall Street Myth: “I Don't Have Time” | |
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| What You Can Do to “Up Your Extracurricular Game” | |
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| Gettin' Busy: Beefing Up Your Leadership Legacy | |
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| Choose Something You Care About | |
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| Isolate the “So What!” | |
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| Reinvention | |
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| Create Legacy | |
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| Standout Service in a Nutshell | |
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| Rec Creation: Help Your Recommenders Help You | |
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| Recommenders 101 | |
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| Recommender Options for Different Professions | |
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| Help Them Help You: Create Talking Points | |
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| Six Surefire Rec Killers—and How to Avoid Them | |
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| Prepping Your Recommender: The Meeting | |
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| Letters of Recommendation Versus Letters of Support | |
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| Two Types of Recommender to Avoid | |
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| The Illustrated Rec: Alanna's Story | |
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| Admissions Directors on Recommendation Dos and Don'ts | |
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| Postscript: I Feel Your Pain | |
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| Learning Differences: You're Not Stoopid, the System Is | |
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| Amy, What You Gonna Do? | |
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| “Multiple Intelligences” | |
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| Come Out, Come Out | |
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| Take Your GMAT Well in Advance | |
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| Zen and the Art of MBA Admissions Essays | |
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| The Career Goals Essay | |
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| “No Essays by Committee” | |
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| “OPE”—Other People's Expectations | |
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| Three Blind Mice | |
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| Jared's Goals Essay | |
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| The Archetypal Goals-Essay Structure: A Sonata in Six Beats | |
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| Passion—Finding Your P-Spot | |
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| Vinod's Goals Essay | |
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| Tip Sheet: School Research and Visits | |
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| Get Real—Leveraging Your Personal Story | |
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| The Accomplishments Essay | |
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| Professional Accomplishments—Beyond the Call of Duty | |
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| Bradley's Professional Accomplishment Essay | |
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| Service Accomplishments—Consultant, Heal Thyself | |
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| Anya's Service Accomplishment Essay | |
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| Personal Accomplishments—Swimmer's Ear | |
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| Susan's Personal Accomplishment Essay | |
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| Leadership Essays | |
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| Queen for a Day | |
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| Vinod's Leadership Essay | |
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| From Boys to Men | |
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| Sample Leadership Essay | |
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| Impact/Opportunity Essays: A Beautiful Mind-Set | |
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| Ziva's Selzing an Opportunity Essay | |
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| Ethical Dilemma Essays | |
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| Ethical Dilemma or Bummer? | |
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| What Happens in Tokyo Stays in Tokyo | |
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| Oscar's Ethical Dilemma Essay | |
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| Failure Essays | |
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| White Men Can't Fail | |
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| Tommy's Failure Essay | |
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| What If Admissions Officers Hate Me? | |
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| Mahmoud's Failure Essay | |
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| Background, or “What Makes You Unique?” Essays: It's the Little Things | |
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| Garrett's Background Essay | |
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| The Whimsical Essays, or “If You Were a Tree, What Tree Would You Be?” | |
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| The Completely Random Topic | |
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| A Few Eye Rollers to Avoid When Addressing Whimsical Questions | |
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| Shehzad's “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?” Essay | |
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| The Passion Essay | |
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| Dutch's “What Are You Passionate About?” Essay | |
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| The Open or “Wish” Essay | |
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| Sadie's Open Essay | |
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| What Matters Most: Never Settle for the B-Plan | |
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| Connect the Themes in Your Life | |
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| Peeling Back the Onion | |
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| Gene's “What Matters Most to You, and Why?” Essay | |
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| Creative/Slideshow Essays: Finding Your “Wow” | |
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| Dancing Desi | |
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| Culture Shock Is a State of Mind | |
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| Vijay's Culture-Shock Essay | |
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| The Optional Essay: The Dog Did Not Eat Your Homework | |
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| Other Triggers for an Optional Essay | |
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| According to Jim | |
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| Don't Play the “I Can Top That” Game | |
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| Steps for Building an Optional Essay | |
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| Jim's Optional Essay | |
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| Now That You've Hit “Submit” | |
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| Interview Skills: Up Close and Personal | |
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| Interviews Come in Different Flavors | |
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| Baxter: From Nervous Nelly to Powerful Pro | |
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| You Are What You Wear | |
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| You've Been Waitlisted, or “We Love You, But…” | |
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| Actions You Can Take to Get Off the Waitlist | |
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| Anatomy of an Update Letter | |
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| We Think You're Worthy, but We Can't Remember Your Name | |
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| We Love You So Much, but We're Not Sure If You'll Even Come | |
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| We're Madly in Love with You, but Your Stats Are Weak | |
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| Reapplications: Guacamole, Meet Lemon | |
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| You Did Not Demonstrate Quantitative Proficiency | |
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| You Have Weak Leadership and a Lack of Substantial Extracurriculars | |
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| You Told the Wrong Story | |
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| You Chose the Wrong Recommenders | |
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| You Didn't Differentiate Yourself (You Played It Safe) | |
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| Epilogue: The Joke's on You | |
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| Taking Your Inventory | |
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| Your Family Inventory | |
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| The Hard Questions | |
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| Your Professional Goals | |
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| The Impact/Leadership Essay | |
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| The Accomplishments Essay | |
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| The Background/Diversity Essay | |
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| The Failure Essay | |
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| The Ethical Dilemma Essay | |
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| Glossary of Auntie Evan-isms | |
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| Index | |