Displaying a level of cynicism about the standard admissions process I find astounding, the University of Iowa has announced that applicants to its business school can skip the application essay by participating in a contest on Twitter.
According to an article by Stephanie Wise in the Press-Citizen:
The University of Iowa’s Tippie MBA full-time program is awarding one full financial award package to an applicant who most creatively answers the question, “What makes you an exceptional Tippie MBA candidate and full-time MBA hire? Creativity encouraged!”, in 140 characters or less on Twitter.
The award will go to a student entering the program this fall. Jodi Schafer, director of recruiting and admissions for the Tippie School of Management full-time MBA program, said the application Tweet can take the place of the application essay for candidates who are vying for the award, which is valued at $37,000.
Schafer also said that this plan “would give us a lot more depth and show us more about a candidate than an essay would show.”
No, it won’t do that. It will, however, make application processing a lot easier on the business school. Tippie staff will now thankfully have to read fewer trite essays from people who believe that an academic program in eastern Iowa named for an executive of a company specializing pest control is “perfectly instep with my goal of pursuing a career in management consulting.”
