It may just be the glory days of MIT Sloan. By sitting in the middle of the booming Boston economy, centered in the emerging world of biotech, leading a movement in sustainability, and sitting one block (yes, really one block) away from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and more venture capital firms than you can count, MIT Sloan has never been better positioned as a business school. And the numbers support this. MIT Sloan has the third lowest acceptance rate of all top MBA programs at 11.7%, just above HBS and Stanford. So how to craft a winning application? An application that now includes a video component. Here are five tips: 1. Past is prologue. MIT Sloan believes that the best indicator of future success is past success, so don’t spend a lot of time talking about your dreams. Instead, talk about your accomplishments. They are explicit: they want “doers,” so show them what you have done. 2. Number talk. It’s MIT so bring on the numbers. Anywhere you can, adding metrics to your accomplishments would be a big advantage. Did you increase sales by 50%? Cut costs by $100M? Or increase efficiency by 30%? Let them know. 3. Show the love. MIT Sloan is looking for candidates whose first, and maybe only, choice for b-school is MIT Sloan. And, they want to see it from more than just your application but from other ways you have gotten to know the school. Stay on top of webinars and be sure to attend local events. If possible, make a trip to Cambridge to visit campus and sit in on classes. And by all means, talk to alumni. 4. And tell them why. Specificity is credibility. So be prepared to say exactly what you love about Sloan. Maybe it is taking a certain course with a certain professor, perhaps it is taking advantage of Sloan’s entrepreneurial community, or maybe it is just the overall “pirate” vibe. Let Sloan know with as many details as possible. 5. Video? Simple but not easy – for the first time, Sloan has added a required video component to the application. The process is straight-forward, tell people who you are in 60 seconds. One warning, 60 seconds is a long time. And please, don’t recount your resume, this is the time to say things that no one else can say, what is unique to you? A last piece of advice that your mother would probably tell you: look directly in the camera, don’t slouch, talk slowly, and dress nicely. If MIT Sloan is your dream school, go for it. But be prepared to submit a pristine application — there are just too many applicants fighting for too few slots – and, make sure to show the love. The post MIT Sloan on Top: Five Tips for Your MIT Sloan Cover Letter by Harold Simansky appeared first on Stratus. Stratus Admissions Counseling is a full-service admissions counseling firm distinguished by its team based, multi-step process ensuring each application is crafted for optimum impact. Our MBA counseling team has a representative from virtually every top 20 MBA program, enabling us to provide school-specific guidance.