????申請頂尖商學院需要申請人撰寫幾篇精心設計的短文，闡述他們為什么希望獲得MBA學位，以及他們生活中最重要的事情是什么等問題。

????但想象一下，如果你可以選擇用短短的140個字符進行自我推銷，以說明你自己完美契合第一志愿商學院的各種要求，又或者，你只需要提供個人博客的鏈接，展示你創建的一家微型企業或者你在秘魯的背包之旅，那又是怎樣一番景象？

????不是只有準MBA學生們覺得博客文章、Twitter微博或者說Facebook狀態比一篇內容密集、但往往枯燥無味的申請入學論文更容易讓人接受。全美各地的頂尖商學院中，越來越多的招生官員開始提供不同于傳統申請流程的申請方式，進而使得需要辛勤付出的申請論文變得不那么重要。

????蓬勃發展的招生咨詢業讓一些商學院的招生官員們越來越難以從一群精心包裝過的候選人中找出真正符合資質的人選。為了繞開那些光彩奪目、花大價錢打造的申請材料，各大院校正在嘗試通過不同的渠道來了解申請人的個人世界——主要是通過社交媒體。

????本月早些時候，愛荷華大學蒂皮管理學院（Tippie School of Management）引入了一個幻燈片選項。申請人可以選擇在截止日期（7月14日）之前提交一個幻燈片陳述資料（想一想一個包含社交媒體內容，猶如打了類固醇的PPT文檔是什么樣子），以代替兩篇申請入學論文。

????兩年前，蒂皮管理學院曾經因為率先使用Twitter申請書（候選人使用140個或者更少的文字陳述申請入學的理由）而名噪一時。“我們只是覺得申請短文變得越來越陳腐，我們想要某種當下的事物，想去申請人希望自己被發現的地方看一看，”蒂皮管理學院全日制MBA項目招生主任喬迪?謝弗這樣說。

????有抱負的MBA學生完全贊同這種方式。2011年夏天，幾乎所有申請人都放棄了傳統的申請入學短文，轉而提交Twitter申請書。接下來的學年中，蒂皮管理學院繼續采用這種申請方式，謝弗估計大部分申請人都選擇了Twitter申請書。但在去年招收新生時，這所學院放棄了這種替代方式。因為許多候選人只是簡單地將把Twitter申請書看成是逃避寫論文的途徑。招生委員會并沒有收到簡潔有力，同時帶有博客、視頻和個人網站鏈接的帖子，他們收到的只是一些內容空洞的陳述，于是不得不在面試時進一步挖掘申請人的個人信息。謝弗說：“實際情況完全背離了我們的初衷。”

????蒂皮管理學院去年引入了一篇強制性的圖像短文，要求學生必須提交一張圖片或拼貼圖，同時使用350個字來闡釋它的意義。但僅憑一張圖片依然無法全面了解申請人的資質。于是，在一組學生代表的敦促下，蒂皮管理學院引入了幻燈片選項，招生官員可以點擊幻燈片提供的社交媒體鏈接，更深入地了解申請人。

????蒂皮管理學院或許已經放棄了Twitter作文，但其他商學院正在采用這種方式。喬治敦大學麥克多諾商學院（McDonough School of Business） 和亞利桑那州立大學WP凱瑞商學院（W.P. Carey School of Business）都要求候選人提交一篇以140字以內的申請入學“短文”。喬治城大學負責MBA招生事宜的副院長莎麗?休伯特認為，Twitter的簡潔性是一個額外收獲。“Twitter的精髓在于，申請人通過簡潔而精辟的文字解釋喬治敦大學對他們真正有吸引力的地方，”她說。“它也為候選人提供了一個脫穎而出的機會，那些具有首創精神、創造性地鏈接至其他資源的學生分外引人注目。”另外，Twitter還很有趣味。她補充說：“看了一篇又一篇的申請短文之后，大家總想看到簡短有趣、別開生面的東西。”

????Applying to a top MBA program requires an applicant to churn out several well crafted essays on everything from why they want the degree to what matters most in their lives.

????But imagine if you could sell yourself as the perfect fit for your top-choice school in just 140 characters. Or better yet, imagine if you could simply link to your personal blog where you described the launch of a micro-enterprise or a backpacking trip through Peru?

????Prospective MBAs aren't the only ones who find a blog post, Tweet, or Facebook status more palatable than a dense, and often dull, admissions essay. Admissions officials at top B-schools across the country are increasingly offering alternatives to the traditional application that make those painstaking essays less important.

????For many B-schools, the flourishing admissions consulting industry has made it increasingly difficult to separate the real candidate from the carefully groomed one. To help get around the gloss of a high-priced coaching package, institutions are experimenting with ways to meet candidates in their personal worlds -- primarily via social media.

????Earlier this month, the University of Iowa's Tippie School of Management introduced a SlideShare option. Candidates applying before the July 14 deadline have the choice of submitting a SlideShare presentation (think PowerPoint on steroids with a social media component) in place of two admissions essays.

????Tippie made headlines two years ago when it piloted the application Tweet, where candidates made their case for admission in 140 characters or fewer. "We just felt like essays were getting kind of stale, and we wanted something that was current and in a place where our applicants would want to be found," says Jodi Schafer, the director of admissions for Tippie's full-time MBA program.

????Aspiring MBAs were all for it. Nearly every single applicant during the summer of 2011 opted for the Tweet "essay" instead of the traditional one. Tippie kept the program around for the next academic year, and Schafer estimates the majority of applicants chose the Tweet option. But the school scrapped this alternative during last year's admissions cycle. Many prospective students fell back on the tweet as an easy copout. Instead of pithy posts with embedded links to blogs, videos, and personal websites, the admissions committee received sparse statements and had to dig further during the interviews. "That defeated the whole purpose," Schafer says.

????Last year, Tippie introduced a mandatory image essay, where students submitted a picture or collage and explained in 350 words why it was meaningful. But the single image still didn't provide a well-rounded portrait of the applicant. So, at the urging of a student focus group, Tippie introduced the SlideShare option, which taps into social media and provides admissions officials with a more thorough sense of prospective students.

????Tippie may have nixed the Twitter essay, but other schools are now adopting it. Both Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and Arizona State's W.P. Carey School of Business have an application "essay" that must be answered in 140 characters or fewer. For Shari Hubert, Georgetown's associate dean of MBA admissions, the brevity of a Tweet is a bonus. "It's about the applicant being succinct and being pithy and explaining what's really appealing to them about Georgetown," she says." It's also an opportunity for candidates to stand out -- those with the initiative and creativity to link to other resources can set their applications apart. Plus, it's fun. "After reading essay, after essay, after essay you want to look at something fun, different and short," she adds.