????雖然商學院或許會說，撰寫社交媒體“短文”符合候選人的最佳利益，但社交媒體的免費廣告顯然也給這些學校帶來了好處。蒂皮管理學院要求所有申請文檔必須上傳到學院的MBA幻燈片頻道，同時鼓勵申請人推廣自己的幻燈片——得到最多“贊”的學生將獲得5,000美元的獎學金。這所商學院還許諾，幻燈片最具創意的學生將獲得一筆相當于全額學費的獎學金。

????喬治敦大學麥克多諾商學院鼓勵申請人在Twitter上使用標簽#WhyHoya來回復申請短文問題。最佳回復（包括一些來自校友的回復）被收錄在了一個Facebook相簿之中。

????但社交媒體并不是創意申請流程的唯一選擇。近20年以來，紐約大學斯特恩商學院（Stern School of Business）一直邀請候選人提交有創意的自薦資料。斯特恩商學院負責MBA招生事宜的副院長伊塞?加洛格利介紹說，這所商學院多年來收到的材料可謂五花八門，不一而足。比如，一個通過手搖曲柄提供照明用電的微型大樓，還有一個個性十足的麥片盒——申請人在原料配方的位置上列舉了自己的各種素質。

????后來，由于幾位申請人采用了“越大越好”的方式，這所商學院于是對申請人提交物品的尺寸進行了限制。“難不成接下來有人會遞來一輛轎車？”加洛格利開玩笑說。此外，招生團隊還把穿過的舊衣服列入了黑名單（很有可能是因為他們收到過一雙舊馬拉松運動鞋導致的結果）。收到一批壽司之后，食物也成了不受歡迎的物品。加洛格利委婉地說：“有些東西寄到我們這里的時候，已經不是申請人期望的樣子了?！?/p>

????芝加哥大學布斯商學院（Booth School of Business）早些時候也嘗試過使用申請短文之外的其他方式。根據2007-2008學年的招生計劃，候選人必須提交四張幻燈片來說明一個問題：“你會成為一位什么樣的學生，你打算怎樣脫穎而出?！?/p>

????布斯商學院主管招生工作的副院長庫爾特?阿爾姆表示，這些需要使用幻燈片來回答的問題可以讓學院看到候選人通過其他途徑很難看到的一面。他解釋說：“申請流程能夠了解的候選人資質是有限的。出于非常具體的原因，我們詢問一些非常具體的問題。但可以想象的是，除此之外，有些事情還需要進一步溝通?！?/p>

????事實證明，這個實驗非常成功，。在2012-2013學年的招生流程中，這所商學院繼續要求學生提交由四張幻燈片構成的“申請短文”。盡管幻燈片目前禁止嵌入鏈接、視頻和社交媒體內容，但阿爾姆表示，這種情況未來有可能發生變化。“我從來沒有說過絕對不會做什么事情。我認為，沒有什么事情不能探討?！?/p>

????但這些非常規的“申請短文”是否真的能夠幫助招生委員會更好地了解真正符合要求的候選人呢？蒂皮管理學院的謝弗似乎是這么認為的。她說：“申請顧問們可能需要多花點時間來適應新技術，掌握新技術。它要比幫助申請人撰寫一篇文章更加復雜?！?/p>

????此外，商學院正在使用非傳統的申請短文，以梳理出申請人具體的個性，進而評估某個申請人是否“適合”。這是一個很難把握，但越來越普遍的招生標準。斯特恩商學院的加洛格利如是說：“我們正在尋找的學生不僅要具備高智商，還要具備足夠高的情商。這種方式能夠從一個不同的角度展示候選人的真實情況?！?/p>

????喬治敦大學的休伯特認為，非傳統申請短文的成功與否取決于申請人承擔風險的意愿。麥克多諾商學院去年引入Twitter申請的時候，大多數學生并沒有嵌入照片或鏈接。但這并不意味著試驗已經宣告失敗。她說：“我們希望申請人愿意承擔更多的風險，讓我們走進他們生活的其他方面?！?財富中文網)

????譯者：任文科

????While schools may describe social media "essays" as being in the candidates' best interests, the institutions certainly benefit from the free social media marketing. Tippie requires all entries to be uploaded to the school's MBA SlideShare channel and encourages applicants to promote their own slideshows -- the student with the most "likes" gets a $5,000 scholarship. The school has also pledged a full-tuition scholarship to the applicant with the most creative slide deck.

????Georgetown's McDonough School of Business encouraged prospective students to Tweet their responses to an essay question under the hashtag #WhyHoya. Top answers, including those from alumni, were featured in a Facebook album.

????But social media isn't the only option for innovative applications. New York University's Stern School of Business has invited candidates to submit creative expressions of themselves for nearly two decades. Over the years, the school has received everything from a miniature building with crank-powered lighting to a personalized cereal box, which listed an applicant's attributes in place of the ingredients, says Isser Gallogly, Stern's assistant dean of MBA admissions.

????The school introduced size constraints after a few applicants adopted the "bigger is better" approach. "Is someone going to send a car next?" Gallogly jokes. "The admissions team also blacklisted previously worn clothing (likely a result of the used marathon sneakers) and food following a shipment of sushi. "By the time it got to us, it didn't present as well as they expected it to," Gallogly diplomatically recalls.

????The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business also experimented with a non-essay option early on. In the 2007-2008 application cycle, candidates were required to submit four slides to help illustrate "who you will be in their class and how you will stand out," according to the guidelines.

????Kurt Ahlm, Booth's associate dean of student recruitment and admissions, says the slide question allowed the school to get at aspects of candidates that might otherwise fall through the cracks. "There's a finite amount of real estate in the application. We ask very specific things for very specific reasons, but presumably there are things left out of this that you'd like to communicate," he explains.

????The experiment proved successful, he says, and the school continued the four-slide "essay" through the 2012-2013 application season. Although the question bans embedding links, videos, and social media in the slides, Ahlm says that this could change in the future. "I never say never," he says. "I don't think anything is off the table."

????But are these unconventional "essays" helping admissions committees get a better sense of the real candidate? Tippie's Schafer certainly seems to think so. "It's going to take a little bit of time for consultants to catch up with new technology and uses for new technology," she says. "This is more complicated than shaping an essay."

????B-schools are also using nontraditional essays to tease out specific personality traits that help them assess a candidate's "fit," a slippery but increasingly common admissions criterion. "We're looking for people who not only have high I.Q., but really high E.Q. and emotional intelligence," Stern's Gallogly says. "It can bring a candidate to life in a different way."

????For Georgetown's Hubert, the success of the nontraditional essay depends on an applicant's willingness to take a few risks. When McDonough introduced the Tweet essay last year, most students shied away from embedding photos or links. But that doesn't mean it has been a failure. "We hope people will take more risks and allow us into other aspects of their lives," she says.