Get a $37,000 scholarship due to Twitter!
Elena Vnorovscaia / Chişinău / Moldova.ORG / -- The University of Iowa's business school is offering a full scholarship to the applicant to its M.B.A. program who most successfully answers the question, "What makes you an exceptional Tippie MBA candidate and full-time MBA hire? Creativity encouraged!"
Future students need to answer in 140 characters or less. They are encouraged to link to their blogs, videos, Facebook accounts or anything else that may help answer the question
According to an article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the innovation is designed to acknowledge the power of social media in business communication. Applicants can answer this way in lieu of the standard application essay, and one winner will get a two-year scholarship to the program at the Tippie School of Management, valued at $37,000.
"This would give us a lot more depth and show us more about a candidate than an essay would show," Jodi Schafer, director of recruiting and admissions for the school's full-time M.B.A. program, told the Press-Citizen. "We wanted to learn more about our applicants, wanted to get more than we could through a typical application. It's a better way to showcase a candidate's talent."
Academics at the university decided to introduce the new, shorter scholarship test in place of the usual 800-word essay because they are tired of uncreative essays and want students to show they have social networking skills, can use the microblogging website Twitter creatively, and make their point succinctly.
Colleen Downie, senior assistant dean of the MBA course, said: "Social media has been shown to be a powerful tool for business communication so it makes sense that our applicants demonstrate an ability to use it.
"This is a way for prospective students to show us that they embrace innovation and are comfortable using the kind of media and technology driving so many changes in business." Jaron Lanier, author of the book "You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto," accused the university of "trying to be cool." He said: "They're devaluing their future, because they're identifying themselves with a fad rather than something more long term," Lanier says. "It comes off as a school trying so hard to be cool."
Applicant Kinzie Dekkenga told USA Today: "It turns out having to simplify your thoughts down was much harder than I thought. I sat on the Twitter page and just kept typing things, but I was always 100 or 200 characters over."
The Tweet scholarship deadline is July 22; the winner will be announced Aug. 4
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