How to Apply: Guidance Notes Completing the Application Form Please read these guidance notes carefully before filling in the application form. Each section below relates to a section of the application form. We recommend printing out a copy of these notes so that you can refer to them as you’re filling out your application. Allow yourself plenty of time to complete the form and gather together all of the necessary supporting documentation. In particular it can take some time to sit GMAT and English language proficiency tests, so we strongly recommend that you make necessary arrangements as early as possible. We prefer you to use a word processor to complete the application form and only to use the space provided. Essays (see below) should be written on separate sheets and sent with the application form. Please complete every section of the form. If you have no information to provide, please write ‘n/a’ in the space provided. Do not send us a CV or resumé as an alternative to this form. Please do not use special formatting or modify the form in an attempt to make your application “stand out”; it simply makes the form more difficult for us to process. 1. Personal Details Please provide all of the personal information requested. In any correspondence we will normally address you by your preferred name. Your nationality is as shown on your passport. If you have dual nationality, please let us know which you consider to be your primary nationality and which your secondary nationality. Your country of residence is where you live now. 2. Contact Details Please note that we prefer to communicate with you via email, so it is important that you provide us with a valid email address that you check regularly. If you are admitted to the Cambridge MBA, we will need to send you formal documentation by post, so it is important that you also provide us with a secure, permanent postal address. If you know this is likely to change please let us know now; if it changes during the admission process please let us know immediately. We will not usually contact you by telephone, but ask you to provide us with home, business and mobile telephone numbers in case we need to speak to you urgently. 3. Application Summary This section sums up the information that appears in more detail in later sections of the application form. For this reason, it is usually best to complete this section last. Please provide all of the summary information requested. If any of the information is not available at the time you submit your application (e.g. GMAT scores or English Language test results) please leave the relevant spaces blank and we will add it once we receive it. Please tell us the total number of months full-time work experience you will have as of 30 September 2008. 4. Education Please provide us with details of all the higher educational institutions (universities /colleges) you have attended and the programmes you have taken (even if you have not completed them). Tell us your rank in the class (along with the total class size) if you have this information. We are also interested to learn of any competitive scholarships, awards or prizes you have received, as well as any professional qualifications you have been awarded. We require original or certified copies of transcripts and certificates for all the university-level degree programmes that you have taken (even if you have not completed the programme). The academic transcript will usually give details of each course that you have taken, the credit value of each course, the result you obtained, as well as the final award (as a degree class or Grade Point Average). If you are unable to send the original documents, you must have copies authenticated by your university (which will stamp any copies with the official university stamp), or by a public notary or lawyer who has seen the original documents. If these documents are not in English, you must send, in addition, a full translation by a registered translator. Do not translate them yourself. Please do not send certificates or transcripts of other qualifications or courses of study. 5. GMAT You must take the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), and arrange for Pearson-Vue who administer the tests to make the score report available to us (we can usually access your score report online): our institution code is WF1-T3-68. If you have taken the GMAT more than once, please report all of your scores. You can submit your application before sitting the GMAT, but we will only consider your application once we have received a valid score report from Pearson-Vue. We look for good balanced scores on the verbal, quantitative and analytical writing sections of the test, which demonstrate to us that you have the variety of skills required to succeed on the Cambridge MBA.We do not specify a minimum score. Full details of the GMAT can be found at www.gmat.org. Only GMAT tests taken in the five years before 30 September of the year you are applying for are valid. 6. English Language Fluency in English is a pre-requisite for the Cambridge MBA. If English is not your first language, you must have taken a recognised English proficiency test in the two years before 30 September 2008. We may, at our discretion, waive this requirement if you can provide clear evidence that your English is fluent (e.g. you have mainly been educated in English and your principal working language is English), but to expedite your application we would strongly recommend that you take an English proficiency test anyway. Our preferred test is the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test which is jointly managed by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council and IDP Education Australia. Details can be found at www.ielts.org, or obtained from local British Council offices (www.britishcouncil.org). Our minimum requirement is an average score of 7.0, with a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. Where the IELTS test is not available you may take the Princeton TOEFL test, details of which can be found at www.toefl.org. If you take the TOEFL test, you must take the Test of Written English (TWE) at the same time. Our minimum requirement is 600 in the paper-based test with 5.0 in the TWE, or 100 in the computer-based test with 5.0 in the TWE; these minimum scores must be achieved in the same sitting. A TOEFL score without the Test of Written English is not acceptable. We also accept the UCLES Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) at Grade A or B, or the UCLES Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) at Grade A. Further details of these tests can be found at cambridgeesol.org/exams. We require original or certified copies of your English Language Test certificates. If you are unable to send the original documents, you must have copies authenticated by a public notary or lawyer who has seen the original documents. 7. Career Background /Expectations Please provide us with your complete career history since graduating from university, including an explanation of all career breaks and part-time /temporary work. We require a minimum of three years full-time, post-graduation work experience on 30 September 2008; the average tends to be around five years. We require detailed information on your current employment as well as the two previous periods of full-time employment (if applicable), as well any parttiim work experience and internships if you feel they are relevant. We expect you to have solid managerial experience, and evidence of outstanding achievement in your career to date; this might include participation in fast-track management programmes, rapid promotion and special job responsibilities. Please convert annual salary information to British pounds (£) using current exchange rates. We also expect you to provide us with a reasonably clear idea of your future career aspirations, with an explanation of how the Cambridge MBA will help you to achieve these aspirations. 8. Personal Other Activities and Interests We want to hear about any activities that you participate in regularly, or special interests that you have. Please let us know how much time you dedicate to these activities and interests each week, and tell us about any noteworthy achievements or positions of responsibility. International Exposure and Languages The Cambridge MBA is a highly international programme, so we are very interested in hearing about languages that you are able to work in and significant international exposure that you have had. Finance Estimated fees and associated costs of the Cambridge MBA can be found on our website (www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba) and in our brochure. Please indicate how you intend to meet these costs, specifying any scholarships you have been awarded or intend to apply for. Before you are admitted to the Cambridge MBA you will be required to provide financial guarantees in respect of the full costs of the MBA Programme. 9. Essays We learn a lot about you as a person through your essays, so please be as thoughtful and candid as possible in your writing – share with us your influences, passions, values and aspirations! We are also looking for your essays to be clearly written, succinct and engaging; it is worth spending some time preparing. Your essays should be written on separate sheets of paper (A4 or Letter size), and sent to us with the application form (we require five copies of each essay). You should put your name, the question you are answering and the page number at the top of each page. Essays should be typed and double-spaced. You should not exceed the stated word limit for each essay (it is fine if they are much shorter, but essays which exceed the word limits will not be read). It is very important that the essays are entirely your own work; there are no right or wrong answers, so please do not be tempted to get other people to help you write the essays. 10. References You need to ask two referees (recommenders) to provide us with references on the forms provided in the application pack. You can send these to us with the completed application form, or your referees can send them to us directly by post or email, but please note that we will not process your application until we receive them; it is your responsibility to ensure that they arrive in good time. In the case of posted references, each reference must be in a sealed envelope with the referee’s signature over the seal. If the seal is broken or the signature is absent we will not accept the reference. In the case of emailed references, the referee must send the email from their business email address. You should ask for references from: (1) Your line manager or direct supervisor; (2) A colleague with whom you work closely. We learn a great deal about your background and potential through letters of reference, so please select your referees carefully and tell them how important it is that they provide as comprehensive a reference as possible. They should know your strengths and weaknesses well, and be in a position to comment on you objectively – do not use close friends! If you are not able to ask your current line manager to provide us with a reference, this is usually okay, but please tell us why not. The person you choose must, however, have had recent experience supervising you in a professional context. If you run your own business, you can ask a customer, supplier or professional adviser (e.g. your accountant or lawyer) to provide a reference in place of a line manager. If you have any doubts about the suitability of a referee, please contact us. Do not, under any circumstance, write the reference yourself and ask the referee to sign it. If we discover this has happened we will immediately reject your application. Please note we may contact your referees for further information about your application. 11. Marketing Information We find the information you provide us with in this section very helpful. It tells us where best to focus our marketing efforts, to make sure we’re reaching the right people. 12. Declaration and Data Protection To comply with our various legal requirements, please read the statement in this section carefully before signing and dating the application form. Sending Us Your Completed Application Form & Related Documents All documents should be sent to: The MBA Office Judge Business School University of Cambridge Trumpington Street Cambridge CB2 1AG UK Please check our application deadlines and make sure that you send your completed application to us in good time, by registered post. Equal Opportunities Policy The University of Cambridge is committed to equal opportunities for both employees and students, and will consider all applications to the Cambridge MBA on equal grounds. Subject to statutory provisions no applicant for admission as a student will be treated less favourably than another on the grounds of sex (including gender reassignment), marital or parental status, race, ethnic or national origin, colour, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or age.