Wharton Chat tomorrow Friday September 29 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM UK. If you are having trouble making it to the info sessions, fairs, and receptions, get your information virtually at Accepted.com's Wharton Admissions Chat. Wharton representatives will be there including:

• Thomas Caleel, Wharton's Director of Admissions and Financial Aid
• Peggy Bishop Lane, Deputy Vice Dean & Adjunct Associate Professor of Accounting;
• Jackie Zavitz, Associate Director, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid
• Tammy Carter, Associate Director, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid
• Balaji Nagabhushana, second-year Wharton MBA student (Class of 2007)

Last week I promised you that Accepted.com would make your important and valuable  visits to business schools more fun. Now I'm going to deliver: 

The Beautiful B-School Photo Contest 

Next time you travel to a b-school campus whether to check out an MBA program or to be interviewed, take along your camera.  If you like to take pictures as you travel and end up with a few good ones of the school or landmarks near to it, please submit them at the Beautiful B-School Photo Contest page. Oh yes, there are lots of prizes, and those who win first, second and third prizes will  respectively receive $200, $100, and $50 gift certificates to Amazon . Plus there will be lots of honorable mentions and all these pics will be displayed in Accepted.com's B-school Zone, the section of Accepted.com that aggregates all the information we have about individual MBA programs.

So share you photographic talent. Indulge your shutterbug urges. Compete in the Beautiful B-School Photo contest.  

"Law Schools Expand LL.M. Programs," by Accepted.com editor Judy Koffler, is now available on Accepted.com, reprinted with permissions from the Los Angeles Daily Journal, where it initially appeared.  This article explores the explosive growth of LL.M. program during the last several years. Here is an excerpt:

"What qualities do schools look for in an applicant? Generally they want their LL.M. students to be highly focused on their goals, even "driven," in the words of one admissions official. Of course, a good performance record in law school, strong recommendations, and the critically important personal statement carry considerable weight. Foreign students, moreover, are generally expected to show a grade of 590 or higher on the standardized test of English (the TOEFL)."

The University of Chicago Law School has started its own blog, A Day in the Life,  with representatives of different offices contributing. If you are interested in attending Chicago Law, you should read this blog.

Lock the doors and windows. Close the blinds. Make sure no one is looking. Pull up a chair. I'm going to tell you a secret. Many of you are laboring under false impressions. I'm going to dispel them and then tell you my secret.

Personal Statement Myth #1: Personal statements are read by machines.

"What!" you're thinking. "I know that's nonsense. You're not telling me anything new!"

Well many of you write as if you think  search engines or electronic resume readers hungry for key words are reading your personal statements. You write as if stuffing mantras into your essays will persuade the reader of admissibility. After all if enough derivatives of "lead" appear, shouldn't the reader conclude you are a leader?

Sorry. It doesn't work like that. You have to show, not tell your reader that you are a leader. And you don't need to even have the root "lead" in your story to demonstrate leadership. Here's a small made-up example:  "Despite some initial stumbling I organized my teammates, set deadline for sub-tasks, and rewarded performance. My team completed our project 10% under budget and on time." A story could  also convey the same quality  -- and probably  do a better job. But whether you want to reveal leadership, compassion, integrity, or analytical skills, use of these terms doesn't convince The readers aren't machines and won't be swayed by key word stuffing. You need to demonstrate those qualities.

Personal Statement Myth #2: The admissions committees are judges awarding acceptances like prizes -- based on objective criteria and merit.

Wrong. The admissions committees see themselves as professional creators of classes. Classes with diversity of perspectives, skills, and backgrounds, a symphony of voices. The adcoms couldn't care less about rewarding you for your past achievements. That's not their job.  They will defend to the death the concept that "merit" and "achievement" come in many shapes and are not exclusively measured by test scores, grades, and even extra-curricular activities. You  may see the fat envelope as a prize, but they see you as a potential stone in a mosaic that they are crafting. Are you going to add a distinctive hue to the class picture or not?

The Secret: The readers of your personal statements and application essays are human beings.

What does that information mean to you? Stay tuned. I'll tell you in a later blog post. In the meantime, open the window. It's getting stuffy in here.