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Evidence that Twitter-mania is taking hold, for better or worse, in higher education: The University of Iowa's business school is offering a one-year scholarship to the applicant for its M.B.A. program who, in the 140 characters allowed by Twitter, most successfully answers the question, "What makes you an exceptional Tippie MBA candidate and full-time MBA hire? Creativity encouraged!" According to an article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the innovation is designed to acknowledge the power of social media in business communication, and applicants can answer this way in lieu of the standard application essay, and one winner will get a one-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." Lest one worry that Iowa officials had not noticed that the standard tweet does not provide enough room for a whole lot of "depth," a news release about the contest notes: "You can go beyond the typical Tweet by connecting your Tweet to other social media such as blogs, video, Facebook, or a web page."
