Wednesday, December 26, 2007

MBA Gyan

Lately I have received a lot of questions around the b-school application process. Therefore, I decided to dedicate this post to address all such questions. Below I have keyed down points that one should keep in mind while creating a b-school application.

I might sound a little fixated on my views, but these opinions are a result of a rigorous research that lasted 2 years. Still you are free to close your browser windows at any point :-)

So with the hope that these would add value to your applications, let me begin :-

  1. STOP worrying about how to differentiate yourself from the crowd. You are already different. The point is that you should showcase your unique personal experiences (big or small, doesn't matter) and highlight how you've inculcated the learnings from these experiences to become a better person.
  2. UNDERSTAND the school you are applying to. Go beyond the website. Talk to students, alumni and see what's it like to be at that school. If you don't know any student or alum use google, linkedin, orkut, facebook etc. I used these websites and connected with lots of people. Your application will sound much more genuine after you've done this kind of a research.
  3. TREAT the application form (where you put in extracurricular, academic achievments etc.) with the same respect as your essays or recommendations. This is valuable information that goes into your admit/reject decision.
  4. ANSWER the question. Isn't this obvious? Believe me, too often than not we don't do that. So if the goals essay doesn't ask for your career progression then don't spend time explaining how you learned critical lessons of leadership and teamwork while at work. The ad-com will simply brand you a rambler who hasn't even read the question properly. Also such kind of a response invokes the feeling that you have applied to a school which asked for the career progression and that you've copied the matter from there. An absolute killer of your chances.
  5. USE short sentences in your essays. They are easy to understand.
  6. DON'T put all the information/stories you've (about the school, about yourself) in your essays. Leave something for the interview also, where you would be dug deeper into each and every aspect.
Lastly but most importantly DON'T say what ad-com wants to hear. These guys are incredibly smart people who have been reviewing applications for years. They can easily identify people who try to personify. So showcase who you are. If the ad-com still rejects you then don't worry. You were never a great fit for that school.

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posted by Yepsee @ 1:03 PM Comments: 3