THE RESUME IS ANOTHER important part of the MBA application. It is often one of the first things that the Admissions Board looks at in your application packet. Think of it as a snapshot of your work, your life journey, and what stands out about you. It reveals to the MBA Board your professional and educational accomplishments, as well as any interesting and unusual things you have done or are currently involved in. Most top MBA programs require a resume, so plan to update yours early in the process and invest enough time in it to ensure that it adequately reflects your brand. Unfortunately, many applicants do not pay enough attention to their resumes, thus missing an opportunity to sell themselves to the MBA Board. Candidates often question how much work experience is necessary to apply to business school. Deciding how much information to include on the resume can also be tricky. Those with more years of experience wonder if they should submit their seven-page curriculum vitae (CV) that covers every job they have ever held. On the other hand, candidates with limited work experience worry that they don’t have enough information to highlight in their resumes. Although the average number of years of work experience is four to five years, there is no set requirement. Seasoned and early career candidates are both admitted to the nation’s top business schools. Regardless of where you fall on the age and work experience continuum, the key is to make sure that your career is on an upward trajectory and that you can make a compelling case for why you need an MBA now. Ideally, you should keep your resume to one to two pages, unless the school requests a more comprehensive curricular vita. Be as succinct as possible and focus on the most important impact and contributions you had rather than including ten bullets of each responsibility you had in a particular job. Using active verbs and eliminating any redundancies will help you create a focused resume. The resume for business school is different from the resume an individual uses to search for a job. Unlike job resumes, application resumes should contain limited jargon and acronyms (the person reviewing your application may not know the intricacies of your industry). Also, you do not need to include a reference, summary, or objective section. They only use up precious space. The MBA application in general calls for brevity and the resume in particular needs to be short and to the point as it typically gets only a few seconds to about five minutes of the MBA Board’s attention. I recognize that producing a succinct resume poses its share of challenge to MBA applicants. I’ll focus the next section on the critical components of the resume. THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF THE PERFECT MBA RESUME Determining what to include in your resume can be difficult for many applicants. Many who struggle with this issue end up including everything they can think of, which does nothing to strengthen their application. Some candidates make the oppo- site mistake: they make the resume too short and leave out interesting and unique things about themselves—things that can differentiate them from their competition and instead focus on solely the academic and career aspects of their resume. I will discuss the key things to include in the resume. For starters, the resume for business school should have four main components: professional experience, education, activities (leadership), and interests/other. The Professional Experience Section The professional experience section is about achievements you have had in your career and your roles, not simply regurgitating your job description. It is important to communicate your professional career progress by emphasizing the quantifiable aspects of your job. The types of questions you should be thinking of when creating your resume for your business school application are: Did I get an early promotion? Was I the only analyst from my group invited to work on a high-value, complicated deal? Did I have an unusual opportunity to manage groups of people, even peers? Did I initiate something that has now become the stan- dard at my firm? Have I had opportunities to lead and work across functional roles? Have I led diverse or global teams? Have I been able to create value at my firm? These questions are designed to help you focus on the tangible contributions you have had at your firms. MBA candidates are challenged with the amount of detail they should cover in the professional experience section. Prior- itization is key in this process. Anticipate that you will have about four to five bullets at most for each job, so think long and hard about the most important achievements you wish to high- light and ascertain whether they reinforce your personal brand. A rule of thumb is that the further removed you are from the position, the fewer bullets you allot to it. Another useful tool in saving space is to provide a sampling of deals or projects you have worked on instead of devoting extensive space to every major project you have worked on. So for instance, an invest- ment banker can select three to four major deals she has worked 156 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS on to show diversity of industries and breadth of experience instead of every single deal she has worked on. The professional experience section should be in reverse chronology, with the most current job first. If you work for a lesser-known company, consider including a sentence that describes what the firm does, its market size, and what makes it compelling. You should indicate your job title and show whether your role has grown over time. You should also make it easy for the MBA Board to follow your progress. Make sure the information of your tenure—your years at the job—is clear and easily iden- tifiable. Ensure that the dates are easy to see. Internships are valuable work experience that should not be ignored; in fact, they can be critical for early career candidates with limited work experience. That said, however, the longer you have worked, the less important it is to provide detailed information on every internship you have held in your life. You will need to make trade-offs on what specific information to focus on and what information to minimize. Experiences that reinforce your personal brand should be highlighted (especially if you have strong examples of leadership and impact), rather than roles that do not reinforce your brand message. For college students, the work experience section is even more important because you have to make a strong case with limited experience that you have the potential to “hold your own” in a business school. You should highlight your intern- ships and show what you were able to do besides doing what may be considered grunt work. This section of the resume is where you can show your maturity and initiative. If, for instance, you worked during your school year, you should defi- nitely highlight the work you did and the value you created. If you were involved in an entrepreneurial venture, you should make sure that you communicate the size of the business, the achievement, and your role so the Admissions Board can gauge The Resume and Professional Record 157 whether you have enough professional insight to be admitted. The good news is that there is no age or work limit, so instead of focusing on the quantity of years of experience, show the impact and quality of contribution you had in the time you have worked. The Education Section The education section typically comes after the professional work experience section. The exception to this applies to appli- cants who are still in college or who have less than a year of work experience. The first point you need to convey in the education section is where you went to school and your grad- uation year. It is worth including that you graduated early if that was your situation. It is also important to highlight your major, class rank, GPA, and any dual, double, or specialized degrees that you pursued. You should also mention any grad- uate degrees you have earned, as well as business coursework you have taken (especially if you did not take business classes in college). The education section is also where you discuss your awards, for instance, being on the Dean’s List or any scholarships and honors awards you received. If you received any unique and highly selective awards or honors, you should quantify this to help the Admissions Board understand its selectivity. You should also include your study abroad program in this section. Some additional points related to your GPA: The GPA you reference on your resume should match up to that on your offi- cial transcript. Inconsistencies, especially when the GPA on your resume is higher than your official GPA, raise questions about your integrity. Research papers published in professional journals should be mentioned in this section as well. For example, someone whose honors thesis is selected for presentation at a national profes- sional association should highlight this achievement. 158 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS If you transferred from one school to another, it is important that your resume reflect this change. I’m often asked whether an applicant is obligated to include the schools attended if he or she didn’t graduate from there. The simple answer is yes. You don’t want to misrepresent yourself. So, if you left school after a semester or two and transferred to another school, you should include this information. Many MBA programs ask for all the schools you have attended, so not providing this information can come back to haunt you. Other unique situations that are worth mentioning in the education section of your resume can be self-financing your education or being the first in your family to graduate from college. The Activities Section The activities part of your resume is also very important. When you are thinking of your activities, you should think primarily in the context of leadership: does it highlight your leadership at- tribute, character, or achievement? Remember the 3 Cs discussed earlier. You should keep them in mind when addressing the re- sume in general and the activities section in particular. Showing a track record of consistent leadership not only in your career but in your community involvement and during your college years places you on a different level compared to your competition. The activities section allows you to communicate how you are different from each candidate in your category who works in the same industry/firm. Are you involved in extracurricular activities that matter to you? Pick the ones that reinforce your brand message and where you had the greatest impact. You will be limited by space, so be selective on how far back you wish to go. The longer you have worked, the less far back you should go. A professional with ten years of experience should not go as far back as high school to highlight the summer Habit for Humanity project he worked on. It will raise flags about the The Resume and Professional Record 159 absence of more recent community involvement. Your college activities are acceptable. MBA Boards are interested in candidates who have a life outside of work and who are more than academic geniuses. The reality for many applicants is that they will have strong leader- ship activities while in college but these often taper off once they start working, especially for those in the financial services and consulting industries. Even if you are no longer involved in a particular activity, if you had significant impact during your college years, you should highlight this in the activities section. Quality is also more important than quantity, so focus on the activities that mean the most to you rather than having a laundry list of peripheral involvement. Applicants should go beyond listing their activities. They need to provide information that communicates the depth and scope of their involvement. Stay away from activities where your only involvement is as a member. Focus on those where you demonstrated leadership and impact. Applicants to busi- ness school often have a lot of leadership activities during college. Many of them showcase their leadership through activ- ities such as managing the student investment portfolio, leading new initiatives through student senate, or supervising more than 100 students as resident assistants. Leadership roles can also come from athletics. For instance, you may have been the captain of your soccer team. Did the team’s ranking improve? Did you institute any initiative to improve teamwork and training regimens? Highlight your influence through this formal leadership role. Not all activities include formal leadership titles, however. So even if you were not the captain of your team, playing on a varsity sports team is an accomplishment to be proud of. You can highlight things such as the number of games played, team rank, any awards you received that set you apart (for instance, being ranked fifth in the nation among female doubles tennis players). 160 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS Activities can also come from your community involvement. The duration of your involvement is important (highlighting continuity and commitment), but if you do not have a history of long-term participation, you can offset this by focusing on your impact. Some of the exceptional leadership activities that I have come across over the years have been achieved in the span of less than a year. Whether you choose to serve on the leadership board of a nonprofit organization, you start an organization to help immigrants assimilate into a new society, or you volunteer in an organization that does social good, the important point to convey in the activities section is the quan- tifiable contributions you have made and why it matters to you in the first place. The Interests/Other Section Similar to the activities section, your interests/other section also allows you to stand apart from your competition. There are no ideal profiles in this section. The important point to convey is that you are interesting and have a different point of view or perspective you can offer to the MBA class. One of the main admissions evaluation criteria is uniqueness. This information can cover aspects of your brand that differentiate you from other candidates. For instance, are you internationally minded? If you are, you can show your commitment to international business by highlighting your multilingual abilities (especially if you have achieved fluency in them). Honesty is very important, so avoid exaggerating your skills. If you are conversant but not fluent in a language, then say exactly that. If you have quirky and interesting things in your brand, by all means capitalize on them in this section. Think about what the interest you profile says about you. Ask yourself whether it sets you apart or reinforces a stereotype that already exists about you. A simple example of this can be seen in the case of an engi- neer who is passionate about salsa dancing. His commitment The Resume and Professional Record 161 comes through his four years as a dance instructor. The stereo- type of the smart but bland technical individual goes out the window when you envision him gyrating to pulsating merengue music. Why is this important? It shows that this applicant not only has a life outside of work but is highly adaptable and can connect with different people. Traveling is an interest that falls in the usual suspect cate- gory. If you choose to discuss traveling as an interest of yours, make sure you go beyond, “I like to travel and see new cities.” This is a major cliché and gets you zero bonus points. A better way to convey this could be leading a trek to a remote area that isn’t your usual hot spot. If your travel led to your interest in a particular region and you decided to work there, then it is worth mentioning. Here’s an example of this: AVID TRAVELER: Trip to Costa Rica during college break led to discovery of eco-tourism and influenced decision to work in Costa Rica for a year after graduating from college. There are other interesting things about your background that you may wish to address in the interests/other section of your resume. A few examples are captured here: • Growing up in an interesting region, especially one where there are ongoing global political issues (for example, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Nepal) • Unusual upbringing can also be interesting to feature in the interests/other section: growing up in a blue collar family in the Midwest; being the first in your family to attend college; raising your younger siblings because of family issues; living in different countries; growing up on a farm or an Indian reservation • Running multicountry marathons in cities that have a special meaning to you 162 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS Skills, awards, and certifications are also important elements to flag in the interests/other section of the resume. Similar to other parts of the resume, you have to determine whether the information you are highlighting will resonate with the brand of the school. Schools that are highly technical will likely appre- ciate your technical achievements in mastering programming languages or in building a complicated system network more than schools that are not. If you are a financial analyst, having passed all three levels of the chartered financial analyst (CFA) exams is an important accomplishment to share in your resume. The same thing applies to other certifications, whether the CPA for account- ants or the Series 7 and 66 exams to sell securities. If you have received awards for something you do outside of work this is also the appropriate area to mention it. For example, I knew a banker who happened to be very dynamic and was selected to be a national spokesperson to promote posi- tive and educational achievements for teenagers. These types of eclectic achievements are worth mentioning in your resume. A consultant interested in teenage empowerment can highlight her experience launching the first-ever teenage-focused televi- sion programming in her country. If she received an award for her work, then that is even more compelling. If you are not sure what should make it into the resume and what should be cut out, start by writing down everything and then cut down drastically anything that doesn’t reinforce your brand, showcase your leadership, or differentiate you from others. Don’t be shy about getting feedback from alumni from the MBA programs you are interested in with whom you work or getting the opinion of a professional admissions consultant. But beyond the four resume components, candidates to busi- ness school are often at a loss regarding how narrow or broad they should keep their resume. This issue goes to the heart of The Resume and Professional Record 163 the next section—deciding between breadth and depth when positioning the resume. POSITIONING THE RESUME: BREADTH VS. DEPTH I am often asked whether it is better to have worked for one company or in the same industry in similar roles (depth) versus having multiple positions in different industries and/or roles (breadth). The simple answer is that it depends on each candidate’s particular situation. There are admitted candi- dates who worked at the same firm and in the same functional area for several years. These individuals’ backgrounds show- case their depth of experience and commitment to their industry. The challenge for applicants with significant depth is to show that they have not stagnated at the same company or job. It is important to show that your responsibility and contribution has grown even though you have remained at the same firm. An investment banker who worked three years as an analyst and then gets promoted to associate with responsibility for managing analysts is an example of a candi- date with depth of experience. Equally admissible are candidates with breadth of work expe- rience. These candidates have resumes that reflect different job positions. Sometimes the roles can be different in terms of func- tion or in terms of industry. An example of a candidate with breadth of work experience is the accountant who worked for Ernest and Young, then joined the Peace Corps after a couple of years, and then decided to work for a foundation. The chal- lenge that a candidate with breadth of experience faces is making sure that the story is cogent, that is, that the resume connects the different roles in a way that makes sense to the MBA Board. Candidates from professional backgrounds with a lot of breadth have to show that their career path has been well planned and isn’t haphazard and random. 164 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS Regardless of where you fall on the breadth/depth continuum, make sure that your work experiences focus on your brand, demonstrate that you have developed new skills even within a focused role, and that you have had an impact on the organizations, teams, and individuals you have worked with. But more than that, candidates should show that the choices they have made in their career make sense and show logical progression. The focus should be on the most compelling things about you. Remember that the resume is an extension of your brand. Make sure it is consistent with the rest of your application. Are your brand attributes and themes represented in your resume? When the Admissions Board reads your resume, it should confirm the conclusion they have already drawn of who you are. The sample resume that follows provides a picture of what a winning resume looks like. (Because this candidate has started a nonprofit organization, he felt a need to include Volunteer Experience as a separate section, which is fine.) Sample Resume John Johnson 555 Sandy Lake Ave, NY, NY 10000 [email protected]; (212) 555-5555 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE COTY PRESTIGE New York, NY 2003–2007 Senior Financial Analyst—Financial Planning and Analysis Group Managed sixteen brand P & Ls totaling $105MM in sales, gener- ating profits of $10MM annually with $53MM marketing budget. Collaborated with marketing and sales teams to build annual com- pany budget and forecasts. Determined profit impact from changes in revenue and advertising/promotional expense forecasts. The Resume and Professional Record 165 Provided marketing team product launch budget guidelines after analyzing historical expenses of new campaigns. Enabled senior marketing directors to fund new programs after conducting actual-to-budget variance analyses. Led meetings with U.S. and global marketing teams to ensure use of promotional inventory to generate sales. NEW YORK & COMPANY New York, NY 2001–2003 Financial Analyst—Store Finance & Real Estate Department Analyzed return on investment and financial viability of building new stores to assist in company brand expansion. Assessed cost-benefits of downsizing/remodeling stores to maximize individual store productivity. Assisted in reorganizing divisional field sales by geography to gain cost efficiencies. Evaluated retail environment and sales trends to forecast store performance and aggressively control expenditures. Recommended closing of 30 stores that led to $3 million savings. MERRILL LYNCH New York, NY 1999–2001 Compliance Associate—Global Securities Research and Economics Group Enforced compliance with SEC laws and regulations as liaison between analyst research teams and investment banking counsel. Edited research reports to remove restricted insider informa- tion under highly time-sensitive conditions. VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE TOP HONORS, INC (a not-for-profit organization that provides free tutoring to low-achieving students) New York, NY 2002–2006 Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Built budget model to determine financial needs and secured funding from Citigroup and Columbia University. Managed 166 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS effective use of resources to operate weekly sessions under budget. Fostered relationships with schools to ensure consistent student enrollment levels. Educated 120+ children since inception. Developed and executed guerilla marketing campaign to triple tutor volunteer staffing in first 2 years. (Recent student scores resulted in 44 percent improvement.) EDUCATION NATIONAL TAIWAN NORMAL UNIVERSITY, Taipei, Taiwan 1997–1998 Certificate of Study, Mandarin Chinese language program UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, Philadelphia PA 1993–1997 Bachelor of Arts dual majors in communications and economics Awards: Time-Warner, Inc. Community Leadership Award and Scholarship · Taiwan Ministry Scholarship for one year study abroad Activities: Marketing coordinator for Penn Health Services · English department writing tutor OTHER Languages: Proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Software: Excel (advanced), Visual Basic programming, Hype- rion/Essbase, MS Office COMMON RESUME MISTAKES 1. Jargon-filled: A resume for admission to business school is very different from a resume for an appli- cation for a job. Unlike work resumes, which are full of industry terms, resumes for an MBA application The Resume and Professional Record 167 need to be short, jargon-free, and clear. Avoid acronyms that have little meaning to people outside your industry. 2. Empty Adjectives: Superfluous language without tangible numbers to back it up offers little insight into exactly what you have achieved professionally. Also, speaking in generalities does not reveal your actual impact. Winning resumes always quantify the change you brought about or the impact you had. 3. One-dimensional: MBA Boards are looking for can- didates who are multidimensional. Don’t hesitate to put that quirky hobby or organization you have been volunteering for in your resume. Being smart or work- ing at a blue chip firm isn’t enough to land a covet- ed admission spot. Use the resume to represent what else you have done with your time outside of work. 4. Jumping Around: Leaving your job in less than two years can be a red flag to the Admissions Board. Obviously this advice is helpful only if you are plan- ning to make the jump. For those of you who have already left your firm after a brief stint, look for a subtle place in your application to address this issue. But equally important is to connect the dots to show that the next move was a strategic decision that fits within your overall career goals. 5. Dishonesty: This goes without saying, but I can’t stress the importance of not inflating your involve- ment and impact enough. The MBA Board can see through any attempts to “pad” your story. Also, don’t be tempted to leave out positions where you worked for a brief period. Hiding the truth has a way of coming back to bite you when you least expect it! 6. Too Lengthy, Rambling, and Cluttered: A five-page CV is not acceptable for an MBA application (unless 168 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS the school explicitly says it’s OK). A busy board member does not want to spend hours pouring through your CV. Keep your resume to one to two pages and focus on the impact and results you deliv- ered. Avoid manipulating the font size to try to jam everything into the resume. Anything smaller than a 10-point font is difficult for the reader to read. Leave lots of white space to make the resume attractive and inviting. At the end of the day, a cluttered resume is less inviting to read. 7. Mistake-Ridden: A shoddy resume will reflect nega- tively on your brand. Avoid spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Make sure your numbers are accurate so that you don’t have to explain yourself when the school verifies your application after you have been admitted. Inconsistencies in your story can be reason for an admission offer to be rescinded. 8. Untailored: Every school is different. For instance, when applying to MIT Sloan, a school with a strong innovation and technical brand, you may be well served to include information about the highly tech- nical courses you took in college or the technical project you managed during your internship. On the other hand, it may be more compelling to use the limited space to address the marketing projects you worked on if you are applying to Kellogg or Michigan, programs with strong marketing brands. 9. Failure to Educate: If you have an unusual industry, firm, or role, make sure you provide a short descrip- tion under the professional employment section to educate the reader about your experience and impact. This will help the MBA Board understand that your company isn’t a hole-in-the-wall and that your impact was significant. This is particularly The Resume and Professional Record 169 important for internationals whose companies may not be as well known in the United States. 10. Boring: Although the resume is not an essay, it needs to be interesting and well written to capture the attention of the Admissions Board. Make sure you use active descriptors and avoid using passive sentences. Action verbs are the best way to describe your experiences. 11. Poor Judgment: In an attempt to make the resume stand out, never resort to gimmicky or cute tricks: they are likely to fail! Stick to the facts and keep the entire resume professional. Your email address should avoid things that call to question your matu- rity, such as “[email protected]” or any other inappropriate email addresses. Save those for your friends only. Your resume will stand out based on the merit of your work rigor, initiative, and impact. Now that you are armed with a solid resume, you are now ready for your audition. The resume summarizes your story and an interview allows you to expound on it. Next to the essays, your interview is your next best chance to “sell” yourself.

We have compiled missteps that applicants often make when writing their MBA essays. As you tackle your essays, always ask yourself whether you are falling into one of these traps. Avoiding these essay errors can improve your admission chance. 1. Engaging in Essay Brain Dump: Writing your essays without first doing an outline will ensure that you create disjointed and ineffective essays. Use the SOARS model to frame up the outline before tackling any essay. 2. Being Bland and Generic: Failure to nail down your marketing will increase your chances of producing boring and undifferentiated essays. Do a brand audit to understand your overall positioning. I can often tell when an essay is written without a clear brand message: they are boring and don’t communicate a message about the applicant. 3. Being Selfish: Focusing too much on “I” can make you come across as arrogant; balance your individual accomplishment with your team involvement. 4. Going Back Too Far: Selecting accomplishments from a long time ago, for instance, during high school, especially after you have been working for seven years, may not come across as compelling; if you must go back that far, it is important to make sure the example is significant and has special meaning in shaping who you have become as a leader. 5. Using Clichés, Sermonizing, and Stating the Obvious: The MBA Board knows what conventional wisdom says. They care about what you personally think or believe. 6. Overusing Quotes: There is a place for quotes in the essays, but think long and hard before using up precious words to quote some Greek philosopher or business leader. The MBA Board is interested in your original thoughts, not those of a dead poet. 7. Not Answering the Question: If the question asks for leadership impact, be sure to tell a story that clearly depicts you as a leader. If the question asks for weak- nesses, give examples of real weaknesses. Don’t skirt around the issue. You will only annoy the Admissions Board if you do. 8. Being Unmemorable: Choose vivid stories that resonate with the Admissions Board. Unusual stories or a different take on a common topic can be interesting and capture the mindshare of the Admissions Board. 9. Not Pacing Yourself Strategically: Don’t try to do multiple essays for different schools at once. Tackle the essays one school at a time and complete them before working on another school’s essays. Simi- larly, you should not underestimate how much time and work are needed to assemble a strong applica- tion. Give yourself at least four months to complete the essays and add another month or two when factoring in other parts of the application (including managing recommenders, campus visits, interviews and so on). 10. Using Humor Inappropriately: Don’t be funny for the sake of being funny. Always exercise good judgment with your essays. Recounting the antics that you and your friends found funny will not win you any friends on the MBA Board. Subtle humor is more effective. 11. Being Too Rigid: This is the opposite of the inap- propriate humor mistake. It is important to open up and share personal (appropriate) stories that give the MBA Board insight into who you are and what matters to you. Focusing all your essays on your professional life misses the chance to show the full range of your personality, character, and motivations. 12. Trying to Be Creative for the Sake of Being Creative: Sometimes, less is best. Artificial essays with whis- tles and bells can backfire. I’m not against being creative but make sure that your creativity fits with the brand of the school and that it comes off well instead of appearing gimmicky. 13. Being Repetitive: It is important to bring up different stories to show the breadth and depth of your personality, experience, and perspective. Using the same example over and over again will suggest that you have a limited experience base. 14. Not Understanding the Program’s Brand: Take the time to understand the brand of the school and what that means for your essays. Kellogg, for example, is a program that is significantly tied to teamwork, so essays that ask about leadership impact should show team partnership instead of focusing on your “lone- ranger” leadership exploits. 15. Having Too Many People “Weigh-In” on Your Essays: Beware the too-many-cooks phenomenon. It’s helpful to get feedback from someone who knows you very well, especially if that person is a good writer. But it’s another thing to have your twenty friends, former colleagues, and that relative who happened to graduate from the same business school a decade ago review your essays. At the very least, you will get a hodgepodge of feedback that will yield a disjointed set of essays. 16. Doing a Drive-By Application: Don’t be in a rush to complete your application. Rather, focus on producing excellent applications. The best applica- tions are a result of intense introspection, focus, and multiple revisions. Applying good judgment when it comes to all your essays will help you get closer to your admission goals. Good judg- ment means not being stubborn and insisting that you will write the essay about the speech you gave to five people that was the “best speech this side of the hemisphere.” Just because you think the world of something you did does not mean that it is essay-worthy. If you can’t point to the tangible impact your actions achieved, you may have to think twice before selecting that topic for your essay. FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE MBA ESSAYS One thing you probably picked up from reading these sample essays is that there are different writing styles and that the topics can vary quite broadly. Two candidates can write about a personal accomplishment of buying a house for their parent, and one person’s essay soars while the other person’s essay falls flat. The difference is in the positioning of the story. Approach your application by writing heartfelt and insightful essays that take the Admissions Board into a deeper awareness of your motivations and what you care about. This approach will make your application stand apart. You need to use good judgment when selecting your admission essay topics. The same applies to the treatment of each essay. Your decision to write about how your relationship with your fiancée is your greatest accomplishment needs to be seen through the business school lens. How does that tie into who you are as a leader? Whatever example you choose, make sure it fosters your story that you are a leader and someone who can get things achieved with and through other people. It is also important to “own” your story. It can’t be manufactured. The essays that grab the attention of the Admissions Board can be a very simple achievement, written in a straight- forward style with little creativity and poetry. These essays are successful because they give the Admissions Board a glimpse into the heart of a candidate. No matter what your life experiences are, make sure you devote enough time to introspection before tackling the admissions essays. Doing so can be the difference between a congratulatory phone call from the director of admissions and a depressing email informing you that you have been denied admission.

1. Don’t be disrespectful to the receptionist or students. Every encounter you have with someone affiliated with the MBA program is a potential interview. 2. Don’t try to dominate the interview. This is guaranteed to backfire. Let the interviewer cover all his or her questions. 3. Don’t talk too much or ramble. Be concise and to the point. 4. Don’t be too forward, and don’t ask the interviewer personal questions. 5. Don’t be too informal. Address the interviewer as Ms. or Mr. unless they specifically invite you to refer to them differently. 6. Don’t forget to bring water to drink. Your mouth may get dry as a result of nervousness so be prepared. 7. Don’t interrupt the interviewer. Even if you have an unreasonable interviewer, you’ll get no bonus points for antagonizing him or her. Calmly wait for an opportunity to assert your points and brand message. 8. Don’t use slang or informal communication, even if the interviewer does. (Remember, you are the one being interviewed.) 9. Don’t communicate insecurity and lack of confidence by giving a weak handshake and unsteady eye contact. 10. Don’t come off as unfriendly. Smile when appropriate. No one likes a sourpuss. 11. Don’t be late for the interview. Aim to be there at least fifteen minutes early. 12. Don’t dress inappropriately. Ill-fitting and outlandish attire sends the wrong message about you and your brand. 13. Don’t be negative, and never complain or criticize someone you worked with or your company. Ditto for other MBA programs. Do not criticize another competitor’s program. It sends the wrong message about you. 14. Don’t worry too much about the interview. Focus on being yourself. INTERVIEW REMINDERS The admission interview is not optional; you should always interview if the school offers you the chance. The interview is a marketing exercise, so go prepared to sell yourself/your brand. Know the MBA program thoroughly and communicate what you will bring to the program. Dress appropriately—a well-tailored suit is key even if your job has a casual dress policy. Be prepared for the interview; invest time to nail down your responses to two to three minutes so that you don’t run out of time. If the interviewer asks follow-up questions, then that is your cue to drill deeper in your response. The physical resume speaks to your brand, so make sure it is updated and reflects your main leadership impact; don’t forget to use quality paper and eliminate errors. Wrap up the interview with an intelligent question or two about the MBA program. (Program websites, press releases, and faculty knowledge papers present interesting information about new trends and activities at an MBA program.) Always follow up with a thank you card or email, which should be sent the day of the interview. SOME FINAL TIPS ON THE INTERVIEW Know your story (brand), and make sure you don’t leave the interview without communicating key points of why you are unique and interesting: your value proposition. Ensure that you communicate specifically why you fit into the program and what you will bring to enrich the student community. It’s possible to face an ineffective interviewer. Regardless of who interviews you or whether they ask you productive questions, you have to be prepared to lead the conversation back to major points that reinforce why you are a great fit for their program. Being clear on the four or so brand themes you wish to cover and having specific short stories to reinforce them will help you leave the interviewer with a strong sense of who you are. But the interview isn’t enough to help you close the deal. The MBA Board will be looking for third-party validation of your story (your essays, resume, and interview) before they admit you.

1. You are a brand! Invest in conducting a brand audit and begin today to manage your personal brand. Not only will it help you land admission into a top business school, but it will also help you live your life in a meaningful, focused way. Don’t forget to live your life with passion, guts, impact, and insight.
2. Know the brands of the MBA programs and research them to ensure a fit with the programs you end up selecting.
3. The essays are critical to gaining admission to elite business schools. Successful applications have well-executed essays that have the following six characteristics: compelling, captivating, consistent, credible, concise, and clear.
4. Brand champions can make or break an admission, so choose wisely and invest in cultivating recommenders who will become raving fans.
5. Don’t underestimate the importance of the interview; it is your chance to make a strong impression on the Admissions Board. Preparation and practice will enable you to sell your brand successfully to the Admissions Board.
6. Understand the three admissions criteria: leadership, academics, and unique brand differentiation. Know what your strengths are and where you fall short. Commit to plugging the holes in your candidacy, whether it is gaining more leadership experience, taking business classes, retaking the GMAT, or simply developing your personal brand to become an appealing candidate.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a rock star to get admitted to your dream school. Getting in involves doing your research, tailoring your story to fit the program’s brand, and capitalizing on your unique brand differentiation. Embrace your brand, give yourself enough time to market your story, and do it right the first time. I wish all of you well as you brand your way to success!