Engineers are attractive to business schools because they often have project management and hands-on managerial experience supervising employees. This is particularly the case for those who have been line managers. The challenge for engineers is that their recommenders may not always be as savvy as those coming from consulting or investment banking industries. Therefore, to be on the safe side, candidates from engineering backgrounds have to vet the writing skills of their recommenders. Although I never promote writing your own recommendation letters, unlike consultants and banking professionals, who are adept in the nuances of the recommendation letters, it is important to sit down with the engineer recommender and provide key information about your achievements and your brand.

Consultants and investment bankers applying to business school make up a significant portion of the applicant pool. This means that the competition for candidates with this background is particularly fierce. Individuals writing your recommendation will most likely be writing recommendations for others as well. To a large extent, the skill set that will be highlighted includes your intellectual horsepower and ability to quickly grasp complicated materials, analytical and quantitative skills, decision-making and problem-solving skills, judgment, verbal and written communication skills, and confidence. Beyond confirming your intelligence and analytical skills, recommenders for consultants and investment bankers need to address your emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, flexibility in dealing with ambiguity, team dynamics, confidence and maturity in dealing with clients and superiors, creativity, and so much more. It isn’t enough to talk about how smart a candidate is because it is already a foregone conclu- sion, given a solid academic track record, GMAT score, and blue chip firm. The focus should be on your personal charac- teristics and the impact you have had that is beyond your job description. Given that most recommenders will have good things to say about their candidates, it becomes even more important to describe not only the “what” of your background but the “how” of what you have done. As far as recommenders for investment bankers, I recom- mend using vice presidents (VPs) and higher. It is not that asso- ciates can’t speak to the quality of your work and accomplishments, but they are too close in position to you. All things being equal, with two analysts with strong recommen- dations, one from an associate and the other from a VP, the MBA Board would likely tip the scale for the VP recommen- dation over the associate. The caveat to this is that the VP needs to know your work very well and should be a brand champion. At the end of the day, a lackluster VP recommendation is worse than a stellar associate recommendation. If you are a consultant, you should consider a supervisor anda senior-titled client who have worked with you extensively. A recommendation from a partner who knows you well because of leadership initiatives you have taken on a project or across the firm would be of value in setting you apart from your competition. The operative phrase is one “who knows you well.” It isn’t useful to have recommendations from highly ranked individuals if they don’t know you well.

Following are some tasks that will help you prepare for the interview ahead of time. Jazz Up Your Resume Remember that the business school resume is less about the job description and industry jargon and more about your potential as a leader and business manager. Therefore, you should create a resume (ideally one to two pages) with detailed evidence of how you have managed people and developed new products or transformed a process, and finally, show the impact that you have had professionally and beyond. The resume chapter reviews the details necessary to create an excellent resume. Talk to Products of the Programs Most companies have employees who are alumni of top MBA programs. Don’t be afraid to invite them for lunch or drinks to learn about their MBA experiences and the subsequent impact on their careers. Current students can be a huge asset in helping you prepare for the interview as well. Finally, even fellow prospective students can be helpful by sharing their interview experience. (Online communities like Business- Week.com can give you a sense of the types of interview questions candidates are facing.) Let’s add one caveat to this: do exercise wisdom when listening to other applicants because some may be eager to psych out their competition and everything they share may not be accurate. I once had a flustered client call me at 11:45 p.m. in a panic. A fellow applicant who had interviewed on the same day had gotten in her head by making her doubt her responses and her overall interview performance. It took a few minutes of reminding her of her strengths and what she had to offer before she realized she had been manipulated by the other applicant. Know Your Story and Sell Your Personal Brand Reread your application to ensure that you remember all the facets of your story. Make sure the following four themes come through as you present your story: passion, guts, impact, and insight. Share with the interviewer tangible examples of the impact you have had—demonstrate self-awareness not simply by talking about what you have done but by focusing on why you have made the choices you have made and the lessons you have learned along the way. It is also important to demonstrate that you are confident enough to take a risk (that you have guts) and step up to a challenge instead of simply executing your job description. Finally, come with great energy and share your passion with the interviewer. Experience the MBA Program Firsthand We have stressed the importance of visiting the MBA program you desire to join. Attending classes gives you a firm handle on the MBA program’s unique positioning and value proposition. This credible vantage point will enable you to speak authentically about your specific interests and what you will do while in business school. Ideally, you should have already visited the campus and attended classes prior to applying to the MBA program. The interview visit then ends up being a “confirmation” as opposed to a first-time visit where you are still gathering facts about the program. Dress Appropriately and Pay Attention to the Nonverbals Be conservative when it comes to your interview attire, and go with neutral colors such as black, blue, and gray suits. Female candidates may wear a skirt or pantsuit. Some candidates have asked me about the freedom to express themselves. My response is usually something along the lines of, “This time next year do you want to be entering your dream school, or do you want to be going through a reapplication process?” Given the level of competition involved in applying to a top business school, I would not take any unnecessary risks. When it comes to interview attire, I recommend playing it safe. If you are a creative type and that’s an essential aspect of your brand, then limit your creative expression more to the accessories you wear for the interview (for example, choose a tie or scarf in a tasteful color instead of a flashy red suit). You want your interviewer to focus on your leadership contributions, not your fashion-forward style. Practice, Practice, Practice I can’t stress enough the importance of practicing for the interview. Have someone you know pose interview questions to you and time yourself. Solicit feedback after the mock interview to identify areas where you need to improve and be willing to address any feedback you receive. Some people assume they are excellent interviewees and therefore fail to prepare for the interview. This can be a grave mistake. Regardless of whether you consider yourself a “natural” or you dread the interview, you should prepare for it. As with anything in life, the more practice you have the better. Candidates often tell me that they perform better after their first interview. You may want to interview first at MBA programs where you have an increased chance of being admitted (your safety program) than at stretch schools where your admission chances are slim. The more experience you have with interviewing, the more likely you are to improve your interviewing skills. Go into the Interview Well Rested Avoid going to work on the day you have an interview. If you absolutely have to go into the office, then do yourself a favor and set up the interview in the morning. Then return to the office in the afternoon. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard of applicants who went to work on the same day of their interview and encountered an extremely stressful day. Being frazzled before the interview is avoidable, so give yourself every advantage possible by going into the interview well-rested.

MBA Boards have historically stressed the power of admissions essays in the application process. Unlike any other aspect of the application, essays are the one area where candidates have the most control in representing themselves. After all, undergraduate grades are already predetermined, and there is a limit to how far a GMAT score can change (it would be unlikely for someone who scores consistently at 500 to jump to 750). With the exception of meeting the applicant for an interview, essays are the best way to reveal each candidate’s brand. Essays are blank canvases that provide candidates with an incredible opportunity to create a Picasso. We have observed numerous instances where one candidate’s application stands apart from others with identical backgrounds based simply on the treatment of the essay topics and the type of information the essays reveal about the candidate’s brand. These successful candidates understand that presenting their experiences in the form of stories allows them to paint a vibrant picture of themselves, as opposed to simply stating facts in a dry way. Applicants to business school must be comfortable going into depth when describing who they are and what matters to them. It is impossible to submit a powerful application without revealing personal aspects of who you are. That said, applicants need to be wise about the personal stories they share with the Admissions Board. Not all personal experiences are appropriate to discuss in your application. A good litmus test to determine whether a subject is worth including in your story is to ask yourself what it reveals about you as a future business leader. Raising your five siblings shows maturity and “management” ability. But you would be hard-pressed to make a compelling case that overcoming a rough breakup with your first love reveals something meaningful about your leadership. The essays for business school are a test of applicants’ judgment. Make sure that whatever personal insights and examples you provide do not raise red flags about you. A sure way to guarantee that your application gets dinged is by exhibiting poor judgment. Unlike other graduate programs where standardized scores drive the admission outcome, to a large extent, business schools’ essays can significantly influence the admission decision. So applicants who are serious about being admitted to a competitive business school should ensure that their essays are well written and embody a strong personal brand.

MBA ESSAY OVERVIEW

Time is a significant factor in presenting a winning application, so start early. The average number of essays at top business schools is four. Therefore, you should allocate enough time to tackle each essay thoroughly. To be safe, give yourself at least four months to complete two to three applications. If you are going to apply to more schools, then you should consider applying in two different rounds (three applications during the first round and two applications or more during the second round) to better manage the process. With admission to top schools becoming more competitive, more candidates are applying to a greater number of programs to increase their chances of gaining admission to at least one school. A greater number of applications means that you will need to budget even more time to ensure that you can give each application the attention necessary to yield the results you seek. Getting started on essays can be daunting for many applicants. So take a deep breath and exhale. The MBA Board does not expect you to write like a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. You are not tested on how creative or excellent a writer you are. The main emphasis is on how substantive your leadership impact and managerial potential are, whether you have taken advantage of opportunities available to you, and your awareness of the drivers behind your personal and professional decisions and success. That said, you should not present a shoddy essay full of grammatical and spelling mistakes. Make sure that you revise your essays as many times as needed to produce well-written finished products. It is generally a good idea to have someone you know who is a great writer, for instance, an English major, read through your essays to catch any writing errors. Before tackling the MBA essays, you should go through a brand audit to identify the most compelling parts of your story. You should also go through a brainstorming exercise to organize your experiences. Successful essays require a fair share of introspection. We encourage applicants to adopt a brainstorming model we refer to as SOARS (Situation, Obstacle, Action, Results, and So What). Investing time in framing your questions in this format will allow you to tease apart your story in a coherent and tangible way, making it possible for you to focus on the more compelling examples in your story. Once you have completed the SOARS model, you will be ready to begin writing the essays. Always do an outline before tackling an essay. An outline is important because it allows you to tease apart the important parts of the event. When writing an outline, you should always aim to flesh out these key points: 1. What is the situation you wish to discuss? 2. What was challenging, difficult, or unusual about it that is worth mentioning? 3. What steps did you take to address or resolve the issue? How did you do it? What role did you play? 4. What was the outcome of your involvement? Why did you make the decisions you made or take the actions you took? It is important to stress specifics of the result. If it is quantifiable, then don’t fail to show the before-and-after outcome you were able to create as a result of your involvement. 5. So what! Be clear on why anyone reading the story should care about it. What was meaningful about this experience? What did you learn about yourself? Why does it matter to you? This is where you reveal your insights and self-awareness to the MBA Board. Candidates to business school are not limited to following this outline. If another process works for you to effectively outline your essays, then that’s great and you should use it. What’s important is that you take the time to assess whether the story you have selected is compelling enough to feature in your application. Using the SOARS model to brainstorm essay topics will quickly reveal to you whether the story is strong enough or whether it lacks substance. The other point we wish to make about using the SOARS outline for your essays is that you are not limited to using it chronologically. It’s a tool that helps you with brainstorming but should not become confining; that is, you should not feel bound to structure all your essays chronologically. You can vary the sequence to support whatever creative approach you wish to pursue. EXPARTUS SOARS Model Situation Obstacle Action Results So What!

CHARACTERISTICS OF WINNING ESSAYS

With establishing a process to outline the essays out of the way, let’s review what makes for winning essays. While there isn’t a formula to gain admission to business school, there are certainly variables or ingredients that distinguish applications that are admitted from those that are rejected. I will examine those variables closely in the next section. The PGII Factor A common question from MBA candidates is, “What sets apart winning essays from bland and ineffective ones?” Having evaluated thousands of MBA essays at Harvard, at Carnegie Mellon, and through my consulting practice, EXPARTUS, I have identified the fundamental ingredients that successful essays embody. These winning essays have what we call the PGII Factor. They include: 1. Passion 2. Guts 3. Impact 4. Insight Essay questions that embody these four ingredients create a solid and powerful backdrop from which the MBA Board can assess you. Let’s take a closer look at each ingredient. 1. Passion As you are preparing for your essays, ask yourself whether you have clearly identified your passion. Take a few minutes to complete the passion survey from the earlier chapter. Keep in mind that if your essays do not convey your passion, there is a good chance that they will be bland and boring, thus increasing the likelihood that they will put the MBA Board to sleep. Do you simply do your job, or do you bring great enthusiasm and energy to everything you do both at work and beyond? Your attitude reflects your passion. Think about what difference you have had in your company, in the organizations you have been involved in, in your community. Your essay has to convey your passion for what you do (whether in your work, your personal life, or commu- nity); your long-term goals have to connect with what you say matters to you. Connecting these pieces to why you are pursuing an MBA is a very important part of the application process. 2. Guts You can’t talk about winning essays without seeing clear evidence of guts and courage to take personal and professional risks. Having guts is not about unplanned, haphazard stunts. MBA Boards are an extremely savvy bunch and can see through gimmicks masked to appear like courage and risk taking. Take two people (Bob and Don) who apply to business school. Both of them have a successful career in the finance industry, and their academic backgrounds are equally strong. Bob has been with the same finance firm for five years. His essay has few examples showcasing his stepping up and having a significant impact beyond what a typical associate does at the firm. Can you imagine how many “Bobs” are in the applicant pool? The Bobs of the applicant pool have made it easy for the MBA Board to deny them admission. Contrast this with Don, who has chosen to leave his firm to start a real estate company, which is his passion. Even if Don’s business folds, the MBA Board isn’t as focused on the failure of the business as they are in what motivated Don to leave a safe job to start a business and the lessons he learned through the process. The MBA Board is also interested in learning the impact Don’s business had on others. Most important, the Admissions Board wants to learn how his entrepreneurial venture has developed his leadership and managerial potential. His maturity and growth will very well set him apart from other talented candidates vying for a spot in the competitive admission pool. We are not advocating that the only way to show guts is through an entrepreneurial endeavor. If you are an entrepre- neur, by all means, go for it. However, for the majority of the applicants, you can demonstrate your risk taking within your firm by stepping up and going above and beyond your prescribed role. For instance, as a financial analyst, you may realize that your firm falls short in its training and professional development of new analysts, so you volunteer to start an analyst training and mentoring program (if none exists) or to overhaul the existing one. If you are in Equity Research, for instance, and you have a lean group, you could raise your hand to cover more industries above and beyond what is expected of you. Perhaps you are in the strategy group at your firm and you disagree with the firm’s plan to shut down a business unit and see it as a missed opportunity. So you take the initiative to conduct a thorough analysis, and identify how a counter approach can add value to your firm. You have the guts to present an alternative plan, present data to back up your thoughts, and deliver a convincing argument to your senior management. Behind the scenes, you build bridges and get key people to champion the idea. Your idea not to shut down the group is accepted. The outcome? The group ends up being a major money maker for your firm. So what if you are an engineer? You could demonstrate your guts by volunteering to lead a system improvement project that involves other departments. Or you could initiate a new safety mechanism that improves the way an assembly line operates. Other ways candidates can show guts is by being willing to explore a different business environment. The American consultant who opts for an international project in Singapore will get a broadened perspective that can make him more competitive when it comes time to apply to business school. I know a candidate working in the United States who pushed to be transferred to a European country to work because she knew it would push her outside her comfort level. I’m not advocating that everyone jump ship for an international assignment; this is an option for applicants for whom such a move is in line with their brand and goals. Even a simple step of leaving a lucrative consulting career, for example, to become a soccer coach at your alma mater can reflect a gutsy move on your part. But you have to show how this move fits into your longer-term goal. And of course, it also has to fit with your passion for athletics. If your long-term goal is to work for companies like Nike or the U.S. Soccer Federa- tion on the business side, you can make a compelling case for the tie-in with sports and your career move to coaching. You should be careful, however, if you are simply making a move to impress the MBA Board. In the event that the admission doesn’t pan out, you have to be comfortable living with your decision. So whatever decision you take, make sure you choose roles that you are passionate about and that fit with your long-term goals. Demonstrating guts is about: • Raising your hand to take on additional responsibility • Seizing an opportunity to affect change • Having the confidence to speak up and sell your ideas • Taking a path that is untried and different

3. Impact

A major mistake MBA candidates make with their essays is failing to quantify their impact. Impact simply comes down to your track record. What was your specific role in bringing about change or improving a process or product? Note that impact isn’t limited to organizations; it also expands to people—taking the intern trying to navigate a large bureau- cratic organization under your wing, helping the co-worker who is having a tough time grasping how to read and interpret balance sheets, mentoring the consultant whom everyone views as the weakest link on the engagement team and who is about to quit as a result of his or her frustrations. These are all individuals that many of us have encountered at some point in our career. The question is what role we chose to play: did we engage someone and make a difference to improve his situation when we saw him struggling, or did we simply focus on our own individual success? These types of experiences make for very interesting essays. The opposite mistake that candidates make relating to impact is exaggerating their role. MBA Boards can deduce when the truth is being stretched, and this is a major turn-off, which will adversely affect your admission outcome. So tell the story with specific details of your involvement but shy away from stretching your account in attempts to make your essay sound impressive.

4. Insight

The law of writing winning essays in the application process is to show don’t tell. It’s not enough to tell the MBA Board how great your accomplishments are, but you must show them how you have accomplished something and what you learned from the experience. Awareness is king in the admissions process. What you have done is important, but equally important is why you have done the things you have done and how you do what you do that is unique to you. Be committed to showing the MBA Board why the things you have done matter to you. Simply stating that you have lead- ership and management abilities is not enough. What kind of leader are you? What is your managerial style, and how do you rely on it to bring out the best in the people you lead? Are you a leader who leads in front? Perhaps you are charismatic in your leadership style. Are you more of a “quiet” leader who leads from behind? You need to have a clear sense of your style and have stories to back it up to reinforce your point. It is your self- awareness that sets you apart from all the other applicants who, at a first glance, have the same background. The Power of the Six Cs In addition to the PGII Factor, successful essays tend to have the following six attributes: • Captivating • Credible • Compelling • Consistent • Clear • Concise When writing your essay, you should always ensure that your essays embody these six characteristics. Captivating The essays must capture the attention of the Admissions Board. It is said that it takes thirty seconds to make an impression (good or bad), and once someone makes up their mind about you, it takes much more time and effort to reverse that impres- sion. The MBA application should be approached from this mind-set as well. The application as a whole and the essays in particular are your opportunity to say, “Hi, my name is Vanessa, and you need to pay close attention to my story.” A captivating essay will make the MBA Board sit up and remember your story many applications later. Remember that the MBA Board has several thousand essays to read and limited time to make their recommendations. So your essay should be anything but bland. The last thing you want is to put the board members to sleep when they read your essays. Let your personality come through. Don’t be afraid to take some risks (tempered with judgment) by allowing the different aspects of your personality (brand) to come through. You want the MBA Board to identify with you when they read your application. So, simply said, the essays need to be engaging, interesting, and personable. While captivating essays are important, you have to also be honest. There is no room to stretch the truth in an attempt to be interesting. Fabricated stories are grounds for automatic rejection. Given the climate of corporate malfeasance and cases of falsified applications, MBA Boards are extremely sensitive to honesty and authenticity. Credible Candidates should always ask themselves whether their story is believable. Given your background, is it reasonable to expect that you will achieve what you outline as your career goals? Avoid grandiose and unrealistic goals. Essays need to maintain a balance: while your vision has to be big enough to warrant an MBA to achieve it, it still has to be achievable. For instance, saying that you will be the Donald Trump of Africa but having little evidence of real estate passion will leave the MBA Board skeptical of your ambitions. Some career changers fail the credibility test by picking future careers that are a big leap from their current role. If you are an information technology (IT) manager, you will have a tough time convincing an Admissions Board that you will become a brand manager at Proctor & Gamble. This doesn’t mean that you can’t make major career changes after you grad- uate from business school. In fact, most graduates of MBA programs are career changers. The challenge is that at the application stage, you have to show that your goals are realistic. If you select a new career you wish to pursue, make sure you can show that there are some ties from your background, interests, and experiences that make it believable. Compelling Your essay needs to convey a compelling rationale for why you want an MBA. You need to be convincing. What is your long- term vision/goal, and is the MBA necessary to achieve it? Be sure that you have thoroughly examined why you want the MBA and how the degree will help you succeed in your career. If your career ambition is simply a small incremental step, it is unlikely that the MBA Board will give you a spot to go into a middle management role when there are candidates who are looking to use the MBA to have transformative impact and change. Consistent Essays that are consistent reinforce the brand of the candi- date. In the chapter on selling your personal brand I discussed the importance of doing a brand audit and identifying the brand themes, which are the basis for the essays. By identi- fying key brand themes to your story, you can write essays that build on each other in a way that reinforces your overall brand message. This is an area where applicants err: they write essays without a unifying story (theme) behind them. The unfortunate outcome is that their application is unmem- orable, making it challenging for the MBA Board to advocate for their candidacy. Clear With limited time, Admissions Boards need to be able to ascer- tain the main thrust of each story. Essays that lack clarity are problematic because the board members will be unable to extri- cate the brand message of the candidate. To ensure that your essay is clear, make sure you address the who, what, when, how, why, and so what (impact). By getting to the point and using this format, you can eliminate unnecessary aspects of the story, enabling you to present a clear picture of who you are in your essays. After reading your essays, who you are should jump off the pages. Also, you should ensure that you have answered the question being asked in the most straightforward and direct way possible. A case in point is the question about describing your defining leadership experience and addressing your strengths and weaknesses. Many candidates address the first part of the question and ignore the second part about their strengths and weaknesses (especially the latter). Make sure you have answered all the questions fully and write with as many specific examples as possible to ensure clarity of your story. Concise The issue of conciseness is related to clarity. Get to the point quickly so the reader can get a clear message of your story. I’m often asked whether the MBA Board cares about word count and how far off one can deviate from the limits. My advice is to always adhere to the essay word or page limits. At a basic level, it is a sign of your ability to follow instruction. At a deeper level, it reflects your sense of equity. (Why should you have an edge over candidates who followed the instruction and stayed within the prescribed limit?) In my experience, I have found that in most cases, less is more. Rambling essays or essays that are lengthy rarely engender positive feelings from the overworked Admissions Board. This is why it is important to start essays using an outline as opposed to “a brain dump,” where you start off writing anything and everything that comes to mind. And of course, I can’t stress enough the importance of revisions. I knew an applicant who submitted twenty-plus pages for his first essay to Stanford Graduate School of Busi- ness (GSB). Suffice it to say, he didn’t gain admission. Extra essays and supplemental documents such as newspaper articles, CDs, and portfolios are inappropriate unless the school specif- ically requests them. ESSAY TYPES AND STRATEGIES TO TACKLE THEM In this next section, I address the various essays covered in the MBA application and provide suggestions on how to deal with them. I have also included actual examples of essays used by applicants. I recognize that some essay topics may overlap across multiple categories but for the purpose of this book, we have broken the essays into four groups. The four essay categories are: 1. Career essays 2. Impact essays 3. Who you are essays 4. Miscellaneous essays The Career Essay Although all the admissions essays are important, it is rare to bomb the career essay and still get admitted. Failure to nail your career essay is likely to yield an unfavorable admission outcome. The career essay category asks candidates to discuss their professional decisions and experiences to date, to explain why they want an MBA and why this is the right time for them to pursue it, and to indicate why they are interested in the particular MBA program in the first place. Some MBA programs word their career essay broadly (What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?—Harvard Business School [HBS]) while others are very specific (What are your short-term and long-term career goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals?— Columbia). It is important to note that cut-and-paste jobs are not the most efficient way to succeed in the admissions process. If a question is asking specifically for your short-term and long-term goals, do not simply recycle the career vision essay; it will be obvious to the MBA Board that you copied an essay from another school. I’m not advocating writing five separate career essays for your five applications. But it is important to pay attention to how the question is worded and even when you use the original content from a previous application, take the time to give it a fresh touch so that it answers the specific question being asked. Your particular industry or sector doesn’t matter. What is vital is showing that you have thought through your career goals and the steps you anticipate will be necessary to achieve them. Candidates need to be very specific when addressing their career essays. There is little room for vague and broad career goals. Generic career goals only signal to the Admissions Boards that you are either unsure about what you want to do or that you do not know enough about the professed career path. In either case, you make it easy for the MBA Board to discount your application. So be as specific as you can when addressing your career goals. A statement such as, “I will become a general manager after business school” is too vague. But saying, “I wish to join a rotational leadership program in an apparel company like Gap after business school, and long term, I plan to become the president of a retail company in South America” is a very specific and clear career goal. There is a caveat to this, however. Schools that ask for your career vision as opposed to your short- term and long-term career goals tend to be more open to broad statements like “I plan to return to Latin America to help change the pharmaceutical industry.” Harvard Business School is one such example that doesn’t penalize candidates for not specifically outlining the steps they will take to achieve their professional objectives. Furthermore, all candidates need to make a strong case for why a particular MBA program is the best fit for them given the set of experiences they have had to date. This is where many candidates fail. The temptation to copy and paste paragraphs from previous essays is often too strong to resist. Avoid falling into this trap. Take the time to understand the nuanced differentiation or brand of each MBA program before tailoring your rationale for an MBA accordingly. Campus visits, sitting in on classes, and speaking with alumni and current students will help you zero in on exactly why a particular MBA program is a fit for you. The issue of timing is also a factor here, so be ready to address why now is the right time for you to pursue the MBA. Even if the question of “why now” doesn’t come up, it is wise to explain your thought process regarding why you feel you are ready for the MBA and why this is the ideal time for you to enroll as opposed to a few years from now. Another important element to keep in mind when thinking of the career essay is demonstrating awareness of the industry you plan to pursue. This issue is most pertinent for career changers. The more knowledgeable you are about the industry and how the MBA will equip you with the skills to succeed, the more likely your story is to be believed. It is also useful to show how the skills you have built from prior professional experience will be relevant in your career after business school. Finally, no career essay will be complete without showing that you have been successful to date in your present career. The idea is that if you have been extraordinarily successful where you work currently, there is a good chance you will be successful in a new career. One of the biggest problems candi- dates face in the application process is making the case that they will be successful in a vibrant career after business school when they have worked at a few mundane jobs and have lackluster impact and track record. Should you find yourself in a situation like this, it is critical to hold off on applying to business school and focus on “rebranding” yourself to build a more compelling professional track record. Doing so will reduce the likelihood that your application will be rejected! It is unlikely to have a winning application if you don’t nail the career essays. So although all the essays are important, I encourage you to devote extra time to make sure your career essay is spot on. Here are the questions on the MBA Boards’ minds when reading your career essay:

1. Who is this candidate?
2. What has she achieved?
3. Is it compelling?
4. Is she on an upward trajectory where she is taking on more responsibility and creating more impact, or has her career stalled?
5. What are her career decisions, what steps has she taken, and is there a logical connection to her goals?
6. Is she a good fit for our program?
7. What will she contribute to our program?
8. Is she mature, and will she be able to operate in a team environment?
9. Does her career goal make sense, and will she be marketable after business school?
10. Are her aspirations transformative, and will an MBA help her achieve her goals?
11. Does getting the MBA now make sense: did she leave applying to business school too late, or is she applying too early and needs more work experience?

Answers to these questions will help the MBA Board determine whether to admit or reject the candidate.

Understanding the Admissions Criteria Before we go on to discuss the specific application components, I want to review the overall admissions criteria that are used to evaluate candidates. There have been a lot of questions surrounding exactly how candidates are evaluated and which aspects of the admissions criteria count the most when assessing a candidate. This post focuses on the three admissions criteria used by the MBA Board in evaluating all candidates. I also go into details of the specific components comprised within each criterion to ensure that you understand how the Admissions Board views them and how you can maximize your chances of being admitted. After you understand the admissions criteria, you should be able to objectively evaluate your candidacy. This chapter also provides suggestions of steps you can take to address any gaps in your application. Top business schools evaluate candidates across three core areas, namely: • Academic ability/intellectual aptitude • Leadership impact/managerial potential • Uniqueness (diverse experiences/perspectives and differentiated personal characteristics) Some of the greatest myths surrounding the application process are related to candidates’ misconceptions of the admissions criteria. I am often asked by applicants which criterion is the most important in the application process. The short answer is all of them. It is important to understand how these three admissions categories are viewed by the MBA Board. Ideally, candidates should try to be strong in all three areas. Given an extremely competitive admissions landscape, the stronger you are across all three criteria, the better your chance of being admitted. So, although we all know someone who was admitted without excelling in the three criteria, I encourage every applicant to present his or her strongest suit and submit an application that presents a compelling case across the entire admission criteria. Each top MBA program refers to the admissions criteria in a different way, but, ultimately, they evaluate candidates based on these three categories. These statements taken from MBA admissions websites illustrate this point. STANFORD The three primary criteria for admission to the Stanford MBA Program are demonstrated leadership potential, intellectual vitality, and contributions to the diversity of the Stanford community. HARVARD Our selection process emphasizes leadership potential, strong academic ability, and personal qualities and characteristics. COLUMBIA The committee values academic performance and seeks candidates who demonstrate superior intellectual ability…have developed a strong foundation and/or essential skills for their future professional goals…have proven themselves as both leaders and team players, who are well rounded and interesting, and who have demonstrated the will and ability to actively contribute to the well- being of their community. CHICAGO The Admissions Committee looks for people who have demonstrated the ability to succeed through work experience, academic endeavors, and extracurricular or community-service involvement. INSEAD We expect intellectual curiosity coupled with a desire to learn and stretch yourself in a rigorous academic program, as well as personal qualities to contribute to the many activities of the Institute. TUCK What makes a candidate successful? There is no formula for admission to Tuck. Each decision hinges on the interplay of five principal factors: Demonstrated Academic Excellence, Demonstrated Leadership, Demonstrated Accomplishment, Interpersonal Skills, and Diversity of Background and Experience. STERN We seek students who are confident in their ability to master the required material and have the courage to ask challenging questions…who have a proven track record and clear professional goals, both short-term and long-term…who will contribute to the Stern community. We seek students with proven leadership ability, maturity, character, and strong communication skills, who will be active participants at Stern and have a great passion for, pride in, and commitment to Stern. Let’s take a look at each of the three core areas. ACADEMIC ABILITY/INTELLECTUAL APTITUDE The curriculum at MBA programs is challenging. It is therefore important that admitted candidates have the appropriate academic preparation to handle a rigorous environment. Candidates do not need a business degree from an undergraduate university to apply to business school. In fact, the majority of MBA programs report that business majors make up only about 20 to 25 percent of their class. What’s more important is that candidates show that they are intellectually sharp and have the discipline to engage and contribute in a rigorous educational setting. Whether candidates can handle the rigor of the MBA program is assessed in two ways: their Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) scores and their college transcripts. Both of these variables are reviewed in the context of the candidate’s life: What opportunities have they had? Are they the first in their family to go to college? How do the GMAT and GPA overlap? Ideally, you want both the GMAT score and GPA to be very strong. For some applicants, although the GMAT may be lower than the median at the school, the GPA may be significantly higher. The reverse can also be the case. If you find yourself in this situation, there are practical steps you can take to convince the MBA Board that you are intelligent and able to handle a challenging program. In such circumstances, the recommenda- tions become even more critical in the selection process because they can add additional reinforcement of your intellectual ability, curiosity, and analytical and quantitative strengths. Coursework can also alleviate academic concerns, as does retaking the GMAT and earning a higher score. Let’s take a closer look at the GMAT and your transcript. The GMAT The GMAT is the entrance exam that is required by all top, full-time two-year business schools in America. A recent trend has emerged with two top business schools (Stanford GSB and MIT’s Sloan Business School) giving applicants the choice to submit either the Graduate Records Examination (GRE) or the GMAT. (It will be interesting to see whether other programs follow suit and allow candidates to submit the GRE scores as a substitute for the GMAT.) The professional organ- ization that oversees the GMAT is the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Once a paper-and-pencil exam, the GMAT has become primarily a computer-administered exam. It is also adaptive in nature: the computer generates questions based on your skill level and your performance on previous questions. After a candidate takes the GMAT, the score is active for up to five years, so it is important to take the exam as early as possible. The test itself is administered six days a week, with the exception of holidays. Applicants can take the exam up to five times in an academic year (waiting thirty-one days between exams). Business schools do not penalize candidates for taking the exam more than once. In fact, they accept the highest score (check with your school to make sure that this is still applicable). Candidates who are unhappy with their GMAT results the first time should definitely retake the exam. The fact that MBA programs accept your best GMAT score isn’t license to take the GMAT half a dozen times. Two or three times is accept- able. The fifth and sixth time may be overkill. The important thing here is to invest in adequate preparation ahead of time to avoid having to take the exam too many times. On the other hand, if you take it once and you are dissatisfied with your score, and if you think trying a second or third time can signif- icantly improve your score, then that is fine. However, if your score doesn’t improve after retaking it two to three times, I personally feel it is more effective for you to focus on other parts of the application where you may have greater control in shaping the “story.” Timing when to take the GMAT is vital since you have to wait thirty-one days to retake the exam. Avoid taking the exam too close to the admission deadline. I know candidates who have scored unexpectedly poorly on the first GMAT, and because of the thirty-one-day waiting period, they missed applying within the first round. Also, remember that the test itself is not cheap. Each exam cost $250, so it is to your advan- tage to fully prepare for the exam before taking it. You can learn more about the GMAT by visiting www.gmac.com or www.mba.com, where you can register for the exam. I’m often asked about the ideal GMAT score an applicant needs in order to be admissible. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions surrounding this subject. The truth is that there is no magic number to guarantee admission. MBA programs often state that they do not have minimum GMAT scores or cutoff requirements for admission. Although that is true, a GMAT of 300 will not earn anyone a spot at Stan- ford Graduate School of Business (GSB) or any top ten MBA program; on the other hand, a GMAT score of 800 won’t guar- antee a candidate admission to a top MBA program either. The best way to view the GMAT is to recognize that it is a necessary but not sufficient variable in the application. Getting a strong score can keep you in the running for a coveted admis- sion spot, but a mediocre score can end your admission aspira- tions. Check out the websites of the MBA programs you are interested in to find out where your GMAT score falls compared with the median GMAT score of the entering class. If your score is significantly below that of the median, 640 compared with 706, for example, you should postpone applying and devote more time and resources to improving your score. The GMAT scores standardize the academic components by providing a benchmark to assess different candidates coming from varied professional and personal backgrounds and experi- ences. This is especially so when candidates come from schools that the Admissions Boards are not as familiar with. Even for well-known schools, majors and grading systems vary. As such, a 3.7 GPA at one school may be closer to a 3.4 at another school and vice versa. The GMAT score, on the other hand, is an admission variable that provides the MBA Board with perspec- tive of how the candidate scored compared with others who took the test. The other reason MBA Boards care about the GMAT score is that some of the ranking agencies rely on this information when ranking MBA programs. The GMAT has considerable weight in the application process, so give it the attention it deserves. GMAT Components and What They Mean to the Admissions Board The GMAT score is made up of three components: the Analyt- ical Writing Assessment (AWA) Section, the Verbal Section, and the Quantitative Section. The AWA is made up of two essays (one on argument analysis and the other on issue analysis). You will be given thirty minutes for each essay. The overall GMAT score ranges from 200 to 800. The score repre- sents performance in two areas: verbal and quantitative. The Verbal Section is made up of forty-one multiple choice ques- tions that include sentence correction, critical reasoning, and reading comprehension. You will have seventy-five minutes to complete the Verbal Section. Like the Verbal Section, seventy- five minutes is allotted to the Quantitative Section. This section is made up of thirty-seven multiple choice questions covering data sufficiency and problem solving (covering such topics as algebra, geometry, and arithmetic). In addition to the raw number ascribed to each section, there is a percentile figure associated with it. Admissions Boards pay very close attention to both of these percentile figures. So not only is it essential to have a strong overall score and percentile, it is also important to perform strongly across both sections. An applicant to business school, Chad, illustrates what a great GMAT result looks like. He has a score of 760. Following is the breakdown of his scores: Overall Score: 760 99% 42 Overall Percentile: Verbal Score: Verbal Percentile: Quantitative Score: Quantitative Percentile: AWA: 95% 51 99% 5.5 The first thing the MBA Board will review when evaluating the GMAT performance is how the person fared overall. So, the first note would be that Chad scored 760 and that his score is higher than that of 99 percent of test takers. But they will not stop there. They will then check to make sure that there are no issues between the Verbal and Quantitative Sections. Scoring highly in both sections is important. Chad’s Verbal and Quan- titative breakdowns of 95 percent and 99 percent show that his GMAT is fine—both scores are above the 90th percentile. Some people are exceptional test takers. With more than a billion people in China, and with a strong emphasis on educa- tion, Chinese applicants may find steeper competition when it comes to the GMAT. For instance, although the overall median GMAT of an MBA program may be 700, the median for Chinese candidates may be even higher. This means that an applicant from China with a GMAT score of 700 may be considered much weaker on this evaluation variable. Be sensi- tive to how your profile fares in the overall GMAT pool as well as the specific demographic group that you fall into. Besides the overall GMAT score, a candidate’s performance in the Verbal and Quantitative Sections is important to the evaluation of his or her application. At a minimum, candidates should aim to score above the 80 percent mark in both sections. But what if there is a discrepancy between the two? Being weak in either the Verbal or the Quantitative Section can raise red flags for the MBA Board. For instance, an inter- national applicant who has a 99 percent in the Quantitative Section and only a 60 percent in the Verbal Section will surely face questions concerning his or her verbal abilities. Candi- dates in such circumstances should plan to retake the exam and improve their performance in the Verbal Section. Conversely, a nontraditional applicant whose work experience is devoid of quantitative exposure and whose quantitative score falls in the 66th percentile will have a tough time convincing the Admissions Board that he or she has a strong enough quantitative background to thrive in a business school. Such a candidate can address this issue by retaking the exam and by taking quantitative classes and having a strong performance in them. The AWA score ranges from 0 to 6 (6 being the highest score). AWA scores of 4.5 and above are considered fine. A high AWA (5.5) will rarely earn the applicant any major points. However, a low score (3.5 or lower) will raise questions regarding a candidate’s writing ability. Although important, the AWA has traditionally been the least scrutinized component of the GMAT at most top business schools. This is changing somewhat as schools concerned about inconsistencies between applicants’ writing ability and their actual essays may opt to compare writing style of essays from the AWA with the actual admissions essays. Anyone who chooses to use an advisory firm should maintain the integrity of their writing: never resort to hiring writing professionals to write your admission essays. A candidate with an AWA score of 3 whose essays read like that of a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist will have a major problem explaining the inconsistency. BASIC GMAT TIPS Start early. Plan to take the test at least a year before the deadline. Take a couple of practice tests to see how you perform. Invest in a GMAT prep course if the score is below the median score of your target MBA programs. Consider taking the GMAT while you are in college. It is easier to take an exam while you are still in studying mode. The GMAT score is active for five years. Retake the exam if you are not satisfied with your score. The majority of MBA programs accept your highest score. (Check the specific programs to make sure their policy doesn’t change.) GMAC reports that more than 20 percent of GMAT test takers retake the exam in a given year. The GMAT range of admitted students at the MBA program should serve as a guide. Scoring below this range does not auto- matically disqualify your application. The strength of the rest of your application will be taken into account. You can take the GMAT once every thirty-one days, so plan accord- ingly to ensure that you don’t miss your application deadline. Many test prep programs are available to help applicants boost their scores. The most popular ones are Princeton Review, Kaplan, Veritas, Bell Curve, and ManhattanGMAT. I strongly recommend that candidates do their due diligence to assess which one will best provide them with the support and preparation they need in order to nail a strong score. I encourage you to also check out my interview with Andrew Yang, Managing Director of ManhattanGMAT, at the end of this book. ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT (TOEFL AND IELTS) International candidates who studied at institutions where English isn’t the medium of communication are required to take an English Assessment exam. There are two main language exams that international students take for admission to busi- ness school: the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and/or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). TOEFL is the more common and accepted test, although some MBA programs accept the IELTS in lieu of the TOEFL. Both exams assess international candidates’ ability to speak and comprehend Standard English at a college level. Because the precise requirements for exempting from this exam vary from school to school, international candidates should visit each program’s website to confirm which test is required. For instance, at Wharton, international candidates need to take the TOEFL, whereas Chicago GSB and UCLA’s Anderson School accept either the TOEFL or the IELTS. The TOEFL, the older test, has its roots as far back as the mid- 1960s and is more widely accepted in the United States. The test is offered both through a paper-based and computer-based format. The TOEFL scores range from 0 to 300, with selective MBA programs requiring scores north of 250. The test is composed of four sections, namely, Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, Reading Comprehension, and Essay Writing. The result is valid for two years. MBA programs do not accept expired scores, so make sure your scores are valid when you apply to business school. You can also arrange to have your scores sent directly to the school by providing the program’s test code. For more infor- mation on the TOEFL, visit www.toefl.org. 84 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS The IELTS is a relatively new exam started in 1980. Applicants can register for a computer-based exam on its website (www.ielts.org) or sign up to take the exam at a test center, although only a limited number of locations are available. Test scores range from 1 to 9, with scores north of 6.5 required at top business schools that accept the IELTS. The Transcript The college transcript plays an important role in the MBA admissions evaluation. The Admissions Board places great weight on candidates’ academic track record because it reveals their performance over a period of time. The cumulative GPA isn’t the only thing that matters when assessing a candidate’s transcript; the trends of the grades are examined for consis- tency. So for instance, someone with an overall GPA of 3.5 who has straight-A grades in the first three years and C and D grades their last year can raise major flags for the MBA Board. Equally problematic are situations where the candidate’s academic performance is like a roller coaster where they perform well in one year and poorly the second year. Transcripts with consis- tently strong grades over the course of the entire academic experience are ideal. If you are reading this book and are still in college, then you should do everything you can to make sure that your performance is in an upward trajectory. One thing is for sure, finishing weak is one of the hardest issues to overcome with the Admissions Board. Therefore, MBA candidates should avoid having their weakest grades their last year of college. It is easier to explain away a weak start than a weak finish. The rigor of the academic experience is also taken into account when evaluating candidates’ transcripts. No Admis- sions Board wants to admit a candidate who would flunk out of business school. Therefore, the college transcript is carefully scrutinized to ensure that the candidate has taken a challenging academic program and performed well. The GPA of each candidate provides the MBA Board with a general sense of how the applicant has handled academic challenges; this is then used to extrapolate how the applicant will perform in business school. A strong GPA enables the MBA Board to answer the question, “Can this candidate cut it academically?” But the Board goes beyond GPA. They review the major academic strength of the school as well. For instance, the MBA Board recognizes that some majors, such as physics or computer engineering, may typically offer fewer 4.0 GPAs than less rigorous majors. Also, the MBA Board is aware of the signifi- cant differences that exist between schools when it comes to grading. Some schools are known for grade inflation; others are known for their tough grading policy. As a result, the Admis- sions Board is sensitive when evaluating a 3.0 GPA from a school with little grade inflation versus a 3.7 GPA from a school where a significant population earns high grades. You demonstrate commitment to your area of study when you have taken challenging courses and even pursued inde- pendent study or honors research. However, it is equally impor- tant not to be too narrow. By taking courses outside of your major, you can show that you are not just a physics or computer geek. This will help differentiate you from other candidates with similar majors. The Admissions Board can also see through candidates who have taken easy classes just to pad their GPAs. Applicants should educate the Admissions Boards when they have pursued an unusual academic program, especially if it is highly selective and rigorous. One way you can do this is to include a short sentence in your resume to highlight that point. An example is being the first in your department to complete a dual degree in an unusually short time frame. If you are one of the two people from your school to be inducted into an Honors Society, you should also state that in your resume. Equally interesting is taking the initiative to track down a professor from another institution and convince her to oversee your senior thesis if it is in an area that isn’t covered by faculty at your school. Being willing to step beyond your academic comfort zone can be a differentiator that can give you an edge in the admissions process. To demonstrate how important Admissions Boards view the academic college experience, take a look at Harvard’s essay question, which was introduced in the past couple of years: “What would you like the MBA Admis- sions Board to know about your undergraduate academic expe- rience?” In asking this question, the interest lies in academic experience, not the social clubs and activities the student has been involved in. MBA Boards at the end of the day want to go beyond the letters and numbers of your transcript and aim to understand the motivations that drive you to pursue knowledge, your thought process behind your academic decisions, and the insights that you have gleaned that have molded you into the person you are today. Internationals Many top business schools invest a lot of time in visiting different countries during their marketing cycle. They use these trips to learn about the schools and companies that employ the applicants from that region, and as a result, they are well-versed on the academic differences that exist among many of the international universities. Internationals coming from schools that do not give GPAs or class ranks do not need to worry; the MBA Board will not penalize your application for this. If in doubt, check with the MBA program to find out how it wants you to handle this situation (whether to leave it blank or provide an estimation). The Admissions Board is familiar with the grading systems at non-U.S. schools. They under- stand that a first class is rare and depicts exceptional academic achievement while a third-class performance obviously raises significant concerns about a candidate’s academic ability. They also appreciate the academic rigor of a degree in engineering from a school like Imperial College in the United Kingdom or Indian Institute of Technology. Explaining Transcript Inconsistencies Health issues (on a personal level or involving a family member) are often the reason for a candidate’s academic decline. A candi- date I know had a tough two semesters when her mom was struggling with a life-threatening illness. This resulted in a big dip in her transcript her sophomore year. Luckily, she was able to turn this trend around, and for the remaining two years of college, her grades were consistently above a 3.5 GPA. Other candidates have spotty transcripts because they worked full time to support their education. Then there are situations where a candidate has low grades as a result of not effectively balancing academic studies and leadership involvement. Regardless of what the scenario is, candidates need to address any gaps or hiccups in their transcript. Using the optional essays to do so is the ideal strategy. The way you describe the situation can be telling. Demonstrate maturity by owning up to what happened and avoid making excuses. But don’t go to the other extreme by groveling and overemphasizing the issue, which could cause the Admissions Board to fixate on it. BASIC TRANSCRIPT TIPS If your GPA is low, you should take two or more quantitative courses and earn an A in each of them. Financial accounting, economics, calculus, and statistics are good options. MBA programs vary in terms of the courses they recommend, so inquire directly to the programs to identify their preference. This is most pertinent if your undergraduate degree is in a nonquantitative area. Use the optional section of the application to address why your grades were less than stellar in college. Make sure your response reflects maturity and self-awareness. Whatever you do, avoid blaming others and take responsibility for your weak academic grades. Lower grades at the start of college are easier to explain than consistently weak performance for four years. Your recommendation is another great place to convince the MBA Board that you have the intellectual horsepower and ability to handle a challenging academic program. To offset a weak transcript, recommenders can stress your exceptional analyt- ical, quantitative, and technical skills as well as your ability to grasp new information and come up the learning curve quickly. The more specific and detailed these examples are, the more successful you will be in reassuring the MBA Board that your weak college academic performance will not dictate how you will perform in their program. Equally important is allaying any concerns that the MBA Board has about your maturity, and the recommendation letters can be effective in doing this. Retake the GMAT if you have low grades. This way, your GMAT can mitigate the MBA Board’s concerns about your weak academic record. It is fair to say that a combined weak academic college performance and GMAT score presents a challenge that is very difficult to overcome in the evaluation process. What this means is that a candidate with a 540 GMAT and 2.9 GPA will likely not be admitted to Columbia or any top business school for that matter. On the other hand, getting that GMAT score above 700 can often result in an admission offer at a top busi- ness school, despite a 2.9 GPA. Excellent performance in a graduate degree can sometimes help offset the MBA Board’s negative perception of low undergrad- uate academic performance. I don’t advocate taking a master’s program solely to boost your academics. If there is a graduate program that appeals to you and will provide you with tools that fit with your long-term goals, then by all means pursue it. However, be careful not to take a graduate program that then calls into question whether you still need an MBA. You certainly do not want to be pigeonholed as a degree collector. I’ve been asked often by candidates if they could apply to a top MBA program although they have an MBA already from a less-selec- tive institution. The answer is no. Hoping to apply at a later date after earning an MBA at another institution is not acceptable. Similarly, candidates are not able to transfer from one top MBA program to another. Unlike undergraduate admissions, where transfer opportunities exist, MBA programs do not typically accommodate transfer requests. Admissions Boards are sensi- tive to this. A candidate who is admitted to Kellogg and then decides she doesn’t like it will have to stick it out as opposed to transferring to Columbia. Addressing the academic component of the admission eval- uation is a necessary part of the application. But once you have scaled this academic hurdle you still need to address the remaining two admission criteria: your leadership track record and the uniqueness criteria. LEADERSHIP IMPACT AND MANAGERIAL POTENTIAL You cannot read through the website of a top business school without coming across the word “leadership.” Admissions Boards are all looking for leaders with a track record of effecting change and improving any environment where they are. Leadership isn’t limited to formal titles such as vice presi- dent or manager. Leadership is measured based on the level of impact a candidate has. This is why admitted early career candi- dates, those with less than two years of work experience, can still show remarkable leadership despite very junior titles at their job. The MBA Board wants to learn about situations where you initiated something that didn’t exist, convinced your superiors about an opportunity, created a tool or product that improves the way business is done at your firm, or managed a process, project, and person who had a fair share of challenges and delivered a successful outcome at the end. Leadership can also be seen in your knowledge arena. For instance, becoming a resident expert at something (above and beyond your job responsibilities) that creates value for your group or firm shows leadership. Although many candidates may not have had formal management experience, their exposure to leading small teams can offer interesting insights about their leadership potential. It is always important to show your self- awareness of your strengths as a leader and the areas you could further develop as you grow in your management responsibilities. But equally important for a candidate is to show self-awareness of why a particular leadership impact or experience is personally meaningful. The “why” and “how” are as important, if not more so, than the “what.” The MBA Board evaluates leadership on three dimensions that I call “The 3 Cs of Leadership,” namely: 1. College leadership 2. Community leadership 3. Career leadership College Leadership Although it may be a few years since you graduated from college, your college leadership is an important variable when assessing your candidacy. In the ideal admission world, candi- dates should be strong across all three leadership areas. From my experience, however, most admitted candidates are strong in at least two out of three of these leadership dimensions. What I’ve observed is that college leadership and career leadership are often very strong, leaving a gap in the community leader- ship. The main reason for this is limited time. Many candi- dates are working eighty plus hours each week, making committing to community service activities on a regular basis impossible. This is where the college leadership comes into play. Many candidates have an excellent track record of lead- ership while they were in college. These candidates will have to rely on their college leadership and career leadership track record to impress the Admissions Board. But what if your college leadership is weak? Some candidates with weak college leadership track records may have a compelling reason, such as having to self-fund their education. For some, it could be a result of partying too much in college. Regardless of why, candidates with a deficit in their college leadership must focus on strengthening their community and career leadership before applying to business school. Do keep in mind that college leadership isn’t simply about formal titles in student organizations. Although those are fine and represent the bulk of college leadership examples candi- dates have, there are many acceptable leadership examples at the college level that are a result of someone taking initiative. An example is the student who has to work to fund her educa- tion and sees an underutilized system or a potential market that her employer isn’t capitalizing on—by stepping up to present this idea to her bosses and helping to implement it, she will demonstrate a strong leadership track record. For many candidates reading this book, college was a distant experience, so you can’t do anything to change the college lead- ership (but you can focus on community and career leadership). However, for those of you who are still in college, it is never too late to start creating leadership impact. Are you an athlete? Could you serve in a leadership role on the team? How have you helped your team become stronger and closer? You don’t have to be the captain of the team to do this. Is there a problem that exists that you can resolve even without a formal title? Is there an interest you have that matters to you for which there is no formal organization at your school? If so, don’t hesitate to start this organization. If you enjoy teaching/tutoring, is there a way to move beyond your typical tutoring role to one where you can manage the other tutors? Perhaps the opportunity to teach a class could present itself? My point here is that you need to raise your game. Don’t be shy to step up and put your lead- ership stake in the ground at your school. And don’t fixate simply on title but on impact—that’s the true test of leadership! COLLEGE LEADERSHIP EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL MBA CANDIDATES Strategic director at a college credit union, where he instituted new initiatives that led to expanded services for students On-campus position that gave the student experience managing student employees Founder of an art organization that gave students opportunity to showcase and express their creative talent Teacher for a freshman seminar that pushed and stretched her students to develop new ideas and explore alternative conclusions Portfolio manager of student fund resulting in 20 percent return Captain of varsity sports team Instituting regular dinners for international students at parents’ home to help create a sense of community for classmates Community Leadership To strengthen your community leadership, you can join a nonprofit organization and assume a leadership role in it. Most nonprofit organizations are in great need of human resources and money. You can have a major impact as a volunteer. Be careful that your involvement isn’t seen as trite. Simply partic- ipating in an event once every few months does not qualify as strong evidence of leadership. Opt for tangible contributions. A concrete and significant leadership example could be applying your marketing experience to write the marketing plan and launching the marketing strategy for a nonprofit organization. Another example could be using your business development professional experience to help a community-based organiza- tion establish strong relationships with partner firms as a way to build revenue. Do not underestimate the power of getting involved at your alma mater. By initiating recruitment activities for your college, you can demonstrate your leadership skills by establishing rela- tionships, leading a team, and executing a plan. This is exactly what Stacy, a candidate, did. She noticed that many students from her alma mater did not pursue a career on Wall Street. Graduating from a nonselective university, top banks did not recruit at her school. Stacy created a career support program that educates and mentors students and alumni from her university on career opportunities on Wall Street. This experi- ence stretched Stacy’s leadership abilities, as she had to attract and manage disparate alumni from varied industries. She learned how to sell her idea with conviction as she dealt with her school’s administrators and career services personnel. She also honed her negotiation and communication abilities through this project. To crown her involvement, Stacy received an alumni award for extraordinary service. Applicants can also opt to serve on the board of a nonprofit organization to help provide strategic leadership advice. A great organization that places talented young professionals on the boards of nonprofit organizations is BoardNetUSA (www.boardnetusa.org). I don’t recommend joining a nonprofit board simply to check the box. The Admissions Board can see through this. You want to be authentic. So if you should decide to pursue this option, make sure to select an organization that ties to something you are passionate about. And while you are on the board, it is key that you initiate activities that yield real solutions to improve the organization. If you don’t find an organization that appeals to you, then consider creating one. Starting an organization, even a nonprofit, can enable you to build an excellent leadership track record. Juan returned to his home country, and after noticing that there was no formal internship program to employ smart college students during the summer, he set about creating one. Not only did this experience provide interesting content for his essays, but more importantly, it gave him an opportunity to give back in a meaningful way. Juan had moved to America when he was young and had benefited from many formal internship programs. He wanted to give other students from his country a similar opportunity. The passion with which he spoke of his project was infectious, and it was easy to see how this was a labor of love for him. This leadership experience influenced his positive admission outcome. I often hear candidates lament over their limited time for community service. As a new mom, running a full-service consulting practice, and writing this book, I recognize the time constraints that most professionals face. However, it isn’t about quantity, but quality. Pick something that really speaks to your heart and find a way to make a meaningful contribution. An applicant I know wanted to deepen his community involve- ment and chose to partner with a group of internationals who had a mission to commit $100 a month for one year, with a goal of raising funds that would be disbursed to two selected organizations in his home country. It worked. He fulfilled his commitment, got his friends to join, and had the satisfaction of seeing two nonprofit organizations expand and offer more services to the poor. Regardless of which path you chose to take, it is more impor- tant that you have one community involvement where you have had significant impact and depth than to have a lot of activities with no impact. It is not enough to be a member of an organi- zation. MBA programs are looking for leaders and want to see evidence that you have had an impact on people’s lives and on an organization. Even if you are applying this year, it is never too late to get involved in community leadership. What is important is making sure that whatever you choose reflects your passion and brand. COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL MBA CANDIDATES Board leadership of a not-for-profit hospital Business development and marketing volunteer for Street- Squash (an inner-city sports nonprofit organization that builds up the self-esteem of teenagers through squash) Founder of tutoring program in an inner city Board leadership of the Asian Task Force Leader of Women’s Initiative for National Domestic Violence Organization Sunday school teacher and accountant for church Executive leadership team of an international business forum Publicity Chair of a national association Founder of first-ever scholarship program and alumni fund at alma mater President of the Nigerian Business Forum Founder of philanthropic private equity enterprise Raised significant money to help family member battling life- threatening disease Career Leadership The career leadership carries the most weight when evaluating a candidate’s leadership experience. That is why most top MBA programs request that students provide recommendations from supervisors who can attest to their professional experience and trajectory. (Early career [EC] candidates are an exception to this. In EC situations, the college and community leadership are elevated in the evaluation process.) When considering career leadership, you should always focus on the actual impact you have had, not simply on your title. Go beyond your job description to demonstrate your contribution and make sure to address why you chose to take the leadership steps in the first place. If the leadership role involves working with people, that’s great. Opportunities where you managed a team allow you to clearly show your leadership abilities. It isn’t just about how many people you have on the team; the important thing is that you demonstrate your insights into how people operate, how to motivate them, and what your leadership strengths and developmental needs are. The MBA Board wants to know that you have challenged your- self and that you take initiative. They are interested in under- standing your motivations and the type of leader you are. Team dynamics are pivotal to leadership. How do you handle conflict? How do you deal with disappointment and failures? Many of the top business schools will demand that you address these questions. At the heart of these types of questions is a desire on the part of the MBA Board to make sure that you are mature enough to learn from tough situations, have a healthy emotional intelligence, and can work well with people regardless of the circumstance. I often hear MBA candidates complain that their jobs make it tough to show leadership. Investment banking analysts who work in a hyper-hierarchical environment are a good example. Let’s look at a few ways an investment banking analyst can demonstrate career leadership. • An investment banker who sees an opportunity to create a new training program can stand out in the applicant pool based on her commitment to others and her ability to transfer her knowledge to improve the experience of her peers. If the program is already established, she can seek ways to improve it and could be selected to lead training as well. • Another example is the investment banker who sees opportunities where others see obstacle. For example, by using his Spanish language skills and knowledge of Latino culture, he can add value when working on projects in Latin America, an area that the company may not have much exposure to. • Then there is the investment banker who raises her hand to work on that tough project that seems mired in chal- lenges or to work with the difficult managing director that everyone avoids and is able to successfully “manage up.” A commitment to excellence and a strong track record of delivering impeccable results can capture the attention of the Admissions Board, as seen in the investment banker whose work experience is significantly accelerated because he is hand picked, as a result of having developed a repu- tation of excellence, to work on high-profile deals with significant responsibility. • Equally interesting and differentiating is the investment banker who steps up and operates as an associate and manages her peers and new analysts to greater success. I think you get the point. In each of these instances, the focus is on how the person used her particular situation to achieve, as opposed to the circumstance itself. The preceding leadership examples are not just for investment bankers but are applicable to candidates from any industry. It is important to figure out the unique experiences you bring to the table and then capitalize on 98 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS them to differentiate yourself from the pack. The following are a few examples of the types of leadership track records one can have to stand apart in the application process. CAREER LEADERSHIP EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL MBA CANDIDATES Initiating and leading the business development that landed the firm a client that increased revenue by 20 percent Conducting the entire valuation of the highest profile trans- action at firm worth EUR 1.1 billion due to strong analytical track record Operating in the role of an associate while still an analyst Building a training program, hiring a team of international analysts, and creating a formal analyst culture at firm Co-establishing the leveraged finance practice in another country Managing the consulting team that introduced and imple- mented an automated management tool for clients worldwide Investing in a struggling employee and helping that person develop into a confident and successful leader Creating a utility tool to improve the tracking system of a ship- ping company Managing employees on an assembly line and improving effi- ciency by 25 percent Reducing human product errors from 10 to 4 percent at phar- maceutical firm by introducing a new tracking system and training employees to use it So with the academic and leadership criteria out of the way, candidates are left to tackle the last of the admissions variables: their uniqueness. Unlike the other two admissions criteria, the uniqueness admissions criterion allows the greatest flexibility for candidates to market themselves in a powerful way. UNIQUENESS (DIVERSE EXPERIENCES/ PERSPECTIVES AND DIFFERENTIATED PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS) The third admissions category that MBA Boards use in evalu- ating candidates is the uniqueness of your brand. Business schools are looking for individuals who are a fit with their brand. And nowhere is this more evident than through your personal characteristics and unique perspectives. This aspect of the evaluation is by far where applicants have the most flexibility and influence. To a large extent, applicants’ academic history has already been formed. Their leadership track record and management experience have been established. The insights that applicants offer into who they are and why they have made the choices they have made to date can land them a coveted admission spot in a top business school. A good way to illustrate this point is by looking at invest- ment bankers, a group of candidates who are overly repre- sented in the application pool. The following fictional example speaks to the power of the unique perspective applicants bring to their application. Five hundred investment bankers apply to an MBA program. Ten percent are accepted. That means that 450 investment bankers will be rejected. What is unique and inter- esting about the fifty who are admitted? It is the personal characteristics and unique perspective that they offer that often sets them apart from their competition. All candidates, regardless of their industry background, should ask themselves how they are different compared with other candidates from similar backgrounds. The personal characteristics and unique perspective is different for each candidate. For some applicants, they are inter- esting in the fact that they are the first in their family to get a college education. Their initiative, vision, and “bootstrapper” 100 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS background differentiates them from their competitors who have had a lot of opportunities given to them. For other applicants, it is the innovative nature in which they approach their work that is distinctive. Even candidates with the more unusual examples of having been raised on a farm in Iowa or growing up in Alaska or Chechnya can offer interesting and different viewpoints to the class based on their diverse personal life experiences. This is an application to business school, so you should highlight the different perspective and experience that you bring in the context of how it can add value to the class discus- sions and student community. Uniqueness for its own sake isn’t what MBA programs are after. Rather, what is attention- worthy is how growing up in Mongolia and working in the United States in the pharmaceutical industry has influenced your desire to return to Mongolia to open the country’s first health- and nutrition-focused business (like GNC). The unique vantage point you have of the economic landscape of Mongolia and the subtle cultural obstacles that you will need to overcome are the types of stories that will allow you to present convincing and differentiated essays. But the reality is that most candidates do not come from exotic backgrounds and do not have profound experiences such as experiencing combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Bosnia. If you happen to fall in one of these unusual backgrounds, great. Leverage it to show how you will offer a different viewpoint to the MBA program. However, if you find that your background is more along the beaten path, there are tangible things you can do to stand out in the pool as well. For instance, have you traveled abroad or lived in different countries? You can capitalize on your international experiences and lessons learned and insights drawn from working in diverse environments. Are you an avid sports person and enjoy chal- lenging yourself? You can describe your experience training for the marathon or the process of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and the team dynamics from that experience. How did this situation change or shape you? Drawing lessons from these types of experiences and connecting them to what you will bring to the particular business school can be appealing to the Admissions Board. If you come from a privileged background, it is important to know how to present your experience. Be careful not to sound spoilt or entitled. Also, when recounting experiences, you are better off choosing things that do not play into a stereotype. For instance, if asked about a mistake you made, you are better off selecting an example that shows personal awareness (real- izing you are fallible), instead of one that simply shows bad judgment (crashing your parents’ Bentley after a night out). Here are some additional examples from candidates who have succeeded in branding their way to their dream business schools: • Raising five siblings without parents allowed a candidate to demonstrate his initiative, management skills, and maturity. • Health problems led a candidate to develop his knowledge of Parma industry/health policy issues. As a result, he became passionate about the business side of drug devel- opment and transferred this interest into thought leader- ship at his firm. • Being raised by entrepreneurial parents gave a candidate exposure to running businesses and an appreciation for the discipline, creativity, and innovation required to start a business in the future. • Witnessing her mother’s domestic abuse fueled one candi- date’s commitment to empowering women. • A hunger for a global education led a candidate to leave her home country, attend college in the United States, and convince her firm to send her to Europe to gain international work experience. Successful candidates do not fall within prescribed categories or profiles. Rather, they have understood the admissions criteria and have successfully presented their own unique experiences to show how they will create value to the MBA program. The good news is that most of your competition is not perfect. They have gaps or weaknesses that they have to address as well. It could be weaker GMAT scores or GPAs, lack of exemplary leadership, or a vague sense of their brand (what is distinct or unique about them). Investing time in assessing and addressing any gaps that exist in your application will strengthen your MBA candidacy. And in no place is the brand more telling than in the essays. The next chapter explores the MBA application essays in detail and offers insights on how to tackle them effectively.

MBA programs have evolved over the years and now have available various versions to meet the different needs of students. The most prevalent MBA options are as follows: full-time two-year MBA, accelerated one-year to eighteen-month MBA, part-time MBA, and executive MBA. Although this blog focuses primarily on the full-time two-year MBA program in the United States, I will discuss some other options in this section to give you a sense of what each program offers and the type of student for whom it is a good fit. MBA programs tend to have strict transfer policies, so do not count on being able to switch from a part-time MBA program to a full-time MBA program at a top business school. To avoid disappointment, you should do your research early to ascertain the program that is the best fit before enrolling in business school. Two-Year MBA Program The two-year MBA program is extremely popular in the United States. The full-time MBA program is ideal for career changers for two reasons: (1) It offers greater opportunity to step back and reflect on their experiences and goals, and (2) It provides them with greater flexibility to take many classes in the new career they are pursuing. This option also offers students the opportunity to pursue an internship the summer after their first year to assess whether the new career is a good fit. The curriculum of two-year MBA programs provides students with the opportunity to gain a broad exposure to the different business areas as well as a chance to develop a specialization. The MBA programs vary in how much curriculum flexibility they offer to the students. A program like Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) is one of the most flexible, allowing students the greatest freedom to opt out of classes and to design their own schedules. HBS, on the other hand, has one of the more rigid curricula, requiring students to take a core set of classes their first year. Applicants who pursue the full-time two-year MBA program find that it is the most expensive MBA option given the price tag and the lack of income for two years. Some firms offer sponsorship for their star employees to pursue a full-time MBA program. Find out what your company’s policy is for sponsorship by speaking with your manager and by talking to individuals you know who have gone to business school and returned to the firm. The expectation is usually that you would return to your firm if you receive financial support from your firm. For some individuals, this golden handcuff may be too high a price to pay, and they may pass on the employee spon- sorship if they already know that they prefer to work at a different firm or industry. If you are a career changer who plans to work in strategy consulting or in investment banking, then you should definitely pursue a full-time two-year MBA program. The availability of a summer internship will provide you with entrée into banking or consulting, which will make you more marketable to the banks and consulting companies. Accelerated MBA Program The accelerated MBA program typically lasts for one full year or eighteen months and can start in the summer or winter. This type of program usually does not offer an opportunity to work in the summer because students take a full load of courses then. This program is usually a fit for someone who is already in his or her industry of choice but who needs to build up specific business skills. Also, entrepreneurs who plan to return to a family business will find this option attractive because of its shortened length. Part-Time MBA Program The part-time MBA program is a popular choice for individ- uals who want to remain in their job while developing their business skills. Many firms are supportive of employees who wish to pursue a part-time business degree because they are able to retain them. Some even offer the option to sponsor the applicant with some stipulation on the number of years the employee must remain at the firm. Each firm varies in terms of their policy on eligibility and sponsorship. You may even have to take the GMAT and score at a certain level for your employer to sponsor your application. It is important to find out if your firm offers tuition reimbursement and the terms associated with it. The part-time MBA option is not convenient for career changers for different reasons. The most prominent is the inability to “test out” a new career during the summer internship. The part-time MBA curriculum is similar to the two-year MBA program, but the difference is that the students take fewer classes at a given time and classes are taught in the evenings and weekends. Companies looking to aggressively retain their best talent are forming formal relationships with business schools for their top employees. Lehman is one such example. It has established a formal part-time MBA program with New York University (NYU) for its star employees. This customized program has been designed to fit the employees’ schedule and ensures that little disruption takes place while they pursue the MBA. Executive MBA Program Of all the MBA program types, the executive MBA has the most variation available (a combination of weekends, evenings, onsite engagements where students congregate on campus, and online study). Many top institutions offer an Executive MBA program while others offer certifications and other short-term executive education training. An example of the latter is Harvard Business School’s executive programs that last for a few days to several weeks that focus on developing the managerial skills of seasoned professionals. Executive MBAs often provide exceptional employees with sponsorship. Even if your firm does not have a formal sponsor- ship policy, it is worth speaking to your manager to explore whether your firm would be able to sponsor you. Besides the financial sponsorship, it is also important to get your firm’s support because most executive MBA programs require students to leave their jobs to be on campus for periods of time. Deciding whether an Executive MBA (EMBA) is the right option for you will depend on where you are in your career and why you want the MBA. If you are relatively early in your career, the EMBA is not typically a good fit since it is designed for individuals who are further along in their career and have professional responsibilities and management experience that is substantive. It is no surprise then that the majority of students in the Executive MBA programs are over thirty and have a decade of professional experience. The EMBA is also ideal if you are looking for credentials, deepened industry knowledge, and expanded skill sets as opposed to making a major career change. Career changers are better served in a two-year, full-time MBA program.

A PERSONAL BRAND IS IMPORTANT to helping you live a life that is passion-driven and grounded in your values. By having a clear sense of your personal brand you can actively engage in the things that matter to you, deliver results that you can be proud of, add value to those around you (both personally and professionally), and live a life that has meaning and impact. Building your brand will help you chart a clear path to achieve your goals and live your passion. Beyond these benefits, however, having a powerful and clear personal brand before you embark on the application process can be extremely effective in bringing about the admission outcome you seek. Applicants who have a clear sense of their personal brand often emerge the most successful from the application process. Let’s look at how to build your brand. One of the first things necessary to develop your personal brand is to identify your passion. WHAT IS YOUR PASSION? Are you living your passion both personally and professionally? Is what you do bringing you fulfillment? Is there a major disconnect between how you see yourself and how others see you? Will getting an MBA enable you to achieve your vision for your life? It is important to take the time to address these questions; the answers will help you gauge whether you are living a life driven by passion. The word “passion” is thrown around and used in various contexts in our everyday communication. But phrases like “I’m passionate about baseball” or “My passion is doing the rumba” do not quite capture the essence of what I mean by passion. Passion is not a hobby or simply what you like to do for fun. I have a slightly different perception of passion as it relates to business school application. I define passion as what gives meaning to our life. A recent conversation I had at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop best illustrates the elements of a passion-filled life. I had posed this simple question, “What is your passion?” to Kim, a fellow latte-indulging customer. Her face immediately lit up, and she quipped, “Teaching and affecting the lives of my students.” Kim has been teaching for several years in New York City elementary schools, and she is successful at what she does. She chose a teaching profession because it fit with her values to help kids succeed. As she described her work with her kids, it was impossible to miss the pure joy and fulfillment in her voice. The excitement that accompanied her description of what she does cannot be faked. When you are living your passion, your life will reflect the energy and joy that accompa- nies a passion-filled life. So is what you are doing currently reflective of your passion? Stop for a minute to reflect on your passion. The important thing is to proactively assess whether what you do brings meaning to you, whether it reflects your values, skills, and interests. If that’s not the case, then it may be time for self-exploration to deter- mine what matters to you and time to begin to integrate that into your professional and personal life. A simple way to assess whether you are living a passion-filled life is to ask yourself whether you would do your job if you were not paid for it. Building and Selling Your Brand 41 I encourage you to take a few minutes to complete the passion survey to see how aligned your passion is to what you do currently. EXPARTUS Passion Survey (For each question, rate your response from 1–3: 1 = not really, 2 = somewhat, 3 = absolutely. After completing each question, tally your scores.) Are you aware of what your greatest passion is? Is your passion connected to your personal brand? Are you living your passion outside of your job? Are you living your passion in your job? Do you enjoy your job? Do you have the right skills to live your passion? Would you keep working in your industry if you weren’t paid for your job? Are you still being challenged by the work you do? Does what you do have an impact on the lives of others? Are you proud of your accomplishments? Scores that range from 22–30 indicate that your job is in sync with your passion. Scores that range from 12–21 suggest that some changes are in order; this may not require a career change, but more active investment in aligning your passion with your career. Scores of less than 12 call for a major over- haul. Consider a thorough brand audit to assess what matters most to you and begin incorporating it in your life. Be open to a career change. After completing the passion survey and determining whether your life is aligned with your passion, you can go a step further to assess and develop your personal brand. This process requires that you undergo a personal brand audit to identify your key brand themes and ultimately to distill your story into a personal brand statement. Let’s get started first with an auditof your personal brand. HOW TO BUILD A COMPELLING PERSONAL BRAND Personal Brand Audit The first step in building a powerful brand is undergoing a personal brand audit (PBA). The PBA is a candid assessment of who you are. It includes your values, goals, skills, and passion. Included in this assessment is a review of your strengths and weaknesses, your past achievements and failures, your track record, your perception of yourself, and how other people perceive you. After completing this audit, the next step is to distill it down to the core of what matters to you. You could start by picking three key values, goals, interests, and achieve- ments. If you can, try to further focus on the critical value, goal, interest, and significant track record from your life. This can be challenging to drill down at this level because as human beings we are complicated and have varied backgrounds, inter- ests, values, and so forth. However, this exercise, as frustrating as it may be in the beginning, forces you to objectively look at what you are dealing with (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Then you have to apply honesty balanced with judgment in piecing together the most compelling aspects of who you are. It doesn’t get any more self-aware than that. Building and Selling Your Brand 43 A Mini Personal Brand Audit (PBA) In completing the PBA, be as candid and introspective as you can. It is also extremely important to cite examples when answering each question. The more vivid and specific your examples are, the more effective they will be in enabling you to pull out stories from your background that reflect your brand. Passion I am most passionate about: My work inspires me in the following way: If I could live my passion, I would: Values What do I value the most about myself? What do people value the most about me? (Ask colleagues, friends, family.) What three things do I cherish the most in life? My values are a fit with my career in the following way: My values are misaligned with my career in the following way: Skills My three strongest strengths are: My three greatest areas of development are (describe what you are doing to improve them): The most significant impact I have had on a person is: The most significant impact I have had on a team is: The most significant impact I have had on an organization is: Goals My short-term goal is: My reason for seeking an MBA now is: My long-term goal is: Without the MBA, it will be nearly impossible to achieve my long-term goal because: 44 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS Brand Themes In the course of completing your PBA, you will notice some recurrent brand themes. These themes have to be evaluated to determine whether they reinforce your brand and whether they qualify as major themes (a must-have for your story) or minor themes (elements you could add to your story if there is room). Brand themes are not just your job descriptions or obvious variables of your story. They are consistent and recurrent elements that reflect who you are at the most meaningful level. Brand themes are not typically what you write in your resume. They are subtler than your job title and job description. Brand themes reflect how you do what you do, the characteristics and values that drive your actions and choices, the distinctive and memorable traits that people around you see in you. One can argue that brand themes can be fuzzy and “touchy- feely.” A tech guy I know happens to be exceptionally charis- matic and very outgoing. He absolutely does not embody the stereotype of a reserved, nerdy tech guy. When applying to busi- ness school, had he focused simply on his job role or title, he would have been ineffective in conveying his charismatic brand. By tapping into instances that demonstrate how he operates in a team environment and by sharing personal stories, he was able to convey an accurate brand picture of himself: one that is dynamic and engaging instead of limited by his work role. Your job titles or roles do not constitute your brand themes. It isn’t the title or label but the intrinsic and motivating elements behind what you do and your own identity (values, passions) that make up your brand theme. So here are a few examples of what a brand theme is not: • Smart investment banker • Ivy-educated engineer • Top-ranked consultant • Hardworking private equity analyst Building and Selling Your Brand 45 You will notice that these examples are generic and not differentiating. In other words, if you want to build your appli- cation around being a smart banker, you pigeonhole yourself with the other thousand smart bankers in the applicant pool. The same goes for each of the other examples. To stand apart, you need brand themes that are differentiating. So although you are a smart banker, one of your key brand themes could be a bridge connector. A bridge connector is someone who thrives on bringing disparate people and teams together to solve prob- lems. They enjoy people, are well connected, and make good use of their social network to create positive impact wherever they are. Bridge connectors do not hoard information or sit on the sidelines when a problem needs to be resolved. They love to jump in and partner with people to bring about results. More than that, they are gifted at working with different types of people and can bring out the best in them. Being a bridge connector is what differentiates you from the pack. Nowhere in your application do you explicitly state “I’m a bridge- connecting banker!” Rather, the stories you choose to recount when addressing the essay questions can convey and reinforce this bridge-connector brand, which then leads the Admissions Board to draw the conclusion based on the evidence. The challenge in sharing your brand with the MBA Board is that you need concrete examples from your personal and profes- sional life to substantiate any themes you select. One of the laws of personal branding is focus. So with selecting your brand themes, it is important to pick three to four that are most reflec- tive of who you are and what matters to you. You may be wondering, why three or four? Because the application has a limited space, it is important to focus on the most salient themes in your story. Furthermore, you don’t want to come off as scat- tered by throwing in too many attributes and themes. By selecting a few focused themes, you can then use the application essays to reinforce a consistent message that supports your personal brand. 46 THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS Your recommenders also would need to be aware of the key brand themes you are presenting so that the examples they use to illus- trate your story remain consistent with your branding strategy. At the end of the day, it is less about having the “right” themes and more about tapping into meaningful attributes and elements from your life experiences. Here are just a few exam- ples of brand themes of successful applicants to business school: SAMPLE BRAND THEMES “Empowerer” of women Articulate communicator Global citizen Engendering trust Risk taker Multicultural Charismatic leader The connector Contagious optimist Unrelenting “Bootstrapper” Bridge builder Investor in junior talent Entrepreneur Diplomatic rebel Innovator Turnaround expert Motivational manager Dancer of life Idea guy Astute negotiator Trailblazer These themes are by no means exhaustive of potential themes. Brand themes are endless and are reflective of the candidates’ experiences. The examples offered here are only snapshots of potential brand themes from successful applicants. These applicants were able to successfully brand their way into top business schools not because they had perfect stories but because they committed to the introspection necessary to iden- tify their personal brand. Articulating what mattered to them and why they had made the different choices that they made (connecting the dots of their lives) allowed the MBA Board to differentiate them from their competition. Building and Selling Your Brand 47 Personal Brand Themes List the four brand themes/attributes that best describe you. Make sure you cite examples to back them up. 1. 2. 3. 4. Now that you have identified your brand themes, go over them to see if they accurately represent you. What words come to mind as you have read through your responses? Do you notice any surprises? With branding, it is equally important that those around us reach the same conclusions about our brand. Ask two people who know you well (they can be colleagues, family members, or friends) whether the themes you selected are reflective of who you are or if other themes are more rele- vant to your brand. If there are inconsistencies, then be willing to go deeper to determine whether you need to take steps to better communicate your personal brand. A major mistake applicants make is that they don’t invest in enough introspection to identify their brand themes before embarking on their essays. As a result, many of the business school essays are disjointed, boring, and superficial. Let’s explore how a candidate can use a brand theme, global citizen, to sell her personal brand. The candidate doesn’t even have to mention the brand theme in the actual essay. Rather, she can select stories that depict her as a global citizen. Let’s say she has five essays for her application; she can use two to three different stories to convey her comfort level in international settings. The first could be of a key project she worked on managing an international team spanning two continents; this project shows how her sensitivity to the nuanced cultural differences enabled her to lead effectively. She may then wish to share a personal story about the study abroad program she did in a remote region of the world and her personal “aha” cultural moment. Finally, she may wish to write about her involvement with a nonprofit group that helps immigrants from different regions of the world adjust to their new lives in America. These examples plus the fact that she has lived in many countries around the world, speaks multiple languages, and has recommendations that reinforce her global citizen brand can etch a strong message about who she is in the MBA Board’s mind. When you have a clear sense of your brand, you become more memorable and it is easier for whoever reviews your application to summa- rize your story in a succinct, easily identifiable way. Once you have identified the themes to your story, it is important to distill them into a summary, the personal brand statement, which speaks to the heart of who you are. Clearly as human beings we are a lot more complicated than a one- sentence statement. I’ll be the first to acknowledge this. However, given that you have thirty seconds to make a lasting impression and the fact that the application comes down to a few minutes of review before a decision is rendered, I encourage applicants to go through the exercise of summarizing their salient attributes into one sentence: their personal brand statement and try to impress the committee.

The MBA is an expensive investment. Harvard Business School (HBS), for example, has a price tag of about $250,000. Add to that the financial impact of not earning an income for two years and it is clear why many individuals shy away from pursuing the MBA in the first place. Yet, ask anyone applying to business school, and you are likely to hear that they believe that the return on their investment can be significant. The numbers from graduates of top business schools support this: 86 percent of women and 89 percent of men surveyed in a Catalyst study reported that they were very satisfied with their MBA career after attending business school. Often, the value of the MBA can be characterized as falling within one of these eight benefits: 1. Expanded network 2. Strategic skills 3. Analytical skills 4. Quantitative skills 5. Soft skills (leadership, communication, negotiation, agility in thinking on your feet, team management, etc.) 6. Increased knowledge 7. Significant salary bump 8. Access to new career The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) conducts a biannual survey of MBA alumni. Seventy-nine percent of the alumni polled in the 2006 alumni survey indicated that they are positive about their decision to pursue an MBA (Source: MBA Alumni Perspective Survey, September 2006). So if you have decided that the MBA is for you and you are clear on why you want to pursue this degree and what it will offer you in the long term, let’s examine the specific influences that shape which MBA program a candidate chooses.