10 Tips « Master Admissions

August 9, 2010

10 Tips for Getting Into Business School — Tip 10: Be Yourself

Filed under: 10 Tips,Berkeley Haas,Stanford GSB — Tags: 10 Tips, Admissions, Berkeley Haas, business school, MBA, Stanford, Stanford GSB — admin @ 9:14 pm

Happy August! Believe it or not, the summer is almost over -- but not yet, so no need to be needlessly stressed. I’m finally going to discuss the 10th, and final tip of the 10 Tips to Make Your MBA Application Rock. It have been trying to stretch it out by interspersing with other blog posts, but now it’s time to wrap it up. (All 10 Tips can be found in the PowerPoint of the presentation I gave to 85 Broads. You'll also find links to the first nine of the 10 Tips at the bottom of this post. )

The last of the 10 Tips is the most obvious: Be Yourself. I know it seems like a cliché, but I have heard admissions officers say over and over that they want to get to know YOU in the essays. Allison Davis, Associate Director of Admissions at Stanford GSB wrote those very words most recently in her July 7 blog post, even calling them "corny, but true."

Get Real
The only way for you to do that is to show your authentic self. Not the person you think the committee wants to read about. I guarantee this one fact: YOU are more interesting than that mythical person. They want to read about your successes and foibles. I recall Peter Johnson, of Berkeley’s Haas Business School, remarking that he loves reading the stories where people learn from mistakes or failure. Those stories show a lot about a person's true character. Remember, every business school class is made up of human beings, and the more you show who you really are, the more you will stand out from the crowd of generic applicants. No kidding.

If anything, this is the most important of all the 10 Tips. You can Start Early, Take Inventory, Connect with Your Inner Rock Star, Explore Career Paths, and Perform Service. You’d be well-advised to Stay Sane , Daydream, Talk Around, and please, Work Only on what You Can Control.

But none of these 10 Tips will get you what you where you want to go unless you are the real you. So speak from your heart, be authentic, genuine, and just plain you.

The floor is yours.

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July 7, 2010

10 Tips for Getting into Business School — Tip 9: Work Only on What You Can Control

Filed under: 10 Tips,Application ideas,Wharton — Tags: 10 Tips, Admissions, Applications, business school, getting in, MBA, recommendations, Wharton — admin @ 5:12 pm

Welcome back to the 10-Tips series. We're down to the wire -- here on Tip 9, Work Only on the Part You Can Control.

I was anxious about mentioning the element of chance involved in the business school application process. I didn’t want the excellent applicants, along with the hard-working, underappreciated admissions committee professionals, to think that I am calling it crap shoot. It’s not. But you cannot control the entire process, particularly the outcome.

It’s Your Strategy
You cannot control the ultimate outcome, but you have some power to influence the inputs. Let’s take undergraduate grades. Think your GPA is a done deal? How about an alternative transcript? Take courses you overlooked, or even flubbed, when you were an undergraduate, then get A’s, and you have put your GPA in context. How about the GMAT? Test prep resources are readily available -- I can recommend several programs and methodologies to help you improve your score and stay sane. And as we’ve discussed, your career path is in your control as well. (See Tip 2 on career progression).

Practical Tactics
Here are some tactical things you can absolutely control: the schools you visit and choose to apply to, when you are going to apply (what year? what round?), and very importantly, whom you ask to be your recommenders. You can take them out for coffee and share your aspirations. See if they are on board with doing the thoughtful and time-consuming work of writing the best recommendation.

You can also control the application timetable. Applying to business school is a huge undertaking with lots moving parts. You absolutely need to get all the bits and pieces together by the deadline… in the right time zone. Believe me, I know someone who did miss the deadline because of a time-zone issue; it happens.

Still, you cannot control the entire process. You cannot control who else is applying, or what the economy will look like when you hit “send.” You cannot control the mood of your application’s reader, or when your application is read within a cycle (some schools are more flexible about that, but trying to game it will make you crazy). You cannot control what the universe decides is the outcome. You just can’t.

From a Wharton Student Expert
I’m not the only one who believes there is some chance involved – in fact, I got the courage to write about this point from a forum post on Wharton’s Engage website (a great resource!):

Says Victor M. Lee, Wharton, class of 2011,
To some extent, yes, there is an element of luck. As applicants, we cannot control who else applies. But I would contend that the vast majority of the application process is under your control (how you choose to put your application together, where and how you choose to interview, how much you do in research into Wharton, how much introspection you perform, how well you do on standardized tests and previous academic coursework, how effective and accomplished you are in your career and extra-curricular activities, etc).

Besides, would the reward be so sweet if you knew the answer in advance?

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June 8, 2010

10 Tips for Getting Into Business School -- Tip 8: Talk Around

Filed under: 10 Tips,Application ideas — Tags: 10 Tips, Admissions, Betsy Massar, business school, Columbia Business School, MBA, networking — admin @ 6:20 pm

Sorry for what may have appeared to be a break in the 10 Tips series, I gave a webinar for 85 Broads last week, where we reviewed all 10 Tips, complete with a snazzy PowerPoint presentation. In terms of blogging, I’ve still got three more tips to go, including today’s tip, Talk Around.

Along with Tip 6, Stay Sane, Talking Around is one of my favorite tips, because it is so beneficial – you can use it to test out your own ideas and then open yourself up to new ones. It has been said that the best ideas are talked about. Good ideas are inspired by, and refined with, conversation.

Right in Your Own Backyard
As you are mulling over your business school plans (Can I? Should I? When? Where? How?), you may start with friends and family, and then move on to a wider circle. If you can talk about it at work, find people who have gone down the route you are contemplating – recent MBAs, or my current favorite, people who might be in your town or your company for the summer. They are the ones right in the middle of it all, they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid of that particular school and are exploring or have decided upon an industry. What a fount of information!

Talking around is a great excuse to meet new people too. Many business schools have alumni ambassadors who make themselves available to prospective students. Columbia Business School even puts student names and email addresses on its website, so you don’t have to go through the admissions office to connect.

Getting the Real Lowdown
Current or recent students are great resources to help separate fact from fiction. Certainly each school has its own PR machine, and as I have said since the beginning, admissions offices are increasingly transparent about what they are looking for. But they cannot tell you about whether the career office is any good or not, or if the school felt too competitive, remote, lonely or overwhelming at times. Students can tell you whether the famous professors or the $150,000 price tag are worth it, or if all consultants are boring. Graduates, or professionals in your target industry, can tell you whether it is as fun and interesting as you hoped it would be. (Is private equity really that sexy?)

Talking around also has the benefit of teaching you to learn to think on your feet – a big part of business school and business training. You may even learn how to put together your own personal elevator pitch.

Hobnobbing for Fun and Profit
Another bonus is that you may meet new people simply for the fun of it. I know people who have, through networking, met romantic partners, buddies or roommates, been introduced to new hobbies, learned about new shops or restaurants, all while expanding their Linked In network! There’s really no downside to getting out; in fact, it’s good to get away from the computer now that social networking is all the rage. Yes, I have met friends through Twitter – my idol, Doug Barg, a of GeeMatters, is one, and we do have plans to meet at an event in Philadelphia in July. Indeed, a handshake is stronger than a tweet, and a lot more memorable!

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May 10, 2010

10 Tips for Getting Into Business School — Tip 5: Perform Service

Filed under: 10 Tips,Application ideas — Tags: Admissions, Applications, business school, getting in, MBA, volunteer — admin @ 8:42 pm

We’ve finally made it to the fifth of the 10 tips for MBA admissions. The first advised you to start early, the second, to take inventory, the third to connect with your inner rock star, and the fourth to explore career paths. In the next tip, I suggest that you perform service.

Helping Out
I prefer using the word “service” rather than “extra-curricular” or even”volunteer.” The first definition that comes up on Dictionary.com is, “An act of helpful activity; help; aid. To do someone a service.” Doing service means that you are helping someone or something; it’s broader than volunteering, although you could perform service through volunteer activities. If you are already involved in those activities, then my only recommendation is to stay involved, keep an open mind and an open heart as to how you can be even more effective.

But not all of us are joiners. Some of us would rather not get involved in large organizations, perhaps because we feel we can better make a difference one-on-one. And that’s service. Or what about those of us who have not done much in the way of outside activities since our undergraduate days, but may have shown the ropes to every new employee who came across your path? Or have you helped make your neighborhood a better place to live? That’s performing service too.
Sometimes we forget what performing service might mean. I knew an applicant who worked for a sporting goods manufacturer, and hadn’t done any “official” volunteer activities in years. He was a generous person all the way around, and it showed in the way he lived his life. As we were talking about one of his career essays, we discovered that his previous job, which required that he do sports demos and run workshops for urban kids, was a great example of the way he made his own difference. Instead of doing volunteering after work, he was performing service on the job: he was showing off the sports equipment, but also giving the kids attention and support for a healthy activity, which in some cases, lead to new interests.

Getting Out of Ourselves
As he remembered those days, a big smile broke out across his face. He was reveling in it. What had gone from a fairly lugubrious discussion about career trajectory had turned into a fun reminiscence. That’s because giving back makes us feel connected to our communities and to our world. Performing service bring an additional dimension to our ambitious lives. It shows us something about the world and about ourselves that we may not have figured out when formulating macros for spreadsheets or putting together the latest PowerPoint presentation.

Even if you haven’t had a strong pattern of service, there’s no reason why you cannot start now. I’ve heard people ask if starting now is too obviously a ploy to round out their business school application. To that I say, “So what?” You can’t go back and change what you’ve done, so you might as well get started now. At worst, the experience will be neutral, and at least you’ll be helping out. At best, who knows what could happen?

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May 4, 2010

10 Tips for Getting Into Business School – Tip 4: Explore Career Paths

Filed under: 10 Tips,Application ideas,Berkeley Haas — Tags: Admissions, Applications, business school, Duke Fuqua, getting in, Haas, Harvard MBA — admin @ 3:54 pm

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Master Admissions 10-Tip Series on Getting into Business School. Now that you’ve started connecting with your inner rock star (and identified how that shows leadership), it’s time to start exploring.

Specifically, you want to start exploring different career paths. Clear career goals are the crux of a strong business school application. Gone are the days when you can tell an admissions professional that you want to keep your options open. You need to have a career goal, aspiration, target, or, as or as Harvard Business School’s application calls it, a “career vision.”

You want to explore internally and with others what’s out there. You don’t want to say “I want to be in private equity,” (like everyone else applying to business school) if you haven’t figured out what that means and why it fits your vision.

How’re You Gonna Get There?
Vision is a big word, but it’s a good one in this case. It inspires you to look far into the future and come up with the big dream. You can use the career essay to throw it out there and work backward. Say you want to change the way health care is delivered worldwide? (I’ve seen that one successfully used, so don’t steal it!) What’s the progression to get you there? Many different roads can take you there, and admissions officers will be looking for more than “check the box.” They will be looking at your own sense of you in the future. They will be looking at your own authenticity – are you following the herd? Or are you hoping to do what you know is right for you?

The funny part is that more than half the students at business schools end up changing their minds. Many times in fact. The economy can change, the world can change, and the student’s circumstances can change.

It’s an open secret that students’ pre-business school and post-business school plans change. Admissions officers agree; they don’t go back and audit students’ career decisions after graduation. I’ve seen one student swear he wanted to go into investment management, but end up in a cool new startup in the luxury travel business. I know a number of people who wanted to go entrepreneurial but then decided to take a job in consulting to get more experience and pay back their bills.

Getting from Point A to Point B
So why does every business school take your career plans so seriously during the application process? Because they want to know that you have thought it through. They want to make sure you are grounded in reality. That if you want to change careers, you’ve figured out how to get from Point A to Point B and maybe even to Point C and D.

This essay is about how you write about your future and how you connect it with your past. Admissions officers want to know that you are clearly in touch with what brings you to these decisions. For example, the Berkeley Haas application asks you to discuss your short- and long-term career goals, and then wants you to relate your professional experiences to these goals. Others, such as Duke’s Fuqua School ask you for your inspiration for pursuing this career path.

So go out and explore – talk to people – especially current students or recent grads on their career experience. (More on this in Tip 7). Do some self-exploration as well. And make sure you take notes, like I recommended in Tip 3. There’s no model answer, but the closer you get to your own truth, the better your application.

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April 29, 2010

10 Tips for Getting Into Business School—Tip 3: Connect with Your Inner Rock Star

Filed under: 10 Tips,Chicago Booth,Essays,Stanford GSB,Wharton — Tags: Admissions, Applications, business school, Chicago Booth, emotional IQ, Harvard MBA, leadership, Stanford MBA, Tuck MBA, Wharton — admin @ 11:07 am

Welcome back to the Master Admissions 10-Tip series. In the first tip, I recommended you start early, and in the second tip , I recommended you take inventory. Now it’s time to take the leap to connect with your inner rock star.

Leadership Goes Far Beyond Any Title
Every business school is looking for students who are leaders – and that definition of leadership is very broad. “Leadership encompasses more than managing people,” says the University of Chicago’s Rose Martinelli in her excellent blog, The Rose Report. You may not have had direct reports, but “you were successful because of your influence, effective communication skills, and your ability to motivate people toward a shared goal,” she adds. Dartmouth’s Tuck defines leadership as “inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things."

Demonstrating leadership can mean anything from running a classroom to being the idea person in your work team. From standing up for an unpopular position, to organizing a food drive. In a nutshell, leadership is about your inner rock star.

Get Comfortable with the Personal
So how do you connect with rock-star you? First, you have to get a comfortable with the personal – the application process and the essays require a lot of introspection. Be prepared to explore what makes you want to excel. Admissions officers are clear that they want a fully three-dimensional person sitting in those coveted business school seats. Derrick Bolton, head of the Stanford GSB admissions committee, explains it succinctly: “We want a holistic view of you as a person: your values, passions, ideas, experiences, and aspirations.”

Introspection can, and should be individual. Going through the process of thinking about what makes you that motivated, driven, inspired leader of tomorrow can feel onerous. So make sure you take notes.

You might want to keep a journal of those observations. If you feel that a journal is too Oprah, just scribble down your own observations and thoughts. If you work on a team, take notes on what works, and what doesn’t. Where do you fit in? What would it take for you to oppose the consensus of the group. Notes on group dynamics will also help when you might want to come up with examples of team wins, losses, or conflict resolution.

You’d be surprised over the course of weeks or even months of what you have written. Thoughts and impressions that might have otherwise been lost to memory will help when you start drafting the essays and crafting your story.

Leadership = Emotional IQ

Looking for these rock star traits within yourself does not have to be an exercise in bravado.
Schools are also looking for leaders that present emotional intelligence. For those who haven’t read and dissected Daniel Goleman’s classic works on Emotional IQ, get started now. You can find a summary of his seminal article , “What Makes a Leader?” in a post I wrote back in December. Goleman’s model of emotional intelligence has dramatically improved the global discussion of leadership. Hopefully, this model will help you take both a broader, deeper, and more self-aware view of what you bring to the party.

Leadership is the heart and soul of the business school program. For some more inspiration on how schools look at leadership, take a look at Wharton’s exciting Leadership in Action Programs, Stanford GSB’s leadership labs, or wander around Harvard Business School’s Leadership mini-site.

http://blogs.chicagobooth.edu/RoseReport/

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April 19, 2010

10 Tips for Getting into Business School — Tip 2 Take Inventory

Filed under: 10 Tips,Application ideas,Berkeley Haas,Stanford GSB — Tags: Admissions, Berkeley Haas, business school, Duke Fuqua, GMAT, MBA, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, tests — admin @ 7:34 pm

Welcome to the second of my 10-Tip series to help you in your campaign to get into business school. The first tip encouraged you to start early – because indeed, it is a campaign, and the earlier you start thinking about the whole process, the easier it will be to put this massive project together. I cannot recall anyone I have ever met in my life who has said, after all is said and done, “That was a lot easier and took a lot less time than I thought!”

Tip 2 encourages you to take inventory. Business school admissions committees look for self-awareness, and what better way to figure out what you’ve already got and what you need, but an inventory list. It’s ok to be lacking in certain areas, by the way. No candidate is absolutely perfect. Believe it.

Fill in Your Weak Spot: Career Progression

Let’s start with your work experience. What kind of a track record of success have you demonstrated in your career so far? You don’t have to have invented the iPad, but you should have made a difference in your work environment. Were you put on the fast-track? Promoted faster than expected? Were you responsible for changing the way your group does business? The varieties of ways you can have made a positive difference on your workplace are endless. The important thing is to identify a pattern of excellence in your nascent career.

Often admissions officers talk about career progression – being able to explain how you went from point A to point B. Does it make logical sense? If there’s something missing from that progression – say you work for a government entity that doesn’t accelerate promotions – can you gain more responsibility in another way, even if it requires taking on extra work? Maybe you need to round out your leadership experience by leading a team, inside or outside the office. If there’s no easy opportunity in the workplace, you can look to your community or entrepreneurial activities to round things out. Remember to push your own limits – show that you know how to do something that goes beyond what is required.

Fill in Your Weak Spot: Academics

If your grades are good, but not great, you might want to take some business courses to show the admissions committee you know how to sit in a classroom and excel. I’m a big fan of the alternative transcript; I had a terrible undergraduate GPA myself. Once I focused on what I wanted to do with my life, I took night classes in math, statistics, accounting, finance, marketing, and received all A’s. This not only showed the admissions committee that I had the discipline and smarts to take all these classes and juggle a workload, but that I was interested and committed to a business education.

Even if you have a great quantitative/business background, you might want to round out your education with a course that’s unexpected, like in interpersonal communications, oral presentation skills, or theater. It turns out that these skills are core skills required of business school students. For example, Stanford GSB Duke Fuqua and MIT Sloan business schools consider improv part of the curriculum. It may sound crazy, but all of these tools help the geek in us so we can be more creative in our problem solving.

Fill in Your Weak Spot: GMAT Scores

Unfortunately, there’s no substitute for strong GMAT scores, and it helps to score over the 80% percentile on the quantitative portion of the test. (That’s the benchmark Berkeley Haas uses to determine which students need to take a math prerequisite.) If you haven’t taken a prep course, I highly recommend it. It’s worth the investment. If you are having trouble, find a tutor to help you learn how to take the test. The test-prep companies have a stable of great people, or you can go to a specialized tutor If you are still having trouble, explore other options like a test anxiety expert.

Inventory Yourself

As you go through the inventory of what you bring to the admissions table, you may find yourself overwhelmed. Don’t panic. Slow it down. If you really want it, but aren’t ready yet, this may not be the right year for you. Performing an inventory tells you how compelling your case is right now. If you want to beef up your profile, let’s get started. But you’ve got to first figure out what you’ve got, and what you need. This end of the admissions process is up to you.

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