Ivy App Success

There are two effective ways to address weaknesses in the MBA application.

1. Don’t include the weakness

An often overlooked option for weaknesses is to not include them at all. This is highly recommended if the weakness was not addressed with positive actions.

For example, one of my clients had a lackluster academic performance throughout college. Although this was a weakness, she had taken little steps to improve her GPA. She had, however, excellent examples of leadership at work. Instead of explaining her poor GPA, we wrote the optional essay about additional leadership examples at work. By focusing on her strengths, she got accepted into her top choice.

1. State the weakness and bridge to strengths

If you overcame a weakness, fixed a wrong, or proved that it won’t happen again, weaknesses can actually becomes strengths. To do this effectively, you must make the reader focus on the positives. This is done by stating the weakness as an unapologetic fact then moving on to the positives.

For example, one of my clients had plagiarized a paragraph in his last college paper. He had, however, admitted to his error and learned from his mistake. Instead of writing the essay about why he plagiarized, we addressed the issue in a way that stressed his strengths. Here is an example of what he wrote:

“In the last semester of college, I plagiarized a paragraph in a paper that resulted in a one semester off punish before graduating [unapologetic statement of the weakness]. The school’s response was forgiving because I admitted to the mistake and had such a strong academic record to this point [bridged to positive]. From this experience, I have learned that the best way to overcome a problem is to be honest and forthright [transition to positives]”. (The rest of the essay included the stories of how he addressed the issue properly.)

With this bridging technique, the essay, which was supposed to be about plagiarizing, was filled with stories of honesty, integrity and growth.

Remember that the application process is about selling and marketing. It is not a confession, diary, or journal. Weaknesses should be address with the end goal in mind: to win the application game.

Tim Ferriss, the author of Four Hour Work Week, wrote a blog post about the importance of the Superstar Effect. I recommend reading his entire post, but I will summarize its relevance to the application process in this newsletter.

The Superstar Effect is a mathematical explanation for why the best receive disproportional rewards to all others. For example, a website that is ranked 1^st on Google search is clicked on almost 4 times (42.13%) more than the 2^nd link (11.90%). For the applicant, these results are no different:

A Sociologist, Paul Atwell, studied the Superstar Effect on applicants to Dartmouth College. He found that valedictorians had a 75% acceptance as opposed to the fifth-ranked student that had only 25%.To gain admission in such a competitive time, you must create the Superstar Effect in whatever field you do best. You can achieve this by not only establishing your skills but also eliminating your completion.

This application method is what helped me gain acceptance into Tuck School of Business with a modest GPA and GMAT and Harvard University with similarly credentials.  In my application, I managed to establish myself as the best in a field. For my clients, I work with them to do the same.

Contact me for more questions as I would love to help you gain admission to your top choice school.

When going into an interview or talking with faculty and students, make sure you know information about the school THAT IS NOT ON THE  SCHOOL’S WEBSITE. Since you’re competing against other applicants – a concept often overlooked by most people – go beyond, outside and above the competition. One way to do this and ultimately win the application game is to know more about the faculty than other students. For example, although Robert Shiller is a famous Yale Profession, you might quote things from his books or articles. Here is a great article by Shiller called What Would Roosevelt Do if you’re thinking about Yale SOM.

In the application process, don’t try to be the I-do-everything-applicant. For example, don’t claim to be a non-profit, finance, technology consulting guru who likes skiing all the time but living in the city.

Pick your interests, know who you are and stick with it throughout the application.

This post was inspired by a great article from 37Signals.

• Understand that this is a zero-sum game

Don’t think of the application process as an academic paper to get an A. It’s a competition to beat other people out of a limited number of spots.

• Know your competition

Figure out who is your competition and how you can beat them. It’s pretty easy. For example, I was in a white, male, athletic pool. By knowing your competition, you can more easily beat them.

• Find a smaller pool

The less people you compete against, the more likely you’ll get accepted. Once you know your competition, position yourself so you compete against the smallest group.  I had a 680 GMAT and a 2.9 GPA, do you think I wanted to compete with all the white males applying? I would have been destroyed.

• Be the best

Once you position yourself against your competition, find a niche. Figure out what makes you special and be the best at it.

• Understand that people ultimately decide

A group of 5-10 admissions officers are going to sit in a room and decide your fate. These people have emotions, biases, generalities, and assumptions. Use this to your advantage. Win these people over and you get accepted.

The application process is the art of selling yourself. If you’ve done any sales, you know that you must use emotion to gain interest and then logic to close the deal. Successfully navigating the application process is no different.

Adcom accepts people they are emotional attached to. The GMAT, GPA and other parts of your application are just logical support for their emotional reasons for wanting you to come to their school. The best way to get a group of people emotionally invested in you is to have a Champion within the group.

The Champion is someone who convinces the rest of the group that you should be admitted. They point out your strengths, give reasons for your weaknesses and influence in approving your bid. If you have a Champion, you will be much more likely to get admitted.

How to contact your Champion

• Reach out to the school’s admissions office directly via email or phone and ask to connect with one Admissions person
• Find an Adcom’s personal email online through a blog, website, Linkedin profile, etc. and contact them
• Get introduced by someone within their school

How to develop a relationship

• Contact early and often
• Keep in touch 1/month
• Ask for advice on essays, recommendations, visits, etc.

How to go the extra mile

• Visit the school with a non-interview time to meet with your Champion
• Get to know the Champion personally (ask questions)
• Get other people you know to email the Champion on your behalf with personal recommendations

Feel free to contact us for more information.

Always Frame Things in the Positive

Because most of us MBA applicants are very critical of own work, we often include stories and language in our essays that are negative. In writing, however, a negative story will be much more powerful and memorable than a positive one so make sure to not let this overly critical self out. This is a particularly common mistake in the optional essay.

Read the rest of this entry »

Simply import our MBA xml file below to get the top MBA programs and resource blogs in your Google reader. This will allow you to easily stay on top of all the information on the top business schools.

How to import this xml file:

1. Download XML document, “MBA-IAS-reader-subscriptions“ in a place you’ll remember
2. If you don’t already, create a google reader account
3. Go to your Google Reader and click > Settings (top right hand)
4. Click > import/export tab
5. Click > Choose file
6. Find XML document MBA-IAS-reader-subscriptions.xml and click on it
7. Press > Upload

Bam! You have all the top business school and MBA resources in your Google reader

All interviews, no matter how rigid or intense they are overall, have a casual section to them. It might be in the introduction, during your walk to the office, or at the end, but all MBA interviews have some period when it is conversational and casual.

Most MBA applicants overlook this part of the interview. In their preparation, they focus entirely on the standard, “Walk me through your resume”, or, “What are your 3 greatest strengths” questions. This kind of attention to detail, or lack of, is for people who probably aren’t going to get accepted into the top programs.

Here at IAS, we understand that the application process is a zero sum game, meaning you must beat other applicants for a limited number of spots. It’s not about doing a great job, it’s about  beating the other applicants to gain admission. To do this, you need to utilize otherwise overlooked areas of the application process and one example of this is the casual section on the interview.

How to take Advantage:

1. Bridge to topics you want to talk about
   • Bridging is a classic sales technique to transition a conversation from one topic to another. If you need an example, just watch a political debate and take note of what the politician starts out talking about and the topic she finished with. You can use this same technique in an MBA interview.
   • In the interview, if they ask you about your visit to the school direct the conversation to how much you’ll enjoy the surrounding area b/c of a, b, and c. And that you worked here on project x, y, z during your job at Company A. Then start to talk about Company A and the great things you did there. Or, let them ask you about Company A naturally. Don’t be someone who talks about the library, cafeteria, or beautiful surroundings.
2. Keep it going
   • After you answer their question, don’t be afraid to keep the conversation casual by asking them a question. For example, “Do you like the hiking around here?”, or, “Have you enjoyed living here?” Engaging the interviewer is never a bad idea because it will actually make them like you more
3. Be prepared for the casual parts
   • Have something interesting to talk about when you’re walking to the office or getting situated such as the class you went to that day or a current student you talked to. Try to use names and examples that the interviewer can check up on.

If you are getting ready for an interview and want more information on how to Ace the MBA Interview, feel free to contact us directly at brett (at) ivyappsuccess (dot) com.