EssaySnark

($) “What if School D gave me money but I really want to go to School A?”

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This happens a lot.

You got into a couple schools (YAY! 🙂 ).

One of them offered a chunk of change in addition to the admit (SUPER YAY! 😀 ).

But you really prefer one of your other schools that didn’t offer you squat (NOT YAY. 🙁 ).

Sometimes the money makes a difference.


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Oooo there’s some good stuff today!
 
 

 
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Still not feeling sure? Hit us up for the Private Consult with EssaySnark to lay out your options and let us know what we think about the choice that you’re facing!!

($) What to do (and not do!) in waitlist update letters

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Being on the waitlist can be a very stressful place to be, and yet it offers real opportunity to change your fate!

How you handle the waitlist update might be the make-or-break chance, when you’re on the border in the adcom’s eyes between an admit and lingering longer in the limbo state.

Some schools don’t allow any updates at all when you’re waitlisted, but most schools do.


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Your update to the adcom about changes in your profile can be instrumental in getting an offer!
 
 

 
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Of course, we have even more help in our dedicated waitlist guide!
EssaySnark's Guide to Getting Off the Waitlist

There’s also our Waitlist Assist if you’re interested in personalized input into your strategies and approach.

Lots and lots of candidates do end up making it off the waitlists at all the top schools — but it requires careful consideration and planning, and a strategic approach at each step of the way. We can’t wait to hear how it goes for you, BSer!

If you applied in Round 2…

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…should you be panicking yet if you haven’t been invited to interview???

 

Well, if you LIKE panicking — if it’s something you ENJOY — then go to town!

But we advise against it!

There really isn’t any reason for panicking just yet.

Yes a lot of schools are issuing interview invites, and yes if you’re spending time on the MBA applicant forums, it may seem like every other person has gotten invited except for you. But that’s just not the case.

The Round 2 cycle has barely begun! There are lots more chances for interviews coming from lots more schools.

Generally speaking, we consider the HBS Interview Invite Day to be the true kickoff of interview season.

And, even after that day comes and goes, it’s still not really time to be panicking if you haven’t gotten interviewed yet.

This process is a rollercoaster of emotions and can be truly taxing on the nerves. It’s really common for people, right after their apps are in, to suddenly plummet and assume that everything they wrote in their essays is crap and that they don’t have a chance at all and they blew it completely. An insane amount of second-guessing can occur in the second or third week of January.

We’re convinced that the MBA applicant forums can do more harm than good at certain times of your own personal admissions cycle. At some stages, especially the beginning phase when you know next to nothing about the process of applying, those forums are a godsend and you learn so much about what’s needed and the policies at the schools and figure out what GMAT score to aim for etc.

It can also be a helpful reality check, since it lets you compare your profile and stats against what others of (seemingly) similar profiles present, and their outcomes. (We say ‘seemingly’ because it never is about solely the core stats; there can be a not-helpful fixation on those stats on those sites, and it’s ALWAYS about the execution. Please don’t forget that salient fact!! The profile ABSOLUTELY matters, but weakness in core stats can be overcome with the right presentation.)

Since you’re here reading this blahg, then we assume you’re well aware of these realities, and the apps you submitted in Round 2 were executed well. Given that as the baseline assumption, then with the question “Is it time to start panicking?” the answer is a resounding “No!”

You have plenty of time for panicking later, BSer.

For now, if you had put together a multifaceted strategy in Round 2 and you know you had sound messaging in those essays, then as hard as it is to take this advice, we encourage you to find a way to distract yourself for another few weeks without obsessing, and let the process play out.

If things aren’t moving for you yet, then you may be surprised when suddenly they start moving significantly!!

Here’s to hoping that soon you are inundated with interview invites and you find yourself scrambling to keep up.

Till then… Go back to your Wordle and TikToks. You can worry about this later.

 
 

If you’re just joining us: Why applying to Columbia now is not the best idea… But if you’re going to do it, do it NOW!

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Every year around this time, we take it upon ourselves to educate you BSers about when is ideal — and when is especially not recommended — to apply to Columbia. The biggest warning we have is, don’t get sucked in by that alluring final Regular Decision Columbia MBA deadline in April. (April 8th this year,…

While much of the blahg is available completely for free, the content here is reserved for members with full blahg access only ($9.95/month for six months, cancel anytime). Please login to view this content or purchase a membership.

Radcom of the Year 2021

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It’s that time of the year again: It’s our annual Radcom Awards!
 
 

“What are the Radcom Awards?” you say?

But of course, the Radcom Awards are where EssaySnark recognizes the radness of a specific school’s adcom!
 
 
We’ve tried to give recognition to great admissions teams even from the very beginning of this blahg, and six years ago we formalized this into a tradition that every January, after the crush of Round 2 is over, we step back and examine which of the admissions teams has implemented policies or demonstrated commitment to being applicant-friendly.
 
 
We had significant internal debate this year over whether Darden should win it again (spoiler alert: Darden was last year’s Radcom winner). They are certainly one of the more innovative admissions teams out there right now.
 
 

 
 

2021 Radcom of the Year: Chicago Booth

We actually had decided on who would win this early last week — and then Booth extended their deadline. That was perhaps applicant-friendly in a way, however this award has nothing to do with that! The reasons for honoring Booth with this award are that we really appreciate how they have changed the way they are reporting on their MBA classes.

Have you seen the Class Profile page from Chicago Booth lately?

They have significantly increased transparency on what they report, especially on test scores.

For example, they are now sharing the percentage of students who got in with the GMAT vs GRE, and they’re publishing the full range of both scores, with both average and median for GMAT.

(Why don’t all schools publish the median??)

They have also adopted the federal standard guidelines on reporting race. And, now publishing last 5 years of core data all in one place.

When we consider which schools are being transparent and trying not to have their process seem like some mysterious black box to candidates, then Booth gets the compliments.

In terms of their application, they have MINIMUM word counts, not maximum — wow! How freeing!

In addition, their Round 2 deadline was slightly later than many of their peers — not significantly so — not like MIT or NYU (bows down) — but still, they were kind enough not to schedule that deadline on the Monday of the first week in January when everyone is still in vacation-mode and just trying to get used to the fact that holidays are now over.

We appreciate that they’ve maintained their requirement for two letters of recommendation, while many other schools now ask only for one. While this may be a controversial stance, and we know how challenging it is to get recommendations, we don’t think it’s in the applicant’s best interest to only allow one.

Of course, as with all schools and adcoms, there are some things we take issue with about Booth admissions (notably, how many applicants they invite to interview, and how many they typically waitlist; plants hope artificially which seems unfortunately a little bit cruel). However, on the whole, we are keen on this school and what they are doing with transparency.

 
 
Past Radcom of the Year Winners

($) What do consulting firms look for in their candidates?

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It may be hard to comprehend how the different components of an application to business school would ever be relevant for assessing your proficiency or potential for success in the business world.

But you’d be surprised!

There are a lot of hard and soft skills that can be assessed from the pages of the application itself.

Many adcoms are actually looking for evidence that you’ll be successful in the career you’re pitching to them in your career goals answers in the app. They’re not just using GMAT or GRE score against their class average to see if you come in at a certain level on a standardized test. Yes that does end up being important, but the test score itself doesn’t actually say that much about you, except whether or not you’re good at standardized test-taking.

The other elements, though. The other elements can give true insight into possibilities for you as a candidate for future career paths.

Take consulting, for example.


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Consulting is one of the most popular post-MBA career paths.
 
 

 
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Update! Here’s a post from the UC Berkeley blog covering an interview with a Bain hiring manager! So you get it straight from the horse’s mouth. (Which is an admittedly odd idiom!)

 
 
You may also be interested in:

($) You can have 2 of these 3.

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In the world of business, especially software development and other such projects, you may have heard of the relationship between these things:

– Time
– Quality
– Cost

You can get two of these three, but you cannot have all of them.

Meaning: If you want it faster, you have to sacrifice quality or pay more.

Or if you want the quality to be higher, then it’ll cost more or take longer.

There’s similarly a relationship that starts to fundamentally kick in with admissions chances at this time of the season.


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Looking at reality through the factors that influence your chances
 
 

 
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Be clear on what your priorities are.

That’s always the best way to make big decisions with significant possible outcomes.

($) “When should I start practicing for my interview, and how?”

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We got a Plea for Help! from a distressed BSer in December, asking for some guidance on what may have gone wrong in their Round 1 applications, and they ended up going for the Post-Mortem Review (rejected app analysis) — and through that process, it was determined that they didn’t really do anything wrong in the execution of the application itself.

“But,” they wondered, “was it maybe my interview?”


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Now that your apps are in… Is it time for the next stress-event?
 
 

 
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Building interviewing skills is obviously another part of the process to worry about attend to. It may be a tad too early to get cranking on the actual interview prep, but constructing a plan for what needs to be done and how you will do it is totally worth doing even now!

EssaySnark's MBA Interview Prep Guide

Making meaning out of a great leader

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Regardless of your nationality and where you grew up, we’re assuming that most of you have heard of The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.


Photo source: Smithsonian

In the U.S., today is the day that we have designated as a national holiday to honor his legacy.

Some states don’t recognize the holiday at all; some even celebrate Robert E. Lee on the same day. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a national holiday, but that does not mean it translates to any local observations.

For those areas that do recognize this leader by giving employees the day off and closing business, it’s still not necessarily celebrated in light of the message of this man. In many communities, this holiday has been — at best — translated into an exhortation of a day of service, where people may go out to build community gardens together, or perhaps volunteer at a shelter. Those are all good deeds that are worth doing, but they’re not quite in line with the work of Dr. King.

Here is a quote directly from the source:

“Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1959

Dr. King was a civil rights leader, and his message was social change through non-violence.

Did you know that Dr. King was only 39 years old when he was assassinated?

That’s probably not that much older than you are today.

He first became known as a leader when he was 26 and led the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. Another name you are probably familiar with that is associated with that event is Rosa Parks, the Black woman who refused to give up her seat.

The 1950s and 1960s probably seem like so far in the past that you can’t even relate to those times or imagine having any connection to them. We’re in 2022, after all. Why are we mentioning these historical figures, from a time when all we have are black-and-white photos? It’s so far back in history that that time is probably not at all relatable for you.

Mostly we want to bring attention to the legacy of someone who fought for change in this society. Who did so from a young age. Who acted on his beliefs, and believed in action.

Action is where leadership comes from.

Since you’re here on this lil ol’ blahg reading about MBA stuff, then presumably you’re interested in leadership of some kind, of that whole “making a difference” thing.

Spending some time today thinking about the ways that a significant leader of the past took action, the things that he stood for, the way he influenced people, is surely worthwhile.

There are plenty of other examples of leaders that you could similarly study, both contemporary and historical, though in the society of the U.S., very few of them are leaders of color. We figured it was a worthwhile opportunity to invite you to stop, and explore, and learn something or re-learn it about a man who lived his values (and died for them) and what his message was about.

Stanford has the King Papers Project in case you want to go on a deep dive to learn more.

Watch Dr. King speak to a group of high schoolers asking them what is their life blueprint:

“Each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives. The question is whether you have a proper, a solid, and a sound blueprint.” His language and speaking style may sound old-fashioned to our 21st century ears, yet his message is still meaningful today.

In our fast-paced TwitterTok culture, find time to reflect on what matters to you, find space to honor those who have come before, find energy to nurture yourself, and find courage to do the next right thing on your own personal journey towards the person you are becoming.

We’re in a tough time right now.

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Wow, this coronavirus thing… It’s just not going away.

Probably every single person reading this post in January of 2022 is experiencing the virus as being very much within their circle of family, work, and friends. It’s likely that all of you are being affected by it directly in ways that you have not been before.

Today’s post is only an attempt to say, yeah, things might be hard for you — or, if you don’t feel like you’re being personally affected right now (which is GREAT if that’s the case!) then this is a meant as a comment for compassion, that others in your life may be having a rough time.

After two full years of this pandemic and now the exacerbation of all of the same stuff we lived through before, with school closures in some places and mask mandates in others, then you may be feeling utterly exhausted, or just sick of it all, or your nervous system might be in a state of low-grade activation at all times.

If you’ve found yourself being snappy or sensitive, or maybe not wanting to get out of bed, or maybe indulging a little too much in substances or activities that numb you (can be anything from alcohol or weed or gaming or sex or potato chips or donuts or reddit or a wide array of other things that are fine in moderation but not so great when they’re done to excess) — that’s OK. This statement of “that’s OK” isn’t meant as a free pass, but we’re calling out the reality that things are incredibly stressful again.

If you can, try taking a break from the computer completely. A walk in nature can do wonders. Sunshine on the face and body. Vitamin D in wintertime is particularly important.

If you can, try reconnecting with some people (in ways that are safe), or take a step back towards a healthy habit you may have let slide or not made time for.

The stress impacts of coronavirus and this long-term experience we are now in of what seems to be a never-ending pandemic are cumulative and real. It’s essentially a trauma that we are collectively going through. If you have had mental health issues, it’s understandable, and please find ways to seek support.

This might be talking it through and being real with a close friend or two.

Maybe it’s time to seek out professional support through therapy.

If it’s gotten extreme, there is help with the peer support service of Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to connect with a live human being who is there to text with you or talk, no matter what is going on.

If you’re feeling that this isn’t that big of a deal, then that’s awesome too; we’re not trying to suggest that you should be feeling awful or that there’s something wrong with you if you’re not depressed. If you’re doing fine, then this is only a mention that others are not, and to be kind. If you have greater reservoirs of capacity for navigating this particular phase, then yay! and how awesome.

Or, if you’re feeling snippy or sulky or touchy or any type of negative thing, there is nothing wrong with you. We’re simply not done with this thing yet, and it’s hard to make sense of.

If you haven’t seen this series yet, then maybe this is good for a laugh.

(It might also be interesting to go through those again, even if you had seen them before; you may find it useful to remember and track the events of the past few years, captured that way.)

No matter what, the truth of it is: This too shall pass.

That may not sound true in the moment, but at some point we’ll look back from a new point in time, having survived this and gone on to (hopefully!) better days again.