Nor, honestly, should you want to do so. Almost every time, what other people write about you (provided that they’ve been appropriately selected for the task) will be oodles more appealing and useful to the adcom – nay, even more POSITIVE and glowing – than what you would come up with about your own bad…
Two (of many) approaches to picking the right bschool for you
Say you’re in finance, and you hate it.
You’re good at your job, but you just feel like it’s not what you thought it would be.
(Pro Tip: Substitute any career for “finance” as you read along, to get the most out of this post. Presumably your current career is, in some respect or other, not what you thought it would be, so personalize this to your situation.)
You know you don’t want to do finance anymore.
Do you even try for the business schools known for finance? Since you’ve already done finance, maybe you don’t want to be surrounded by the focus on finance again. If you’re looking to explicitly branch out.
Part of this is knowing yourself, and understanding your priorities — which need to be yours and yours alone. If you’re looking to go back to school to revamp your career to do something more fulfilling, then that is going to direct your school research efforts accordingly. Or, if you know in your heart of hearts that you really want to make as much money as possible, then that too should be guiding your efforts. Neither of these is better than the other, by the way. Our world needs people who are motivated to make a lot of money just as much as it needs people who are looking for something personally fulfilling that may not be bank-account-focused. Truly, whatever is driving you is fine. Being explicit about that for yourself can be very freeing, and it can simplify decisions later on, when you’re (hopefully!) admitted to multiple schools and have to make a decision which one to choose.
Again, knowing yourself is the key.
For example, say you’re this finance person, who is really keen on jumping out of finance through the process of getting an MBA. What will be the temptation for you, once you’re in the program and starting the recruiting process, to set up one or two interviews with recruiters in finance, “just to see what happens”?
After all, someone coming from finance, wanting to stay in finance and go back to finance post-MBA, is likely to land one of the highest salaries in the graduating class.
Are you able to resist that siren call?
Now, to some degree, all of this is kind of an irrelevant conversation. Today, there’s no such thing as a “finance school” — not like there used to be. About a bschool generation ago, you definitely would have a very different experience at a school like, say, Wharton or LBS or Columbia which are famous as “finance schools” compared to maybe Kellogg which is the “marketing school” or INSEAD where everyone wanted to do consulting. These days, those lines have definitely blurred; the students who flock to MBA programs are much more varied in their backgrounds and interests (except perhaps that tech and consulting are the big drivers overall), plus the schools themselves have diversified, and worked to break out of their own limitations, of being branded as a “this” school or a “that” one.
If you know you want to go to a school to focus on X, then figuring out which schools are “the best” at X and applying there is a natural strategy to choose. Some categories of “X” are self-limiting; if you want to do something in luxury goods, then the main players are NYU and Columbia and Harvard. If you want to do fintech, then Booth and NYU and Columbia and Wharton are obvious choices. If you want to do clean energy, then Ross is a natural fit. If you’re looking at nonprofit, then Yale and NYU (again!) and certainly some others too would be your targets.
So Strategy #1, figure out what you want to specialize in, figure out which schools specialize in that too, and apply there.
Strategy #2 is apply to the opposite schools.
Maybe you honest-to-goodness do not know what you want to do with yourself. Maybe you’re nervous about getting “stuck”, like we said with the example about being lured in to some finance recruiting when you had planned to break out of the finance track. (Again, all schools are strong in finance to some degree or another, but there are a smaller number who are pretty much famous for finance. All MBA programs everywhere have a huge amount of content and programming and curriculum around finance. Remember, finance is considered the language of business. Or maybe that’s accounting. Whatever, if you’re getting an MBA, you’re going to be taking finance stuff. We’re just talking about what else you do and how you tailor the rest of your experience, considering all the curriculum that you have choice and flexibility with — and no, you really don’t need to know now what choices you’ll be making later for actual classes or concentration, but it can help to think these things through in advance.)
If you’ve decided you want to use bschool as a “clean slate” approach to explore all options and geographies and industries and functions, you may feel more free to do that at a school that’s really dissimilar to the schools that are famous for expertise in your current career. So for example, you have no clue what you want to do as long as it’s not finance: Then apply to Berkeley. It’s not that Berkeley doesn’t have great finance curriculum or connections. It’s just that they have so many other things too, that you’ll be immersed in everything and exposed to multiple new opportunities — ones you may not otherwise have even perceived, if you’d ended up at a traditionally more finance-y program.
Again, there are many ways to choose a school, and all of this is yet another exhortation to be embarking on these tasks of research and outreach today. Now is when you need to be kicking the tires and learning. Now is when you can be in shopper-mode. BTW, we acknowledge that much of this may sound a little esoteric. “I just wanna get an MBA!” you may be thinking. Is all of this stuff we’re suggesting even practical?
The answer to that is, it will be if you engage in it. It is highly (highly!) unusual for an applicant to present any level of sophisticated insight into their rationale for the MBA and reasons for choosing the school that they apply to. Adcom readers will sit up and take notice if you bring these reasons into your essay effectively. You will stand out, for sure — mostly because this stuff cannot be faked. Will it be easy for you to figure out your priorities and use those to guide the schools you will target? No, probably not. Will it offer tremendous payoff if you go to the effort of trying? Yes, almost 100% yes, we can assure you.
And remember, what one person calls a school is not necessarily the bottom line on what that school is about. That’s why asking many people for opinions and experiences is so helpful. Maybe EssaySnark names Ross as a clean energy school but you already work in energy and you know that Duke is way better. Leverage your network, ask questions, challenge assumptions. This process is about learning your own priorities just as much as it is in getting in to “the best” school.
“The best” school isn’t about MBA ranking. It’s about which school will let you do your best work, and which will set you up for the success of your own individual and personal path.
A national treasure offering an exhortation towards truth
Commencement time!
This one is worth watching:
EssaySnark agrees: Truth matters.
As many of you head into the grueling process of putting together ideas and thoughts and words and sentences that will become assembled into the various pieces of an MBA application… We encourage you to stay true. Be honest. Don’t lie, steal, manipulate, thieve. Be honest and show up authentically. There are many who do not honor such honor these days. We hope you are not one of them. We hope you will resist the temptations of deception in all that you do. There’s no shortcuts, it’s about work, and showing up, and there will be disappointments along the way, and likely heartbreak. But integrity matters, and all that you have is your word. Harvard’s motto is Veritas. Truth. Can you say that is what you too stand for? If you live rightly, it’ll work out in the end, and you’ll get where you’re supposed to go, if you put one foot in front of the other and be true to your values. You will shine brightly, instead of living under the shroud of guilt, of not being true and truthful. Give your real self a chance. Work hard and be heard as you are. There’s no need to lie cheat or steal. Set your sights on your convictions and let values guide your way.
($) Special Case Situations for MBA Apps: What if you dropped out of grad school?
As promised in our previous post on What transcripts do you need for your MBA apps, we’ll go into detail on a situation that can cause much consternation for certain BSers:
What if you enrolled but you did not graduate? What if you (eek!) dropped out of a program? What if you started at law school or medical school and you decided not to continue?
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($) The factors that make you much more likely to get a scholarship award along with your MBA admit
Sure you want to get into a good program. But you also think it would be kinda nice to get a scholarship, too.
Well…. we’re a little bit of the DownerSnark on that idea. They’re not gonna pay you to get an MBA.
At least, not most of you. 🙁
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Happy Memorial Day
As a reminder to those not in the U.S., today is a national holiday. Go out and have a good time, BSers! No snark today.
($) Is a 710 GMAT enough to get in?
This is unpleasant news to deliver.
A 710 is below average at many of the top schools now.
This is really critical to digest and absorb.
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When we say admission to a top MBA program is competitive, this is what we mean.
We mean that it’s likely the hardest thing you’ve ever tried to pull off.
We mean that you can’t treat it casually, if you’re serious about making it a success.
We mean that what you think is going to be the hard part, almost definitely won’t be. Other parts will be harder. (Way harder.)
We mean that just being “good enough” — which you almost undoubtedly have been already all through your life, based on where you’ve managed to get so far — is unlikely to be TRULY enough.
Most people who even start to consider themselves worthy for admission to one of the best U.S. business schools are already successful in life. That means, that they may be under an illusion about how easy life really is. Or maybe not – maybe you’ve had to work super hard for your successes, and you’ve experienced lots of setbacks, and you’ve had to rebuild yourself from the ground up over and over and keep going.
Lots of BSers, though, come from reasonably privileged backgrounds. This is a basic fact. If you’re in a position to be trying for bschool, then that means you have a college education and usually a job. You have the $250 to take the GMAT and the additional $1,000 or whatever that you’ll be doling out in app fees to the schools. (Oh, hadn’t budgeted for that yet? Yeah, this MBA thing is expensive! And that’s before you’ve even gotten accepted!)
If you’ve lived a life of privilege — admit it, you have — then it’s easy to forget how hard life can be.
We’re not about to make the false equivalency of claiming that applying to bschool is a situation of survival.
What we are saying is that opportunities have been made available to you already in life, and with a certain amount of success often comes a certain amount of entitlement. Or just forgetfulness. We EXPECT to win in life, because winning is what has happened in the past.
If you’ve already gone through the competitive admissions game* to get into a top American university like Harvard or Stanford or Princeton or Yale, then you definitely have an appreciation for this. The admit rate to Stanford University (undergrad) in 2016 for their Class of 2021 was 4.8%. That’s even harder than Stanford GSB, which has been hovering at 6.7-7.0% for ages. But that admit you scored to Stanford U. or comparable was at minimum four years ago, and probably closer to ten, and could you still make it in today? The admit rate for Stanford undergrad in 2010 was 7.3% which is radically different. In just the same way, admission to these MBA programs has gotten harder and harder.
Plus, the MBA adcoms will not be amused by cuteness. What you could get away with as a high schooler writing your essays is not going to fly here. This is an application from a PROFESSIONAL (that’s you) to a PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM (that’s the school). Sometimes they call the MBA a “vocational” program because it’s much more focused on practical skills and career paths than many other types of higher education. You don’t go to bschool to learn philosophy or theory (though you will learn theory); you go there to learn how to get stuff done.
The schools don’t want to be bullshitted in their applications. And we know how hard that’s gonna be for some of you! You’re used to bullshit. It’s practically a way of life! It’s served you well so far. There’s no problem with bullshit, it’s just not the currency you’re going to need to be dealing with when it comes to writing your apps.
Have you ever been involved in an elite-level performance? Like, a symphony-quality musician, a top swimmer, or played on a champion sports team? Are you a Ranger, or a Navy Seal? Then you know what it means to train.
That’s similar to the type of effort that’s required for most successful applicants to a top MBA program, albeit in a totally different context. No, you’re not going to get shot at while you’re drafting up essays, but yes, you’re going to need to carve out significant time, and be prepared for some stumbles and difficulties, as you gear up for this exercise.
The first time out, you may not make it. Lots of very well-qualified people don’t. Often that’s because they lack an appreciation for the challenges, and they exert the same level of effort that’s worked for them to make it where they are now. That level of effort is unlikely to be sufficient in this endeavor.
That’s why we’re so pleased to see you here now, early enough in the season to make the most of your opportunities.
If you’re in a position to be considering an app to a top school, that means that you’ve already achieved a certain level of success in life. Don’t take that success for granted. If you’re serious about getting into a place like Harvard Business School, then this is going to take some work.
*Admissions isn’t really a “game” but that was the best word that fit there; please excuse our sometimes preference for rhythm and flow over precision in our writing on these here blahgs.
($) If you took the GMAT while you were in college and now X years later you’re applying for an MBA
This is such a difficult situation.
And it totally sucks to have to open this post with that line.
Because if you’re a Planner who is so thinking-ahead and got-it-together that you took the GMAT or GRE before you even graduated from college, then how on earth can that be a bad thing?
EssaySnark luvs Planners. (We love Chillers too! But in a different way. 🙂 ) Planners Have Their Act Together. Maybe you were the oldest kid in your family or something and had to always have the PB&J made for your little sister’s lunch in the morning. Who knows, but you’re the one who will Get It Done — and you knew long ago that you wanted an MBA, and you were smart and you laid the foundation for that way early.
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Oh, you want to go to Whanvard?
Or was it Stanvard? Starton?
Sometimes people come to us early in their MBA admissions quest and they just know they want to go to “the best” school.
Which is basically the same as saying “I want to go to Whanvard.”
Because there is no such thing as “the best.”
“The best” is relative.
You want to go to the best school…. for what?
It’s like saying, “I want to buy the best car.”
Okayyyyy…. so we know you want to buy a car.
Or maybe you really want to buy an SUV or a crossover but you lumped those together into “car” and expected us to know they’re included, too.
Do you want a race car?
A family car?
An electric car?
Do you want a car that gets great mileage? That has low maintenance costs?
A used car?
A new car?
Do you want lease?
Will you pay cash?
How much can you put down?
There are so many factors.
Do you care if it’s built in your country or do you like imports?
What exactly does “the best” mean?
When you say you want to go to Whanvard, you’re outsourcing all decision-making to some third party sources who have annointed certain schools as “the best.”
But why do YOU want to go there?
Why do you feel they’re “the best”?
The best for what?
The best because everyone will be impressed when you introduce yourself at a cocktail party as a Harvard grad?
The best because you’ll be going to school with Very Important People who will end up in positions of power themselves one day?
The best because it will give you a rubber-stamp seal of approval so you can finally know that you have arrived?
What do you know about these schools?
What do you know about YOURSELF?
We’re not saying that you should not want to go to Harvard or Stanford or Wharton.
We’re saying that when someone comes with only those schools identified, with maybe MIT and Kellogg added to the mix to, you know, round out the list, and when the BSer’s profile is flat and unremarkable and they have a middling GPA from an OK school and a decent GMAT but nothing to write home about. And they haven’t been busting butt for the past three years to do impressive things in the world. And they say, “Yes please, I’ll be applying to H/S/W, thank you and will I get in?”
We just hafta go, um.
Yeah sure maybe.
If there’s more to the profile than what we’re seeing on the surface.
If you know what you’re about and why bschool is important.
And oh by the way if you’re really committed then you may want to take a look at the GMAT again.
Go for your Whanvard strategy. But expand your sights to also include some reasonable targets. And make sure you know WHY each of these schools is on your list.
We’re not saying you have to compromise your standards, but just recognize that when you’re saying “I deserve to be admitted to THE BEST!” then we come back with, “Okay great! Now please demonstrate for us how YOU are ‘the best’ so that we can see why you deserve to be admitted!”
Know what you’re up against, Brave Supplicant. This process is grueling. It’s important to go into it with eyes open.