Several weeks ago, we did a series on volunteering – and we have another point or two to make today.
As a refresher, to date we’ve written these posts:
- “Request for help: No extracurricular after college”
- “No extracurriculars after college” continued
- Exploring the BSer’s claim: “I work too much to have time for volunteering.”
- Extracurriculars and military applicants
- Volunteering and MBA applicants from the non-profit world
Whew! That’s a lot o’ stuff on the subject.
To wrap this series up, we just have make one more point, and that is to call out the ridiculousness which apparently is unobserved by many: In their MBA application essays, lots of BSers talk about how they want to “make a difference” in the world. (This came up in the original question posed by the BSer who prompted this series.)
Overachievers who truly “care about the world” make time for volunteering, regardless of how busy they are at work.
If someone is serious about getting into a top-top school, they won’t be spending so much time looking for excuses and workarounds to how to present themselves – they’ll have an abundance of riches in terms of stories and examples to use in their essays.
And there won’t be the obvious ridiculousness in evidence as encapsulated by this EssaySnark tumblr.
Go to it, BSer! The weekend is here. Maybe you can find something a little more productive to do with it this time? 😉
Just be careful about this:
App faux pas: listing many “just-in-time” (e.g.,, v recent) extra-curricular activities 2 make up 4 a history of very few. #bschool.
— Mae Jennifer Shores (@MJShores) March 17, 2014
“Just in time” volunteering. Good one, MJ!
Any volunteering is good – just please don’t do it solely as a ploy to get into business school.
You do want to, like, change the world, don’t you? 😉
Tell us what you think.