EssaySnark

  • about
  • contact
  • help
  • sign up
  • login
CLICK FOR MORE!
  • Essay Questions
    • Harvard
    • Stanford
    • Wharton
    • Chicago Booth
    • Kellogg
    • MIT Sloan
    • Tuck
    • NYU Stern
    • Columbia
    • Yale SOM
    • Berkeley Haas
    • UVA Darden
    • Duke Fuqua
    • Michigan Ross
    • UCLA Anderson
    • Cornell
  • Strategy Guides
    • MBA Reapplicant Guide
    • Pitching Entrepreneurship as Your Post-MBA Career
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Harvard 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Stanford 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Wharton 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Columbia 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts

Beware the kitchen-sink strategy.

August 27, 2014 by EssaySnark 3 Comments

A better way to put it: A kitchen-sink strategy is not a strategy.

Your goal in applying to business school should not be to dig up every little detail and aspect of your life, academic and professional and extracurricular, over the past ten years and cram it in somewhere in the application – or cover it all in your HBS essay. You’ll end up with a Frankenstein monster if you do that. Or you’ll look like this guy:

Is he armed and ready for the most amazing Labor Day party that’s ever been?

Or is he preparing to go live under a bridge?

No matter what, we see that guy on the sidewalk, we’re crossing to the other side of the street.

Your goal is to craft an impression of yourself for the adcom to hang onto as they read through your application materials.

Just because there’s five random things that you could share about yourself does not mean that you SHOULD share them. (Unless the school has asked for a list of “Random Things”, in which case, obviously you should!)

If you’ve worked at three different jobs in the past four years, then you’re at risk for being perceived as a drifter.

If you’ve been helping out with your family business on the side, then you should only incorporate that fact into your pitch if your contribution has been meaningful, and long-term, and if you can show how it’s relevant to what you say you want to do in the future.

The other oddity that reinforces the “kitchen sink” feeling is all the stuff we sometimes see jammed in an online app under the Extracurriculars section. Often, many of the things cited don’t really seem like extracurriculars. Lists like that can sometimes come across as a little desperate. This is especially true when the majority of them are 5+ years old, like from college.

Or this real-life example:

It’s great if you served as advisor to your buddy’s home brew operation. Do you include that in your app?

Sure, if this home brew thing is a fledgling business, and if you added real value to getting it off the ground. If it’s just a hobby? And your contribution was taste-tester of the brews? Well…

Consider what impact each element of your application will have. The whole needs to add up to greater than the parts. Sometimes what we see from applicants is a jigsaw puzzle – unassembled, just the pieces tossed in a pile. It’s up to YOU to develop the messaging that shows the reader – someone who’s never met you, who’s forming opinions about you based on what you share with her – you need to show her who you are and why those elements are important, in the context of getting an MBA and potentially making a contribution to her bschool community.

The goal of an application is not to shove in every last bit of data about what you’ve ever done with every waking moment of your life. It’s to craft a picture of yourself for the adcom. Which you do, based on what you include. We recommend doing so INTENTIONALLY.

Filed Under: branding and theme

« Previous: ($) The most important point to remember with your HBS essay.
Next: ($) “Most significant accomplishment” a la Haas essay 2 and others »

So who the heck is EssaySnark, anyway?!

We're the snarky experts in MBA admissions!

Sometimes amused and often appalled by what candidates write in their MBA applications to top bschools, EssaySnark created this little blahg to share common mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making admissions directors laugh (or want to hurl) when they read your essays. If you are hoping to have your essay reviewed anonymously on the blahg for free, submit it for consideration.

Want EssaySnark's personal assistance with your MBA applications? Start with our menu of consulting services and please read the Help FAQ to learn how we operate. Still have questions after doing all that? Email Team EssaySnark at gethelpnow at essaysnark dot com.

Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Here's what others have said about this:

  1. vasilescu says

    August 29, 2014 at 7:03 am

    I think once you really have your game together and have all your strenghts, accomplishments, history and future plans in a single picture, it’s very easy to trimm things and build a lean profile…

    If you don’t really know these things, it’s tempting to start filling evetything you;ve done, even though it might not be relevant to youir case. And then it becomes counterproductive.

    At least that was the case with me until I started putting things together

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      August 29, 2014 at 12:57 pm

      We really should have a ‘like’ button on these comments. 🙂

      Reply
      • levieillard* says

        September 3, 2014 at 6:04 pm

        like.

        Reply

Tell us what you think. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • (expected) Columbia J-Term/ED app to open
    in 0 weeks
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 3
    in 3 weeks
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 4
    in 2 months, 0 weeks
  • Harvard Round 1: Sept. 6
    in 3 months, 0 weeks
  • Harvard Round 1: Sept. 6
    in 3 months, 0 weeks
  • Stanford Rd 1: Sept. 12
    in 3 months, 1 week
  • Columbia J-Term: Sept 13
    in 3 months, 1 week
  • Wharton Round 2
    in 6 months, 4 weeks
  • Harvard Round 2 (FINAL HBS RD!)
    in 6 months, 4 weeks
  • Stanford Round 2
    in 6 months, 4 weeks
   
   

CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   

EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2023 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy