For as long as we’ve been the Snarkiest Snarker of MBA Essays, we’ve had a program providing support to military candidates trying for business school. We see honor in choosing to serve the country, and we respect that choice, and have wanted to offer resources to a segment of the applicant population that was considered non-traditional. Way back when, those trying for an MBA from a career in the services had few mentors to guide them through the mystifying process of putting together these complicated applications. We wanted to help, and it fit in with our own ethos of service and giving back.
Starting today, we are switching direction.
We still have a microsite for military and vets who want to get into bschool and we’ve written quite a few posts dedicated to military MBA candidates, so there continues to be value available. We will still honor the terms on offer, of kicking down a freebie blahg membership and such resources to military candidates who contact us. We will also still offer a sweet deal on the Complete Essay Package to those folks (if you are a transitioning servicemember or a vet, follow the instructions for our simple verification process and we’ll set you up).
However on Wednesday, we were struck by these near back-to-back tweets:
Thrilled to have the @GMA platform to discuss topics so important to me and so pivotal to our country right now: workplace diversity, bridging the gender and racial gaps, and setting the example for youth. @RobinRoberts #GoodMorningAmericapic.twitter.com/x5WMZDVUhF
— Dean Erika James (@erikahjames) July 1, 2020
Six new faculty members in accounting, economics, finance, marketing, and organizational behavior have joined Yale SOM. Welcome, Alexander Burnap, Christopher Clayton, Oriane A.M. Georgeac, Cameron S. LaPoint, Edward Watts, and Seth D. Zimmerman! https://t.co/BNYdkQWK3k
— Yale SOM (@YaleSOM) July 1, 2020
The SOM tweet oddly has no pictures; typically, when announcing faculty, we get a picture. When we follow the link to the SOM’s announcement, we get this:
EssaySnark has been calling out such issues for years — including at Yale.
It was pretty big news when Wharton announced Dr. James coming aboard. (No really. Click that link. Now click this one and scroll down to the pictures.)
Many of you have been following along with our posts on the need for change and microaggressions and other such topics in the past few months, since George Floyd’s death and the abhorrent Amy Cooper story and all the other losses and tragedies that have (finally) catalyzed America out of its acceptance of inequality, to maybe start doing something to bring change.
And yet… Yale brings us six new white faculty.
EssaySnark alone is not going to change the world. But EssaySnark and you and you and you and you and you… we can.
The small gesture that EssaySnark is making, starting today, is this:
We would like to provide a free Comprehensive Profile Review to any BIPOC candidate interested in an MBA.
It’s not about giving handouts or charity. It’s about recognizing that the deck has been stacked systemically against BIPOC for literally centuries.
When white people wring their hands saying, “We’d like to hire more people of color, but we can’t find them” or “There aren’t enough qualified minorities in the pipeline” or “We don’t see color, we just hire the best person for the job” then EssaySnark says bullshit.
Just like Dean James said in her GMA interview: The talent is there. People haven’t been looking hard enough.
The way we change the world is by actually changing it.
It’s not like EssaySnark donating our time to help underrepresented minorities with assessing chances for getting into top bschools is going to right all the wrongs. However, EssaySnark lives in a world of privilege, as members of the majority culture, and we’re ready to make an effort to acknowledge this imbalance in a personally tangible (if small) way.
Military candidates? We still love you. But here’s the deal: There’s an infrastructure built out to support you folks now. You’re not quite on your own in this process the way you once were. There’s Service to School and the incredibly strong Veterans Clubs and on-base GMAT testing. The ecosystem of support is there now, more than it was. You may still not personally know anybody who’s done the MBA thing, which, yes, can make things harder — but we’re not turning our backs on you folks. We’re just reallocating the limited resources we have available to a different population of candidate.
Our small gesture isn’t going to be some radical transformation. But we are putting the money where the mouth is.
If you’re an underrepresented minority: Should you take advantage of our generosity? Should you go for this offer of a free consulting service if you personally could afford to pay?
Honestly, we would be fine if you did.
If you felt somehow conflicted over it, then you could donate to your favorite civil rights charity. But that’s not necessary.
Society needs to start changing the system that keeps Black people out of the management teams, out of the board rooms, out of the corner office. Society needs to change on all levels, actually.
If you’re a BIPOC who’d like to receive this free service, please email “gethelpnow” at essaysnark dot com and we’ll get you set up. We’re unsure what type of response this offer will generate; if somehow we’re flooded with requests, then this post will be updated with availability (there’s only so much snarking that can go around, especially as we start getting busier with Round 1 on the horizon).
The ‘Snarks are taking other actions privately to participate in the needed social change that’s happening around us. We hope you are, too, in whatever way you feel inspired to act.
Tell us what you think.