The “why MBA” aspect to your pitch in your MBA essays is not just literally stating why you think an MBA is necessary to achieve your goals — though that’s obviously an important part! The most sophisticated “why MBA” essays are about positioning YOU towards THIS SCHOOL. There are two angles of “why MBA” that […]
Continue reading...($) Yet another “be specific!” post
When you’re writing about career goals especially, but also when answering other MBA essay questions too, it’s almost always best to go more specific than you have been doing. We can say that without even seeing any drafts you’ve written because hardly anyone goes specific — like, at all. Premium content starts here… ———– […]
Continue reading...($) Are you proposing too big of a change?
Most applicants to business school want to change careers. Bschool is an ideal vehicle for that. Most bschools want to hear about your plans to change careers in your essays. Crafting a solid set of goals is one of the most important steps you can take in building a strong application. There are many ways...
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“If I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I wouldn’t need an MBA”
Why do schools ask you about career goals? Not all of them do, but some of them do — and those that do often tend to care a lot about how you respond. No you don’t really need to know what you will do in three years when you (hopefully!) will be graduating with that […]
Continue reading...($) “Impact on the world”
Did you know that you have an impact on the world just by breathing? It’s true! You know, that whole butterfly effect thing? All of us, by our very existence, we are changing the destiny of everyone else! But probably most of you writing essays for Stanford are trying to say something greater than that....
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Interested in moving from engineering to business?
Or basically any independent contributor role, where you’re giving specific parts of the project to go off and execute, and someone else is responsible for the big-picture view, and for communicating with everyone across the team and department, up and down the chain of the organization? If so, we invite you to go read this […]
Continue reading...($) Beware the buzzword.
Or maybe this post should be titled, Behold the Buzzword! Because when BSers discover such things as buzzwords, they become preternaturally attracted to them. Premium content starts here… ———– ———– Premium content ends. Beware the buzzword. You don’t want it to bite you in the behind.
Continue reading...($) Is that entrepreneurial experience you had a job? Or an extracurricular activity?
Everybody is interested in entrepreneurship now, and many applicants have tried their hand at something entrepreneurial in the past. That’s especially true since the entrepreneurship emphasis has filtered through society into colleges, and many younger applicants are now trying for bschool after having had school-sanctioned venture-ish experiences while earning their bachelor’s. Or, maybe a buddy […]
Continue reading...($) What you’re optimizing for
Today’s post is to elaborate on a question we recently received from a Brave Supplicant who’s trying to figure out next steps in career, education, and life. This person wanted our input on whether a particular job change they were considering would make it easier for them to get into a top MBA program in […]
Continue reading...($) “Is 30 too old…?”
This question is relevant to our question today: “Is 30 too old to work in a startup?” Hmmmm. If there’s a bias against “older” in startup recruiting, and “older” is defined as over 30, and there’s already a bias against MBAs in Silicon Valley… Peter Thiel and Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have all been […]
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