EssaySnark

The value of the Sanity Check

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EssaySnark offers a helpful service called the Sanity Check Pre-Submit Evaluation. Just as it sounds, this allows you to get an unbiased opinion on whether your MBA application is truly ready to go — we look at it from the perspective of the adcom and give you our opinion on your chances of getting an interview invite.

Here’s a happy email we received recently from who did exactly that:

Hi Essay Snark,

I used the Sanity Check service you offered, which I believe helped me pitch myself successfully to the adcom.

Wanted to let you know I got the call from [top school adcom]. I’m pretty happy, since [school] is absolutely my first choice. Now to keep the news contained for 8 more months…

Thank you for the free blog entries – those were practically my only guidance through the application process, and helped me a lot. Some of my friends are considering b-school, and I will definitely recommend them to at least subscribe to your blog.

Many thanks,
[Brave Supplicant]

So that’s a pretty major success story. We’re always thrilled to hear about motivated BSers who leverage the blahg in this way – congratulations, Soon-To-Be-Bschool-Student!!

Of course, we often have to tell BSers that their pitch won’t make it. Many Sanity Check reviews result in a Sorry Charlie not gonna fly reaction from us. However, wouldn’t you rather want to know that now, before you plunk down your $250 on the app fee and stress out for three months, only to get rejected for real? We have never been wrong when we’ve said that the BSer wasn’t going to make it in. We’ve also never been wrong when we’ve issued a glowing “yes” endorsement to a BSer, as we did for the one quoted above. There’s definitely a middle ground where we sometimes have to say “likely to get an interview invite” and then it doesn’t pan out for the candidate, but those are pretty rare. Usually we can be more definitive, and we’ve got a very good track record of accurate predictions.

If you go through the Sanity Check, you’re going to get a sense of where you stand. It’s as close to a guarantee as you can get before actually submitting and going through the entire process.

If you decide to do this, then you need to do it SOON. Yes, we offer these right up to the last minute of school deadlines, but we’re in Round 2 now — what if we come back with a Sorry Charlie answer for you? If you wait till two days before deadline then you won’t have time to regroup and rework your pitch.

The Sanity Check is now a substitute for the full Essay Decimator process but it is a very helpful (and less expensive) tool to let you know if you’re in a good position with what you’ve put together. You will get only a top-line take on each essay and if it’s in good shape or not, but the comments offered are unlikely to be enough to actually help you fix any issues that are identified. You should do the Sanity Check at least one week before deadline though obviously, earlier would be better.

And if you go for the Sanity Check, we hope you’ll come back later and report to us how it goes!

Fingers crossed for you, Brave Supplicant!

 

Success Story! A post-MBA retrospective (part 3)

by EssaySnark - Discusses Leave a Comment

We’re still in the throes of a Thanksgiving food coma so we’ll take this opportunity to continue the so-generous and so-insightful contribution received from a seasons-past former BSer about his pre- and post-MBA experiences, and the transformations he had in his thinking along the way. If you missed it, start with Part 1 here or Part 2 here.
 
 

## **EssaySnark:** So how do you think you have been changed by the overall business school experience?

**former BSer** Hah. It was big changes from start to finish!

The first big change was deciding to go for the EMBA instead of the MBA. That required thinking deeply about my motivations and expectations.

As for the actual experience at bschool, my presence and confidence grew significantly. My EQ is higher. And for sure I’m better at managing pressure and ambiguity. (This one is a big deal for some of us engineers, who like to know we have the best answer to any given problem, and like to get that answer on our terms).

But the biggest change is that I don’t care about consulting now.

Consulting was a thing I had been interested when I was burning out as an engineer. It’s a place to apply analytic thinking and problem-solving skills while you build communication and relationship management skills. I heard it once described as finishing school for executives, which described it succinctly.

By the time I graduated, I decided that I’d rather create value in the marketplace directly, rather than as a professional advisor to top management of large firms. In part it was my experience in the entrepreneurial classes. In part it was the relationships I was establishing within my cohort. But a big part was the podcasting.

This requires a little detour and backstory.

The short version is that I cohosted a podcast series with Firmsconsulting.com on EMBA candidates seeking to transition into management consulting. We recorded about a hundred small episodes. It went well, and gave me ideas for training products I could launch on my own. (Shout out to Firmsconsulting—I’ve known them for several years, and they helped me understand exactly what the best professional values ought to look like in action). [Based on this former BSer’s recommendation, we’re telling all you current BSers about this company — they have resources to teach you about case interviews in consulting hiring, which some of you may be interested in. EssaySnark has not vetted them but we trust this BSer, so check ’em out if you’re curious. -ES]

This leads to the final big change from bschool.

Instead of switching into consulting, I left the federal government for an engineering role at Fluke in the private sector. Now I’m learning about their highly complex thermal imaging products, and with my MBA, I have both technical and business career paths open to me.
 

## **EssaySnark:** What was the one thing in business school that you did not want to do or were reluctant or resistant about? How did it turn out?

**former BSer** During our second year, I was selected to lead the Executive Student Investment Fund. This was a brand-new club that gave EMBA students a chance to manage a small fund. We listened to stock pitches from our classmates, opened and closed positions, and did everything necessary to manage both the fund as well as the club.

We had faculty support, but the club had only just been started by the cohort before us. Therefore, there was no long history of operations, and we would have to figure out how to handle things ourselves. There was also the responsibility of making sure that this newly born club continued on into it’s second and third years of existence.

This may seem like a trivial conundrum, but it was scary for me. I’ve generally preferred indirect leadership based on influence over roles with direct leadership authority.

In the end, with the encouragement of my classmates, I made my application and was selected to lead the fund. We oversaw stock pitches, made some adjustments to the portfolio, and successfully transitioned the club to an even better group of leaders from the following cohort.
 

## **EssaySnark:** What was the one thing in business school that you were most excited about? How did it turn out?

**former BSer** Going in, I was excited about going back to BCG to knock their socks off with my shine new Darden EMBA.

That didn’t happen, because I have better plans now:

I’ve moved to Minneapolis. I’ve started a new career with Fluke. I’m starting a side business. I’m consulting with one classmate. I’m friends with many others—and they are some of the most amazing people I know. Finally, one of our cases inspired me to start rowing after graduation, and as soon as I moved for my new job, I joined the Minneapolis Rowing Club, and am well on my way to becoming a competitive rower.
 

## **EssaySnark:** When talking to people interested in getting an MBA, what is the main thing you find yourself repeating to them over and over, that you really want them to listen to or hear?

**former BSer** Visit the schools.

Oh, and think hard about what you need from your MBA. Course content is available online for a fraction of the cost. If you spend the time to learn proper networking, the recruiting pipeline available on-campus is redundant. An MBA can be useful and life-changing, but don’t underestimate what you yourself are capable of.

 
 
 

 

 
Most wonderful advice indeed!! The last point, the first point, and all points in between. Obviously this is capturing one person’s evolution through how he thought about the process and the value and what he wanted out of it — but these are critical questions for YOU to be thinking about, too. Do you know why you want an MBA? Do you REALLY know why? This might be some good questions to ponder for anyone in the process of applying!!

And finally: THANK YOU to this former BSer, who clearly is making good use of the opportunities and has launched his life into an entirely new direction! A big relocation? Competitive rowing? A startup on the side? And you thought an EMBA was not as valuable or worthwhile!!

Stories like these are priceless for those who come after, to better reflect on options and potential and validate the very endeavor they’re undertaking. Any other former BSers who want to share in a similar Q&A format, just let us know! You can leave a note for us in SnarkCenter or drop an email to Team EssaySnark — we’re always so grateful for these types of contributions.

Success Story! A post-MBA retrospective (part 2)

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Let’s continue what we started on Friday! Here’s a Q&A from EssaySnark to a long-ago Brave Supplicant who’s now made it all the way through the process, completed his MBA, and been spit out the other side. Catch up on Part 1 if you missed it, and here is Part 2!
 

## **EssaySnark:** How did you determine if a school met those priorities or not? What was the best resource you used or action you took to learn about the school and decide if it was a fit for you?

**former BSer** Any school on my list would have been fine. Heck, any school in the top 20 or 30 would have worked for my original consulting goal. Mainly this was because I didn’t care about recruiting. After networking into BCG on my own without an MBA, I knew I did not need to depend on the usual recruiting game.

What really changed everything was the visits.

My first visit specifically.

To Tuck.

Ah, Tuck! Tuck is like the high-school crush you move on from, but always remember with a sigh. My visit was amazing, and it helped me realize what all the jabber about “fit” really meant. This, ahem… refocused my priorities, and it’s why Darden eventually rose to the top.

You see, Darden is akin to a southern Tuck, which made it a fantastic fit for me. Furthermore, Darden prides itself on an educational experience built around the case method classroom, which is exactly what I needed to do better in consulting case interview. (The GMAT proved it wasn’t a mental horsepower issue, and my earlier networking provided it wasn’t a fit issue. This left confidence as the problem, and so a classroom built on the case method would be perfect).

The school visits changed my thinking.

At Tuck, I fell in love with the school.

Then, at Wharton, I felt like a number in a large system. A good friend with a Wharton MBA would later tell me that it took her almost a full year to find her crew. Looking back, that would not have been the best place for me. (Wharton is a fantastic school, and “not the best for me” is nearly a distinction without a difference).

At Kellogg, I had a good time. Almost too good of a time. Actually, I was beginning to suspect the hardest part of my MBA would be keeping up with all the twenty-somethings late night shenanigan-izing.

At Darden, they let me visit a real class. And I still remember it clearly. It was the last session of a first-year strategy class. The interactivity and thoughtfulness of the classroom discussion blew me away.

Honestly.

Best classroom I’d ever seen. Hands down.

Darden only lets you visit one class, but I charmed my way into a second one, because I figured the one I had seen was a fluke. So I visited an operations class. I saw the same level of interaction. It was as if the students were teaching the course, while the professor was conducting or directing the discussion.

As you guessed from all that gushing, Darden went to the top of my shortlist.

Actually, Darden turned me down for their regular MBA but wanted me to interview for the EMBA. I was so totally and emotionally invested in the MBA that it took a couple weeks to work through my feelings to make an objective assessment. I boiled the situation down to a simple question. Was an MBA worth $200,000 more than an EMBA? (This is a simplistic estimate based on lost wages and loans, disregarding the NPV of future income, but it was the key question that focused my analysis of the choice.)

Because I had been so caught up in my plan to get an MBA for consulting, it was difficult to admit the EMBA was actually a far better option for me. However, I still stand by this assessment. It would have been a personal and financial step backwards for me to go into a regular MBA.

 
 
 

 

 
Hmmmm….. the plot thickens! More to come as we follow along retrospectively with this former BSer’s adventures to bschool! UPDATE: POSTED HERE! In the meantime, we can offer this post from the ‘snarchive on related topics….!

Success Story! A post-MBA retrospective (part 1)

by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

We’re of course always thrilled when a Brave Supplicant makes it into a school of their dreams, and even more gratifying is when we get to follow them through the process and back out into the Real World again! It’s always slightly disconcerting to realize how quickly the time passes. Any of you BSers who are currently in the throes of MBA admissions: This will be over soon and before you know it, you too will be starting at your fancy-dancy MBA program — and then in the blink of an eye, you’ll be graduating!! Today we have some words of wisdom shared by a BSer from an admissions season in the past, who has generously written up a few response to questions we posed a few months ago (and apologies to said former BSer; regardless of how much we really do enjoy hearing from these folks, sometimes we’re super lame about responding to them when we do!!!).

Here’s the Q&A format — first question today, more of them coming in the next few weeks!

 

## **EssaySnark:** What priorities did you have or criteria did you use when selecting your bschool program? Did they change as you went through the process of applying?

**former BSer:** Well, this requires a brief flashback and a little background.

I was an engineer for the US Navy for over a decade, and had specialized in modeling underwater sound and submarine sonar. I was also looking for something more, although I wasn’t exactly sure what that was, so I became interested in consulting.

After several months of networking—this was before I was interested in an MBA—I was invited to interview with BCG as an experienced hire. I didn’t get the offer, but I still wanted in, so I decided an MBA would help me address the gap that prevented me from getting an offer from BCG. As a result, I was looking at schools traditionally known for consulting. I was also interested in the case method. And I was interested in schools that would admit someone in their very late 30’s.

Insead was the first school I took an interest in. It was European, exotic, and notorious for consulting, so I started an application. I began studying french to meet the language requirement. Heck, I even bought Jean-Louis Barsoux’s history, “Insead: From Intuition to Institution”. (It’s a really interesting story, by the way!)

But then I scored a 770 on the GMAT, and suddenly the top US schools suddenly seemed within reach. I added Wharton, Tuck, Kellogg, and Darden to my short list.

Actually, my reasoning was sadly generic up to this point. “Engineer wants to become a consultant, looks at top business schools” is a tale as old as time. Rankings, employment data, and my estimated probability of admittance were all that really mattered to be back then.

 

Sound familiar?? Stay tuned to hear more on this former BSer’s experience in moving from that undefined state of uncertainty into the next phase of clarity and the stepping stones taken to success! UPDATE: POSTED HERE!

Success Story! “I decided to get feedback on what I am doing wrong.”

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This update from a BSer came in last Spring and we saved it till now (posted with permission) because it is hopefully timely, useful, and inspirational!!

 

 

Hello Team Essaysnark!

I have began the application season with 3 dings in R1 from top schools (no interview in any).
After all the hard work I felt so frustrated, I felt that I have put a lot of thought and effort into the applications.

I was already subscribed to the blahg for quite some time then and I got the impression that you always give the truth – even when it’s not pleasant to hear (not a trivial thing in this field of admission consulting in my humble opinion).
 So I decided to send one of my apps for your Post-Mortem review (Wharton) to get feedback on what I am doing wrong.
After carefully reading how my application may be perceived by someone who doesn’t know me, I understood that my GMAT was holding me back a bit, and I realised that my essays were good (Not a trivial thing for an international applicant such as myself who never had to write essay to get admitted to a university).
But most importantly, you had this one sentence that really brought my motivation back up (i’ll copy it here) :

The most important message we can offer is: You’re totally going to make it into bschool if you don’t give up! Please let us know if we can help out along the way – we’re rooting for you from the sidelines. 🙂


That sentence (specifically the part I put in bold) gave me the motivation to believe in the path I was taking, the effort, and most important – the faith in myself (did I already mentioned you sounded harsh in the blahg? 🙂 ) [ES: We don’t mean to be harsh! The exact opposite!]

I applied to 3 schools in R2.
 This time I had 3 interviews, you even helped me prepare to one of them.
And I am excited to update that – I GOT IN !!!!!!! – I am totally going to bschool this year 🙂
I still can’t believe it myself yet.
 
I want to thank you for being part of this process! from reading your blahg to your school guides to the custom feedback – all provided me with insights into the process and the motivation to push harder.
Wishing you all the best, keep doing you.
I will definitely spread the word (you deserve it) !!

 
 
Those emails are always exciting to receive!! Especially in this case, where it was 100% proof of our statement that all admissions decisions are independent events.

Special Feature: (Last Year’s) Journey Complete!!!

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Last year we shared with you the journey of one Brave Supplicant who was reapplying to top U.S. schools. This came in the form of audio posts where he recapped what he did differently and how his approach changed after not making it in the first time.

In case you missed it (which most of you did since you weren’t applying to bschool last year!) you can get caught up with his story:

Episode 1: What happened last year, and gearing up as a reapplicant

 
Episode 2: Progress in Round 1!!

 

Today – finally!!! – we are sharing the last installment.

Episode 3: Interviewing

 
He talks about “Round 2 interviewing” at the end because he recorded this in January; we held off on posting till now because we knew that there would be lots of you BSers coming up in Round 1 who would benefit!!
 
 

Disclaimer: The content produced for this series was provided as a contribution to the EssaySnark blahg in exchange for free EssaySnark consulting services. In creating these submissions, EssaySnark offered some ideas of what to present, however the BSer created this on his own. All opinion, advice, and ideas are his own (though obviously we believe he has good ones, or we wouldn’t have invited him to share!).