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A theme that consistently appears in MBA application essays is using Power for Good. Schools carefully read any accounts of your non-profit engagements, team collaboration in your company, and your post-MBA goals to understand how you will use an MBA Alumni network and your acquired skills for the good of society.

Here are 2 strategies to capture Using Power for Good Narrative in your MBA application essays:

1) Prioritize Society Over Neighborhood Over Team Over Self
2) Mention Student Club Experience
 

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Most MBA applicants use the opening line as a shock element. They start with something tragic, violent, anxiety-inducing, or scenery that gives the reader perspective that they are living a much more comfortable life compared to what the applicant went through. This approach works if your story truly has something unique – war, trauma, coming back from a life-threatening illness, or a challenge related to your identity.

For everyone else, use these 3 strategies:

1) Create a Gap
2) Avoid Cliches
3) Set the Right Expectations and Meet Them 

If you are applying to Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, or any M7 MBA programs, you must assume that your competitors have unique life and career journeys.

The Why Stanford MBA Essay offers the opportunity to expand on your career. The What Matters Essay becomes the primary narrative to evaluate your values, commitments, and outlook on how the world should be.

In an attempt to capture one’s identity, applicants include 3-5 values and then offer examples for each value. 

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When you are applying to MBA programs, you are switching between two contexts – as a person highlighting professional achievements and as a person managing supervisors through the recommendation letter writing process. On top of it, if you are working in an office with peers from similar backgrounds for 10-14 hours virtually or otherwise, the conversations are about your professional life, your industry, your clients, the project, and the pending recession. You don’t get a chance to cut off from the noise.

If you want to write any open-ended essays to capture your personal self for your MBA Application:

1) Find a Silent Corner
2) Find your ideal time
3) Memories
 

For an independent evaluation and help with strategy to prioritize fit with the school, contact me Atul Jose 

While strategizing your MBA or Master’s Application for US schools, plan for fit with:

1) Values of the School
2) Exposure to International peers
3) Cultural fit with the US

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The school wants to know your motivation. All of them have some variation of the Why MBA essay where you are required to capture unique aspects of the curriculum that are relevant for your post-MBA goals. You also get extra credit for mentioning at least one current student or alumnus interaction in the essay to validate the claim that you did the research. The extra effort in research is proof of your interest, but the application pool is filled with applicants who are looking at MBA as a shortcut for life’s ailments.

Many ask multiple alumnus to write recommendation letter despite school’s warning not to do so.

Many ask alumni to start parallel conversation outside the accepted protocol.

They assume that admissions work like a sale. 

For help with branding and shortlisting narratives to transform your application to a Winning MBA Application, Contact me - Atul Jose 

For Applicants, the challenge now is to do in-depth research to determine why certain courses or experiential learning are important. This means quoting from the curriculum page or student blogs is over. It is a good starting point to explore why certain experiential learning is unique and how it will add value, but you are unlikely to get a lot of insight without talking to current students.

The single-player pursuit of learning an instrument or an individual sport doesn’t help you to stand out unless you received national or international recognition. 

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In this Yale MBA Essay Tip, I share how to identify the community, share specific examples about the value you received and how you contributed to the community

Describe the community that has been most meaningful to you. What is the most valuable thing you have gained from being a part of this community and what is the most important thing you have contributed to this community?

To answer Yale’s multi-part Community Essay question, follow these 3 strategies:

1. Identifying the Community: By its broadest definition, a community is the neighborhood where you currently reside or where you grew up. But there are three more definitions of communities that can help you capture stories that are unconventional but shed light on a unique aspect of your personality or your life journey.

2. How the Community Helped you

3. How you Contributed Back
The best ones are around founding stories – starting a non-profit, starting a venture with social goals, or dedicating regular hours every week to the community.
 

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In today's MBA recommendation letter tip, I share 3 common mistakes I have seen while editing the feedback answer of the common LOR.

1) The Tone
2) Tactical vs. Strategic skills
3) The Voice

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In a globalized working culture where one works in New York but frequently visits London, Shanghai, or Mumbai, collaborating with international peers is now considered routine and not a differentiating factor for many in the Consulting industry. But consulting makes up 20-30% of the class in Business Schools. The rest of the class is from other industries where learning from international peers is limited to one or two countries -  mostly the US, India, China, or the UK.

Credit should go to the admissions team for maintaining diversity in industries, functions, life journeys, ethnicity, nationalities, and genders. Each diversity factor brings a unique perspective that you are unlikely to get even in the most international Fortune 500 company or a startup.

One reason for the hesitation is the cliched nature of the value statement.

“Learning from diverse peers” is an overused phrase  that many consultants recommend against using.