Myths about the B School application process

So let me begin writing about my experiences about B school with something related to the application process. I have had numerous emails asking me what I did, and what is required so here are my two cents on what i think is essential.

First things first, one thing i realized is that a b-school application should not be thought of as an application for “school”, this is an attempt to enter a professional program to help you hone your skills and the way you present yourself… to enter a very competitive professional sphere i.e. having the doors opened to the white collar upper strata (pardon me being generic). I did not use an admissions consultant and do not think anyone (who finds them too expensive) really requires doing so. There are alot of people out there who have succeeded at this process, of getting into a top b-school, who are here to give advice for free, you just gotta know what questions to ask and how to ask them.

1) The time from when you take the GMAT to the time you submit your applications, it is not a time to strategize how you can wiggle your way through to B-school, its a time of showing them truly who you are, realizing it for yourself, and projecting it in the right way. Do not say you have done something because you think that is what the specific school is looking for, do not just choose a school because the rankings are great, and dont DONT doubt your ability and your potential.

Jean Paul Sartre said man’s greatest gift is having free will, only thing is, we are too afraid of realizing it, we would rather be hearded towards the light rather than walking towards it on our own two feet. This is important from two aspects, realize there is nothing you cant do, if you do then you are your own biggest enemy, be your biggest fan, and look to show the b-school of your choice why they should see what you see; secondly, distinguish yourself, we are all unique, b-school is all about formulating a class with the right mix, so it is essential to be yourself and show your uniqueness and how it will help make your study groups, student organizations you are a part of, and the school as a whole a better place. These schools are not philanthropic organizations, they know what the MBA will do for you, show them what you will do for them.

One msitake alot of people make is to look at the essays as a “chore”, i remember myself saying, ‘this sh** is bull, i dont need to sit hear swooning some b-school with the right mating call, wtf?’ i went through periods where i felt like i was banging my head on a wall…how do i answer what i want to do with my life? I can talk about it, but how do i write this? then i got to a phase where i was like, ‘i know exactly what to say, ‘these guys are gonna eat out of my hands, i will play every tochy feely card in the book, make em feel like i am here to save the world and make money on the side’. I went arround in circles, i had read my essays so make times i didnt know what to do with myself, and at one point i burnt every single copy i had cause i thought they were utter crap (thank god for MS word and the auto save fuction!). This is essential cause it inadvertantly made me begin to understand who I really was. this was the beginning of true anxiety, ‘am i really good enough? yea i have big dreams, and kinda know how i can reach em, but is this enough?’ this is really hard to deal with, whether u are a two bit paper pusher, like myself, who is trying to realize any potential, or are someone who helped refugee’s escape from Sudan. But this stage is good because in life the more you know the more you realize how little you know (sorry for plagerizing). I usually do not advise people to use admissions consultants because, you need to eventually sit in front of someone and interview, and trust me, at 23 i know when someone is talking out of their as* or whether they truly believe what they are saying. If you think you can do it, then go ahead, but to be safe, maybe you should take some acting classes also, they may help.

2)Now more specifics, one big question is what are business schools looking for? In my opinion a good business school, is one looking for someone whom they can look back at as an alumni and be like, “We are proud he is part of our alumni group” this helps them sustain their stellar image to attract the prospective trend setters of the future, and helps them distinguish themselves as institutions (notice how they wanna see you strive for what they are striving for also?). Dont look for specific skill sets you think you need, look for what you need to make yourself a complete person. (Another analogy) When you are in a bar or a night club and you see a goddess across the room who makes your jaw drop, what do you do? go over and tell her how amazing she is? how you have never seen anyone as beautiful? if yes, wake up, cause she hears that from the cat-caller down the street too, how are you any different? The guy that gets the girl is one who is confident, knows himself, and isnt there to impress her but to tell her she would look a whole lot better if she had his arm to hold onto (excuse my chauvanism, this is just to prove a point). Better yet she needs to know there is something about you that makes you so amazing that she cant stay away (other than your bank balance) u cant be the only one benifiting from the relationship, she needs to also…show her that reason!! if you had gone up and started dancing to show how smooth you were it may work, but how long are you gonna keep her interest like that? eventually you gotta get passed those initial few seconds right? each of you needs to size the other up. B-school is the same way. An intelligent beautiful woman would wanna know you can hold your own in a conversation, know that you have dreams, potential to be someone, not necessarily monetarily but from an intellectual and emotional aspect (a woman that isnt looking for all of that, you yourself will lose interest in). Like this Marianna, B-schools also wanna see certain basics from you, a good academic background, good scores, work ethic, performance at your previous job/s, and an intellectual who will excite their world, bring new ideas, implement things successfully and most importantly honor their relationship . So moral of my stupid analogy is, dont be head over heels about the school, the school should be head over heels for you, cause they seesuccess written all over you (however you may define that), and dont be average, inspire yourself to think and speak beyond what every other tom dick or harry would. You are not generic so dont try so hard to be generic. I know some of you may feel like this dude just ran around in circles again! He needs to re-read his post also cause this is as oblique as his essays! Maybe so, but i have tried to show that there is no prototype answer for any school. When a class is formed the Admissions people are trying to get the right mix of people to work together, they want the macroeconomist, working with a venture capitalist and someone from the non-profit sector, and an engineer. for each of these individuals the other person’s perspective is novel and something they were not trained to look for, this is essential to formulate your own thought process, your unique individual thought process…taking it beyond the average. This is why you keep hearing people talking about finding “the right mix”.

Another really important thing is, this whole ranking issue, everyone is so hung up about… which school is ranked higher than which. I realized this as an undergrad, you need to look at what school suits you best, in terms of coping with the academics, the social environment, and opportunities for someone with your interests. When i was doing my undergrad i chose to go to a school far below in rankings than another school i got into, but i felt the Economics department at my undergrad institution would be stronger (I have a B.S. in Economics) did it pay off? hell yea, it was the best decision of my life, my school may not have had the best career services office, and alot was lacking from an academic stand point, but our economics dept was full of people who loved to teach, some of the best professors were ones who had retired, or decided to chuck up their lavish lives working at the FED’s, the IMF’s etc. to come and teach! It was my relationship with my professors that got me my first research project, helped me publish a paper, get a job blah blah blah. the important thing to pick up from this is, i was able to build a rapport with these guys who gave me ways of distinguishing myself from the start. something i may or may not have had at the other school. With my Bschool applications, i again had to make such a decision, people feel im stupid at times for having chosen Chicago GSB. I will still stick to my guns and my tried and tested pattern of choosing a school or anything else in life which will best suit my own personal development. I am not going to base it on the “average” they publish in a magazine. Chicago GSB didnt start of as my top prefference, but things changed from the moment i began interacting with Admissions reps, and i saw a real effort to not take me for granted because i was young, i saw an interest they had in helping me reach my dreams academically, professionally, and otherwise. hell some of the people i met were more excited about me than i was about me (this fed my narcissim, im just kidding;)) but these are important things, well atleast to me, if they are not to you then i would recommend taking everything i say with a pinch or two of salt. All in all if you have to spend about 150K in two years on an education, choose one which is best for you, not the best for others on average. Each inidividual has different stats and dreams, no one school is best for eveyrone. But do use the rankings loosely to pool together a basic list of potential schools, then put them all on the same playing field and evaluate them for what they really are.

(This pertains to questions from candidates with lesser than 3-4 years of work experience)

Comming back to the question of when to apply and why to apply to business school, through your stages of self introspection, you need to figure out whether you really are ready for business school, if you are not then dont waste your money. if you find yourself finding your application weak because you have not had enough work experience or the right kind, then be man or woman (i just realized how male centric this post is…this is the 24 year old in me ) admit it and wait a year or two. when you sit at an interview you need to talk about work, projects, achievements, ideas, developments and all that fun stuff. so if you have only been sitting around cleaning up excel spreadsheets, and making charts, and editing documents, hold off on applying, try to get some new projects, if you worked at a place which hinders initiatives taken (its ok i feel you people goin thru it, i dealt with it too), look towards involving yourself in something else which will help you grow, this shows u are not an intelligent bum who jsut wants to coast through…business school loves intelligent people, but respect hard workers, and i dont think the guys at Mensa are dominating the Billionaires Clubs, the hard workers are. So be honest with yourself before applying, dont just do so blindly, cause then you are just wasting your time and money. besides it is really important to be in business school when you have a relative grasp of how work environments can be, the importance of being meticulous, how to recognize opportunity and grab it, all these thigns are only learnt by trial and error, so get done with that. dont go to B-school without an understanding of certain basic essentials of the management cycle. If you have had quality work experience, and truly feel another 2 years wont add much to your professional development, then say that, prove it, to yourself and the b-school admissions folks, dont hold back.

One big thing, and this is a mistake i made too, so dont feel embarassed about it, dont approach people without having concrete questions, if u ask specifics people will take out the time to answer cause they feel u did ur homework and didnt just come looking for a free ticket to b-school, cause there is no free ticket. so be tactful in what you ask and how u ask it. Another thing, people like being complemented, so again stand out when you write to current students, dont make em feel you forwarded a generic email you sent to everyone. nothing irritates me more than getting an email congratulating me on choosing to go to Columbia or Tuck, particularly since i didnt even apply there. so take some time out, these people are also taking time out to help you dont disrespect them.

I mentioned earlier i never used an admissions consultant, there is a wealth of information all over the internet. Blogs, forums, school groups, chat sessions with admissions representatives at schools, business week even has sample essays (although i dont suggest reading them, you might be inclined to replicate things in a similar manner…a big mistake, in my humble opinion) and alot more you just gotta look.

Nothing worthwhile in life is meant to be easy cause if it were everyone would have it and it wouldnt be worthwhile anymore…so make the effort, put in the time, after all this is your future and am sure you want the best you can get. If you have trouble motivating yourself, fuel your desire, i set goals, and promise to buy myself toys if i can make my plans work out. I love music and like stuff with subliminal messages, whenever i got stressed and mad at life i listened to alot of the Notorious B.I.G., when i was unsure and anxious i got my inspiration from Jay-Z and maintained my sanity by listening to Chopin, and when i got my call congratulating me about my acceptance to the program, I was listening to Kanye West’s- Can i touch the sky? and Jay-Z’s Dead Presidents II

Cautionary Warning: I do not claim to be a guru at the application process, i am just rambling on about how i saw things and how i dealt with them, at the end of the day we all need to find a mechanism that works for us, this is how i viewed things and some of the realizations i had. I was helped alot by students from various different MBA programs…this is me doin the same for others who find themselves where i was a year ago.

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