[推荐]Sucessfully Market Yourself

chipmunk

Sucessfully Market Yourself

Interview with Richard Montauk, author of “How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs”.

What is the MBA advantage? Is there a profile of a successful MBA graduate?

All graduates from quality schools are presumed to have certain hard skills, such as standard business analysis, and certain soft skills such as leadership and motivational abilities. That's about it for the general profile. The MBA advantage might be said to be this: MBA graduates from quality schools are seen by employers as 'complete' for their age, that is, they are expected to be able to make an impact in an organization very shortly after graduation.

What are the most important criteria for successful MBA candidates?

A candidate who wants to maximize their chances of acceptance needs to be strong across a range of criteria. For example, a career in which the applicant has already made an impact makes that applicant easier to measure and easier to market. Good scores, a strong GMAT score and good undergraduate grades are often credentials which get you in the game rather than guarantee you admission. Community or professional involvement, or both, is an opportunity to show the admissions people that you're alive, energetic, creative, working with other people, and demonstrating leadership qualities. Top schools require strong performance in all of these dimensions.

What do you think distinguishes that relative minority of applicants who can, as you say, 'successfully market' themselves from those who can't?

Applicants who can position themselves to get full value out of who they are, what they've done, and where they're headed- in light of what business schools value and what is and is not readily available in the applicant pool- are the ones who will maximize their chances for success. Partly, this is a matter of positioning, but it's also a matter of putting together a truly professional, well-written, tightly integrated, high-impact application. You need a crystal clear picture of yourself.

Give us your views on admissions essays.

Very few people applying to MBA programs are natural writers. And most of the rest fail to do what is necessary to make up for their lack of natural writing skill. They fail to clarify in their own minds the key messages they need to get across. Similarly, they don't put in the hard work, the re-writing and the re-re-writing, to get the most out of the opportunities that the essays present. After all, essays are an opportunity to show how you and your credentials should be interpreted as well as to demonstrate your ability to sustain a reasoned argument. Failure to take advantage of this opportunity reveals an applicant to be unmotivated or simply unable to communicate effectively. Given the importance of communication skills in business, particularly at the senior level, this is a major handicap.

What can you tell us about writing good admissions essays?

Too many people simply list instead of taking the trouble to write good essays. A clear picture of you should emerge from your essays: you should have several themes around which to organize your thoughts. Also, there is no substitute for re-writing. This is made easier by taking the time to set the essay aside and come back to it when its virtues and faults can be more easily seen.

Could you say a few words about the importance of admissions essays among other factors in the admissions decision, such as letters of recommendation, work experience, GMAT score, etc.?

Many experienced admissions officers look first at essays and then at recommendations before they examine the 'objective' credentials of an applicant. Thus essays, along with letters of recommendation, offer an opportunity to color the admissions officers' interpretation of your record. In addition, they put forward ideas about why you've done what you've done and where you're headed, which are otherwise nowhere visible. Very few candidates will get into the top programs simply on the basis of credentials. Those who get in will not only have good credentials, but they will also show clearly where they're headed, how this MBA will most help them, and what they will contribute to the program.

siebel

chipmunk，比属精品！