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cannedpineapple

Case study:

1) Entrepreneur goes to Liberal Arts College as an undergraduate, but dropped out without graduating to make ends meet. Works at a video game company for a while, then travels to India to explore his spiritual side. Returns and helps develop a video game at the same company, before starting his own IT company. Applies to business school wanting to pick up the business skills to help expand his company further.

2) Banker goes to ivy league school. Gets good grades and is very active in extra-curriculars, then spends two years at Goldman. Above average performer, and has exposure to international projects as well. Has an active life, volunteers on weekends to help underprivileged children. Now looking to make the jump into private equity, and believes the b-school network will help him get there.

As an admissions officer, who will you pick?

If you picked guy 2), you just missed out on picking Steve Jobs. But don't worry, you're not alone. This was a trick question. The point is, when people at chasedream tell me their 'profile' in the exact same way I just told you these two profiles, EVERYONE will pick guy 2. Even me.

But if you spend 60 minutes reading through multiple essays written by Steve Jobs in which he explains how he thinks, then things will probably be different. And that's what admissions officers do. They read. Carefully, and dilligently. They know that a candidate's background, while important, doesn't tell the whole story.

And you should know that too.

OxSead

^ Then again, if the person did not want to finish college, why would he want to do an MBA? And in Steve Job's case, he wouldn't anyway.

Not everyone wants or needs an MBA. Now that's the reality.

(And an undergrad degree is a prerequisite, so unless they change the game, it is still no brainer to choose (2), because he needs it and his profile is solid as well)

cannedpineapple

Thank you for your corrections. This comparison is not perfect. It was simply one I made up to illustrate a point. The fact that you would choose applicant 2 in the absence of any further information is obvious- so would I.

But having read the comparison, it is my hope that CDers start to realise that this case is NOT a 'no brainer' as you put it, since there IS further information that cannot be summed up in a person's profile. That comes from his or her essays.

My whole reason of contributing from CD stems from tracytrace's comments at the end of page 20. I realised that many CDers do not understand the importance of looking beyond "profile", and over the years (yes, it has been years) I have tried my best to explain how American admissions officers think. It may be different in schools elsewhere in the world- I do not know. But this is the  北美MBA申请区, and if you want to get into an MBA programme in the USA, you gotta understand how they think.

Namely, that a "solid" profile does not make for a "no brainer" admit.

OxSead

Ok, there are not enough options to choose from to begin with. I was just saying it would be relatively more likely for guy no. 2 to get picked.

But I totally agree with you on the "look beyond profiles" part. That's why I think it's a different game when talking about top 16 schools. They require more than just good gmat/gpa/profile.

lixin1112001

其实我想说这个社会各种职位的产生，在市场经济当中，都是因为可以商业化（非营利组织除外），所以就好像忘了一个国民党高官的子女在耶鲁读的书，去了麦肯锡，后来专职于佛教和慈善事业，但是还是要受到现实的制约，他把自己的钱全都捐出来，还借钱去做慈善。 我觉得这个社会里的各种职位大部分就不是因为人的喜好而产生的，而是因为利益而产生的分工，至于某些人在这方面有天分，喜欢做某件事情，完全是因为上天的眷顾和恩赐。如果没有喜欢的事情，或者由于中国的教育制度把兴趣过早的扼杀了的话，去做那些自己认为还算make sense，并且也能make living的工作也是一条很好的选择。

cannedpineapple

I know that lots of you come from business backgrounds (banking, consulting, maybe even sales and marketing), so let me pull on your expertise to tell you how to get into business school.

Indulge me for a moment and think about the successful (or soon-to-be successful) Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Groupon. Facebook. China's banks. What each of these companies shared in common was not amazing results, a proven track record, and gold-plated pedigree. No. What seduced smart, discerning investors to buy into these companies was... Their STORY.

Applying to business school is NOT about throwing stats at the admissions office and hoping something will work. Well, sure, you can do that, if you got stats that are pure gold. If you want to say you're internationally-mobile, make sure you traveled and lived in >50 countries, cos' someone else probably did. If you want to say you're really smart, don't forget your prize showing you scored the top in Math Olympiad. Athletically-inclined? Olympics gold medal please. If you have these on your resume, please hit up the stats. Every investor will be happy to invest in companies that give them lots of actual profits and return.

But most of us are not like that. Don't worry. Groupon isn't making any money either, and yet it's supposed worth billions. China's banks are laden with bad dept, yet investors are drunk on the potential of buying into China. And don't get me started on Facebook- is that worth one trillion yet?

So think about what STORY you want to write about your potential as a business superstar. How can you sell admissions officers on a vision of you as a shining success? How can you help them imagine you as the next Donald Trump or Bill Gates? Sell them that story. Sprinkle a little stats as necessary as your ingredients to this story, but always make everything work for the story.

As bankers, consultants and sales and marketing people, I know many of you are GREAT at doing this in your daily job. Now apply some of that well-honed professional skills to your own application.

As always, essays/questions/advice welcome. Send me a 站内信. Next up, I'm going to look for and maybe post my Wharton essays if people are interested. These are the actual essays I used to apply and get into business school.

needthat

Hi Jason,

Thank you for all the insightful tips. I have taken very seriously  your words about focusing on "HOW" and "WHY" instead of too much " WHAT" in double checking my application essays. (I am an engineer
While it's easier to spot the "WHY", I find that "HOW" and "WHAT " are more difficult to distiguish apart and they are intertwined.  Could you shred a bit more light on this? How can I easily spot I am indeed not focusing much on the "HOW"?

In this exampel. it's fairly easy to understand.
the what: I went to the supermarket to buy a can of pineapples.
the how:  I walked to the supermarket and searched among 100 brands of canned pineapple and finally bought one can which I believed had the best quality.

cannedpineapple

Great question!

The most important thing is to skip past the 'WHAT did you choose' and 'WHAT was the result' to go to the 'HOW did you choose' and 'WHY did you use that method of choosing'. So HOW and WHY are absolutely linked. You cannot describe one without the other.

To use a typical business-school example:

Typical "What" driven approach: "I faced a big problem. So I did A, then I did B, finally I did C. Yay! Problem solved, big accomplishment."

My approach: "I faced a problem. It was a big one BECAUSE... <why>. Because I am a careful and smart professional who does not act without thinking, I looked at the problem <how>. Exercising my good judgement, I eventually saw that the key issue would be a, b and c BECAUSE <why>. So, I did A B and C. Yay! Big accomplishment."

Think about it like you are trying to convince YOUR BOSS that your approach is the right one. Then you will know what to write about the <how> and <why> (my method is this, and I chose this method because...).

I'm sure nobody would tell a boss who knows nothing about you (which is what the adcom is- they do not know you at all), 'here is the problem. Let's do A, B and C to solve it, and the result is this. Don't ask me why I want to do A B and C, and don't ask me how I decided A B and C are important steps, instead of D E and F. Just trust me.'

Hope this helps!

needthat

This is indeed very helpful Jason!

I  have not gotten to my Wharton essays yet, but working on the Sloan ones where they specificly ask you to express what you thought, felt , said and did.

My next questions is can you over do it? Where do you draw the line with being specific?

cannedpineapple

Hi needthat,

You can DEFINITELY overdo it. The point is not to explain 'what the details were', but to bring in only the relevant facts and then focus on 1) explaining why they're relevant 2) fitting them into your story

For example: GroupOn's IPO. There are a million different numbers that an investor could go through. GroupOn says, look at this ONE number. We think it's important because <xyz>. Now that you're convinced it's important, here's how you make sense of it <how>.

Your job here is to remove clutter. Take out everything that is irrelevant. Start with a mobile phone with many many buttons, and end up with an iPhone with a single button on it's front: the home screen one. Think less like an engineer, but more like a product designer at Apple. What can you take out, so that the reader (or in Apple's case, the iPhone user) doesn't get distracted, since he or she is not an engineer? When you're left with the single one or two things that are important, then spend the time and words to expand on them.

In short, first remove all unnecessary facts. Then for the necessary, feel free to be as specific, but in plain English, so the reader to understand the situation (and not understand the facts: you're not trying to teach him or her how to be an engineer). A good test is to get people from outside your industry to read it. Do they feel lost, or do they get it?

Hope this helps!
Jason