You might have gotten busy with fall activities or taken the GMAT or GRE a couple of extra times, and now you suddenly find yourself just a few weeks away from Round 2 deadlines. You might be wondering, “Can I get my applications submitted in time, or do I have to delay my plans by a year?”
You look around your office and think to yourself: “I wish my coworker were not applying to the same school as I am. They can’t take two people who sit at the same desk. Also, their GPA is 0.15 higher!” On the surface, this reasoning may seem logical, and it can thus cause anxiety for some candidates—especially for those who are in positions for which an MBA is virtually a “must have” to move forward, such as in consulting and banking.
However—not to worry—this thinking has two significant flaws:
When preparing personal statements that require significant information about career progress, many MBA applicants choose to discuss their accomplishments in chronological order. Although the simplicity of this approach makes it appealing, we encourage you to consider another way of showcasing your more recent and therefore potentially stronger accomplishments first. By taking this approach instead, you may capture your reader’s imagination more quickly and reduce the risk of being lost amid similar candidates.
When admissions officers read your MBA application, they want to feel inspired by your personal statement; they want to know that you have a strong sense of purpose and will work energetically to attain your objectives. Thus, you must ensure that you are not presenting generic or shallow post-MBA goals. Although this problem is not industry specific, it occurs most often with candidates who propose careers in investment banking or consulting but do not have a true understanding of what these positions entail.
Many candidates who approach us are concerned that they cannot get their stories out in one sentence or worried that their personal branding is too muddled. Some candidates feel that they must have a single narrative and continuously speak to it to make an impression on the admissions committees. But, of course, you are not a simple product with just one or two attributes—a Budweiser beer, for example, which can be represented with a straightforward slogan, “The Great American Lager.” MBA candidates are far more complex than consumer products. So, presenting yourself as one-dimensional (“I am an entrepreneur in everything I do,” “I am a finance guy”) is definitely a mistake that prevents you from revealing your depth of character and experience.
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