I have been thinking over the last week, what should I write
next? My thoughts wandered from writing about politics to India's growth story
to random tips for life. Finally I decided to scribble something which can
prove to be meaningful to some and be an interesting read to others. Here I am
scribbling down tips / suggestions which I got from various friends during my
hunt for fundamentals for an MBA abroad. A few of these tips helped me during
my application process and collect my otherwise random thoughts. These tips are
my perspective and might vary from case to case. Hence, think about them
smartly and see if they apply to you or not. Please provide insights from your MBA
application experiences here on the
blog and share things which you found useful.
1. Think hard on why want to pursue MBA abroad?
Any reason works as long as it's not that all my
peers seem to be doing it, so I should do it as well. MBA abroad is not the
path to "moksha". A few can genuinely boost their career growth with
an MBA but a few might not be able to leverage an MBA well. Hence, self
evaluation is very important. It is the first step to this whole MBA game.
2. Make a conscious effort to pursue your hobbies and passions along with
your day job
Most of us are passionate about a few things in
life. Many of us involve ourselves in a lot of extra-curricular activities
during our undergraduate lives. However, this spirit dies down once we get
sucked into the corporate world. Ensure that you have a life beyond your
work-life. Seek opportunities, places where you can make a difference with your
skills and purse your passions along with office work. To some it just comes
naturally while some get too bogged down with corporate lifestyle. A passion
outside of work always comes in handy when you are sitting down to write
your MBA application essays.
It often distinguishes you and lets you bring something extra on the table to
create the "Aha" effect. This step is a continuous effort in a
direction and requires time. Therefore, please be careful and don't be in a
situation when you want to apply in few months time and have not done anything
other than your work in the last 3-4 years. A late realization can be a serious
bottleneck.
3. Take the first measurable step - GMAT
Even if you are 75% convinced about doing an MBA at
some point in time, take this step. Take it as early as possible and whenever
you have some spare time.
4. Start reading about schools
Even if you are not sure of applying, start reading
about the schools and MBA abroad. This step is more like getting exposed to
what it might be like to be doing an MBA abroad and what it might take to get there.
I suggest that you follow atleast Poets & Quants and Clearadmit blogs.
There are many other good websites but I will not make a comprehensive list at
this moment in time. I remember that there are quite a few nice books as well,
although I did not read any. Do talk to the consultants (Stacy Blackman,
Clearadmit, Gurome, etc.) and get free evaluation of your profile done.
5. Visit few schools if possible
If you are traveling to U.S. for leisure /
business, try to visit few schools where you see a fit and realistic chance of
success. During your visit, try to meet your college / country students and
others in general. This helps but does not have major significance.
6. Shortlist 4-5 schools and read the essay prompts
Shortlist few schools which interest you and where
you think you might fit. Read their MBA Admission essays and keep them in the back of your head.
You don't need to start writing essays at this stage, but just think about the
prompts once in a while and which incidents might fit into a particular essay
prompt. Read the analysis of the essay questions from multiple websites. These
websites gave me a good understanding of what the school is looking for in a
particular question and helped me align my thoughts. For example, I did not
realize that the Stanford question about "What you want to do -
REALLY?" is looking for only very long term vision for life and does not
need any short term plans. In this process, you will also identify essays where
you know what you will write; essays where thinking is needed. Keep thinking
about what incident will be the best fit for those "not-so-easy"
essays. For example, I almost thought for 2 months about the HBS essay of 3
set backs of my life and still did not have concrete stuff to write.
7. Think about your recommenders
Think about your recommenders early on. You should
have 3-4 diverse (nationality, the kind of projects you did with them,
personalities) people in your mind whom you can bank on during the application
season. Try to not fall into the trap of going for titles but rather go for
personal relations. I had a fancy for titles and always wanted my recommenders
to be the people who were higher up in the organization. God bless the Stanford GSB student (ex-Shell) who
gave me words of wisdom and opened my eyes. He told me that title will make a
difference only if it's someone like Qatar Shell CEO who has a name for himself
in external world else the title does not matter. I followed the advice and
went with people who were close to me rather than trying to approach people who
were a bit higher in the organization. Coach your recommenders well and guide
them through the process. Convince them why it is important to you how amazing
it will be if you get in. None of my recommenders had ever submitted a letter of recommendation for school prior
to mine and hence I had to do a lot of coaching. Just before submitting his
recommendation one of the them asked me - can you please give me a written
evidence that it's a personal recommendation and employer (in my case Shell)
has nothing to do with it. I thought this will be a simple one. I searched
everywhere but could not find this written anywhere on the website /
recommendation login. I somehow managed to convince him to submit it anyway (it
was the last day) but promised that if I get selected, I will ensure that
Stanford puts that on the website somewhere. I will try hard to convince
Stanford Admin to put that somewhere on the website and fulfill my
promise.
8. Balance between Round1 (R1) and Round2 (R2) apps
Once you have finalized on the schools you want to
apply to, try to balance your applications between R1 and R2. My advice here is
- don't do all applications in R1 unless you are super prepared and have a very
mature application. Follow one high, one low approach for both rounds.
Applications submitted later typically are more matured and have more
substance. Don't worry too much about how many people get in R1 and how many in
R2. You just need one seat and your best shot will position you the best for
that.
9. Write your life stories (can be multiple stories for 1 answer)
Think about all the significant incidents / stories
of your life and jot them down. Later on try to match them with the essays. In
the beginning you can have multiple stories which might fit into an essay.
Write all of them down and then pick the most suitable one. Discuss your life
with 1-2 very close friends because they tend to know you better than you
yourself. Have diversity in your essays - from office work, outside office
work, life incidents. Your essays should not be just an assimilation of facts
(boring) and should flow in a story form to excite the reader. My advice here
is to first write drab stories and then later on try to refine and make them
interesting. I am typically very conversational in my writing style and hence
it was a challenge for me to make my stories interesting.
10. Few close friends who can review your application
A couple of close friends who are familiar with
the MBA Admissions process
can be a huge help. Please don't underestimate the value of inputs from 1-2
good friends and 1-2 seniors who will give you an honest feedback. Keep those
1-2 close friends aligned during the whole process and start discussing your
application with them early on. Don't try to be too secretive about things but
be frank. Tell these friends that you will need their time. Value their
schedule and try to fit your schedule according to theirs. Try to pick friends
who will not only provide feedback but will guide you on how to make things
right. These friends should be ready to take the extra burden to discuss your
stories, suggest changes and review each word of your essay once written. They
will do it for you only if they feel that this is a good use of their time and
you are really putting in the right effort to make it through. You don't need
100 people to review your essays and just 1-2 close friends are more than
enough. If you don't have such friends who can double up as mentors then you
might want to explore a consultant and take their help.
I
think this is enough of tips for this fortnight. I will try to come up with a
step by step process of application and interviews some other time. It's about
time I start writing about other interesting things in life than making my
personal blog an MBA blog.
Do
share your feedback on these tips if you agree / disagree with them. I am happy
to hear more diverse views.
