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August 09, 2006

A Public Service Announcement

I originally started this version of my blog with the intent of capturing the steps I took in getting to and through an MBA. The rest of my life sort of took over the writing though. There's a lot of pretty good advice out there - I'm totally an information junkie - the business week forums have some nuggets and numerous blogs have been fantastic sources. There are, however, a couple things that I thought worked for me through the application process that I thought I would add to the rest of the noise on the internet.

There are two major pieces of advice that kept me sane through the process. (They're also good pieces of life advice, so it's sort of a 2-for-1 deal.)

Be yourself
Finding a school that fits is like finding a soul mate. Base your application on who you are, not what you think the school wants to hear. If you tell the school what they want to hear and you're bad at it, they'll see right through you. On the other hand, if you're good at it, there's a good chance you may end up with something that was a completely wrong fit for you. If you are yourself and get dinged, sure it's disappointing, but it doesn't mean failure. It just means that the school isn't necessarily right for you at that very moment. Adcoms work very hard to make sure that the people that get into the school are the best fit for the school. By extension, the people who best fit the school are the ones that the school best fits. That was a little convoluted. Eh, let's just leave it at that soul mate thing.

Know yourself
Know why you want the MBA. It's an essay question. I'd argue it's the most important essay question. If you know why you want the MBA, everything you do is that much easier. You can target your schools appropriately according to their strengths. You can position your application better according to what you want. You can shape what you learn to fit your future. It'll make sure that you're not just another unemployed person with three additional letters at the end of your name. Plus, there are better ways of finding yourself other than spending a mint and a couple of years at b-school.

One more quick thing that's a huge pet peeve of mine. 720 GMAT, 3.2 GPA, 4yrs WXP, 26yrs old, industry - what are my chances of getting into H/W/S? I hate seeing things like this with a passion. It's not all about the numbers. The stats are akin to the minimum height requirement for carnival rides. You'll need something to prove you can handle it, but once you're in, they're irrelevant. What really matters is you and what you want to do.

More as I think of it.

Labels: MBA

Posted at 3:35 PM
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