NOTE: This is #5 in a series of blog posts on the topic, “How to Select the Right MBA Programs.” To see previous segments, link to the following:

Post #1, Introducing the Series

Post #4, Weighting Your Needs and Wants

It’s now time to determine what types and levels of MBA programs you’re competitive and qualified for, and what if any are out of reasonable reach.   I use the following categories:

Reasonable reach: acceptance is not likely but with a great application is within reach.

• On-par: with a great app you’ll have a solid chance of acceptance.
• Safety: you will likely be admitted if you present your case credibly.

There’s a fourth category, out-of-reaches.  Conceding the wisdom and validity of “never say never” and “nothing’s impossible,” there are still much, much better ways to expend your energy and time than applying to such schools.

Several factors determine your qualification for various levels of programs.  Keep in mind that they all work together holistically.

First the basics – GPA and GMAT.  How do yours stack up versus the mid 75-80% of students in a given program?  To be fundamentally qualified you’ll want to be in the higher two-thirds of that range at least.  If you’re above or in the upper one-third of this range, you’re competitive in this area.  If you’re in the middle third you’re qualified, and if you’re in the lower third or below, you’re reaching.

Work experience is the next factor to consider, specifically, quality of experience.  The more competitive the MBA program, the more important it is to have strong and demonstrable advancement, impact, and leadership relative to accomplished peers, regardless of your function, industry, or organization.  Quality of work experience is a key factor in the level of program you would be competitive in; top tier programs turn down many applicants with near perfect stats who lack the requisite professional accomplishment.

Being in an overrepresented or underrepresented industry, demographic group, or global region/country will affect your competitiveness.  Perhaps the largest overrepresented group is Indians in technical fields, a group that also has relatively high average stats.  Schools that might be reasonable reaches for others will be almost out of reach for many in this group.  On the other hand, no matter how underrepresented you are, if the adcom doubts you can handle the program, you won’t be admitted. As you can see, this factor influences what programs would be reasonable reaches, on-pars, and safeties.

A myriad of other factors will also affect your qualification and competitiveness.  Having fewer than three or more than eight years of work experience or already holding an MBA from another program makes you less competitive.

If you have an unconventional background, such as teaching or airline pilot, you face extra burdens in making your case. However once you successfully make the case for your qualifications and need for an MBA, your non-traditional background may become a plus in this competitive process.

Qualified means you meet the basic standards of a given program.  You can be fully qualified but not competitive – this is exactly the problem that many excellent Indian IT applicants face.  Competitive is more nuanced; it encompasses the preferences and character of the program, the commonality or distinctiveness of your background, and even sometimes political and/or economic trends and events.  When you happily conclude that you are qualified for Columbia, don’t forget to ask yourself whether you are also competitive there.

As you research and visit MBA programs, determine how qualified and competitive you are for them.

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The Finance Professional’s Guide to MBA Success, The Consultant’s Guide to MBA Admission, The EMBA Edge, and author of several articles and the free, email mini-course, “Ace the EMBA.”

Lesson #4 of a five-part series for drafting exemplary essays.

Now that you have a clear sense of what makes an essay effective, and have reflected on the questions that have helped you develop your theme, it’s time to start writing.

Before you begin, write an outline, even if it’s only a very informal list of the main points you want to cover. Using the answers to the questions posed in Lesson 2, you should have a list of experiences, anecdotes, and ideas that you want to include in your essay.

Now let’s break the job down further to keep the task manageable. First, how long is your essay? Grad school application essays can range from as short as 300 words to more than 1,000. Ironically, it’s much harder to write a very short, very good essay than it is to write a very good, longer one. Writing a super-short essay is like being six feet tall and stuck in a coach airline seat — you’re going to feel cramped even when writing as economically as possible. Assuming you have more leg room, so to speak, and have 750 words, you still have to estimate how much space you will have, approximately, for your introduction, the main body, and conclusion. Dividing your essay into parts like this will help you gauge how much you can afford to write in each section. I encourage my clients to write up to 25 percent above their essay’s word limit in their early drafts, since I know I will be able to trim the fat, creating more space for the meat and potatoes of their story. You can follow this rule as well, assuming you have an editor ready to help you streamline.

In Lessons 1 and 3 we saw examples of strong, yet different, introductions. Don’t get hung up on crafting the perfect introduction before moving on to the rest of the essay. If you aren’t confident about your introduction, experiment with different ones, but don’t stay stuck at the beginning. Often, the perfect introduction will come to you when you are well into writing the rest of the essay. Finally, keep in mind the picture you want to paint of yourself to the admissions committee. As you read your draft, are you getting a sense of that amazing, talented, focused person? Stay focused on how best to paint that picture through your own lively, meaningful examples. Do not just claim to be something without backing it up with evidence.

In our last lesson, we’ll talk about revising and polishing your essay.

Summary Tips:

1. Make an outline, even if it’s informal.

2. Estimate how much space you have for each section of your essay to avoid overwriting.

3. Keep working on the body of the essay even if you haven’t perfected the introduction. The introduction does not have to come first!

By Judy Gruen, Accepted.com editor and co-author of the ebook, MBA Letters of Recommendation That Rock.

Lesson #3 of a five-part series for drafting exemplary essays.

The MBA career goals essay, a close cousin to the graduate school statement of purpose, demands a laser-like focus. Unlike personal statements, which may discuss career goals but also allow for more flexibility in content, the MBA career goals essay has a specific and packed agenda. In fact, most MBA career goals essay questions contain several questions in one, so make sure to address each of them. (For example, some ask “Why is now the right time for you to earn an MBA?” or “What do you hope to gain from the XYZ program?”) Your essay must have a theme, of course, but should also do the following:

That is a very tall order.

Let’s see how this was achieved in the sample Goals Essay from Accepted.com’s MBA section. Based on our first two lessons, you’ll easily recognize why the opening is attention-getting for all the right reasons. The writer introduces herself as the supremely busy executive she envisions herself becoming in the future: She trades large amounts of stock, then dashes to a teleconference, rushes down stairs, hails a taxi, then catches a plane. With all those busy verbs, we can practically feel her heart pumping as she rushes towards her flight.

She establishes her theme in this opening, and then gives the context for her MBA goal. Notice that in writing about her work as an accountant for a major firm, she provides relevant details, including how many years she has been in this field, her bilingual abilities, and specialty area as an auditor. This is the springboard from which she explains why she is pursuing the MBA: Her role as an accountant is too limited for her to achieve her career goals as a money manager.

Outstanding career goals essays don’t simply list what the applicants have done and what they want to do; they also convey real enthusiasm for the applicant’s career choice. This writer achieved this in the first paragraph and returned to it at the end, where she painted her idealized (if frantically busy) future. She also proved her seriousness by registering for CFA examinations.

Some career goals essays also ask why you have chosen that particular school. If you are faced with such a question, make sure to leave enough room to write knowledgably and enthusiastically about that specific program. This will be easier if you have made campus visits, attended student recruitment meetings, participated in chats, read school blogs, communicated with current students or recent alumni, and otherwise familiarized yourself with the program and the courses and specializations it offers that are relevant to your goals.

In our next lesson, we will plan the actual essay draft. It’s about time!

Summary Tips:

1. Focus on answering each and every question asked in an MBA career goals essay; usually there is more than one.

2. Be specific when writing about your experiences so that your achievements and motivations are clear and compelling.

3.  Do your homework about why the school is a good fit for you so you can write about it with genuine enthusiasm.

By Judy Gruen, Accepted.com editor and co-author of the ebook, MBA Letters of Recommendation That Rock.

Lesson #2 of a five-part series for drafting exemplary essays.

All effective essays have a distinctive voice and theme. Referring back to the essays we looked at in “Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Essay,” we might say that our MPH candidate’s theme was his passion for finding answers to significant public health issues. Our law school applicant’s theme was her yearning for greater intellectual challenge while remaining in the health care field.

It takes time and introspection to find your voice and your theme. The questions below are designed to stimulate your thought process and help you define your essay’s main message. Your answers will also help you express your goals, values as they relate to your career choice, motivations for pursuing a graduate degree, and your professional dreams. While introspection isn’t as popular an activity as, say, tennis or watching a favorite TV show, it’s an important part of this process. Give it some time; your essay will be much better for it.

1. Why are you passionate about — or at least committed to — your career choice?
2. What experiences in your life (personal, educational, professional) have influenced your career goals and passions the most?
3. Has any individual played a major role in helping you discover these goals or values?
4. What do you hope to achieve in your career?
5. What would career success look like in ten years?
6. What strengths do you bring to this career?
7. What experiences can you write about that will highlight these strengths?
8. After the admissions committee has read your essays, what three words would you hope they would use to describe you? Would you like them to consider you “driven,” “intelligent,” and “creative?” How about “dedicated,” “a leader,” and “focused?” No matter what image you want to create, think about experiences that will illustrate those qualities.

Some answers may spring to mind immediately, while others may require more thought. Some of these experiences might have enough drama or color to make a compelling essay introduction.

Remember that if you are writing multiple essays, such as for MBA programs, each one must have its own theme. The admissions committee members want to see you as a multi-faceted individual. Do not hammer home the same theme repeatedly when you have the opportunity to display different aspects of yourself, your values, and your personality.

Our next lesson will focus on developing the career goal essay.

Summary Tips:

1. Carve out some time for introspection about your career goals, values, and motivation.

2. Develop distinct themes for each essay required for an MBA program, or for any program requiring more than one essay.

By Judy Gruen, Accepted.com editor and co-author of the ebook, MBA Letters of Recommendation That Rock.

NOTE: This is #4 in a series of blog posts on the topic, “How to Select the Right MBA Programs.” To see previous segments, link to the following:

Post #1, Introducing the Series

Post #3, Determining Your Needs and Wants

A little more work is needed on the needs and wants issue.   It will be helpful to weight them – though not rigidly or in detail.  Simply, understanding the basic level of importance of a given factor will save you time up front by not considering schools that don’t meet your core needs no matter how intriguing they seem.  It will also help to uncover any contradictions that you might need to resolve (e.g., prefer to attend schools in the southeast, but also want to be near boyfriend in Boston).

For each of the wants/needs you’ve identified, assign one of the following categories:

Essential – This category applies to things that you must have no matter what.  If you have a family member whom you care for on a regular basis, you have to be able to get to that person in two to three hours.  Period.  If you are making a career change into marketing, you need a program with strong marketing curriculum and recruiting.  Period.

Very important – This category applies to the things that are highly important to you, but are not as absolute as those above.  Things that you would consider compromising on if you really, really had to, but really, really don’t want to.  For some people that might mean a geographic location (or avoiding a geographic location), for others a warm and fuzzy community, for others the chance to take courses in the university’s law or public policy program.

Important – Consider this the “nice to have” category – things that would definitely make a program more attractive to you but wouldn’t necessarily be a deciding factor.  The same examples in “very important” above could apply here for a different set of people.

Neutral – This category means simply not a factor.  Some people would just as readily have curriculum flexibility or structure; would just as readily live in Palo Alto or Fontainbleau.

The main purpose of this exercise is to help you see the factors in meaningful context.   Some people may be comfortable keeping these rankings in their head as they go through the next steps; others will make a spreadsheet with them.  Both approaches are fine.

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The Finance Professional’s Guide to MBA Success, The Consultants’ Guide to MBA Admission, The EMBA Edge, and author of several articles and the free, email mini-course, “Ace the EMBA.”

Lesson #1 of a five-part series for drafting exemplary essays.

As you gear up to write your application essays, you may have looked at some sample essays only to ask yourself afterward, “Sure, these are great, but what do these essays have to do with me?” This series of blog posts will help you go from example to exemplary, showing you how to identify what makes these essays work. Then, you can apply the winning ingredients to your own writing. You will learn how to develop a theme, include the essential elements for the MBA career goals essay, and offer tips on revising and editing for the final polish.

Today we will start by looking at two sample essays on Accepted.com to see what makes them so effective. The first essay, The Public Health Student, opens with a question:

“What if people lived healthier lives, practiced preventive medicine, and took precautions against illness and disease?”

The “what if?” opening immediately engages the reader and at the same time tells us that the writer’s career aspiration is in the health care sector. We do not have to wait to discover the theme of the essay; it’s right there in the first sentence.

In terms of structure, notice how every sentence in that first paragraph builds on the sentence that precedes it. In the second sentence, the writer begins to present his background in the health care field, making his opening question understandable. In the third sentence, additional background about his professional experience gives context for his choice of career path. By the end of the first paragraph, the reader understands the applicant’s motivations for moving from work as a physical therapist to the broader sphere of public health management.

As the essay develops, notice how this applicant continues to build his case for admission by linking his prior work and education to their relevance to the public health field. Specifically, he writes about coursework he has taken in public health, followed immediately by a succinct discussion of his field work experience. When writing about his internship experiences, he doesn’t simply list what he did; he talks about what he learned and how these experiences have solidified his commitment to getting the MPH degree. His conclusion is also very effective because he returns to his opening “what if?” theme. He asks, “What if an aspirin a day could prevent heart attacks?” emphasizing that everything he has learned and done so far so far keeps him riveted by the challenge of finding answers to significant questions in public health.

While the writing is not especially colorful in this essay, the prose is clear and active. Every sentence offers new or additional information; there is no fluff. This clarity and momentum keeps the essay interesting and the pace moving, effectively building the writer’s profile as a promising and serious MPH applicant.

Now let’s take a brief look at the Returning to School essay from Accepted.com’s law school section. This essay opens with a colorful, compelling scene that immediately places the reader in the story:

“Fourteen grumpy doctors stare across an enormous oak conference table at me. It is seven o’clock in the morning, and most of the group are still wearing wrinkled green scrubs indicating they worked through the night. None of the doctors looks ready to digest the extremely technical information contained in the eight studies stacked neatly in front of them. My job is to present each study, review all relevant economic data, and answer any questions in such a way that the audience will conclude the new drug I am selling is better than the one they have been prescribing. One of the physicians gruffly informs me, through a mouthful of Danish, that he is leaving in ten minutes so I had better start my pitch.”

Don’t you already feel for this writer and her formidable challenge? I don’t know about you, but she had me hooked right away, and I was rooting for her to win over this very tough audience.

This essay, about half of the length of the MPH essay, still contains the same winning elements: specific highlights of career achievements and clear and convincing reasons for a career change. The last sentence refers once again to the “grumpy physicians” we met at the beginning. Both writers brought their essays full circle.

Having reviewed these essays, you will have a better idea of the types of experiences you can pull from your life that can help build a case for your candidacy for grad school. Start thinking about experiences you have had that will create a compelling anecdote that can grab your readers’ attention from the first sentence and not let it go until they have reached the final, satisfying conclusion.

In our next lesson, we will look at how to find and develop a theme for a statement of purpose essay.

Summary Tips:

1. Open with a colorful anecdote or a question to engage the reader’s interest right from the beginning.
2. Hold the reader’s interest by building on your story, sentence by sentence, adding new information and avoiding repetition.
3. Refer back to your opening when you conclude your essay, bringing your story full circle

By Judy Gruen, Accepted.com editor and co-author of the ebook, MBA Letters of Recommendation That Rock.

• Most people think that if you’re undergoing the Greek system’s recruitment and pledging trials, focus on your studies, and consequently your GPA, are bound to plummet. However, according to Penn’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, the opposite occurs with University of Pennsylvania Greeks. A recent Daily Pennsylvanian article reports that “at Penn, Greeks can be geeks, too.” Average fraternity and sorority GPA go up between the fall and spring semesters, and many fraternities and sororities require new members to attend mandatory study hours. One Kappa Alpha new member and Wharton sophomore even admitted, “My GPA was the highest during pledging. Having more on my plate forced me to schedule in advance.”

• The Chronicle’s recent article, “Shrinking Newsrooms Put Colleges in the Content Business,” discusses a missing element in modern media relations: someone who haunts the halls of universities, “stopping by people’s offices and really getting to know them.” As Geoff S. Larcom, a former reporter, states, “You don’t see that much anymore, because everyone’s stretched so thin.” While original reporting on higher education may be on the decline, blogs and online forums related to higher education issues are on the rise, as can be seen in national newspapers like The New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. But without true reporting and relying almost entirely on opinion blogs, user comments, and online forums, can we be sure that we’re getting accurate information? Where have all the big stories gone, especially those in the area of the sciences and research? Facebook and Twitter updates are fun to read and can even transmit important information; but is it really news?

• In a related article, “J-Schools to the Rescue?” Inside Higher Ed writer Steve Kolowich asks if journalism schools can help save journalism. He suggests that struggling newspapers hire journalism students (who will work for credit) to “fill the gaps left by the pros whom the news outlets could no longer afford to pay.” Such a partnership has indeed been forged, between New York University and The New York Times. The NYT recently cut about 200 newsroom jobs and NYU journalism students are eager to fill those spots. Other universities in other cities are establishing similar alliances in television news studios in addition to newspaper newsrooms. And why not take advantage of students who are willing to work for cheap hire or even for free? However, the problem still remains: When these j-school students graduate, will they be able to find paying journalism jobs, even with some New York Times experience under their belts? So can j-schools save journalism? As long as there are students writing, there will be news content, but students should think long and hard about whether that experience will be valuable in the long run.

• If you’re creative and just a little tech savvy, then applying for b-school financial aid just got a lot more fun, reports a BusinessWeek article. Scholarship applicants from the Netherlands’ Nyerode Business University can now apply for the YouTube Scholarship. Applicants must create a two-minute YouTube video explaining why they think they should win the $15,000 b-school scholarship.  The school’s program director, Professor Eric Meise, explains that these two-minute videos portray a much clearer picture of the applicants as compared to the previously used five-page application essay forms. You can view one of the recent YouTube scholarship videos here.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School, an instantly downloadable ebook.
• Navigating the MBA Maze, an ecourse.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

MBA
Why MBA? – one of the hardest application questions to answer
LBS vs HEC – which is better for a specialized masters in management
Investment Banking Interviews for Dummies – frequently asked questions
NYC Meet-Up for MBA Applicants - helpful coordinating tips

NOTE: This is #3 in a series of blog posts on the topic, “How to Select the Right MBA Programs.” To see the whole series to date, link to the following: Post #1, Introducing the Series; Post #2, Assessing Your Profile

Now that you did the hard work of assessing your profile, put it aside for a moment.  It’s time to focus on the future: what you want and need in your MBA program.

Before you compile your schools list, consider the following factors, and decide what’s important to you or what your preference is in each.  If you are visiting schools now, the visits can help you sort through these points and see them in a new light.  For example, you might have thought you could never spend two years outside a city, but stopping by Tuck on a skiing trip opened your eyes to the abundant diversity and culture the campus and town offer – you decide to give the excellent program a closer look.

Academics.  This category includes the curriculum structure and approach (e.g., preset concentrations versus flexible), strength in particular disciplines, professors in your areas of interest, degree of analytic rigor, opportunity to take courses outside the b-school, study abroad options.

• Recruiting and career services.  Recruiting for both internships and post-MBA positions should be relatively strong for your goals.  But people’s actual need for this will vary depending on their existing contacts and resources.  Similarly, some people have more need than others of career services support.
• Extracurricular opportunities.  Most people will want to see clubs and activities in their areas of professional interest.  Other than that, do you want certain volunteering activities, arts or cultural activities, religious resources, political opportunities?  People who share your interests?  If you don’t find something you need, would it be easy to initiate a club or activity?
• Brand.  This factor will critical to some, insignificant to others, and somewhere in between for most.  There is brand in your own perspective, and brand in the eyes of your prospective employers.  Probably the latter is more important and less open to compromise.  Do not mistake “brand” for “ranking.”   If you need a highly competitive program such as Columbia or Wharton or it isn’t worth it, that’s fine.  But the issue isn’t “top 5”; it’s the value of the specific school brands for your context.
• Environment and ambience.  Do you prefer a warm and fuzzy or a hard driving learning environment?   Everyone wants diversity it seems, but what kind: geographic, industry, functional, ethnic, religious, other?  Do you prefer a small, close-knit campus or a large, teeming one?  Does it matter to you if the student body has a more conservative or liberal orientation?
• Geography.  Where would you like to be?  Start with continent.  Many non-US applicants think globally, considering programs in Asia, Europe, the US.  Many Americans however remain fairly US-centric almost reflexively.  If you are an American traveling abroad, try to visit some MBA programs.  You will be pleasantly surprised.
• Other personal factors.  Do you need quick access to an international airport?  Special medical resources?  Do you want schools that meet your needs and also the needs of your partner who is applying? Or maybe you’re really into bobsledding and want a track nearby…

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The Finance Professional’s Guide to MBA Success, The Consultants’ Guide to MBA Admission, The EMBA Edge, and author of several articles and the free, email mini-course, “Ace the EMBA.”

According to an INSEAD study an MBA really does add value to a CEO. A recent BusinessWeek article explains how.

The MBA debate has been going on for years: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn’t even finish college; so is an MBA really necessary? Additionally, MBA “naysayers,” as the BW article calls them, claim that MBA programs are guilty of injecting students with “greed and short-term thinking” that won’t get them very far in the business world.

On the other hand, in the Harvard Business Review’s analysis of the top-performing CEOs in the world, more than two-thirds of the 1,109 CEOs that were reviewed from four different countries (France, German, the UK, held MBAs.

Other points of interest:

• CEOs with an MBA ranked about 40 places higher in the rankings than those without MBAs.
• CEOs with an MBA had average shareholder return of 93%, as compared to 81% total returns of non-MBA holders.

So now for the why: Why do CEOs with MBA excel more than their non-MBA partners? What is responsible for causing the MBA advantage? What is, as the BW article puts it, the “magic ingredient” the puts MBA-holding CEO a cut above the rest?

CEO success can be attributed to a few factors: knowledge acquired through the MBA curriculum, skills gained from the program, the caliber of job obtained due to holding an MBA “badge of excellence,” the network that most MBAs graduate with, the motivation to reach higher heights that MBA grads are more likely to strive for, and the global perspective that becomes second nature to MBA graduates who have studied abroad.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best