By Justin McShane
The author is a Second-year MBA Candidate at The Wharton School (Class of 2015). Prior to his MBA, he served for seven years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. He has helped several Wharton applicants through MentMo.
Most applicants to top B-school programs will utilize an admissions consultant to help them with schools targeting, positioning, application/essay assistance, and general advice on how to successfully navigate through the hurdles of the lengthy, nail-biting admissions process. Some MBA hopefuls end up spending over $10,000 on admissions consultant fees when all is said and done. Some ultimately end up getting dinged from their dream schools anyway, and the successful outcomes that admissions consultants tout are largely inconclusive at best. Is it worth the cost on top of the already-steep MBA tuition and the forgone income for two years?
Not everyone utilizes admissions consultants throughout this lengthy process, though. I happen to fall in the grouping of those who went at it alone, but I now realize that it would have been a little smarter for me to obtain advice from within the walls of my target schools rather than merely hoping that my approach to the application process would result in an offer of acceptance. In a way, I was just damn lucky!
In hindsight, I would have truly benefited from utilizing a tried and true way to connect with current students. That way, I would have been able to obtain direct insights about various aspects of the school to which I was applying – straight from the horse’s mouth. This would have given me mountains of confidence leading into the interview process as well. When I heard of the opportunity to register with MentMo to mentor MBA hopefuls (regardless of their target schools in mind), I got excited not only because I could play a significant role in helping others refine their stories, but also because it was yet another opportunity for me to tell the story about my fantastic, life-changing MBA experience.
A current student will be an applicant’s single best resource for determining FIT and for navigating through the application process for that particular school – and other schools. They are the ones who have already gained acceptance and embarked upon the MBA journey at the very school that you’re interested in! I would advise every MBA hopeful to reach out to as many current MBA candidates as it takes to fully understand the overall experience and HOW you will utilize the MBA program to help you accomplish your post-MBA goals. Admissions consultants won’t be able to tell you about the student life, the day-to-day activities that take place at school, or the nightlife in and around Center City! From the Pre-Term “awakening” to settling into a nice routine in the Fall semester, from the in-classroom experience to the late-evening group projects, from the curriculum structure to the ins and outs of on-campus recruiting, from the Consulting Club to the Rugby Club, the list goes on and on… Students know best.
In conclusion, joining MentMo has been a simple and rewarding way for me to help others who are attempting to do exactly what I did at this time – two years ago. After each conversation, I feel better in knowing that was able to steer the prospective applicant into the right direction – or that I had at least given them “peace of mind” in the form of having received straightforward “insider” knowledge. A handful of admissions consultants have never been to business school and can only regurgitate the common views that can be scrounged up primarily from various outsider sources. Admissions consultants can, however, bring more of an agnostic view to the table in helping to steer you in the right direction. Reaching out to an admissions consultant can be very beneficial to most who utilize their services, but I would argue that having a well-balanced portfolio of consultants and students is the better way to go. In fact, contacting students should be your first and primary step while navigating this often stressful, introspective, and life-changing process.
The article was originally written by Justin McShane on blog.mentmo.com
