{"id":33201,"date":"2016-05-25T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/crafting-crisp-focused-answers-to-questions-about-why-you-want-an-mba-part-4\/"},"modified":"2016-05-25T06:00:43","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T13:00:43","slug":"crafting-crisp-focused-answers-to-questions-about-why-you-want-an-mba-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/crafting-crisp-focused-answers-to-questions-about-why-you-want-an-mba-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Crafting Crisp, Focused Answers To Questions About Why You Want An MBA (Part 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Why<\/a><\/figure>\n

Part four is our final post in this series<\/a> about\u00a0navigating through the various permutations of questions like these:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Why do you want an MBA…\u00a0AT ALL<\/strong>?<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Why do you want an MBA…\u00a0AT THIS EXACT MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER<\/strong>?<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. How will OUR SCHOOL<\/strong>… help…\u00a0YOU<\/strong>?<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Of all the B-Schools on earth, why are you interested in US<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Everyone’s favorite by far. And the one people tend to answer, regardless of what the question ACTUALLY<\/strong> states. Haas asks “what factors have influenced your decision to apply?” Kellogg asks for “…\u00a0your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at Kellogg.” Ross asks “What and\/or who influenced your decision to apply to Ross?”<\/p>\n

    This can be the trickiest of the bunch because at some level, a rose is a rose is a rose. Or, for my money… pizza = pizza = pizza. Is there REALLY<\/strong> such a thing as a bad pizza? Mayyybe the stuff they served you in the cafeteria in 3rd grade at a public school. Maybe. But at the end of the day, pizza just works.<\/p>\n

    B-schools are no different. They’re all the same. Of course that’s not true literally, but in one sense… they will ALL expose you to teamwork, leadership, finance… “business-ness.”<\/p>\n

    All of em.<\/p>\n

    Yeah, some have rockin’ reputations, some make it onto that highly anticipated top 10 list. But functionally, they’re all MORE<\/strong> or LESS<\/strong> the same.<\/p>\n

    Let’s exaggerate the point to help make it stick. Let’s say you’re buying a brand new car. And you’ve decided on a new four door sedan. I’m gonna present you with TEN<\/strong> options.<\/p>\n

    Ten Toyota Camrys.<\/p>\n

    That’s right. Exact same make, model, year, dealership. And their all BLUE<\/strong>. Every last one of them. The ONLY<\/strong> thing that’s different—-let me repeat—-> The ONLY<\/strong> thing that’s different, is the SHADE<\/strong> of blue. They are arranged in front of you from darkest to lightest. On the left hand side you have a deep midnight blue. And all the way to the right you have something of a sky blue. There is not a single other thing that’s different. Got it?<\/p>\n

    So… which car do you pick?<\/p>\n

    Why, number 6 of course. Fair enough. It called your name. You felt something, fine great. Now, as you’re signing the papers, the dealer asks “Hey so lemme ask you, why did you pick #6?”<\/p>\n

    Here are examples of TERRIBLE<\/strong> responses:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Because I enjoyed the way it handled the road<\/li>\n
    • It had four really sturdy wheels<\/li>\n
    • I loved the look of the dashboard<\/li>\n
    • Excellent trunk space<\/li>\n
    • Etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      No, you picked it because aside from all the other factors that were SHARED BY EVERY SINGLE OTHER CAR<\/strong>… this one came in the color you wanted.<\/p>\n

      That’s it. That’s where the decision begins and ends. That was the ONLY<\/strong> deciding factor, yes?<\/p>\n

      Now, let’s bring it back to B-school apps. We see it with just about every single application… time wasted on “excellent trunk space” and “wonderful rear view mirror.” Fellas and fellases… do NOT<\/strong> waste words on stuff shared by other schools. Think about the SHADE OF BLUE<\/strong> that drew you to Harvard. Or Ross. Or Kellogg. Wherever. You’re gonna get Finance not only from Wharton, but guess what, Stanford too. You’ll get entrepreneurship from NOT JUST STANFORD<\/strong>, but….. “lots of other places.” B-schools share a lot. They share four wheels, they all have steering wheels, leather seats, all that jazz. The only thing they don’t share is the shade of paint on their exteriors.<\/p>\n

      How does that manifest? Could be a specific CULTURE<\/strong> or PHILOSOPHY<\/strong> that they take very seriously. Don’t just mention that you LIKE<\/strong> that philosophy, DEMONSTRATE<\/strong> that you’re all about it, and then support your claim that this particular school embodies it as well. If it’s a certain club or program that calls out to you, make sure it’s UNIQUE<\/strong> in some way. Figure out a way to describe the way SKY BLUE<\/strong> is different from ROYAL BLUE<\/strong>. What’s different about it? Why is that difference appealing to you? We’ve covered that kind of argumentation elsewhere… the only point I want to make here is that with that silly scenario presented above, you need to THINK<\/strong> about the differences carefully. And NOT<\/strong> cite the reason for wanting car number 6 on anything OTHER<\/strong> than what was actually relevant in your decision-making process. In THIS<\/strong> case, it was one thing that was different… how could you argue that anything else factored in?<\/p>\n

      Figure out where those difference in SHADES<\/strong> are and write exclusively about THEM<\/strong>. Cut to the chase. They squeeze you on words specifically to PROMOTE<\/strong> cutting to the chase.<\/p>\n

      Hope this helps, y’all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Part four is our final post in this series about\u00a0navigating through the various permutations of questions like these: Why do you want an MBA…\u00a0AT ALL? Why do you want an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,817,775],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-admissionado","category-admission-consultants","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}