I have a little bit of a different story as I had a good profile - 760 GMAT, IIT and some of the best start-ups on my resume. However, I had struggled to connect all the dots and present my candidacy in the best way possible. I was not only a re-applicant but a two-time re-applicant and that had been a little draining because of all the painful rejections. While in my first year, I couldn't even get an interview invite, in my second attempt, I got an invite from a single school but was not able to convert. I needed to do something different this time.

Step 1: My plan was to first reflect and get feedback on possible points of improvement. For which I wrote to schools as well as reached out to admissions consultants. This process pointed out a few very important mistakes and tangible ways to improve the profile. This made me realize that my profile was fine and that presentation needed to be improved, and that gave me a much better approach to tackling the complex and overwhelming application process.

Step 2: I realized that my resume though good had not brought out the wealth of my experience so with guidance I took a structured approach to showcasing my strengths and weaknesses. I also focused more on the impact on the company and thinking about the strategic reasons for why we did many operational tasks and linking them.

To borrow words ‘Make the resume – essays, recos, interviews all flow from the resume. Strong resume, strong app!’

Step 3: Goals. I did a much better job of detailing my goals. To the level that somebody in that same job reading my goals would appreciate the research and clarity of thought. I also strengthened the link between Goals – MBA – School.

Step 4: School research – I leveraged my network and also cold called to reach out to students and alums to get behind the scenes information. The key words that stood out for me here were to create ‘familiarity’ and ‘warmth’. That means that when a student of that school reads your essay he or she feels like ‘yes, I get that, I felt that too etc.’

Step 5: Essays: Armed with anecdotal information my essays flowed better. There was a huge difference in how I projected my story by merging career goals and past background into one seamless and easy-to-understand narrative. I also understood the nuances of structured business writing which helped whether it was a practical goals essay or a more story oriented leadership essay.

Interviews: I practiced with the intention of communicating salient features concisely and also planned what all I wanted to convey in 30-45 minutes. This sometimes meant adjusting some answers during the interview to get the most important stuff out.

My consultant this time was big part of my Journey. I have shared some of the things that I learned from Rajdeep Chimni through the year and I hope these inputs help re-applicants.

Glad to report that I was third time lucky!

Admitted to: UCLA with $60,000 scholarship; Michigan Ross; LBS; MIT Sloan. Finally attending MIT Sloan - my dream school. I hope this post inspires people to stick to the task and give it their best shot. Good luck!

1st of all congratulations for getting into MIT.

2nd of all thank you for sharing your tips and experiences.

Best regards,
Chris
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A couple of things that helped me in verbal:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/verbal-strategies-268700.html#p2082192

Gmat Prep CAT #1: V42, Q34, 630
Gmat Prep CAT #2: V46, Q35, 660
Gmat Prep CAT #3: V41, Q42, 680

On the mission to improve my quant score, all help is appreciated!

Thanks for writing this de-brief.
Congratulations on getting into MIT. Goodluck!