Gift certificates

Question

Hi

My company does not have a formal award system since it is pretty small. However, recently, our CEO gave me $1000 gift certificate for all around contributions to the company. What would be an appropriate place in the application to mention this? Essays, resume, or the additional information section on the application? Or would it be in an optional essay if the school allows for one?

I have received other smaller amount gift certificates for performance before also - but I do not know if this is appropriate to mention in the awards section of the application.

Thanks

sudden · Answer

That seems like a bonus to me. If it were just $50, I would probably ignore it, but $1,000?! Nice! I would just lump it into the cash bonus section of the application and not mention it elsewhere. If they challenge you on it, it will be easy to back up (they won't challenge it though).

mbagal1 · Answer

Thanks sudden. But here is the thing - as a consultant, part of my compensation is a flat % bonus on base salary (based on 90% utilization, paid per quarter, which is usually not difficult to get in my line of work in a decent economy). So, that would go in the bonus section and if I include this as part of that, I feel that the value of getting the extra certificate will be diluted. The other certificates before I think was $300 once and $100 once. 
So, in my case, what makes the best sense?

sudden · Answer

I see. In that case, I view this as a cost benefit trade off. How valuable do you think mentioning this extra "bonus" will be to your application? If you think it is highly valuable, then tack on a sentence or two explaining it in your optional essay. Personally, I don't think the adcom is going to put a lot of weight on it, so I would just lump it in with the bonus and be done with it. That one or two sentences could be used for something else (I know that your profile is somewhat complicated already, so why complicate it more?) or left out entirely. If you start adding extra details to your app that are of marginal value, I think you risk annoying the adcom.

I'm not trying to down play your accomplishment (nice job), but I think you should consider this piece of info. in the totality of your app. Is it going to be a difference maker in your candidacy? Given that you are high up the ladder already, I would say probably not.

I'm not trying to down play your accomplishment (nice job), but I think you should consider this piece of info. in the totality of your app. Is it going to be a difference maker in your candidacy? Given that you are high up the ladder already, I would say probably not.

mbagal1 · Answer

OK - thanks sudden. I did need a third person perspective to this. While it did mean a lot to me when I got it, it probably doesn't mean much to the adcom. It's just that my awards/honors section is going to look empty, so I was wondering if I could do something about it. 
The money itself doesn't matter to me much as much as the CEO telling me he valued the all-around contributions to the company, as compared to other gift certificates, which were just for performance on individual projects - part of why I did not want to tack it on to the bonus.

sudden · Answer

Actually, this would be the perfect sort of comment to go into a letter of recommendation. This will carry more weight anyway since the adcom will probably discount anything you say unless it is backed up by others.

mbagal1 · Answer

That's a great idea! I will remind my manager of this certificate - to put in the recommendation.

Thank you, sudden. You have been a great help.

Gift certificates

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards