Positioning Statement: Who's Got One?

Question

When I was getting ready to apply, I read through Montauk, who recommends a positioning statement, a sort of paragraph that BRIEFLY tells your story. It says a bit about who you are, where you came from, where you're going, and why. Using that paragraph, I identified three general points that I wanted the Adcom to remember about me. That story and those three points became the framework of my applications. 

Does anyone else have one of these?

Did any of you 09ers use one? Did it help you?

zakk · Answer

I've read that section as well and I think its a basic marketing outline tool, very useful in crisis communications as well. And to be honest, writing this feels like a crisis to me! :lol:

What is the core message? This is the backgrounder. What are your main points? You can have up to three, and then it gets murky. Mine is written as a seven sentence paragraph followed by 3 bullet points of the most important info I want AdCom's to come away with. All topics come back to one of these points and tie into my core message. One thing that I have heard many essays do is they diverge into different areas and paths and are not very cohesive. I'm trying to have all three read like "chapters" if you will that make the story of the zakk.

lepium · Answer

It's got to do with strategic planning. Kind of writing your vision and mission statements. I like the idea. 

L.

kryzak · Answer

currently going through all the stuff that I did, then I'll probably do the "positioning" thing Montauk suggested. Not quite sure which three point I want to stress though, but since I'm an engineer by training, I'll probably stress my leadership, community/school involvement, and love for working with people (in teams). These should defeat the stereotypes for typical engineers.

It's the "themes" that I haven't come up with yet, other than cliched ones like "Engineer who likes to work with people" (or is that a legit theme?)

lepium · Answer

My advice: Don't try to counter your perceived weaknesses, just try to highlight your strengths, even if they fall into some stereotypes.

L.

PS: I'm not sure whether my suggestion would improve or worsen your odds, so get a second opinion, just in case.

kryzak · Answer

well, Montauk's book talks about avoiding talking too much about things that adcoms already assume you are strong at. So for an engineer, my tech/quant abilities and strength in academics are shown through my jobs, GMAT, and transcript.

I want to focus on my other strengths: the strength of leadership in the workplace, and community, the well roundedness of my personality (through hobbies), and the involvement with a group as a team member wherever I go (whether at my company or my alma mater, I am involved).

zakk · Answer

astute plan. Another great strategy is dropping easter eggs in there about your proven quant ability and talk about how well it couples with the topics you stated above. Just my 2 cents, not adjusted for inflation because the Fed held rates :-D

adcxaway · Answer

Sorry, I was just wondering - wouldn't Essay 1 usually address this? Or are you to include a positioning statement in every essay? Or do people usually write essay 1 without covering this?

dabots · Answer

i tried this positioning thing, but it just seemed silly...i just wrote a more free flowing description of myself through the goals essay

aaudetat · Answer

Your positioning statement is what you do before you write those essays - theoretically. It's almost like a brief summary of you, and of your application story. It outlines the "take-away points" that you want the adcoms to remember. It's been a while since I thought about this, so I am probably not being very clear, but Montauk has a nice discussion of it.

kryzak · Answer

I think Montauk and aau means to write the positioning statement BEFORE you write any real essays. The statement helps you figure out what you want the adcom to know about you that you will write in the essay questions that school asks. I plan on writing one soon before I do my Haas essays.

Good idea zakk about throwing in quant skills here and there. Not as worried for Haas because they ask you in a short answer question, and most of my quant classes were taken at UC Berkeley, so they know how hard it was

EDIT: Darn, aau got to it before I did

Positioning Statement: Who's Got One?

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