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Apr 2909:00 AM PDT
-10:00 AM PDT
What’s in it for you- Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with Jenifer Turtschanow, CEO, ARINGO. Come with your details prepared and ARINGO will share insights! Pre-MBA Role/Industry, YOE, Exam Score, C/GPA, ECs Post-MBA Role/ Industry & School List.
Apr 2908:00 PM EDT
-09:00 PM EDT
Join us for a live Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with Juno’s Co-Founder, where we’ll break down everything you need to know about financing your MBA in today’s rapidly changing landscape.
Apr 3010:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
Applying to business school from a finance background? Personal MBA Coach is here to help with this quick tips video on how to set yourself apart during the MBA application process!
Apr 3010:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions Founder Susan Berishaj will walk through why reach/target/safety produces the wrong list for many specific profiles, how admissions committees at different programs read the same background differently, and more...
Apr 3012:00 PM EDT
-01:00 PM EDT
Starting at $975 and offering up to $545 of savings, our new Amplify Hourly Packages offer structure and support in certain high-value areas (story development, resume, essays, interviewing) to help get your applications across the finish line.
Apr 3009:00 PM IST
-10:00 PM IST
Thinking about PE/VC? Most consultants are. Few actually make it. Learn how to position your profile, build the right skills, and break into Private Equity & Venture Capital.
May 0108:30 AM EDT
-09:30 AM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great and how you can present a strong MBA application. Explore the difference between our One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs, talk to our admissions team, and meet students.- May 01
08:30 AM EDT
-09:15 AM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great, learn how you can present a strong MBA application, and connect with an Admissions Director to get your questions answered. 
May 0108:00 PM PDT
-09:00 PM PDT
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!
May 0301:00 PM IST
-02:00 PM IST
Looking to secure a coveted spot at a top business school? Our team of seasoned MBA admissions consultants, including top B schools alumni and industry leaders, is here to help turn your dreams into reality. Let’s kick-start your journey to success!
MBAGuide
Joined: 24 Jul 2019
Last visit: 27 Apr 2026
Posts: 2,366
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 28
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Marketing
Schools: Insead Sept'18 (A$$) ISB '19 (A)
27 Apr 2026, 04:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Before getting into it, here’s exactly what I will cover in this post:
1. Why networking directly improves your MBA essays (and makes them stand out)
Every year, around application season, some sharp, hardworking, and genuinely strong profiles somehow end up with outcomes that don’t quite reflect who they are. And when you sit with it a little longer, it’s rarely because they lacked ability or effort. More often than not, it comes down to something far less obvious: they didn’t spend enough time really understanding the schools they were applying to. They didn’t network enough before they applied.
And I say this not as a tactic, but as something that changes the entire texture of an application. Because without that layer of understanding, essays tend to drift into a certain sameness. What most applicants do is start with the website, maybe read a few blogs, pick up familiar phrases, “collaborative culture,” “global exposure,” “strong alumni network”, and then try to weave together a “Why this school” answer that checks all the right boxes. It reads well, it’s structured, it’s correct. But if you step back, it could just as easily belong to someone else.
I remember reviewing two essays last year for the same school. Both were well-written, both hit the “right” points.
But one of them mentioned a specific classroom discussion where students openly challenged a professor’s view, and how that changed how the applicant thought about leadership. That one line made the entire essay feel real. The other one, despite being polished, just... didn’t stay with you.
There’s a point where “well-written” stops being enough. When you speak to students or alumni, not just once, but enough to notice patterns, you begin to see the school in a way that isn’t available online. You hear what people don’t say as much as what they do. You understand what collaboration actually feels like on the ground, how intense (or supportive) recruiting cycles really are, which classes people talk about long after they’ve taken them.
I have seen this shift happen mid-process as well. Someone starts out saying, “I love the collaborative culture,” and after a few conversations, it becomes, “I spoke to three students who all described how second-years actively prep first-years for recruiting, it felt like something I have been missing in my current environment.” Same idea, completely different depth.
It also helps to speak with AdCom representatives and pay attention to how they respond to your profile, and to have conversations with recruiters who hire MBAs. An unconventional mentee had a real breakthrough last year when in a one to one chance meeting, an admissions director at a top school casually mentioned what she wished she could see more of in his application. Those interactions give you a clearer sense of how you are being perceived and where you realistically fit, which makes it much easier to position yourself more sharply in your application.
2. Why applying to too many schools hurts your chances more than it helps
There’s also a pattern in how people approach their school lists.
A long list, 15, sometimes 20 schools, can feel like a form of security. And I understand where that instinct comes from. This process is uncertain, and more options feel comforting. But what usually happens is that the depth starts to thin out. You don’t quite have the time or mental space to sit with each school long enough to understand it properly. Essays become variations of each other.
I have seen people copy the same “Why MBA” paragraph across 6–7 schools and just tweak a few lines at the end. It feels efficient in the moment, but it shows. Admissions teams, having read thousands of essays, can sense it almost immediately.
A shorter list, approached with more care and attention, almost always leads to better outcomes, because it allows for honesty and depth, things that are hard to manufacture at scale.
3. What effective networking actually looks like (and how to do it right)
Networking, in this context, doesn’t mean how many people you reach out to or how many conversations you can stack. It’s much simpler than that and also harder. It could mean a few thoughtful conversations with current students where you ask questions you actually care about. Not “How is the culture?” but “What surprised you most after joining?” or “What would you do differently if you were applying again?”
Speak to alumni who have taken a path you are considering and trying to understand what the experience really did for them, beyond the polished version.
Attend events and noticing what keeps coming up. What feels consistent across people. What feels slightly rehearsed.
And sometimes, it’s the small moments that stay with you. A candidate once told me that what stood out to them wasn’t anything formal, it was how a student stayed back 15 minutes after a webinar just to answer their questions properly. That one interaction changed how they saw the school.
And somewhere along the way, you should also pay attention to your own reactions. Which conversations stayed with you a little longer. Which school started to feel more “right” in a way you can’t fully explain yet.
4. How to approach Round 1 vs Round 2 to improve your overall outcomes
Round strategy is another piece that often gets treated mechanically. What I have seen work well is not rushing to apply everywhere at once, but being a bit more thoughtful about how you use each round.
Use Round 1 as your testing ground and apply to a mix of safe and competitive schools (safe meaning you are comfortably above their average profile, competitive meaning you are more or less in line, and reach being the ones where the bar is clearly higher). There’s almost always a shift after the first couple of interview invites, and people become more confident about their application strategy.
By the time Round 2 comes around, you should apply to reach schools, building on what’s already worked. Your story is tighter, you are clearer in how you communicate, and you carry more confidence into the process. And that difference, even if it feels small, usually shows.
I am taking free one to one profile evaluation sessions. Reach out to discuss your unique situation
Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]
- Why networking directly improves your MBA essays (and makes them stand out)
- Why applying to too many schools hurts your chances more than it helps
- What effective networking actually looks like (and how to do it right)
- How to approach Round 1 vs Round 2 to improve your overall outcomes
1. Why networking directly improves your MBA essays (and makes them stand out)
Every year, around application season, some sharp, hardworking, and genuinely strong profiles somehow end up with outcomes that don’t quite reflect who they are. And when you sit with it a little longer, it’s rarely because they lacked ability or effort. More often than not, it comes down to something far less obvious: they didn’t spend enough time really understanding the schools they were applying to. They didn’t network enough before they applied.
And I say this not as a tactic, but as something that changes the entire texture of an application. Because without that layer of understanding, essays tend to drift into a certain sameness. What most applicants do is start with the website, maybe read a few blogs, pick up familiar phrases, “collaborative culture,” “global exposure,” “strong alumni network”, and then try to weave together a “Why this school” answer that checks all the right boxes. It reads well, it’s structured, it’s correct. But if you step back, it could just as easily belong to someone else.
I remember reviewing two essays last year for the same school. Both were well-written, both hit the “right” points.
But one of them mentioned a specific classroom discussion where students openly challenged a professor’s view, and how that changed how the applicant thought about leadership. That one line made the entire essay feel real. The other one, despite being polished, just... didn’t stay with you.
There’s a point where “well-written” stops being enough. When you speak to students or alumni, not just once, but enough to notice patterns, you begin to see the school in a way that isn’t available online. You hear what people don’t say as much as what they do. You understand what collaboration actually feels like on the ground, how intense (or supportive) recruiting cycles really are, which classes people talk about long after they’ve taken them.
I have seen this shift happen mid-process as well. Someone starts out saying, “I love the collaborative culture,” and after a few conversations, it becomes, “I spoke to three students who all described how second-years actively prep first-years for recruiting, it felt like something I have been missing in my current environment.” Same idea, completely different depth.
It also helps to speak with AdCom representatives and pay attention to how they respond to your profile, and to have conversations with recruiters who hire MBAs. An unconventional mentee had a real breakthrough last year when in a one to one chance meeting, an admissions director at a top school casually mentioned what she wished she could see more of in his application. Those interactions give you a clearer sense of how you are being perceived and where you realistically fit, which makes it much easier to position yourself more sharply in your application.
2. Why applying to too many schools hurts your chances more than it helps
There’s also a pattern in how people approach their school lists.
A long list, 15, sometimes 20 schools, can feel like a form of security. And I understand where that instinct comes from. This process is uncertain, and more options feel comforting. But what usually happens is that the depth starts to thin out. You don’t quite have the time or mental space to sit with each school long enough to understand it properly. Essays become variations of each other.
I have seen people copy the same “Why MBA” paragraph across 6–7 schools and just tweak a few lines at the end. It feels efficient in the moment, but it shows. Admissions teams, having read thousands of essays, can sense it almost immediately.
A shorter list, approached with more care and attention, almost always leads to better outcomes, because it allows for honesty and depth, things that are hard to manufacture at scale.
3. What effective networking actually looks like (and how to do it right)
Networking, in this context, doesn’t mean how many people you reach out to or how many conversations you can stack. It’s much simpler than that and also harder. It could mean a few thoughtful conversations with current students where you ask questions you actually care about. Not “How is the culture?” but “What surprised you most after joining?” or “What would you do differently if you were applying again?”
Speak to alumni who have taken a path you are considering and trying to understand what the experience really did for them, beyond the polished version.
Attend events and noticing what keeps coming up. What feels consistent across people. What feels slightly rehearsed.
And sometimes, it’s the small moments that stay with you. A candidate once told me that what stood out to them wasn’t anything formal, it was how a student stayed back 15 minutes after a webinar just to answer their questions properly. That one interaction changed how they saw the school.
And somewhere along the way, you should also pay attention to your own reactions. Which conversations stayed with you a little longer. Which school started to feel more “right” in a way you can’t fully explain yet.
4. How to approach Round 1 vs Round 2 to improve your overall outcomes
Round strategy is another piece that often gets treated mechanically. What I have seen work well is not rushing to apply everywhere at once, but being a bit more thoughtful about how you use each round.
Use Round 1 as your testing ground and apply to a mix of safe and competitive schools (safe meaning you are comfortably above their average profile, competitive meaning you are more or less in line, and reach being the ones where the bar is clearly higher). There’s almost always a shift after the first couple of interview invites, and people become more confident about their application strategy.
By the time Round 2 comes around, you should apply to reach schools, building on what’s already worked. Your story is tighter, you are clearer in how you communicate, and you carry more confidence into the process. And that difference, even if it feels small, usually shows.
I am taking free one to one profile evaluation sessions. Reach out to discuss your unique situation
Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]
