To determine the most persuasive messages to “sell” Admissions Officers on your candidacy for their MBA programs, define your personal brand. This will serve as the basis for what you write in your MBA applications through your essays, resume, etc. and for how you talk about yourself, your values and your goals.
Ten questions to consider in defining your personal brand:
- What are your core values? What is most important to you?
- What is your personal mission? Why do you believe you are you here (on the planet)?
- What knowledge, skills and talents do you have? What value do you bring to people, teams and organizations?
- What do you want to be known for? Imagine that in 15-20 years, you are being honored by your alma mater. What do you want them to highlight among your various accomplishments?
- What makes you happy? What would you do for free (or at a below market rate)?
- What motivates and drive you?
- What words would you use to describe yourself?
- What words would others use? Feel free to ask a few people – there is no reason for you to guess what they would say.
- What words do you want people to use in describing you?
- What makes you unique? This is the hardest question to answer and in a lot of ways it is the aggregation of the nine other questions. Remember that uniqueness comes in all sizes and forms so there may be something that seems small or insignificant that captures quite well what makes you different from others.