Discernment: Make Every Decision Count

You will have some big decisions to make in the MBA application process, such as (1) which schools should I apply to, (2) should I retake the GMAT again, or (3) which school should I attend? Of course, these are incredibly important. In actuality though, the MBA application process is made up of so many micro-decisions that will equally impact whether you are successful in getting into business school and leveraging every available opportunity. Unfortunately, many MBA candidates are not prepared to make those decisions. Ok, “prepared” is probably the wrong word for most of you. You absolutely have the capacity to make excellent decisions – you’ve done it before. But now you are moving up in the world…business school. You are in new territory and may be second guessing yourself.

So what to do…the business school application is taxing and it can be tough on your confidence. Get ready. It’s made especially tough by all of the differing opinions that you will hear. You will get advice from everybody about everything related to business school. The key to successfully navigating this process for your own benefit is DISCERNMENT. You will need discernment, the ability to judge well, to be successful in the application process–to get through it without having multiple anxiety attacks (expect to have at least one)–and to make the best decision for YOU.

One of your first tasks must be to talk to alumni about their business school experience. Some of them will be so impressive, so definitive in their advice–so directive in telling you what should do–and they will be so wrong (or at least not completely right). For example, when alumni give my favorite piece of advice – I’m being completely facetious(This is not really my favorite. It actually completely annoys me.) The oversimplified advice that I hear uttered too often by some MBA alumni and media is that unless you attend a top 10 MBA program, business school a waste of your time and money. Seriously? How do you figure?

Now I believe there are at least two industries in which business school ranking is incredibly important (Investment Banking & Strategy Consulting). Most of the people who I have heard give that advice are in one of those two fields and I will tell you that if those fields are of interest to you, I encourage you to consider how your MBA program will position you for success (looking at the companies that recruit on campus and the companies where alumni work), but there are thousands and thousands of super successful MBA alumni whose alma maters will never see the top ten or the top 20. Rankings are just one domain of oversimplified advice, but there are countless examples, in which you will get advice and need to sift through it, determining where the advisor is coming from (what are their biases and experiences), what makes sense for YOU and what does not, and what just doesn’t seem right.

Discernment applies to me too. DiversityMBAPrep provides you with a lot of information. It’s mostly my opinion (and of course I think I’m right). But here’s the thing…I make a lot of bold statements based on my experience in the MBA space, but I haven’t worked with every MBA program and even if I had, things are constantly changing. So you have to use discernment with my advice too. And oh, by the way…I don’t know you – you may have special circumstances that render my advice incomplete.

Adapted from a 2012 DiversityMBAPrep blog post.