More than Just GMAT and Essays

As we get closer to the second round MBA application deadline, candidates have been sharing their admissions concerns with me. I’ve had more than a few people in the last week tell me that they are only concerned about the GMAT and their admissions essays. Makes sense, right? If you aren’t done with your GMAT, then you are down to 10 weeks to get the best score you possibly can. And when you look at the application, the essays are certainly the most time-consuming portion and also offer you the most open application “real estate” to build your case for admissions.

While I completely understand the “GMAT and essays” focus of second round candidates, I don’t agree completely with it as an approach. With ten weeks to the deadline, I would prioritize my time and energy in the following way:

GMAT, GMAT, GMAT – you’ve got that part right! Stay focused on the GMAT. Every ten points matters, so give it your all.

1. Recommendations – prepare and stay engaged with your recommenders. You must go beyond the “ask”, where you invite your boss or former boss to serve as a reference, to the preparation, where you enable that person to write a strong recommendation of you. Help them help you.
2. Figure out your story – I guess you are sensing that I don’t think you should be spending too much of your effort on essays right now. The essay writing process is time-consuming and you should reserve as much capacity for GMAT preparation. With that said, your essay writing process will be condensed so in a couple of weeks when you sit down to write, it’s important that you know what you are going to say. At that point, you must have your story figured out. These are the most important questions. (I didn’t make these up…most business schools ask one of more of these; I also suggest you look at the essay topics of your schools)
   1. What are your short-term and long-term goals?
   2. Why do you want to go to business school and why now? Hint: This should relate to your goals as well as to your work prior to business school.
   3. Why do you want to go to the particular schools to which you are applying? Suggestion: Make a list of 5-10 things that you like about each school, such as the environment or culture, specific programs and activities, and courses.
   4. Perfect your resume – this is one of the most under-utilized parts of the MBA application. The resume is the concise aggregation of your story and if written well can paint a powerful picture for the Admissions Committee. Additionally, the work you put into perfecting your resume, is time well spent because you will hopefully mentally revisit each opportunity that you have had to identify the most poignant examples (hint: for your essays and interviews).
   5. Write your essays – I don’t want you to procrastinate on writing your MBA essays; I want you to strategically hold off on them. Ideally you will have many, many weeks to write the strongest possible essays. What’s important is that right now you don’t spin your wheels on essay writing when your time is better spent on other activities.  When you do start writing your essays, it will be critical for you to have a speedy feedback loop (getting essay critique from a friend or trusted source); line those essay reviewers up now.