If you want to know the one secret that is a guarantee that you will get admission to an M7 school, it is a consistent track record of success. Typically, what happens is that an average applicant has a peak – mostly in school. Then, they get into the real world. And now they start facing some failures.
When you build your profile – that is, volunteering and extra-curricular, resume, essays, and recommendation letter, focus on these 4 data points for demonstrating a track record of success.
1) Academic
This is a tricky factor. If you have any B- grade in courses related to Finance, Accounting, Statistics, or Communication, your academic success as a branding strategy will not work. Schools prefer candidates with strong Quant skills, but weaknesses in communication can also backfire if they are below B- grade.
2) GMAT/GRE Attempts
This is another giveaway that you are not academically ready. GMAT/GRE is a proxy for your academic readiness. Most schools don’t look negatively at re-attempts if it 2 times, but anything over 3 or 4 needs a unique narrative to explain the challenges you faced in completing the standardized test. You need to mention it in the optional essay in some form if the attempts were more than four times.
3) Work Experience
This is where you must be very clear that your performance was among the top 1-5%. One way to do that is by sharing the frequency of promotions, employee awards, and client appreciation letters if you worked with start-ups where such mentions are unique differentiators.
4) Volunteering and Extra-Curricular
Success should transcend your academic and work experience and into the communities that you serve. The best way to showcase this unique trait is by sharing IMPACTFUL volunteering experiences that show a consistent engagement with local communities, preferably with a relevant theme.
The admissions team is inundated with niche to generic volunteering engagements.
If you strategically include examples that were publicized in social media and remained in the news cycle for at least 3 days to 1 week, your profile will have higher recall from your competitors.
