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April – The month for MBA Admissions Strategy

For those who are planning to apply for this admission season, GMAT might be the foremost priority. Don’t take your eyes from the practice tests and the iterative tackling of the GMAT sections. However, allocate at least two days to develop a strategy for the next admission season.


Strategy vs Plan

I might be preaching to the choir. A strategy captures the ideal outcome that would help you achieve the post-MBA goals. Whereas planning is the nitty gritty of how you will fulfil the strategy.

For instance, in order to transition into a Marketing job function from your current position as a Consultant, getting admissions to Kellogg should be a strategy.

Post-MBA Goal: Switching career from Consulting to Marketing


Strategy: Get accepted to Kellogg’s 2-year Full-time MBA

First Step: Understand the MBA Landscape

The first step in the strategy is understanding the MBA admission landscape and the historical acceptance trends. Some schools don’t strictly hang-on to GPA if your GMAT score is above 750 while many M7 schools don’t compromise on both the metrics. If you are approaching your target schools without understanding such nuanced preferences, the time, money and effort you put into tuning the essays by yourself or through professional help, would go wasted. That is why we have incorporated brainstorming sessions and resume editing along with the Essay Review service. It is impossible to isolate the motivations, strengths and weaknesses of applicants and set expectations without sharing admission trends.


Second Step: Establish school-specific strategies based on your weakness and strengths


For the consultant planning to switch career into Marketing, breaking down the entry criteria for Kellogg would help him address the weaknesses and accentuate the strengths.

MBA Applicant: Consultant; Male; 27 years; 4 years of experience; GMAT 750; GPA 3.2;STEM background; U.S Minority

Now let us look at the numbers for the latest Kellogg Full-time MBA class

• Average GMAT: 732

• Average GPA: 3.6
• GMAT Range: 590-790
• Average Age: 28
• U.S Minority: 27%
• International: 34%
• Women: 46%
• Work Experience (Middle 80%): 3.5 to 7 years
• Top 3 Pre-MBA Industry: Consulting (24%), Financial Services (19%) and Technology (13%)
• Top 3 Undergraduate majors: STEM (29%), Business/Economics (50%) and Humanities (26%)


Strategy for mitigating weakness in MBA Application

Applicants spend most of their time and effort in creating narratives without any strategy.  Instead, create a list of action items that you must complete to bring authenticity to the narrative.

If the narrative is all about how the applicant has a bias for action and in the months leading up to R1 or R2 deadlines if he has not taken any effort to improve his profile, the narrative means nothing.

For the example above, the applicant’s weaknesses are

1) Below average GPA

2) Experience on the lower side

By joining reputed online MBA core courses or courses in Statistics and Calculus, if the subjects were a weakness, the applicant is showing an eagerness to address them. Most applicants don’t pursue the corrective measure, not from lack of effort, but because they are too late into the admission season (mostly a month before R1 or R2 deadlines). By that time, the enrollment for the online courses would have been closed, or the duration of the course would make it impossible to create a narrative on it.



Strategy for accentuating strengths in MBA Application

Before filming Godfather, to streamline his thoughts, Coppola annotated the novel with extensive notes on approaching each scene. It was a visual translation of a classic novel. The scribble marks and the instructions on which part to accentuate, play it normal or bring down the tempo were planned with one goal in mind – the visual result should not be something that anyone has ever seen. Coppola painstakingly warned against clichés in several scenes. This is a technique that we found inspiration while editing essays.

Some clichés and stereotypes persist because they are true. The probability that an Indian applicant plays cricket, or a Chinese applicant has mastered Piano, remain because they are true in many instances.

Ask yourself:

1) How should I present myself that is atypical of someone from my background?

2) How should I present myself that reinforces the positive stereotype of my country, race, gender or professional background?


Godfather had several instances of stereotypical Italian mannerism that brought authenticity to the story. Similarly, find what makes your story authentic. That will translate well in the essays.


Third Step: Develop a Winning Strategy for your Demographic


Strategy for Underrepresented and Women Applicants – No room for Complacency

In recent years, the percentage of underrepresented U.S Minority and Women applicants have increased remarkably. With the percentage of women applicant inching closer to 50%, the narratives that we used a few years ago for women applicant has no value this year. So if you are a women applicant, know that gender-specific positive stereotypes would improve your story if it aligns with the school’s values. For underrepresented U.S Minority – find experiences in extra-curricular that is atypical of an applicant from a similar background. That would substantially improve your admission chances.

Strategy for International Applicants – The bets are against you

It might be the turmoil of Brexit and the declining prominence of European economies; International applicants are showing interest in US schools at a rate that we haven’t seen before. The competition is intense. That means the if you have no connection with the US (no siblings as resident or relatives in the school – legacy admissions) be prepared to face an uphill task to clear all the admission rounds. Unlike other application pools, your application is approached as an elimination exercise. The mindset brings little relief to International applicants with below-par GMAT (less than 700) or forgetful experience (the typical roles – Technologists, Investment Banker or Management Consultant) with nothing interesting to add in terms of life experiences or unique professional achievements. On top of that in a booming economy, the popular industries face fewer attrition, discouraging the admission team from accepting applicants from a similar background.

Brainstorm. List out all your unique life, extra-curricular and professional experiences. Seek assistance from experts to frame the story in a unique way.

Fourth Step: Develop application strategy for your Dream Schools

First vs. Second vs Third Round (Dream Schools): Most schools follow a 40-40-20 rule where 40% of the class is selected in Round 1 and 2 each whereas Round 3 is reserved for the last 20%, including the waitlisted from R2.

A popular strategy to reduce the risk of putting all the eggs in one basket is to divide your dream schools into two rounds (R1 and R2). By doing so, the strategies that you adopted to position yourself in Round 1, even if it fails, would not jeopardize the admission chances in all your dream schools.


Round 3 should be reserved for schools where your promotion in March (most multinationals delay the announcement of promotion until Q4) would bring a substantial improvement to your profile. There is no better compliment to storytelling than a measurable metric like ‘increase in salary’ or ‘$ in bonus’ or ‘the exclusivity of the promotion – 2 from a 10-member team received promotion.’

So how to start a strategy session?

Ask - What are the values your dream school appreciates the most?


About the Author 

Atul Jose - Founding Consultant F1GMAT

I am Atul Jose - the Founding Consultant at F1GMAT.

Over the past 15 years, I have helped MBA applicants gain admissions to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Haas, Yale, NYU Stern, Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, IE, IESE, HEC Paris, McCombs, Tepper, and schools in the top 30 global MBA ranking. 

I offer end-to-end Admissions Consulting and editing services – Career Planning, Application Essay Editing & Review, Recommendation Letter Editing, Interview Prep, assistance in finding funds and Scholarship Essay & Cover letter editing. See my Full Bio.

Contact me for support in school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative advice, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing and guiding supervisors with recommendation letter guideline documents. 

I am also the Author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, covering 16+ top MBA programs with 240+ Sample Essays that I have updated every year since 2013 (11+ years. Phew!!)

I am an Admissions consultant who writes and edits Essays every year. And it is not easy to write good essays. 

Contact me for any questions about MBA or Master's application. I would be happy to answer them all 

Winning MBA Essay Guide - A Complete Guide for M7 and Top 15 MBA Application Essays 


F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay into a life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.

+ Over 245 Sample Essays (Read Previews of F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide Sample Essays here)

+ Top 15 MBA Programs (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Booth, MIT, Kellogg, Yale, Haas, Darden, INSEAD, LBS, NYU Stern, Tuck, Duke Fuqua, Ross)
+ The Art of Storytelling 
+ Leadership Narratives
+ Review Tips
+ Persuasion Strategies
+ The Secret to "unleashing" your unique voice
+ How to prepare and present for the Video Essay
+ How to write about your Strengths
+ How to write about your Weaknesses
 
 

Want to try the individual school Essay Guides before upgrading to the Winning MBA Essay Guide? Try below.

F1GMAT's Essay Guides

  • Harvard MBA Essay Guide (20 Sample Essays)

    Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words) 

    Example #1: Persistence Narrative 
    Background Information: The applicant – a design and music talent, shares her journey through several setbacks. She attributes curiosity to her growth.  
    Curiosity: Philosophy  
    Curiosity (Explained): Curiosity as a philosophy is tough to translate into a narrative unless you are from the creative industry or your contributions had an influence on a solution or an initiative.  
    MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to capture the humanity of the applicant and her influence in music instead of just highlighting how she overcame multiple roadblocks to gain attention as a designer.  
    Theme: Persistence  
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Life Starts at NO (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example) 

    Example #2: International Community Building 
    Background Information: The applicant, a Machine Learning (ML) entrepreneur specializing in healthcare diagnostics, shares how his curiosity to learn other ML algorithms’ evolution in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease transformed his platform into a global community. 
    MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to show the applicant’s contributions in diagnostic from 2020 to 2024 by citing two events. Such examples build credibility instead of engagements that were recent. The evolution of the platform from an AI development community to a community for discussing the application of AI in diagnostics is captured through a ‘curiosity’ angle.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Growth through Collaboration (AI in Healthcare) (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #3: Culture
    Background Information: The applicant, an Entrepreneur from India narrates his first entrepreneurial experience – facilitating exchange of stamps in the late 1990s.
    Theme: Culture
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Instead of addressing the biases in the investor community that could turn preachy, I wanted to focus on the applicant and his entrepreneurial journey by citing two entrepreneurial experiences – a platform(club) for stamp collection and his Grocery delivery App.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – The American Dream (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #4: Addiction
    Background Information: The applicant – a beneficiary of the foster home system, captures the sacrifice his adopted grandparents made to save him from a path of addiction. Paying it back through early intervention among teenagers and community engagement is the curiosity narrative.
    Theme: Addiction
    MBA Essay Strategy:  My strategy is to capture a gratitude narrative in the first one-third of the essay to demonstrate motivation for starting the venture and dedicate the latter part of the essay to the unique solution
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Drug Addiction and Gaming (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #5: Scarcity
    Background Information: The applicant, an education major, recognizes that 70% of all students in Kenya don’t have a computer. The curiosity that drives him to pivot from one solution to another is the growth narrative.
    Theme: Innovation
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Often, innovation is captured with a ‘hero’ narrative where the applicant is the sole originator of an idea. I wanted to break that cliché and include a person from whom the applicant learned to use a concept called ‘scaffolding.’
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Scarcity (Growth-Oriented HBS Essay Example)

    Example #6: FinTech
    Background Information: The applicant captures a vulnerable moment of a beneficiary to compare his journey of side hustle before a technology giant noticed his talent. Although cryptocurrency is not a flavor for the year, capture niches where innovation is still happening. 
    Theme: Education, Child Welfare
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Empathizing with a techno solution is tough without a strong backstory around the beneficiary. For the essay, I wanted to clearly establish the beneficiary – Rami, before the applicant narrates the similarities to his journey and finally shares the solution that emerged from his curiosity.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – FinTech as a Tool for Good (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #7: Learning from the best
    Background Information: The applicant – a Remote Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry, reflects on a value that has helped her learn from the best regardless of her geographical limitations.
    Theme: Learning
    MBA Essay Strategy:  The effectiveness of the case-study method depends on the assumption that peers in a Harvard MBA class will help elevate your learning experience. For the essay, I have highlighted the applicant’s recognition of this value proposition with three examples.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Learning from the Best (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #8: Military & Search for IMPACT
    Background Information: The most common narrative for US military applicants is to quote 9/11 and the reaction your immediate family had while watching the events unfold. The horrifying moment is captured as a motivation to join the Military. On digging deeper, most applicants would share that their motivations were diverse.
    Theme: Career Choice
    MBA Essay Strategy:  I wanted to quickly highlight that the applicant had the choice of entering any industry. One achievement to demonstrate his curiosity that I shared in the first half is the invention of a game. Since the game is mentioned in the resume and verifiable through search, I didn’t quote the name. By clearly highlighting the person’s curiosity and career options, the family legacy is used as a factor in joining the military.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Career Choice after a Military Career (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
     
    Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)

    Example #9: Small Business Values
    Background Information: The applicant - a second-generation Asian American, is familiar with the values of fiscal conservatism, building relationships, and understanding the daily struggles of the community through his family’s department store.
    Theme: Customer-Centric
    MBA Essay Strategy:  The applicant’s role in developing an App for the store is highlighted in the essay at a crucial part of the narrative so that the essay is not all about his father. I have also humanized the journey – by sharing how upset the father was when the revenues fell by 40%. The essay is about the transformation in the applicant’s value from a person chasing productivity and optimization technique to someone who is truly thinking about the customers. 
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Small Business Values (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #10: Breaking Away from Family Business
    Background Information: A unique challenge that applicants whose parents are public figures or CXOs of businesses or entrepreneurs are the pressure to live up to the parent’s standards or milestones. For the leadership narrative, the burden of legacy is established before the narrative addresses his leadership principles.
    Theme: Authenticity  
    MBA Essay Strategy:  For the essay, I want to capture an entrepreneur’s journey to rise above his entrepreneur father’s image. But I didn’t want to make the entire essay about this complex dynamics. The narrative is around the applicant’s focus on customers and surrounding with teams who keeps him grounded. 
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business(Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #11: Creativity and Communication 
    Background Information: When the overall percentage of users with internet access is 62% in South Africa and the inequality accentuated by the rural and urban divide, the applicant endured the lack of digital infrastructure, and spending close to 22% of the family income on gaining relevant information on schools, global exams, and financial assistance. 
    Theme: Creativity, Communication
    MBA Essay Strategy:  The strategy is to share why the applicant values no distraction in a child’s home for optimum education experience. Then I highlight the many roadblocks the applicant’s non-profit faced in receiving fee waiver for their cooperative run ISP.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Non-Profit (Telecom) (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #12: Mental Health
    Background Information: The applicant like most didn’t pay much attention to the mental health epidemic until tragedy hit home.
    Theme: Communication, Innovation
    MBA Essay Strategy:  A question we frequently get from applicants is whether they should cite tragedy in the family as a motivation for a venture or a non-profit initiative. As long as you don’t linger too much on the tragedy and offer a balanced narrative, there are no restrictions on leveraging unique stories from your life. 
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Mental Health (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #13: Trauma, Healing & Finding Authentic Self
    Background Information: The applicant narrates the absurdity of war in the narrative about the duties in Kabul, and the trauma. Instead of wallowing in on the horror, the applicant takes what makes military applicants strong and guides unprivileged children build life and leadership skills.
    Theme: Resilience
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Capturing PTSD in an essay, the healing process, and the cues that helped the applicant are too sacred to be shared in a Harvard MBA application essay. However, with the right motivation and narrative arcs, you can capture the essence of your journey without sharing the darkest secrets. That is what I did by merging two stories – the horrors of the war with a non-profit engagement.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Military & PTSD (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #14: Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra
    Background Information: In this narrative, the applicant captures Peru’s Silver mining boom of 2006. The growth experienced in her father’s business shifted the family’s economic status to a new stratosphere. Through the changing economic and family dynamics, the applicant finds her voice in a unique way, initially to record her unheard voice but later as one of the youngest subject matter experts in mining and commodities.  
    Theme: Failure
    MBA Essay Strategy:  For the essay, the strategy is to show how life’s unpredictability is a blessing. By narrating two setback events, the essay demonstrates the applicant’s resilience and her acknowledgment of people who made a comeback possible.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #15: War, Immigration and Starting Over Again
    Background Information: Despite a raging war in Syria, the family of the applicant was unblemished by the chaos. The strategic government assets near the applicant’s house would have made the region an easy target, but it was not. The calmness of her journey is shattered in one event. From the privileges of a cocooned life, the applicant is forced to think about survival, her sister’s future, and her future in the US. The second half of the narrative captures the change that was forced on her. 
    Theme: Gratitude, Resilience
    MBA Essay Strategy:  I consciously chose not to start the essay with a dialogue or trauma. Two lines are allocated to set up the narrative before the trauma event.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – War, Immigration and Starting Over Again (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)

    Example #16: Creative or Finance
    Background Information: The applicant starts the narrative with the origin of her talents. The unbridled enthusiasm receives a reality check when in high school, the applicant’s father has a conversation with her about academics. While the applicant picked up her quant skills, she was reaching over 50,000 loyal fans, and her videos captured 1 million views. 
    Theme: Passion, Talent
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Capturing vulnerability is the toughest part for Harvard MBA applicants. For this essay example, I have captured the applicant’s uncertainty about career choice throughout the essay. Here the goal is to show vulnerability in the career choice essay while for leadership and growth essay, I could capture one example each from creative and PE industry respectively to balance the narrative. So don’t follow this example without a strategy.  
    Read: Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay – Creative or Finance (Business-Minded HBS MBA Essay Example)

  • Stanford MBA Essay Guide (24 Sample Essays)
  • Columbia MBA Essay Guide (21 Sample Essays)
  • Wharton MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
  • INSEAD MBA Essay Guide (19 Sample Essays)
  • Darden MBA Essay Guide  (21 Sample Essays) 
  • Yale SOM MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
  • Tuck MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
  • Haas MBA Essay Guide (18 Sample Essays)
  • NYU Stern MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays + 6 Examples - Visual Essay)
  • LBS MBA Essay Guide (6 Sample Essays)
  • MIT Sloan MBA Essay Guide (6 Sample Cover Letters + 3 Sample Video Statement Scripts + 3 Sample Optional Essays)
  • Kellogg MBA Essay Guide (11 Sample Essays)
  • Chicago Booth MBA Essay Guide (12 Sample Essays)
  • Ross MBA Essay Guide (31 Sample Essays)
  • Duke Fuqua MBA Essay Guide (10 Sample Essays + Two 25 Random Things Samples)
  • Cambridge MBA Essay Guide (12 Sample Essays)

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