When you are just hours away from submitting your application, it can feel daunting, and many applicants miss out on small details that can jeopardize even the most planned application. Here are 3 best practices before you submit your application.
1) Consistency of Voice
What happens in school applications is that many subscribe to Essay Editing services for the mandatory essays without taking the services for all the application questions. This could lead to a scenario where you have two voices. One is the actual voice of the applicant, and the other is an edited or refined voice that is a combination of the consultant and the applicant’s voice. The admissions team is not expecting you to write elaborate narratives for the small questions in the application. Still, you have to offer a consistent voice and be careful to write in full sentences. Many times, I have seen applicants just use pointers to answer the question. This is a red flag. Spend time – at least the last day before the application deadline answering other questions in the MBA application.
2) Managing Supervisors and Recommendation Letter Deadlines
There are certain schools that allow you to submit recommendation letters after the deadline – mostly within a week, but almost all schools consider an application submission as complete when all the application elements, including transcripts, essays, resume, and recommendation letters, are submitted. A lot of challenges can emerge if you don’t have a process to manage the recommenders through consistent follow-up and support by offering detailed project breakdowns, narratives about the challenges of completing a milestone, and constructive feedback that you accepted from the supervisor. Many times, there might be internal politics, other high-priority tasks to manage, or a travel schedule that can affect the deliverable as well.
Schools are strict with enforcing the recommendation letter submission, but if your planned supervisor is not able to complete your letter within 2-3 days from the deadline, have a conversation with the person about the possibility of switching to another senior person in your team. The MBA Admissions team is open to the idea of reading recommendation letters - one from a supervisor and another from a senior person in the team who has witnessed your growth.
3) Avoid Last Minute Edit
Those who are serious about their application spend close to a week to 3 months writing and refining their essays. I have also seen applicants completely immerse themselves in the writing process for 2-3 days and deliver impressive narratives, taking in all the advice that I give them about story structure. These are rare applicants with skills in writing. If you don’t have that natural inclination, either because you don’t write regularly through a blog or creative writing, don’t change the essay during the last read. There might be many imperfections that you will find in an essay during the final read. Unless it is a grammatical mistake, don’t change the transitions or voice of the essay. Schools do not expect professional writers. They want an authentic voice with some imperfections.
