Most applicants don’t have continuous involvement with one non-profit. When they learn that the spike in activity, 1 year before admissions would be judged as manipulation by the US schools, the geographic spread of their target schools widens. European schools don't have such heavy emphasis on volunteering and extra-curricular. However, if you were among those who had decent involvement (3-4 months each) in a non-profit while managing an impressive career progression, positioning the extra-curricular experience is necessary for a Winning MBA Application.
Here are 5 ways to position your volunteering/extra-curricular experience
1) Choice of Organization
Although schools don't openly share this uncomfortable trend, applicants from Fortune 100 companies have a clear advantage over applicants building their multi-functional skills in a start-up or performing above their peers in a 200 to 500 ranked Fortune company. When you have 3-4 years of experience in one organization, the sub-conscious question that admission team would have is - can the applicant excel in a highly structured organization. The processes and operational efficiency might not differ that much in a Fortune 100 and a Fortune 200 company, but most top companies stay on the list by consistently focusing on eliminating processes that hinder from serving the customers. Volunteering in one of the top recognized non-profit brands - Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross, Teach for America, Goodwill, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Smile Foundation, Salvation Army, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, or Amnesty International, is a trick that applicants from lesser-known brand employ to signal that they are associated with known brands outside their professional life.
2) Leadership Role
Not everyone has the opportunity to lead in a professional environment. Flat organization divide the responsibilities based on the functions with systems and automated processes taking over the role of managers in project tracking and predicting the timeline of each phase. In such organizations, individual responsibility to take ownership of a clearly defined outcome is valued more than managing a team of 3-4.
With no room to understand the motivations of individuals within an organization and leading them towards a greater vision, volunteering and extra-curricular becomes the opportunity to highlight this vital part of your personality. Leading a team in Football, Cricket, Basketball, Soccer or a platoon (military) involve managing the short-term goals and long-term vision for each organization.
If you were leading professionally, understanding the motivations of high-performing individuals is necessary to overcome short-term challenges. Most likely you would work with such individuals in an MBA class. The biggest learning curve while leading is at developing the skill in assessing talent, incentivizing them for performance and developing training schedules to help them reach their true potential. If during volunteering, you had the chance to mentor a teammate, share the experience with the emphasis on the journey you took in improving the skills of the person.
3) Commitment
For applicants who were part of one non-profit or organization (military/professional sports team), the narrative should emphasis the loyalty, the vision of the organization, the offers from rivals or alternative career paths (military), and conclude why commitment to the team has helped you grow as an individual and a leader. Organizations value loyalty in a job market when professionals on an average switch 2-3 companies in the first 5 years of their career. If you switched jobs more than 2 times, the loyalty to one organization in the non-profit would balance out the 'commitment' questions that might arise about your professional choices. A demonstrable performance with the non-profit and the diversity of the volunteering experience would showcase how you value challenges while subtly hinting that the switch in jobs was not entirely to meet the financial goals but to fulfil the tremendous appetite to take on broader challenges.
4) Diversity of Experience
Learning in an MBA class requires the flexibility to take on multiple roles in student clubs, as an event organizer, and as an effective contributor during class discussions. Highlighting multiple facets of your personality is not entirely possible in a functional role. If the involvement in the non-profit was sporadic, try to find a narrative that highlights the diversity of the experience. Most applicants start with on-ground volunteering with several opportunities to interact with the beneficiaries. Once they experience the joy, frustration and the snail-pace with which projects are delivered in partnership with the government (the majority of projects), volunteers seek a high-impact role. Since most applicants are trying to gain cross-functional experience, highlighting the learning curve in each phase, the mistakes made, and the lessons learned would demonstrate the readiness to learn and take on complex projects in any part of the world (a key winning trait for Management Consultants).
5) Bigger Picture
For those who have started a non-profit to resolve a specific community problem, capturing the bigger vision of the organization would help you portray an ability to foresee results that applicants traditionally don't do. The most common reason for rejection is the inability to connect short-term with long-term goals or citing long-term goals that don’t make any logical sense for the profile. By repeating an ability to see the bigger picture professionally and at an organizational level, you could bring a deep understanding of market forces, technology trends and government policies to the class.
Be as specific as possible when you predict trends, citing examples of your involvement with the non-profit whenever possible.
Have questions about the value of your extracurricular experience? Start the conversation here.
Want help capturing the most relevant extra-curricular experience in your essays? Subscribe to our Essay Review Service
Sample Essays + Essay Writing, Review & Editing Tips + 15 School-Specific Tips = Winning MBA Essay Guide
"Pressed against the deadline, I ordered F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide as their blogs always had something interesting to say. It was by far one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Going through the Essay Guide, I learned the art of storytelling, using various ploys mentioned in the book. Most important one being the “W pattern,” a strategy of information sharing that creates a sense of excitement in the mind of the reader." - MIT Sloan MBA Candidate 
Only 1 in 900 gains admission to Harvard MBA program. If you write your essay focused only on your achievements, post-MBA goals, and your pre-MBA experience, you will be among the 899 rejected applicants.
ATTENTION is the secret ingredient. How will you get the attention of the essay reviewer?
You know why parables shared 1000 years ago are still shared among us?
Storytelling!
Yes, the art of storytelling has won presidency for Obama, transformed Apple from an unknown start-up to a brand synonymous with Quality, and gained admission for the average MBA Applicant.
F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay to an epic life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.
Who Should Buy The Winning MBA Essay Guide?
If your essay looks too bland, our Winning MBA Essay Guide will show you, with examples, on how to use the elements of Storytelling like Incorporating "The Struggle", Using Emotional connectors, narrating the Journey and the use of Chronology, Vividness and Active Verbs to transform your essays.
If you are stuck in the Writing process, our Winning MBA Essay Guide will show you how to silence the Analytic Mind and overcome mental blocks.
If you feel that the essays are not persuasive, our Winning MBA Essay Guide will teach you how to use the W-Pattern narrative, Contexts, Turning Points and "The Show Don't Tell Approach" to write a Winning MBA Essay.
If you don't have enough leadership experience, our Winning MBA Essay Guide will show you how to highlight non-obvious qualities like Trust, Focus, Listening Skills, Personal Responsibility, Humility, Self-Knowledge, and other secondary traits to prove your leadership.
If you don't know how to review your essays, our Winning MBA Essay Guide will demonstrate how to improve readability with the power of iteration, and maintain your original voice by removing review biases.
Pages: 666
Winning MBA Essay Guide Includes
+Harvard MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample MBA Essay – Gratitude & Giving Back (319 Words)
Sample MBA Essay – Entrepreneurship (Influence of Childhood) (401 Words)
Sample Harvard MBA Essay - Volunteering (Mental Health Awareness) (774 Words)
+ Stanford MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Why Stanford MBA Essay (Consulting)(399 words)
Sample Why Stanford MBA Essay (Tech Entrepreneur) (390 words)
Sample Why Stanford MBA: Career Switch(Finance to Green Energy Consulting)(394 Words)
Sample Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (740 Words)
+ Chicago Booth MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Booth MBA Essay #1: Oil & Gas to Consulting (475 Words)
Sample Booth MBA Essay #1: Social IMPACT to Marketing (478 Words)
Sample Booth MBA Essay #2: Leadership experience (Father’s Restaurant Business)(493 Words)
Sample Booth MBA Essay #2: Leadership experience (Teach for America)(640 Words)
Sample Booth MBA Essay #2: Leadership experience (Teach for America)(640 Words)
+ Columbia MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Columbia MBA Essay 1: Enterprise to Consumer Marketing (495 Words)
Sample Columbia MBA Essay 2: New York for Marketing Professionals (244 Words)
Sample Columbia MBA Essay #3 - Team Failure (Marketing Lead) (242 Words)
Sample Columbia MBA Essay #3 - Team Failure (Technology) (248 Words)
Sample Columbia MBA Essay #3 - Team Failure (Pharma) (244 Words)
+ MIT Sloan MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Personality Type (Accepted MIT Sloan Students)
Cover Letter Checklist
Sample Cover Letter – Technology Consulting (286 Words)
Sample Cover Letter – Healthcare Entrepreneurship (296 Words)
+ Kellogg MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Essay 1: Demonstrated Leadership (Marketing) (449 Words)
Sample Essay 2: Demonstrated Leadership (Technology) (449 Words)
Sample Essay 3: MBA as a Catalyst for Growth (Technology) (438 Words)
Sample Essay 4: MBA as a Catalyst for Growth (Non-Profit to Consulting) (442 Words)
+ INSEAD MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Essay 1: Candid Description, Strengths & Weaknesses
Sample Essay 2: Achievements and Failures
Sample Essay 3: Extra-Curricular and How enriched you are
+ Haas MBA Essay Tips (2018 Entering Class)
Sample MBA Essay: Non-Profit
Sample MBA Essay: Technology
Sample MBA Essay: Marketing
Sample MBA Essay: Getting Fired
Sample MBA Essay: Diverse and Inclusive Culture
Sample MBA Essay: Leadership
Sample MBA Essay: Post-MBA Goal & How Pre-MBA Experience will help
+ Yale SOM MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Yale SOM MBA Essay: Business Development (Mobile Start-Up)(486 Words)
Sample Yale SOM MBA Essay: Investment Banking (IB)(404 Words)
Sample Yale SOM MBA Essay: Consulting (442 Words)
Sample Yale SOM MBA Essay: Technology (452 Words)
Sample Yale SOM MBA Essay: Marketing (492 Words)
Sample Yale SOM MBA Essay: Entrepreneurship (497 Words)
+ Ross MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample MBA Essay: Finance Professional who was a former member of a rock band (96 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Marketing Professional with a hidden talent to do Impression (100 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Life Philosophy through the prism of an Entrepreneurial failure (94 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Consulting for a Pharma Giant (Made a Difference) (91 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Three-Level Sanitation Campaign (100 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Water Conservation Kit (99 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Losing client (100 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Misreading Market Conditions (93 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Strategic Planning vs. Tactical Dominance in Chess (97 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Out of my comfort zone(extra-curricular) (93 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Out of my comfort zone (Daily Science Show) (99 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: Simplifying Operations for Manufacturing (extra-curricular) (90 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: I am aware that I am different (Leadership and Culture) (98 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: I am aware that I am different (Technology Project and Last-minute change) (98 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: I am aware that I am different (Making Business metrics relevant to a Creative team) (91 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: I find it Challenging when People (Timidity)(98 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: I find it Challenging when People (Laziness)(100 Words)
Sample MBA Essay: I find it Challenging when People (Pessimism) (96 Words)
Sample Essay – Short-term Goals and why the goal is the right choice for you (Technology to Marketing)(299 Words)
+ London Business School MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
London as the Financial Hub
London as the Technology Hub
London as the Consulting Hub
How to Cite the Curriculum (Example)
Sample LBS MBA Essay (A Career Switcher from Technology to Consulting for FinTech) (489 Words)
Sample LBS MBA Essay (A Career Switcher from Hospitality to Consulting) (499 Words)
Sample LBS MBA Essay (A Career Switcher from Hospitality to Consulting) (499 Words)
+ Duke Fuqua MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Framework for Answering the Duke Fuqua Short-Answer Essay Questions
Sample Short-term Goals Essay – Technology to Consulting (100 Words)
Sample Long-term Goals Essay – Consulting for Government (100 Words)
Sample Long-term Goals Essay – Plan B (89 Words)
Framework for Answering the Duke Fuqua 25 Random Things
Sample Duke Fuqua Essay: The Fuqua community and you (Max 2 Pages)
+ NYU Stern MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample NYU Stern Essay 1: Goals (498 Words) (Finance)
Sample Short-term Goals Essay – Technology to Consulting (100 Words)
Sample Long-term Goals Essay – Consulting for Government (100 Words)
Sample Long-term Goals Essay – Plan B (89 Words)
Framework for Answering the Duke Fuqua 25 Random Things
Sample Duke Fuqua Essay: The Fuqua community and you (Max 2 Pages)
+ NYU Stern MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample NYU Stern Essay 1: Goals (498 Words) (Finance)
Sample NYU Stern Essay 1: Goals (494 Words) (Consulting)
Essay 3: Personal Expression (a.k.a. "Pick Six")
5 Examples with Images
5 Examples with Images
+ Darden MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
Sample Darden MBA Essay – About yourself (100 Words) (Near Death Experience)
Sample Darden MBA Essay – About yourself (100 Words) (Networking and Job Offer at an Unlikely place)
Sample Darden MBA Essay – About yourself (100 Words) (Mountaineering)
Sample Darden MBA Essay – Where you want to go with Darden (47 Words)
Sample Darden MBA Essay – Evolving Leadership Style (198 Words)
Sample Darden MBA Essay – Meaningful IMPACT (200 Words)
Sample Darden MBA Essay: Short-term Post-MBA career goal (149 words)
+ Wharton MBA Essay Tips (2019 Entering Class)
7 Professional Gains
Sample Wharton MBA Essay 1: Gain professionally from the Wharton MBA? (473 words)
Sample Wharton MBA Essay #2: Math Tutoring and Experimental music’s value (388 Words)
7 Professional Gains
Sample Wharton MBA Essay 1: Gain professionally from the Wharton MBA? (473 words)
Sample Wharton MBA Essay #2: Math Tutoring and Experimental music’s value (388 Words)
+ Sample Essays
+ The Art of Storytelling
+ Leadership Narratives
+ Review Tips
+ Persuasion Strategies
+ The Secret to "unleashing" your unique voice
+ How to write about your Strengths
+ How to write about your Weaknesses
