In today’s MBA Application Strategy Tips, I will share the one factor that can drastically increase your admission chances.
Applicants who reach out to me have diverse volunteering experience, but even within that profile, the impressive ones are those who continuously engage with the local community and not just the digital community they belong. These are applicants whose hometown is one city; they studied in another city and relocated to another city for work. With a three-city career profile, strong applicants demonstrate continuous community engagement in each of the cities.
College-Based Volunteering – Fewer Points in MBA Admissions
Many start with college-based volunteering either in partnership with a non-profit or as a key member of a student club. That is the easiest part of community engagement, as there are processes and networks already built in to allow the students to participate in volunteering. The impressive volunteering engagements at college are those where the applicant founded a student club or built a new network, or isolated a beneficiary that the college had never discovered and then offered a solution for the group.
First Job and Volunteering – More Points
The challenging one for most of us was when we first moved to a new city. When you start a new job, the free time available is limited. If you are volunteering while working on your first job, the uniqueness is that while trying to build credibility in your company, you had to search for an organization, allocate schedule away from your personal time, consistently report to the organization, start working in the lower rung and maybe even take part in the training program, and then show IMPACT either that supplements or complements your job function.
Consistent Volunteering Engagement in All Cities – Most Points
One Cause: If you have community engagement experience in one cause in three cities, it is very easy for a consultant to create a narrative that you are passionate about the cause. And even expand on the challenges the beneficiary is facing. The knowledge that you express about the beneficiary will validate the experience to a large extent.
So, volunteering for the local community gives you more credit vs. volunteering for your city vs. volunteering for your state vs. volunteering for your country. Unless the volunteering for your country is related to a disaster, or an international event like the Olympics or Special Olympics, or a national event.
Multiple Causes: Then there are applicants who target fixed hours every week regardless of the cause. A common mistake I see while editing an MBA resume is that many applicants insist on capturing all the experiences without realizing that after 3-5 years of volunteering, a pattern emerges. You will start dedicating hours to a cause that has a deeper meaning for you. Maybe it is related to your identity or a beneficiary that you want to help.
Good admissions consultants will ask the right follow-up questions to find this pattern. If you need my help with shortlisting relevant volunteering experiences and branding your profile for your MBA application, Contact me, Atul Jose
