How to create a Personal Branding Statement for MBA Admissions

One question that is on an AdCom’s mind is “How different is this applicant.” Business Schools are not looking to fill the classroom with working professionals, with similar experience, and background. They want diversity in experience, background, academic qualification, nationality, and leadership achievements.

As an applicant, it is your duty to identify & highlight attributes that would make you stand out from the competition. In order to do that, you should have a clear understanding of the class composition, and profiles of the previous class. Although Business Schools are unlikely to repeat the same class next year, you will get an understanding on what each class stands for, and the type of students that is considered fit for the school, and the community at large.

Articulating Unique Value Proposition

Articulating your attributes into a unique value proposition is the trickiest part that requires analysis of your personality from a third party’s point of view. Some of the qualities that should translate into unique value proposition are:

• Confidence
• Clarity
• Sincerity
• Open-minded
• Responsible
• Trusting
• Enthusiastic
• Self-Disciplined
• Efficient
• Ethical
• Decisive
• Positive
• Persuasive

From the above list shortlist 7 qualities that represent you as an individual brand. There might be other qualities that are part of you as an individual but for articulating unique value proposition, pick attributes that define you. Once you have the list of 7 qualities, it is time to translate the qualities into a personal branding statement.

Personal Branding Statement – How to

For demonstration let us shortlist 7 qualities from the above list:

Qualities: Confidence, Open-minded, Ethical, Decisive, Enthusiastic, Positive & Persuasive.

Personal Branding Statement: I make life choices by keeping an open-mind, analyzing the alternatives and finding a path that fits my values and goals. Once the option is narrowed down, I am confident about the choice I have made. I find persuasive leadership to be an effective way to bring the team's focus on the common objective. When faced with tough decisions, keeping a positive frame of mind, prevents emotions from clouding my judgment. Some of the toughest decisions I have made were never black or white but required a rigorous evaluation of the impact of the decision on a larger group of customers or community. During those challenging times, I have relied on a high standard of ethics for decision making.

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I know the exercise might seem trivial, but setting a personal branding statement will become the foundation for all your communication with the admission team, and interaction in Social Media.

As an applicant, you should not be limited to the above list. Start with your core competency, and skillset. Select qualities that would be useful for differentiating yourself from other applicants.

To identify the qualities that are truly unique, answer the following questions:

1) How different are your qualities from that of a random MBA student last year?
2) What makes your qualities attractive?
3) Summing up all the qualities – what do you represent.

The third question will help you position as a brand in MBA Application. The trick is to maintain consistency of message throughout MBA application essays so that any AdCom member will quickly realize what you stand for, even if they randomly read one of the essays.

For help creating your USP, get our MBA Admission Consulting Service