Something for those entering the MBA application process..

There is loads of advice out there about how to select your MBA program and get into b-scool. Without repeating anything and assuming applicants want a practical view on the process, I’m deliberately going to focus on how I ended up at my 1st choice school. I’m hoping that people reading this will be able to relate to my circumstances and find this useful in their experience through the MBA application process.

Need

This may sound like an obvious step for anyone who has already made this choice, I’m not insulting prospective applicants intelligence here, but it is really important to articulate why an MBA is necessary. People attend MBA programs for a variety of reasons along the lines of career advancement and making a difference in the world. What's your specific story?

My Circumstance:
At this point I was 21 years old, been in the aerospace industry barely a year and I came realise I did not want to be a straight engineer all my life.
I wanted to travel the world, develop wider skills, do more with my life and earn enough cash to fulfil my goals.
Particularly, I realised I wanted to return to my home country of Tanzania in the long-term by my 30th b-day and start a business. In between earning my graduate degree and returning to Tanzania, I wanted gain more work experience in the western world- say in strategy consulting with a tech focus.
I began exploring multi-disciplinary programs with engineering/ tech stance and came to a conclusion that an MBA with a tech focus and strong on general management/entrepreneurship would fit my needs, but made the decision to give myself a year to create a shortlist of top schools to apply to and to make myself a competitive applicant.
The MBA application requires long term planning (a year)- I knew that applying to the top schools would be tough and I needed to make myself stand out from other applicants by doing something amazing yet unique. I realised I lacked real leadership experience, I ruled out any experiences from university since most applicants would have an edge on me (to be honest, I concentrated on partying and academics during undergrad). So I decided to pursue an activity (or project) to last me a year,- I settled on my passion for climbing Kilimanjaro, this time on a larger scale and for a worthwhile cause. So I joined a charity that meant a lot to me (The Britain Tanzania society is a charity that I stand for and greatly believe in their work) and decided set about organising a large fundraising expedition for the following summer. It would be risky, but succeed or fail, I would have some concrete and recent leadership experience and most of all- I would have fun and make a difference in the process!

School Search

Begin the school search early and spend considerable time on research. Focus on identifying the schools that fit your needs. If brand and ranking matter to you, then they matter- no point getting beat up over it on business week b-school posts with other people. Rankings based on different criteria (focus, salary, faculty etc..) help you make a decision, use them for this purpose only. Don't forget to factor in things like quality of life costs and location near to target industry after graduation.

My Circumstance:
After about 2 months I settled on 3 top schools- Stanford, Harvard and Wharton. ALL satisfied my needs in some way (some more than others). In order at the time:
Stanford- has strong tech courses, a great engineering school that works closely with the business school and the location is hard to beat.
Wharton- Opportunity to do a dual degree with masters in engineering. Additionally, I’d be close to sister who lives not far from Philly.
Harvard- Big brand name, strong on general management with some opportunity in the second year to cross register at MIT for some tech courses.

I’d ruled out UK MBA programs based on 2 key reasons:
i) I’d been in the UK for 10 years, and was itching to study somewhere else, I was also single which made the decision to travel afar much easier.
ii) There are only 2 schools in the top 10 outside the US, one was in the UK (already ruled out UK) and the other, INSEAD, did not interest me in the slightest.

Concentrate your resources where it matters!

Apparently you need great GMAT scores, great leadership potential and outstanding grades to apply to b-school? Only true to some extent- Focus on what really matters and where you can stand out from the crowd. Essays are key- Spend more on this than anything else.

My Circumstance:
With the time available and my history, there was no way I going to be the model applicant that is portrayed out there in the books & press. For me, my undergrad grades were average from a top UK engineering school. I decided to focus on my leadership experience over slaving away on the GMAT. I took a major risk here, but I had an inkling that the top schools I selected would value leadership over solid GMAT scores. Additionally, the expedition took up about 10-15 hours a week for 8 months, a lot of weekend time training, and a solid 2 weeks out in Africa in the summer before applying. There are only so many hours in the day, GMAT would have to lose out (this ignorance/oversight would later cost me...)

Application strategy- FOCUS!!!

Use what you’ve got and throw it at the right schools. Don’t apply to schools that you are not a good fit and have any doubt about (GMAT scores, grades, experience, recommendation etc…). Validate your assumptions or hunches by further research and attending info sessions.

My Circumstance
GMAT: I took the GMAT and scored poorly the first time round, I mean very poorly! I would be insulting the top schools if I applied. I could not ignore the importance of the GMAT. I decided to retake and apply in round two. This was painful since I had a ton of work at the time and it would mean sacrificing my x-mas time off to work on applications. My second GMAT score was average, not outstanding.

ESSAY: Luckily for me, the expedition turned out to be a great success. That gamble had paid off, I found writing my essays easier due to sheer enjoyment of documenting this leadership experience- I still took a lot of time to capture what leadership lessons I had learnt and further refined my essays over a period of about 2 months.

Recommendations: I made sure my recommenders would provide a balanced view of my personality whilst meeting the requirements for the school. One would provide a good perspective on my analytical skills as an engineer, the other two on my leadership and other attributes (one recommender had been with me on the expedition).

Info sessions: At this point I decided to rule out Wharton- I never made it to their info session and I was having doubts about how the program would fulfil my tech needs. Additionally, at this point I had fallen for Stanford’s program after thorough research lasting a year and when I finally attended their information session in London- everything I wanted from the MBA course was validated and with the sort of information that you could not get from books- FIT. What does fit mean? Well, I knew Stanford was for me and that Stanford would value me.
From then on I wanted to get into Stanford even if it meant a rejection and applying the following year. I was not going to waste what little money I had on schools that I did not have such a passion for. I did not even know why I even applied to Harvard- I guess the lure of the brand name was hard to beat. I did not enjoy their information session as much as Stanford’s- I found Harvard’s alumni arrogant and too hard working. I only got 1-2 mins chat with Brit Dewey, the admission director, compared with 30 mins with a Stanford alumni. In a word, my tangible one to one experience with Stanford & Harvard was what tipped the balance- I spent loads of time and effort on my Stanford application, less on my Harvard one, Wharton was out of the window.

Interview:

Be yourself, relax and reflect on why you applied to the school.

My Circumstance:
Only had the one interview with Stanford. Since I had focused so much on the one school, I knew a lot about the program. Also, at this point, I had just started reading MBA blogs and got some good advice from BritChickMBA on her Stanford interview experience. I also used a handy website with a database of frequently asked interview questions for Stanford and indeed other schools.

The rest is history (oh and stay calm if you can without visiting businessweek posts too often, it makes the wait unbearable!)… I hope this helps any prospective applicants. I believe the key factors are:

· UNIQUENESS- Make sure you stand out from the crowd by having unique experiences. It may be an extremely high GMAT score, in most cases it's leadership experiences and being able to convey them in the form of compelling essays that really counts.
· RESEARCH- Initially use the literature out there (I used Businessweek week for a comprehensive view on top 30 programs and later MBA Admission edge) to focus on top 10). Additionally, visit the websites to study the courses, faculty and research centres and follow applicant & student blogs. Basically, research the the ins and outs of each school and validate through info sessions or school visits- eliminate those that don’t make the cut.
· FOCUS, ADAPT & BELIEVE, - You have limited time, energy and for some, money- focus on what counts for the school you’re applying and be prepared for setbacks- GMAT etc... Most important, you must believe. The journey is long, but you must believe you can do it, read lots of blogs for encouragement and to examine the realities of the process and don't get disheartened by some of those negative business week posts, especially the ones that focus exclusively on the score, yes GMAT score- it's only one aspect of the application, it's the whole package that counts.

Good luck!!!