Q&A with a Member of the INSEAD Class of July 2013

My former client, Singy 2013, is a management consultant with 8 years experience, joining straight after graduating from a national university in Tokyo.  He had no experience working/living outside Japan before INSEAD. Singy 2013 provides some really great advice below. 
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Adam: What parts of the INSEAD program have you liked the most? The least?

Singy 2013: 
Good: Truly international. 600+ students from 60+ countries. This is what you cannot expect in the US business schools. Another good thing is its tight schedule. You can just finish a whole MBA curriculum within 10 months, so the opportunity cost of being away from the professional environment is much shorter than in the US schools and you can keep your business knowledge fresh. And of course multi campuses (Singapore, France and Abu Dhabi) would be definitely beneficial if you want to pursue regional career path.

Bad: Too busy. No matter how you are smart, you need to compromise; you'll be overwhelmed by tons of readings, assignments, school events, and parties. Too often you will encounter a difficult conflict between multiple great opportunities, such as a great class for strategy and great career event for strategy consultants. Also, you cannot expect a long vacation – some breaks would be occupied by school trips in China, Israel, New York, Silicon Valley, or other places.

Adam: What has most surprised you about the program?

Singy 2013: The topics in the courses are quite international. For instance, cases used in the class are about German manufacturer, African NGO, Chinese beer company, Japanese e-commerce, Brazilian aircraft maker, and so on… Very few cases about US companies. And of course students from diverse countries give very unique opinions which you'd never heard elsewhere. After several months, your world view must be completely upgraded.

Adam: I know you spent time studying at both the Fontainebleau and Singapore campuses. What did you think of your experience at each of them?

Singy 2013: I chose to be in Singapore for a whole year. Some students choose to stay in a campus to pursue regional experiences. My choice was quite meaningful. I visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, China, Indonesia for business and personal reasons, and I also went back to Japan quite often to have job interviews. This really helped me to have a holistic understanding of Asian business and to get a dream job eventually.

Adam: I know you are on the way to making Dean's List. How hard has that been?  What advice do you have for succeeding academically at INSEAD?

Singy 2013: First, INSEADers don't want to be on the Dean's list for many reasons. Statistically speaking, it has no positive impact on the future career. (You will be told so in the statistics course!) Second, many subjects require group activities and the grades heavily rely on the quality of the teamwork – it's quite often uncontrollable. And given students are really diversified in terms of nationalities and professional background, just working as a team is already a big challenge. (That's where you learn a lot!) So, it's very hard to get on the Dean's list.

However so, you can always do something. You can lead your group members by finishing necessary preparation in advance, facilitating discussion, and asking for their help sincerely. I know many Dean's listers are OB (Organizational Behavior) guys, meaning good people mangers and motivational leaders.

So, my advice is following. Don't think about being wise or efficient. Help others as much as you can. And contribute to the team. Then your group would help you to achieve good grades.

By the way, I always try to work with new people. Actually, it has a negative impact on my grades, but it gives me many lessons, and most importantly, I have many friends. Since I'm not good at drinking beer, this is my own way of networking… (And I'm lucky enough to get on the Dean's list for now)

Adam: INSEAD is well known as being an excellent MBA program for consultants.  As a consultant yourself, would you comment on this?

Singy 2013: Hmm, I have a mixed feeling about this statement. Yes, it's right. INSEAD is one of the best schools for would-be consultants. Top firms give us many many opportunities of knowing consulting work, meeting with executives from top firms. Also, many professors have experience in working in the top management consulting firms, and some have their own firms. Tool sets learned in the classroom are really helpful for consulting jobs. Especially, experience of surviving in the turbulent INSEAD schedule is quite helpful for you to get accustomed to consultant's miserable life-work balance. (Not joking!)

But, I would say, too many students are brainwashed. Most of INSEADers take McKinsey, BCG and Bain interviews while discarding many other good opportunities in non-consulting industries. Many talented people with great entrepreneurial potential get an offer from these firms and discard their valuable new business ideas (this happens too often and professors lament this).

So, I would like to say that if you have a strong determination to be a consultant, come to INSEAD and get on the bandwagon. If you don't have any ideas about your future career and want to know what is the dream job for you… be really careful. Consulting looks sexy for many MBAs. But many professionals outside MBA community – even those in the consulting firms – don't see consulting as a dream job. Talk to yourself, your friends outside the business school, and consultants who are not coming to MBA events. Then, make your own decision.

Adam: Do you have any specific advice for those considering application to your school?

Singy 2013: If you are reading this post on Adam's blog, you're on the right path. Believe it or not, MBA application has strict game rules. If you find these rules early, your play would be highly rewarded.

Rule # 1, TOEFL, GMAT are not a differentiator but a ticket to queue in a line of admission. Never fail to meet the target score, but never put too much effort on the test score. It does not help you much.

Rule #2, essays are your pitch to the business school. Take time, prepare well, make sure no silly mistakes. You are going to compete against world-class business people. Follow advice from professional admission consultants.

Rule # 3, admission offices is looking for a high ROI deal. It means if you don't have super great professional experience, it's fine. If you can show fair potential to be a great business person after graduation. Your ROI (for you, and for the school) is quite high and admission offices want to take the deal. So, illustrate your potential.

Rule #4, self control is key. Buy a ticket (test score), queue in a line of admission with a crystal clear sales pitch of yourself (essays), and give your best presentation (interview). This requires long lasting efforts with an unbelievably long payoff period. Motivate yourself, and keep working.

Adam: Are there any specific websites or blogs that you would recommend that applicants look at to learn more about your school?

Singy 2013: 
INSEAD official blog – a blog where students share their experience, thoughts, and memory.
INSEAD Knowledge – an official podcast where professors talk about business topics
Unofficial blogs by INSEAD students – many of them. Just google it.
Admissions including interviewers want to see your FIT to the school. But it's just one of the criteria. So, being INSEAD freak while not understanding about yourself is not a good sign.

Adam: Anything else you would like to tell us?

Singy 2013: Admission process is a long long journey and perhaps people around you are not so supportive. Your girlfriend (or boyfriend) would ask you "why do you leave me behind?" Your boss would say "No longer MBA has value." And even your mind would whisper to yourself "Am I really qualified?"

This is normal. 100% of MBA students had exactly the same experiences and they overcame these ambivalences. In other words, those who overcame (or just managed) were admitted to the business schools. So, just hang in there. Do what you think you should do. 

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I want to thank Singy 2013 for taking the time to answer my questions.  I knew that guy was smart when I worked with him.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

The HBS Class of 2016 MBA Application Essay: Any size, fits all

Dee Leopold just announced (30 May 2013)  the full application deadlines and key application components on the From the Admissions Director blog. I will post my full analysis of the entire application after its release, but I wanted to provide an immediate reaction to what is a dramatic change:

This is the only "essay" question:

"You're applying to Harvard Business School.  We can see your resume, school transcripts, extra-curricular activities, awards, post-MBA career goals, test scores and what your recommenders have to say about you.  What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?"

That's it.  No word limit.  Use your own judgment as to how much to tell us.  We have neither a "right answer" nor a "correct length" in mind.  We will review all the elements of the written application to decide who moves forward to the interview stage of our process.

Why the reduction in number of essays?  Sorry to repeat myself but "it's not an essay-writing contest".   There is always –and will always be – great variance in both subject matter and degree of polish in the essays of admitted candidates.  Maybe there will be admits this year who say we don't need to know anything else beyond the credentials they have already submitted – for them, the application may be "essay-less".  I also think that removing the word limit brings this process closer to the way things work in the Real World which is always our goal.

HBS is a place for promising people to become better.  This year, HBS is asking applicants an open-ended question that reflect this spirit.  In past years, HBS has asked questions that simply were more specific and that could prove difficult to answer. This year, any size, fits all!

When no essay is a good idea: I don’t actually recommend going completely essay-less unless you are absolutely certain that you really don’t have anything to add beyond your resume, test scores, application form content, and what you think your recommenders (Reduced from the longstanding three to two recommenders for you!) are likely to write about.   If you are a super star and have no time to write an essay, of course, this is a highly viable strategy.  For those less certain of their superstardom and the time to write an essay, I would surely recommend doing so.

Just to state the obvious: Don’t be redundant. I think the most important thing is that whatever essay you give HBS it really does need to go above and beyond what they will be able to understand from the rest of your application.  In this respect, taking care of your resume and application form content first is really important because you want to fully consider what they will know and be able to easily understand about you without having to read an essay.  As far as the recs go, since you don’t have full control over their contents, but only your selection of recommenders, consider what they are likely to say about you.  After you have fully considered the objective aspects of what you will provide, then consider what else you need to say.
 I’ll incorporate this post’s content into a longer full post on the HBS essay in early June.  Below,  I discuss possible sources of content for this essay by considering the three primary stated criteria and one overall consideration that HBS uses in selecting candidates because this can form the basis of a successful admissions strategy.
Four Ways HBS Evaluates Applicants
My objective when working with each of my clients is to help them identify the best content in their essays, resume, interview and other application components to show fit for each school they apply to. My approach is to understand the audience that is being communicated to because the only objective of your application is to communicate effectively to your audience, the admissions committee.
The following  summarizes what HBS is looking for (Diversity, Habit of Leadership, Analytical Aptitude and Appetite, and Engaged Community Citizenship) and the possible places where you can demonstrate these in your initial application (Interview and post-interview not considered below):

These four core ways that HBS evaluates applicants need to be communicated in your application and one or more of them should be used in your essay. HBS makes their own core selection criteria clear: Please read "Who Are We Looking For?"


Diversity
Instead of looking for an “ideal” candidate, HBS invites applicants who bring a variety of skills, accomplishments, and aspirations to form a very special community. To create a dynamic environment that mirrors the breadth and depth of our world economy, we seek diversity. Our promise to our faculty and to every student here is to create a class of 900 students who come from as many different backgrounds and perspectives as possible.
This overall intention to create a highly diverse class significantly impacts HBS admissions’ decisions. The critical thing is that you demonstrate why you are unique and how you will add to the diversity of the class.  In your essay you need to show what makes you stand out. Especially if you think your academic, personal, professional, and/or extracurricular experiences are not inherently unique, it is very important that your essay demonstrates what makes you stand out.
Some ways of demonstrating diversity that my clients have used successfully include the following:
-Being the first person or kind of person to do something
-Being the youngest person to do do something
-Making an original contribution to something
-Having an unusual family, academic, personal, or professional background
-Unusual skills or talents
-Extensive international experience
-Receiving prestigious awards or scholarships
-Even post-MBA goals might be used for this purpose if your goals help to make you stand out.
Keep in mind that diversity is a matter of interpretation and presentation and it is each applicant’s responsibility to best demonstrate how they will add value to their classmates. One of my jobs as a consultant is always help my clients identify ways that make them distinct even if they think they are not special. I operate on the assumption that everyone is unique.


Habit of Leadership
The mission of HBS is to educate leaders.  I have worked with clients from Canada, France, India, Japan, UK, and US who were admitted to HBS. They had a diversity of educational, extracurricular, and professional backgrounds, but were united by one thing: In one or more aspects of their lives, they demonstrated this habit of leadership. HBS takes a very broad view of what they are looking for:
We recognize – and welcome – leadership that may be expressed in many forms, from college extracurricular activities to academic or business achievements, from personal accomplishments to community commitments. We appreciate leadership on any scale as well, from organizing a classroom to directing a combat squad, from running an independent business to spearheading initiatives at work. In essence, we are looking for evidence of your potential.
HBS does not  explicitly ask you to show your potential for leadership in this essay,  but it may very well be something you decide to write about. Leadership is no easy thing. Nor is it always obvious. If you leadership is fully obvious from resume, than perhaps your essay not discuss it, but the worst possible thing is to conceive of leadership as simple formal responsibility or a title because this conveys nothing about the person in that position. While some applicants will have held formal leadership positions, many will not. Formal leadership positions are great to write about if they involve the applicant actually having significant impact, making a difficult decision, being a visionary, showing creativity, or otherwise going beyond their formal responsibility, but the same is true for those showing leadership without having a formal title.
If you are having difficulty really understanding leadership, one great place to read about leadership, and business in general, is Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. Also, if you have not done so, I suggest reading relevant essays in 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays: With Analysis by the Staff of the Harbus, The Harvard Business School Newspaper. Reading these essays should help you to understand the great diversity of topics that are possible and not only in terms of leadership.


Engaged Community Citizenship
While "Engaged Community Citizenship" might take the form of leadership, it is quite distinct:
So much of our MBA experience – including the case method, section life, and student-organized events – requires the active collaboration of the entire HBS community. That’s why we look for students who exhibit the highest ethical standards and respect for others, and can make positive contributions to the MBA Program. The right candidates must be eager to share their experiences, support their colleagues, and teach as well as learn from their peers.
HBS and other MBA programs are looking for students who will make a contribution. This really makes sense because of the collaborative nature of MBA education. While professors play an important role in the classroom, students learn from each other on a continuous basis both inside and outside of class. An MBA education is very much one based on relationship building. One of the chief functions of an MBA admissions committee is to select people who will be good classmates. The director and the rest of the committee have done their job properly if they have selected students who can work well together, learn from each other, and if these students become alumni who value the relationships they initially formed at business school. Given that two of the major takeaways from an HBS education are the relationships that a student forms during the program and access to the alumni network, HBS is looking for candidates who will fully engage with others.
The essay question that HBS asks does not require one to directly discuss contributions. Actually in most HBS essay sets in the past, community engagement is not directly requested. I would argue, in fact, that even if a school does not ask an applicant to tell them what he or she can contribute, the applicant should make that clear in the essay(s) by showing  the ways one has added value to others, teams, organizations, projects, etc. Interviews are usually a further opportunity to discuss how one will make a contribution.   It is important to show engagement with others in your HBS essay, in your interview, in your post-interview essay, in your application, and in your resume.  You should also make it a point to get your recommenders to discuss how you add value to the team, to whatever "community" (A workplace is a community) they worked with you in.
Engagement in a community may take many different forms.  Over the years, I have found the following types of activities to be very effective for MBA applications:
-Volunteer or social activities at work, whether it is actually organizing them or participating in them.
-Volunteer or social activities at school, whether it is actually organizing them or participating in them.
-Volunteer or social activities outside of work or school, whether it is actually organizing them or participating in them.
-A volunteer activity related to your post-MBA goals
-A volunteer activity that allowed for the development of leadership and/or teamwork experience
-A volunteer activity that put you in contact with people who are quite different from you in terms of nationality, income level, and/or educational background
-An international volunteer or social activity
-Active involvement in an alumni organization
-Active participation in a sports team
-Active political involvement (Not just voting or knowledge of politics, but actual activities)
-Participation in an orchestra, band or other musical group
-Participation in drama or dance
-Organizing trips or other activities for a group of friends
-Serving as the leader, organizer, or active member of a team-based educational activity such as a seminar, project, or overseas trip
The above are just some possibilities.
Some people will no doubt worry that they lack extracurricular activities to demonstrate such community citizenship, but in my experience there is always some way to demonstrate this. Part of my job is to help my clients identify such activities and communicate about them effectively. If you have demonstrated extensive community citizenship in your resume, you may very well not to write about in the HBS essay this year, but you might still find that explaining your motivation for such activities is something you want to convey to HBS.  For those with limited objective resume content in this area, if there is an effective way to get some positive aspect of your community citizenship into the essay, do so.


Analytical Aptitude and Appetite
Harvard Business School is a demanding, fast-paced, and highly-verbal environment. We look for individuals who enjoy lively discussion and debate. Our case and field-based methods of learning depend upon the active participation of prepared students who can assess, analyze, and act upon complex information within often-ambiguous contexts. The MBA Admissions Board will review your prior academic performance, the results of the GMAT or GRE, and, if applicable, TOEFL iBT and/or IELTS, and the nature of your work experience. There is no particular previous course of study required to apply; you must, however, demonstrate the ability to master analytical and quantitative concepts.
HBS is a highly competitive and challenging academic environment. It is not for anyone.  "Analytical Aptitude And Appetite," what can more generally be thought of as academic potential, will be very easy for some candidates to demonstrate without ever writing an essay on the topic. You must demonstrate your analytical intelligence somewhere in your application. Yes, a solid GPA and GMAT are enough for that purpose, but if you think your academic record and GMAT are weak, I do suggest demonstrating your high analytical aptitude and appetite in your essay. Also, whether you address your analytical abilities in your essay, for most applicants, it would also be very useful to have one or more recommenders discussing this.
Some effective ways to demonstrate analytical intelligence include the following:
-Solving a complex problem at work, school, or elsewhere
-Discussing the successful completion of complex analytical tasks
-Breaking down a complex problem that you solved and communicating it a very brief and clear way
- Demonstrating great personal insight into ones weaknesses, failures, and/or mistakes
-Showing the ability to learn from weaknesses, failures, and/or mistakes
-Showing the ability to learn and master something highly complex
-Demonstrating a high level of creativity
Those with truly outstanding academic background and test scores need to likely focus less attention on this area. If you think you have weaknesses in this area, consider how to use the essay to mitigate them.

In my full analysis that I’ll prepare in early June, I’ll discuss more about possible ways to structure the essay, some key ways of telling stories, and how to discuss goals. Since the essay topic is so completely open-ended my objective will be suggest some possible options, but this is clearly a topic where each applicant should really consider what way(s) to best represent themselves.

Here are a few things to remember when you start writing:

Your reader must understand you.   Provide a clear interpretation of what you have done. Write in simple language, even about complex things. Assume your reader has a basic business background, but don’t assume any expertise. Cause-effect relationships should not be merely implied where possible. Showing your actual action steps is critical. A full explanation might be impossible because of word count, but if you tell things in sequence, it usually provides that explanation.

You reader must believe you.  If your reader is not convinced by your story, you are dead.  I am all in favor of telling the best version of a story that you can, provided it is also believable. Bad self-marketing is frequently based on lies that can be seen through. I have met many admissions officers and while not all of them were brilliant, all the good ones had finely tuned “bullshit detectors.” If your essays have a seemingly tenuous relationship with reality, you are likely to be setting yourself up for a ding.

Your reader must be engaged.  If a reader does not become interested in what they reading, there is a problem.  The problem may be that the essay is simply generic or it might be the way a story is being told is boring or it maybe a lack of passion in the writing.  Whatever the case, it needs fixing.  One of my roles as a consultant is to coach my clients on writing essays that will be engaging.

You must sell your reader on your high potential for admission. Great essays don't just need to be believable and interesting, they have to be convincing. You are trying to get HBS admissions to take a specific action after they read your file:  invite you for an interview. Thus, essays must convince them to take action, they have to see why you should be admitted.  I help my clients understand how to do this and give very specific advice on how to do so.

Your reader should be interpreting your essay the way you intend.  In writing there is always room for misinterpretation.  If you have not effectively interpreted yourself, there is always the possibility that your reader will draw opposite conclusions from what you intended.  I help my clients make sure that they understand and correct for all such negative interpretations.

And finally…

My final point is that HBS is looking for people who want to be leaders, not mere managers. They are looking for people who will use their “one precious and wild life” to achieve great things, not those who will be satisfied at being mediocrities.  If you can’t show the potential for that now, when will you?

If you are seeking one-to-one advising, I provide that to select applicants every year. My comprehensive service clients have been admitted to the regular HBS MBA for the Classes of  2015, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2005 and one 2+2 client admitted to the Class of 2014. My clients’ results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application counselling on HBS, I regularly help additional candidates with HBS interview preparation. I have worked with a large number of applicants from Canada, Europe, India, Japan, other parts of Asia, and the United States on HBS application. I think that this range of experience has helped me understand the many possible ways of making an effective application to HBS.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

MIT MBA Class of 2016 Deadlines: Earlier than ever before

As part of the trend of ever earlier admissions deadlines, MIT Sloan, which always had a later MBA Round One  admission deadline than its rival institutions, has joined the trend. Here are the deadlines:

MBA Program Deadlines – For August 2014 Entry
	MBA Round I	MBA Round II
Applications must be submitted by 3:00 p.m. ET	Tue, September 24, 2013	Tue, January 7, 2014
The Admissions Committee notifies applicants of their decision by**	Fri, December 20, 2013	Tue, April 1, 2014
Admitted applicants must reply to their offer by	Mon, March 3, 2014	Thur, May 1, 2014

*Reapplicants may submit their applications by the Round I or by the Round 2 deadline. LGO reapplicants must submit their reapplications by the LGO deadline.
**Decisions will be released early for some candidates who will be denied admission without an interview.

As of the time of this posting, MIT has not yet updated its essays for Fall 2014 entry, but I assume that will happen soon enough.
The one thing I am really certain of is that I will be really busy in August and September.   Of course, some applicants are already working on their Columbia and Stanford applications, since those two schools have already updated their applications for 2014 entry.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Stanford GSB: Additional Info, Resume, Employment History, Activities for Class of 2016 Admission

This is the fifth of five posts analyzing the Stanford GSB MBA Essay Questions for Class of 2016 Admission. The five posts are overall comments, Essay 1, Essay 2, Essay 3, and additional information/resume/employment history/activities. My analysis of Stanford GSB interviews can be found here. In addition to the Class of 2016 posts, I al so recommend reading and/or listening to my presentation, “So you want to get into Stanford GSB?” which was made to a Japanese audience in March 2011. That presentation focuses on issues that are applicable to all applicants as well as some issues specific to Japanese applicants.

You can find results and/or testimonials from my clients admitted to to the Stanford Classes of 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 here.  My full Stanford results prior to the Class of 2014 can be found here. My clients admitted to Stanford GSB have come from China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States and have had extremely diverse professional and educational backgrounds. The advice I provide below is based on that experience.

THINK ABOUT THE REST OF THE APPLICATION
There is nothing more depressing to me than to look at an MBA application that is hastily put together. Worse still if it is for a school that is hard to get into. Worse yet if it is for Stanford, where, under Derrick Bolton, there is a very rigorous approach to application review.
The application form, transcript, and resume all play a significant role in the evaluation of your suitability for admission.  Given  that Stanford GSB is evaluating your intellectual vitality, demonstrated leadership potential, personal qualities, and qualifications, you can be certain that beyond your essays, the rest of the application will be highly scrutinized to determine how you benchmark against these criteria.
Some people look at application forms as mere forms. I look at them as opportunities  to provide admissions with as complete and impressive presentation as one can. The reason admissions made the application was because they need the information to make a decision about you, so don’t provide something that is done at the last minute. For a full analysis of an MBA online application, see here.

Resume & Employment History:

“In this section of the online application, you have an opportunity to describe your employment history, including your responsibilities, your challenges, and accomplishments.

Include both full-time and part-time work experiences.

We value diversity of experience in our student body, so no one industry or function or background is preferred over another.

As you approach your MBA application, keep in mind that we are more interested in the impact you have had in your work place than the name or stature of your organization.

Have you made the most of your professional opportunities? Are you cultivating your leadership and team skills and making a difference? We look at your responses in conjunction with your recommendations to create a broad picture of the impact you have had in your work environment(s).

If you have had more than one job, we also ask why you left your previous employer(s). Your response to this question will help us understand your career development and what has motivated your decision making.

We also ask you to report the industry and job function you hope to pursue after you obtain your MBA.

Resume

After completing the Employment History section, please upload a current copy of your resume. Suggested length is one page–maximum is two pages.

For College Seniors, the recommended length is one page.“

Along with the essays, the resume and Employment History are the most critical documents that you control. Both should present you as effectively and honestly as possible. These two values are not in conflict: Be honest, be thorough, and do not be humble. You are being judged by your professional experience and this is where they get your complete record of it.  Please see here for the resume template that many of my clients admitted to Stanford and other top programs have used. Since Stanford generally prefers a one-page resume, my suggestion is to provide that if at all feasible. You can always submit a second page of your resume as supplemental if absolutely necessary. Still, I am advising all my clients to keep it to a page this year. Previously Stanford, did not indicate a preference for one page over two pages in the instructions, but this year they have.

Transcripts
At a Stanford presentation in Tokyo back a few years ago, the admissions officer emphasized that the admissions committee closely reads transcripts. While you don’t control the content at this point, you have the possibility of impacting how the transcript is interpreted. Scrutinize your own transcript. If your GPA is high, this is easy. You can relax. If on the other hand,your transcript reveals an unimpressive GPA, some very low grades, gaps in study, or anything else that concerns you, you had better figure out how to address in the Additional Information section.



Additional Information: Use it or don’t use it, but don’t abuse it.

“Additional Information

If there is any other information that is critical for us to know and is not captured elsewhere, please include it. Examples of pertinent additional information include:

• Extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance
• Explanation of why you do not have a Letter of Reference from your current direct supervisor or peer
• Explanation of criminal conviction, criminal charges sustained against you in a juvenile proceeding, and/or court-supervised probation
• Explanation of academic suspension or expulsion
• Any other information that you did not have sufficient space to complete in another section of the application (please begin the information in the appropriate section)
• Additional work experience that cannot fit into the space provided
• Additional information about your academic experience (e.g., independent research) not noted elsewhere“

If you read the above, it should be clear enough that this is the place to explain anything negative or potentially negative in your background or to provide additional information that did not fit in the space provided. DO NOT USE IT FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. Yes, you may have written a great essay for Tuck, Wharton, Harvard, Chicago, NYU, MIT, INSEAD, Columbia, or London Business School, but unless your objective is to inform Stanford GSB about that, don’t include it here. I don’t think the categories above require interpretation as they are clear.

If you really have no explanation for something negative, don’t bother writing about it. For example if your GPA is 2.9 and you have no good explanation for why it is 2.9, don’t bother writing something that looks like a lame excuse. This is more likely to hurt than help you. In the same vein, don’t waste the committee’s time telling them that your GMAT is a much better indicator than your GPA (the opposite is also true). They have heard it before and they will look at both scores and can draw their own conclusions without you stating the obvious. That said, if you have a good explanation for a bad GPA, you should most certainly write about it.

ALMOST EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING THEY WANT TO EXPLAIN. It might be small or it might be large, but if you don’t give your interpretation of something that may look odd in your application, why assume that someone reviewing it will interpret in a manner favorable to you?   Your objective is to always provide the admissions reader with an interpretation, especially of something you think is relatively obvious and potentially negative.


Activities
“We do not expect every applicant to be involved in activities outside the classroom or workplace.

If you have been involved in activities, however, this is an excellent way for us to learn more about your interests and experiences.

• Please report your activities in order of importance to you, with the most important listed first.
• A sustained depth of commitment in one or two activities may demonstrate your passion more than minimal participation in five or six organizations.
• Report activities during university/college separately from those after university/college.
• Examples of activities in which you are/have been involved may include charitable, civic, community, and professional.
• Please avoid using acronyms to describe your activities.
• Do not report internships in this section. Instead, report internships in the part-time employment section.”

This section is important. Of course, some applicants will not have much here, while others will have a plethora of things to mention. In any case, provide the best answer you can. Use your judgment about what to include. The above instructions make it very clear that Stanford GSB is not looking for quantity. Give them quality and don’t mention anything that will show your lack of commitment: If you joined a lot of organizations for a really short time and did nothing, I don’t think that it will help you to mention it.
Finally, please keep in mind that there is no perfect applicant, just like there is no perfect human being. If you have had to work 100-plus hours a week since graduating from university and your idea of extracurricular activity is sleep, don’t assume that not having any great activities will hurt you. Admissions will evaluate your whole application. I have had the opportunity to work with great applicants who were admitted to Stanford GSB, and I can say none of them were perfect, but what they were able to do was present themselves as honestly and effectively as possible. Some had amazing extracurricular activities, while others really did not having much worth mentioning.

Finally, I plea with you to give yourself enough time to do a first class job on the entire application. I can’t guarantee that doing a great job on the application form will get you into the Stanford Class of 2016, but if you make it part of your overall approach to applying, it will not hurt either.  Given the central importance of the resume to the interview process at Stanford, it is critical that you give that document the time and attention that it deserves. Best of luck!

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Stanford GSB MBA Essay 3 for Class of 2016 Admission

This is the forth of five posts analyzing the Stanford GSB MBA Essay Questions for Class of 2016 Admission. The five posts are overall comments, Essay 1, Essay 2, Essay 3, and additional information/resume/employment history/activities. My analysis of Stanford GSB interviews can be found here. In addition to the C lass of 2016 posts, I also recommend reading and/or listening to my presentation, “So you want to get into Stanford GSB?” which was made to a Japanese audience in March 2011. That presentation focuses on issues that are applicable to all applicants as well as some issues specific to Japanese applicants.

You can find results and/or testimonials from my clients admitted to to the Stanford Classes of 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 here.  My full Stanford results prior to the Class of 2014 can be found here. My clients admitted to Stanford GSB have come from China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States and have had extremely diverse professional and educational backgrounds. The advice I provide below is based on that experience.

The Place of Essay 3 within the Stanford GSB Application Essays for the Class of 2016: If Essay 1 is ultimately about what you value and Essay 2 is about what you want, Essay 3 is about what you can do. Essay 3 can also be considered as the place to show your potential to succeed at what you write about in Essay 2.
Before looking at the specific questions, lets look at the instructions: Answer one of the three questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.Stanford GSB specifically requires that these experiences come from the last three years. This time constraint is important to keep in mind. One of the easiest ways to trash your application is to ignore this time limit. Essay 3 is the space to focus on the present or recent past.
THE OPTIONS ARE ALL ABOUT HAVING AN IMPACT:

• Option A: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.

• Option B: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you identified and pursued an opportunity to improve an organization.

• Option C: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you went beyond what was defined or established.

One thing that is common to all three is that you must tell stories that show how you had an impact. Keep in mind what Derrick Bolton has written about this question:
Unlike the two previous essays, in which you are asked to write about your life from a more "global” perspective, these questions ask you to reflect on a specific recent (within the last three years) experience that has made a difference to you and/or the people around you. The best answers will transport us to that moment in time by painting a vivid picture not only of what you did, but also of how you did it. Include details about what you thought and felt during that time and your perceptions about how others responded. From these short-answer responses, we visualize you “in action.In the following table, which I will elaborate on below, I have suggested how to outline an essay designed to effectively answer this question.

( A .doc version of this file can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BLgtRWLaXbts4pxV4k-DEp-udxIjhBjgrG78rEFK7zo/edit?usp=sharing)

The above table is based on the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method. When Stanford GSB started asking behavioral essay questions, it was clear that they had borrowed this from MIT Sloan. This distinctive style of behavioral essay questions that MIT and Stanford ask have their origins in behavioral interviewing:"Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970." In fact, the STAR technique outlined in MIT's guide was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:

Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you  describe doesn’t have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.

In his book “Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life” (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own “behavioral dimensions” (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.

The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering Essay 3. It is simply the following, which is taken from the 2005 MIT Sloan Guide (No longer available for easy download, but if you search on “Situation: define the situation or "set the stage." you can find it. The current guide is is not as helpful.):

• Situation: define the situation or "set the stage."

• Task: identify the task/project performed.

• Action: describe the action you took.

• Result: summarize the outcome

Just keep in mind that you need to be introspective as well, so write what you thought as well as what you did. Don't just present "the facts" but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a detailed story. Pure abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly, grand actions not told in any depth are also likely to be weak. Identify specific actions that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between cause and effect.
As when answering any kind of question, another important consideration is to think very critically about what your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and results say about you. Keep in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or rejecting that person. It is obviously critical to be aware of your own message.

When selecting your topic, you should ask yourself "What does this essay reveal about me?" If you can't answer that clearly, you need to clarify your message. When asking this question, think about both what you intend the reader to think and what you might also be revealing. Control for the possibility of sending out unintended signals. One of the best ways of handling this issue is to have a very careful and intelligent reader review these essays. If you are working with an admissions consultant, they should be able to do this. Getting multiple perspectives on what you wrote will help you better understand your likely impact on an admissions’ reader. All three options below allow for great variation and the most important thing is to tell the best story you can.
After completing the chart you will see that some aspects of your action steps may be repeated. If there is a total duplication and nothing new is shown, either you need to redefine the action step or you may decide not to focus on it. The point is to show the value of each step you took and its overall relationship to the impact you had.

Simply providing a description of your actions, is not enough. Think about what it signifies about you and why Stanford needs to know about it. Think about what your actions reveal about your intelligence, unique capabilities, leadership potential, your potential to succeed at Stanford, and/or future career. If you can’t figure out why Stanford admissions needs to know about an action you took or a result, you may find yourself needing to reconsider part or all of your topic.

Also ask yourself if Stanford admissions has already learned what you are writing about elsewhere in the application. The content in this essay is likely to overlap with content found elsewhere in the application and this is no problem as long as the admissions readers of the essay are actually gaining greater insight into you that will motivate them to want to interview you.
Once you think you have two to four fully worked-out action steps, write your first draft. Next start re-writing. Eliminate duplicate points made between action steps. Make choices about what parts of each action to step to highlight. Given the word limits, you will have to make some decisions about what to include.

Finally, thinking and writing about leadership is an important part of preparing for interviews because you can be certain that you will have to talk about leadership. So, you might find that the parts of the outline you jettison now will become valuable when you will want to have alternative stories for your Stanford interview.

Specific Comments about each option:


Option A: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.
I suggest you don’t just simply a tell story with the following structure: “I led a team of X people. I told them what needed to be done and they agreed. They did it. The result was…” Not only will this be boring, but it will not really highlight why this story best demonstrates your team leadership skills. It will also fail to answer the last part of the question: You need to show how the team went beyond what was expected. Don’t be overly dramatic, but get admissions to understand the significance of what you have done. If you have a great extracurricular team story, don't feel obligated to provide a work related answer to this question even though you may have developed such an answer for another school. Three questions to think about:
1. What skills or qualities did you demonstrate in the process of building or developing the team?
2. What does this story reveal about the way you interact with organizations and/or individuals?
3. Specifically how did your team exceed expectations? If this is measurable, indicate that as clearly as possible.

Option B: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you identified and pursued an opportunity to improve an organization.
Improving an organization is another way that leaders have impact. Clearly indicate what that impact is and how you achieved it. The identification of the opportunity is really critical. If you are about to write a leadership essay about how you lead a team successfully by carrying out someone else’s plan, you don’t have the right topic for Option B. A key part of this essay is that you identify something that other people can’t see or don’t see, that you initiate a positive change that adds value. I think the add value test is really important. A story where you identify a potential problem and simply prevent it from taking away value is not going to work here.
Pursuing an opportunity means to get it implemented. To what extent you do the actual implementation yourself is less important than your ability to go from having a good idea to making into a reality. If you do actually handle all the implementation then to the extent possible, explain what you did. Pursuing an opportunity is ultimately about getting to the results, so describe the results very clearly. Given that this should be about something that was in the past, a situation where your are in the midst of implementing something will not likely work well here. You should be writing about a situation with a clear positive outcome where you added value. One very nice thing about this question is that you are not limited to the type of organization you improved. It might be your organization or merely one you did consulting for or otherwise positively impacted. It might be an organization that you got paid to improve or something you are doing in your free time. A key point is to establish a clear link between the opportunity you identified and the improvement to the organization.

Option C: Tell us about a time in the last three years when you went beyond what was defined or established.
I have to say that I have always loved this question. Going beyond something defined or established may involve breaking the rules. Stanford GSB is a place for those who are not traditional and are flexible in their thinking. If you are a maverick, a risk-taker, or simply unconventional in your approach to adding value, this essay option is for you. Show how you alter the very rules of something that you have been a part of and have a positive impact as a result. Leadership is often tested most profoundly in situations where one has to go against “common sense,” organizational tradition, and/or the interests of others. In one way or another show how you possess the courage to act in a situation that was outside the box.
Finally, behavioral questions are not necessarily harder than other types of questions, but they do have their own underlying logic: Past behavior is a guide to future behavior. Keep that in mind, so that Stanford GSB sees what you want them to see and believes in your future potential.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.