The Election is Over – Time to Get Moving on Round 2 Applications
- Formulate your “story” first: ensure that you are solid on how you’ll describe your experience to date, why you want an MBA, and what you plan to do with said MBA before you start to write your essays. Run this by people who know what they are talking about – alums of the schools you are interested in, coworkers, and friends and family who know what your plan is. Ensure that your story makes sense and is concrete and specific enough to really paint a picture of who you are. It may seem like a lot of work up front but I promise that it saves you time in the long run and will help ensure that you have a cohesive application aligned on one, solid theme.
- Get more out of your resume: putting your resume in business school format (eg. lead with accomplishments not tasks) has another use – helping you determine how you’ll describe your background in a way that makes sense to a broader audience by obliterating jargon and not making assumptions about what the reader knows. Ensure that your resume and your essays describe your background in similar terms.
- Give your recommenders a deadline: whether your recommenders are willing to share their letters with your or not, give them a deadline that’s before the actual deadline (just in case). This way you’ll have time in the event that you have a last minute surprise to deal with, which unfortunately we see all too often.Aim to be finished one week ahead of time:plan to not procrastinate. This way if something interrupts your plan, you have time to adjust. This time of year there are plenty of distractions – build in some cushion.
Katie is a passionate mentor and coach, helping her clients craft a unique, compelling story by leveraging her experience as a corporate executive, alumni interviewer, and campus recruiter. Before completing her MBA at Kellogg, Katie spent five years in banking where she learned practical finance skills as well as how to operate in a demanding, high pressure environment. She pursued an MBA in order to transition to an industry role where she could utilize her finance knowledge to drive change within an organization. Post-MBA, she worked in finance and strategy for a leading CPG firm, progressing to an executive role leading the finance function for a $2B business segment. Her experience managing diverse teams led to a passion for developing others. In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, she led her firm’s MBA recruiting efforts and served as an alumni admissions interviewer for Kellogg.