How to Get into MBA Schools – Marketing Yourself

Introduction

You do not have to be in business, economics or finance to need to market yourself like a billion-dollar company or like an expensive product. Just apply to elite graduate schools of business and you need to market yourself. This is a difficult concept for many. Have you ever noticed the smartest students are often stunned when the “lesser qualified” applicant gets into premier programs, and they didn’t? It’s not that business schools are being especially nice. They just see the “lesser qualified” applicant as better meeting an institutional need, and more capable of promoting the college’s mission. More often than not, the “lesser qualified” candidate marketed his assets and strengths better than the stellarBun student.

• You are the Product
  • Treat yourself like an expensive product for a customer and you’ll appreciate what you need to do to present yourself to admission committees.
• How to Market Yourself to top Business Schools
  • Plan
  • Determine your goals
  • Assess your competitiveness
  • Segment the market
  • Formulate an application strategy
  • Select a subset of programs for in depth research
    • Location
    • Culture
    • Size of Program/Classes/Campus
    • Academic offerings/Joint programs
    • Strength of Alumni Network
    • Teaching Style/Curriculum
    • Prestige
    • Social Life
  • Learn about the buyer: The Admissions Committee
    • Who makes the ultimate decision?
    • What is their process?
    • What do they value?
  • Marketing “You”
    • As in sports when the best player or team doesn’t always win, in the admissions process, sometimes the best appearing applicant doesn’t gain an acceptance. Yet the underdog does. Why could this be? Often the reason is that the underdog marketed him/herself better, highlighting his/her strengths, addressed the institutional needs of the college better, and overall made a better case for admissions than the “stellar” candidate with better grades and scores.
    • Fundamental to any successful MBA school admissions campaign is to treat yourself as a product or better yet as company (of one). In addition, you should treat the MBA school as a buyer (the customer). Can you convince the buyer to buy you? It’s that simple. If you know the needs of the graduate school, and exceed their expectations, you have chance.
    • Your job is simple. It just isn’t easy!
    • Step 1
      • Develop a Prudent Strategic Plan
      • Assess your competitiveness
      • Segment the Market
      • Formulate an Application Portfolio Strategy
      • Select a Subset of schools for in depth research
      • Learn about your buyer: the admissions committee
      • What is their admissions process?
      • Who makes the final decision?
    • Step 2
      • Develop and Refine Your Brand
    • Step 3
      • • Communicate your Brand across all media
          • Essays
          • Recommendation Letters
          • Interviews
          • Resume or curriculum vitae
          • Data Forms

• • Establishing what do elite business schools value!
    • • Excellence in Everything You Do
        • Academically
        • Professionally
        • Personally
      • Exceptionally Compelling Narrative, Vision & Goals
      • Impactful Leadership – Potential National Leader
      • Honesty & Integrity
      • Compelling reason for this school, this department, this major
      • Diversity in terms of values, background, experience and perspectives
      • Social Justice & Genuine Service to Humanity
      • Social Intelligence
      • Intellectual Curiosity
      • Strong Interpersonal & Intrapersonal Skills (Social Intelligence)
      • Emotional Intelligence
      • Commitment
      • Growth & Progression over Time
      • Ambition
      • Global Point of View
      • Fluency in at least two languages
  • Final Thoughts
    • Showcase your Talent
      • When you have talents, accomplishments, perspectives or experiences that allow you to stand out and separate you from the competitive applicant pool, don’t be shy. If you don’t brag for your accomplishments, perhaps no one will.
    • Show your Passion
      • Graduate schools of business want to know you on a personal level. They want to know what motivates you and what truly matters to you. Great grades and scores get you noticed. But, they don’t get you accepted. Show them what drives you, what truly matters to you, why you are so committed and work so hard.
    • Underdog
      • People love a great underdog, come from behind story. If you have one, tell it. Admissions committee members will likely want to root for you and support you.
    • Great Essay
      • Most of your application is pretty inanimate. To bring your story to life, write a great essay, making sure to show and not tell a great story. Make the reader feel an emotion, whether it is to shed a tear, shout for joy, celebrate or whatever. If the reader finishes the essay without an emotion, you’ve lost.
    • Use your Connections or Make new Connections
      • If you or your family know someone of substance at that particular institution, tell them of your strong interest. There are ethical and legal ways to use your connections to help get in. Use them!
    • Campaign to Win
      • Like Google, Mercedes or Coca Cola, if you want to improve your odds of success, you must market yourself to the target audience. As an applicant, there is nothing shameful or dishonest in this.
    • Source: Stacy Blackman Consulting and “How they Got into Harvard” by the Harvard Crimson