Applying to HBS, Stanford GSB, and...

It has been a while since I posted on here - the last 2 weeks have been really busy as I have been traveling and dealing with various situations that have been popping up.

I have not had a lot of time to work on my b-school apps, but I have made a couple of breakthroughs:

1. I got started on my first essay!

The one I chose to start on is HBS question #1- tell us about something you have done well. I basically just manned up, sat down one evening, and put my thoughts on paper. This exercise was very helpful and I plan on writing a first draft of each and every essay for round 1 as the next step in my process. This leads me to my next breakthrough:

2. I think I have decided which schools I want to apply to in the first round!

After multiple iterations, I am ~85% sure that in the first round I will apply to:

>>>>>>>>>

HBS
Stanford GSB
Booth

The biggest question mark for me is whether to apply to Wharton in round 1 and push Booth to round 2, or to apply to all four in round 1. I don't want to overwhelm myself, so as of right now I am going with 3 in round 1. If I make a lot of progress in a short amount of time, I will consider adding Wharton.

Many people recommend applying to a mix of 1 stretch, 1 competitive, and 1 safety school in each round. Although this sounds like great advice, I don't think I will be following it for a few reasons:

  • It seems like it will simply drag the process out, because unless I get in to my top choice, it guarantees that I will have to go through round 2
  • I want the application process to be painful but short
  • I am not applying to any safety schools

This is where I am at right now. I do not plan on hiring an admissions consultant, but I do want to turn those who are interested onto something I found. It is called MBA Volunteers. Apparently, they will review your essays (among other services) for a donation of $250 to one of 10 charities. Sounds like a pretty good idea (apparently the LBS Good Idea Competition seems to think so too). I don't know anyone who has used the service, but I do plan on using it when I am fairly comfortable with my essays and I will surely post a review when I do.

Has anyone used MBA Volunteers? If so, please let us know what you thought of the service.

That's my story for now. If anyone past/present cares to share their experience with how many schools they applied to or plan on applying to in each round and/or which schools they plan on applying to this year, please post.

Also, if anyone has any advice on getting over the initial hump with essays, please do share.

Is anyone out there in the same boat as me? I want to start some sort of group so we can discuss the progress we are making on our applications - please post here or PM me if interested in setting up an MBA support group. It doesn't necessarily have to be a WSO group, but I would like to gauge interest to see how we can go about putting something together.

 

I'll be applying next year, but I have received some sound advice on starting and streamlining the application/interview process:

List 5 qualities that define who you are. For each quality, come up with 5 examples of each quality that you can easily explain in an interview.

List 5 accomplishments that you are proud of. For each accomplishment, write 5 points on each one that you can elaborate on an interview. What did you learn? How do these accomplishments demonstrate your leadership/management abilities?

What are two examples of events that did not go your way. What did you learn from these events, and how have they made you better?

I know it sounds like there are a lot of redundancies in these lists, but if you really get detailed in your explanations, you can pick and choose what qualities or experiences you will want to emphasize when your interviews go in a different direction than you expect.

 
Best Response

I personally did not use an admissions consultant, with the mindset that if I can't sell my experience on my own, I probably should not be sitting in the career I'm in.

Similar to you, I had the same strategy - get into the best schools or don't go at all. I will attend one of the schools on your list this fall.

On the essays, I would put the three questions for each school out in front of you. Tackle the ones with no overlap with other schools first (ie: the questions you cannot recycle answers to). Those are usually the toughest and if you save them for last, you will be less motivated to create a story from scratch.

Having that said, you should definitely have multiple readers on your essays. Whether or not you use a consultant, have close friends who are recent alums of these MBA programs to give you advice. There is nothing more valuable in my opinion

 

First, good luck with the application process. I was in your shoes last year. (I applied to HBS, Stanford, and Columbia in R1 with the idea I'd send of a couple of additional apps in R2 if things didn't work out.)

As for the essays, I found a couple of things helpful.

(1) I ignored all of the word-count limits and made sure I had written about everything I wanted to get across. Then, I went back and edited it down.

(2) In the beginning, I forced myself to write something (even if just a paragraph or bullet points) every day until I had workable rough drafts of everything. Then, I would make 3-4 sets of revisions/edits. All of this probably took ~3 weeks for me.

(3) Finally, I put all of them away for a couple of weeks and then came back to read them with fresh eyes. I think this is important--it's easier to objectively evaluate something when you have a little bit of distance from it. (At least it was easier for me, anyway.)

Hope some (or any) of this is helpful.

 

Very helpful! Thanks Eskimo. I actually have been doing the same thing with the bullet points and hopefully will be more proactive in the coming days/weeks about getting my thoughts on paper.

What month was this that you spent 3 weeks on your essays? Once the essays were done, how long did it take you to fill out the misc stuff in the applications themselves (work history, activities, etc)?

Also, if you don't mind me asking, what happened? Were you successful in round 1? Did you apply anywhere in round 2?

 
phantombanker:
Very helpful! Thanks Eskimo. I actually have been doing the same thing with the bullet points and hopefully will be more proactive in the coming days/weeks about getting my thoughts on paper.

What month was this that you spent 3 weeks on your essays? Once the essays were done, how long did it take you to fill out the misc stuff in the applications themselves (work history, activities, etc)?

Also, if you don't mind me asking, what happened? Were you successful in round 1? Did you apply anywhere in round 2?

Happy to help. I spent a couple of hours every night during most of August; I got the miscellaneous stuff done during the first couple of weeks in Sept. (I could have probably gotten it done sooner if I had been more motivated, but work and life got particularly busy.)

I ended up getting into HBS in R1, which was my first choice, so I didn't have to send off the R2 applications, thankfully.

 
phantombanker:
Eskimo, did you use any type of essay review service, or was it mostly just friends?

Btw, I have decided that starting today, I will spend 1 hour every day on my essays. I will let you know how that goes...

I think that's a great plan, phantombanker. Definitely keep me posted on how things progress. Feel free to send me a PM if you think I can be of any assistance in the future. Seriously--best of luck.

I didn't use a consultant, and I--perhaps foolishly--didn't even enlist the help of co-workers or friends, either. (I'm a private person, and some of the stuff I was writing about was pretty personal. In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea and been less stressful if I hadn't gone it entirely alone.)

Personally, I have mixed feelings about consultants and essay review services. I've known people that have used them and found them incredibly helpful, but I've also heard some horror stories...

 

i went through this process last year and i had many of the same questions as you.

i ended up doing 4 apps in round 1. i procrastinated heavily and still managed. if i had been less lazy about it, 4 would have been a piece of cake. i also generally had at least a few days between due dates which helped.

i think consultants/paid reviewers are only worth it if you don't have any friends/colleagues who went to top business schools. most successful MBA business schools ">M7 applicants know the admissions game inside out and have a solid understanding of how adcoms look at apps. a couple of relevant friends reviewing your essays will be just as useful as a consultant.

 
phantombanker:
Update: HBS essay #2, first draft completed. I feel great - the hardest step really is getting your initial thoughts/ideas on paper.

Amen. Glad to hear it's going well.

 

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