Developing Your Business School Brand Message

Similar to how businesses devote a large amount of time and resources creating their brand message, you should as well. You are about to make some important decisions about what your business school application will communicate about you to the admissions team. In our experience guiding hundreds of MBA candidates, we have found that defining three to five brand messages is about right. Although you may be funny, strong, intelligent, generous, smart, determined, entrepreneurial, respectful, artistic, innovative, athletic, and a number of other things as well, if you try to tell an admissions team everything about yourself, you risk an individual reading your application feeling that they don't know you. The aim of your MBA application isn't to tell the admissions officers everything about you; it's to tell them the most important parts and to reinforce those attributes by providing examples.

If you have written down the attributes you believe most strongly about yourself, and what characteristics your specific business schools are looking for, then you will have a head start. The attributes you come up with for each MBA program are most likely broad: strong leader, an entrepreneurial view, etc. You should be able to check those boxes with your unique combination of strengths.

You should also be able to take a broad quality, such as leadership, and say much more than "I am a leader." You should be able to do is to tell the business school admissions team why you are a strong leader and the leadership style that has served you well in the past. That is the level of specificity you should aim for in your brand messages. If you do the following, your MBA application will be significantly stronger.

For more robust guidance on your MBA application essays, check out the Stacy Blackman Consulting Essay Guide Series – school specific guides with essay tips, sample essays, information on what your target schools value and more.

Founded in 2001, Stacy Blackman Consulting has helped thousands of MBA applicants gain admission to the most selective business schools in the world. The Stacy Blackman team, comprised of MBA graduates, former admissions officers and expert writers, editors and marketers, helps clients develop and implement a winning marketing strategy. Stacy Blackman clients have a significantly increased probability of admission to top schools and are frequent recipients of merit scholarships. The company is regularly featured in publications such as BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Visit the Stacy Blackman blog for daily news updates and admissions tips, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.