Thank you, Vatsa! I wanted to applaud when I read this recent blog entry: “Any of the 19 schools on the WSJ list can help a motivated individual achieve his or her career aspirations, and it’s up to the individual to decide what his own internal ‘ranking’ of schools is.”

This addresses a couple of important points. Firstly, any of the top schools can help a motivated individual achieve his or her goals. Conversely, HBS on your resume is not an instant ticket to the job of your dreams. It’s a great tool, but you need to know how to put that tool to work. In the end, your intelligence, focus, personality, perseverance and more are all going to factor into your success. It’s important to keep in mind that there are a ton of great schools out there, all with different offerings and different networks. Getting in to a great school is important. However, what you do with that opportunity is much more important.

Secondly, the notion of an internal ranking is important. Many applicants will call me saying that they want to apply to “the top 5 schools.” My first question: “What are your top five?” You would be surprised by how much the answers vary. Kellogg, Chicago, Wharton, Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, MIT, Stanford, Tuck – these are all names that are mentioned with regularity. Every list is different. This variance is reflected in the “official” published lists – EIU, the Financial Times, US News, Business Week, WSJ and Forbes all publish lists, and they all use different criteria. Instead of choosing from one of these lists, an applicant needs to determine their personal criteria. An article published last week by the Economist quotes former HBS Dean, Kim Clark, who said that he would like a school to be judged by the “achievement of its alumni”. That’s his criteria. What’s yours? When selecting your schools, use the rankings as one piece of research, but realize that it is a subjective judgement, and what matters most is not what is important to Forbes, but what is important to you.

Last week, Wharton listed the Top Ten Applicants Myths that they encounter. Indeed, these are the same myths that I encounter, many of which I have tried to dispel in this blog. I wanted to comment on Myth #6, “Candidates are assessed on their number and/or type of extra-curricular activities and community service”. Extra-curricular involvements are an important part of this process, but there are a number of misconceptions regarding how and why to become involved.

Why are extra-curricular activities important to begin with?
1) They show that an individual is multi-dimensional. They demonstrate, interests, passions, personality. As such, they help the admissions committees get to know you beyond your professioal goals.
2) Being involved outside of work shows that you can balance multiple commitments, and that you are the type of person who will be able to balance academics with clubs, conferences, recruiting and more, once you are at school.
3) They can show that you have a larger view of the world – that you see what is happening outside of your office and you are interested in being involved and contributing in some way. They can show that you understand your own role as a leader and your ability to leverage your position and give back.
4) They make you a more interesting person – someone that can contribute to the diversity and vitality of a class and alumni network.
5) It’s an opprtunity to demonstrate qualities such as creativity, leadership, teamwork, communication skills, initiative. These qualities are important outside of a professional setting as well as at work.

Unfortunately, if you have spent the past five years buried in your office, “joining” an organization or volunteering at a soup kitchen one Sunday is not going to help you much. That kind of effort is pretty transparent. The schools realize that many of you are extremely busy with demanding jobs and committing to several hours a week is not possible. Still, the most successful applicants find ways to carve out time for interests and contributions.

When thinking about ways to become involved, don’t get hung up on traditional volunteer work. There are many, many ways to become involved and show your dicersity. A good place to start is with your own interests and passions. Think hard about what excites you, and how you can leverage those interests. A couple of examples from my clients:

Client 1: Enjoyed painting as a hobby until she accepted an investment banking job out of college. She felt she had no time to become involved outside of work. She rekindled her interest in art when she became involved in a company sponsored fundraising initiative. She designed t-shirts to raise extra money and unite the team.
Result: She showcased her artistic talent and interest, became involved in a great cause, demonstrated creativity and leadership.

Client 2: Was on the swim team throughout high school and college. She decided to mentor through coaching a middle school swim team. Developed meaningful relationships with the kids on her team and ended up learning a great deal from them.
Result: She showcased athletic interests and found a personally meaningful way to give back to her community. Highlighted important coaching and motivational skills.

Example 3: Struggling with learning English in Israel. Started an English Public Speaking Club in Israel and grew it over the course of four years.
Result: Highlighted a creative approach to solving a personal problem. Came up with a solution that helped others as well. Demonstrated leadership and ability to get things done.

You can see that Habitat for Humanity is not always the answer. Keep in mind that quality is far more important than quantity. Rattling off a list of 10 involvements will not help as much as something that truly reflects who you are and can showcase important interests and skills. You may be surprised to find that these involvements will add a great deal to your life, which is exactly the point!

A number of information sessions have been taking place throughout the month, and my clients want to know whether it is worth attending. I believe it is.

1) The first rule of successful marketing is to know your target market. This means that up front you want to do a lot of research. Reading books, scouring the web, reviewing brochures – all of this is great. But nothing can replace actually meeting representatives from the schools and hearing frst hand what makes their school special. Vatsa makes this point in a recent blog entry regarding a trip to an MBA fair in Los Angeles.

2) Building off of the point above, in addition to educating yourself, you may actually gather some great content for your essays and interview. You will inevitably be asked why you want to attend a certain school, and it is so much more powerful to speak from first hand experience rather than quoting the website.

3) The information you gather at these sessions may shatter stereotypes, helping you to refine your school list or consider a school you had not taken seriously in the past.

4) You may actually make a valuable contact. You could very well meet someone from the admissions committee, a current student or alum, and stay in touch. This could prove to be a valuable or enjoyable relaionship down the road.

5) It will help to immerse you in the process. Few things will motivate you to focus on your essays more than attending a session with 100 qualified competitors.

So, dress up in business attire, bring a list of questions and a stack of business cards, and head over to those information sessions.

Ten years ago, the question on everyone’s mind was, “Am I too young?”. Back then, the more experience the better…the older the better…

More recently, top schools such as Stanford and Harvard have stated that they are taking a closer look at younger candidates, and are even willing to admit candidates with no work experience. The initial thinking behind this was that some candidates may be so successful 2-3 years out of school that they would not consider going back at that point. Thus, the schools would be missing an opportunity to admit some exceptional talent. Yes, some of these schools are opening their eyes more to less experienced candidates, but this does not mean that younger candidates have a better chance of success.

Younger candidates will have their fair share of challenges. They will need to work harder to prove that they possess the focus, confidence and maturity necessary to excel in an MBA program. They will also need to prove that they have enough insights and exeriences to be a contrbuting member of the student population. Finally, a younger applicant will need to convince the admissions committee that they have focused career goals and solid reasons for going back to school so soon after their undergraduate degree.

Similarly, older candidates will face challenges. Older candidates will have to prove that it makes sense to return to school at this late stage of their career, and that they are not merely encountering a mid-career crisis. They will also have to demonstrate that all of their time in the work world has been well spent. They should demonstrate progression, tangible contributions and a high level of self awareness, confidence and maturity. A 37 year old applicant who has spent 15 years in the same position will have a hard time getting admitted to a top school. But this is not because they are 37 or because of the 15 years of experience. Rather, it is because they have not demonstrated growth during that time.

Young or old, if you can achieve all of the above, you will have a good shot at getting in, and should not be worried that you have hit some imaginary cut-off age.

Now is a time when many applicants are scrambling to wrap up the GMAT so that they can finally focus exclusively on the written portion of their applications. Many are trying to decide whether to take the GMAT again, or just accept their current score and move on. While this is not a black and white issue, as the GMAT is only one component of the process, the following is some information that should help you put together your own GMAT game plan.

It’s important to understand how most of the top schools review your GMAT score. By and large, the GMAT score is self reported on your application. This means that the school will ask you for your highest score, or perhaps your highest and most recent, and you manually input it into your data forms. This self reported score is really the only one that the admissions commitee will look at until you are admitted. Once you are admitted, they will confirm the validity of the self reported scores. As a result, your highest score really, truly, is the one that is considered. I have been asked many times, and in turn have asked the schools – “Do you really only consider the highest score? ” The answer always comes back as a “yes”.

Does this mean that you should keep taking the test as much as possible until you see improvement? Absolutely not. You have much better things to do with your time and money. However, I do recommend planning to take the test at least twice. There is no harm in taking it twice, and because this test becomes easier with practice, there is a good chance that you will improve your score. Beyond two attempts it is really up to you – if you feel that you have a reasonably strong chance of significant improvement, you may decide to continue to divert time away from your essays and give the test another try.

What if you take the test and know, without a doubt, that you completely bombed it? Should you cancel your score? Again, since the admissions committee considers your highest score, there is no point in cancelling a low score. Every year I have clients who are convinced they floundered and were very pleasantly surprised. Those who cancel their scores are at a disadvantage – they have no idea how they scored, they have nothing “anchor” with, and no way of measuring improvement. Even if you did score low, it is nice to know where you stand, so that you can intelligently plan your next steps.

What is the score that you should be shooting for? The obvious answer is that you go for your highest possible score. Even if you recieved a 710 on your first attempt, a 760 is significantly better. If you think you can improve that much, even when your starting score is above average for a school, it is worth trying. That said, most of us cannot reach 760. The minimum you should shoot for is within the 80% range for your target school – again, the higher the better. Know that certain demographic profiles can get away with lower scores. It is true that a French female applicant, where English is a second language, may not be required to have as high a score as a Caucasian male from the US. If you are unable to reach the bar that you set for yourself, take comfort in the fact that 80% percentile means that 10% of the admitted class scored below that range. The rest of your application will have to work that much harder for you, but it is not impossible to overcome a low score.

Finally – preparation. While everyone has their own style and approach for preparing for the GMAT, I recommend a formal class or private tutor of some kind. Beyond the curriculum, a key benefit of a class is the discipline it provides. Between classes, homework and practice tests, you are likely to make the GMAT a part of your daily life and gain the practice that you need. Because the test is taken on a computer in a strange environment, practice and familiarity with the test is crucial. You should allow about 2 months for prep, and ideally you will not be distracted by essays and other aspects of the process during that time.

Sitting in front of your computer, reading and rereading essay questions, trying to figure out what the admissions committee wants to hear…it’s overwhelming. Most applicants have a hard time just getting started. Over the weekend, applicant Anand Rao wrote about the prep work he did before taking the plunge. I have plenty of clients who can relate to his attempts to organize before typing those initial words. In the first moments, as you begin your essays, you may actually consider scrapping it all and applying next year. Or you may find other, more creative ways to procrastinate.

There are plenty of ways to prepare your content so that you are ready to write. We go through a number of exercises with clients struggling with writer’s block. One very simple approach is to write out a list of key topics you want to communicate to the admissions committee. For example: accelerated career progression, mentoring experiences, international focus, non-profit leadership. Once you have your list, you can map your topics to specific essay questions. Make sure that all of your material is tied to at least one question. Once you have your essay topics organized, you can put together outlines with specific examples.

After that, you need to just start writing. As you write your initial drafts, don’t worry about perfecting the content or the grammar, and certainly do not worry about word count. It’s less difficult to edit a draft than it is to start from scratch. If nothing else, the goal of your first draft should be to give yourself something to work with so that you can move forward.