By Jeremy Dann

“Time is on our side.” So quoth the Rolling Stones. Truer words were never spoken about the business school application process. Smartly investing and budgeting time is a key to generating the great essays needed to accurately represent your achievements, talents, goals and potential contributions to a top b-school admissions committee. But, if you neglect tending to your calendar and work schedule, then time will most decidedly not be on your side.

Candidates need to balance the significant investment of hours spent developing essays with the other commitments in their lives: work, family, community service, friends, etc. The best way to do this is to start to put together your application calendar and time budget months before the deadlines you are targeting. Candidates need to think about time management from a number of angles.

Finding the HOURS: Enough time to grind out those essays
Although the time MBA aspirants take to generate their applications varies greatly depending on writing ability, general work efficiency and other factors, you should basically plan on spending 40-60 hours in front of your computer working on your collection of, say, four to eight applications. This amount of time generally covers the writing, revising, editing, proofing, formatting and inputting of essays. Someone currently immersed in writing and editing as a part of his or her career—maybe someone authoring investment reports or working in corporate communications—will probably have a much smoother process than a person who has been imprisoned in Excel Hell for the last three or four years. Non-native English speakers will also probably need to plan on spending more time on their applications.
Aside from the essays themselves, candidates need to set aside the hours necessary to prep recommenders (which we will deal with in coming weeks) and continue with the reading, community service and other activities that enhance their candidacy. Oh…and of course, we can’t forget the hours to fun and frolic spent prepping for the GMAT.

Planning the DAYS: The best ways to structure your work sessions
Different folks have different sorts of work patterns. Some are most efficient when they can break up tasks into manageable pieces. Some work best when they can devote eight hours at a time in marathon writing sessions. MBA applicants should be aware of the way they work the most effectively and efficiently and structure their writing/editing sessions accordingly.
I recommend to most of my clients that they allocate two to three hours each time they sit down at their computer to work on their essays. Shorter sessions, I believe, don’t allow enough time for people to get into a “literary groove.” Essays should be handled holistically, especially in the first two drafts. Don’t think that you’re going to have a strong end-product if you steal 15-minutes here and 30-minutes there to generate that Wharton leadership answer. Essays composed in pieces often read as disjointed, unpolished tracts.
Most applicants should also avoid the “marathon session.” It is the rare individual who is as sharp or creative eight hours into a writing and editing session as he was at the beginning. If you need to catch up by doing extra work, trying breaking it up with a session in the morning and another in the evening.

Budgeting the WEEKS: Allow enough time for reflection and feedback
While some people think they produce their best work under intense pressure, it is extremely unwise to try to polish off a set of applications in just a week or two. Distributing the work over a sensible time period of four to six weeks lets you maintain a steady, but manageable pace. Spreading the work out a bit allows you to reflect on things you may have written over previous days; you may think of a better microexample to illustrate a certain character trait or develop much more interesting or humorous language for a specific paragraph. This will not happen if you are forced to work at warp speed.
Distributing your writing and editing over a reasonable period also makes it easier for friends, family or colleagues to provide feedback on your essays if you choose to ask them. It’s extremely unfair to ask someone to turn around comments in a 24-period, so provide them a few days to give you their comments and critiques. And of course, leave yourself adequate time to reflect on and incorporate their feedback. Don’t be one of those applicants that sends essays out to a friend in the last couple of days just for the sake of gaining the “security blanket” that comes with hearing “Great job! I know you’ll get in.” Select people who will tell you the real deal and give yourself enough time to act on it.
Finally, if you choose to work with a professional application advisor, make sure you take this into account in your calendar. Advisors in some ways make the process take longer—with the extra discussions and feedback cycles—but can also save time when all is said and done by helping make sure you don’t follow any “dead ends” in your essay writing process.

For insight into how one future applicant is getting a head start on the process, check out UniQpath’s blog. She is already struggling with some of the key questions that need to be addressed throughout this process.

Yesterday, Bschool Diva wrote that this is “boring” time on the bschool front. I suppose it is true – this is the calm before the storm. It’s a time to take action wherever you can – GMAT, a Calculus class, lobbying for that promotion. OR…assessing your extracurricular profile…

Applications will soon be published. Many prospective applicants are bemoaning the fact that they have not been involved with any activities outside of work since college. Life has been too hectic, with 80 hour work weeks and a desire for a bit of fun. While it’s understandable that there has been little time, most of those who are ultimately admitted to the top schools, make time to nurture their interests and hobbies.

If you think that suddenly becoming a regular at the soup kitchen will look suspicious, you are probably correct. That type of involvement will not do you much good in terms of applications, although your contributions will always be appreciated! If you want to become involved with something now, think about who you are, what truly interests you, and what talents or skills you can contribute.

Make sure that whatever you do is genuinely meaningful to you and helps to support a story about your interests and abilities. See my previous post which provides some examples.

Also, try to become involved in a way that helps you highlight your leadership skills. Just listing off some volunteer work is not going to be as helpful as a story about how you initiated a fundraiser for a cause you hold close to your heart.

If you are really grasping for ideas, here are a few quick and easy ones:
- Can you give back to your undergraduate institution? Alumni interviewing, fundraising…? Schools always like to see this because it shows a track record for giving back to your alma mater.
- Many cities have groups such as Hands on Bay Area (in the Bay Area) which can inform you of opportunities.
- Check out Volunteer Match to help you locate local opportunities.

Choose something that you enjoy and have some fun cultivating interests, meeting new people and giving back!

By Jeremy Dann

“How many schools should I apply to? Which schools should I apply to?”

These are key questions aspiring MBAs ponder during the spring and summer before the busy application-writing season in fall and winter. The answers are different depending on where the applicant is within his or her “window” of applying to business school.

I_Will_Make_It wrote last month in Why MBA about her MBA plans and how her values, goals and desires have shifted a bit through the years. It’s important to be aware of where you are in life and how this impacts your school decisions.

The vast majority of MBA students are in their mid-20s to early 30s. Only a small portion come directly from college and only a few attend full-time business school in their late-30s and into their 40s. But even within the, say, eight-year “window” from 24-32 years of age, applicants have a variety of inputs to consider when deciding the portfolio of MBA programs they should apply to.

Age: Many applicants in their mid-20s decide they will only apply to their first two choices this year, figuring they can reapply a couple years down the line when they have a bit more experience. I can understand this approach for some younger candidates, but applicants who are a bit older should strongly consider a different approach. They should apply to a wider array of schools to ensure that they will at least have the option of attending business school in the fall of ’07. Of course, the best scenario involves an intelligent mix of top schools and “safer” schools that will yield a choice of MBA programs for the applicant. Some candidates, frankly, get on an unreasoned “Harvard or Stanford…or nothing!” kick that doesn’t serve anyone’s interests.

Next career alternative: Some MBA aspirants are in positions in which they could continue on for many more years. Others hold roles at places like consulting firms or top investment banks where policy and/or tradition encourage young employees to get further education. In environments where one can continue to advance unfettered, a candidate might consider applying solely to his or her top choice programs. However, candidates coming from companies with 2-3 year analyst programs that don’t allow for much upward progression should probably cast their nets a bit wider, assembling a bigger portfolio of schools.

Career track satisfaction: I have talked to several MBA aspirants who feel they are “locked” in roles that are too technical or too narrowly defined. Yet, some still want apply to just a couple of very highly ranked programs. When people desire to make a career transition to an entirely new role or industry—sooner, rather than later—I highly encourage them to apply to a broader array of business schools. There are incredible programs throughout the top 20 in the b-school rankings (and even beyond) that can provide the classes, career programs and alumni networks that aid this kind of transition.

First timer…or re-applicant?: A candidate who is going through his or her second round of business school applications should almost always apply to more schools. If the candidate is applying a couple of years down the line after dramatically improving his experience base, then he might add a couple of new schools to the mix but still target his top programs from a few years before. However, if the candidate is applying the very next year without significant changes in role, experience or “extracurriculars,” it makes a lot of sense to pursue a different base of schools, with perhaps one or two holdovers from the year before.

Family considerations: Taking two years to get an MBA is not just a “business decision,” it’s a “life decision.” Sometimes, the interests of boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives and children are critical factors in making the decision of if, when and where to apply. These considerations are much more complex and varied than the factors listed above, so it’s difficult to work through them in depth here. For instance, I knew some students who wanted to get through business school quickly so that they could start a family afterward, but I also knew of others who thought that business school (with day-care, low travel requirements, etc.) was a great environment to begin to build up their brood.

Candidates should talk with family, friends and mentors (and potentially an MBA application advisor) early in the application process to determine where they are in this “window” for business school. It’s an absolutely critical step in managing this multi-month application process thoughtfully.

In the past, I have addressed the issue of applicant age. I am constantly asked by applicants if they are too old or too young. Recently, more individuals are concerned about being too old, as the rumor is that younger applicants are more desirable. Just RusGirl addresses one aspect of the age issue, as it pertains to women, in Women in business schools. In my prior post, “Am I too Old“, I provide some general insights on this topic.

Since Harvard and Stanford, in particular, are often cited for seeking out younger applicants, I thought I would provide some insights, straight from the mouth of Stanford’s Dean Joss:

Why We Want Some Early Career Students

Back in the 1960s when I went to the Business School, most of us were straight out of college or had less than two years of post-college work experience. Among them, Phil Knight, MBA ’62, went on to found Nike. My classmate Hank McKinnell, MBA ’67, is now CEO of Pfizer. John Scully, MBA ’68, manages private equity investments. Jeffrey Bewkes, MBA ’77, went on to become chairman of the entertainment and networks group at Time Warner. Even in the 1980s, people still came directly from college as exemplified by Robert Kagle, MBA ’80, now general partner with Benchmark Capital, and Ann Livermore, MBA ’82, an executive vice president at Hewlett-Packard.

Over time, however, the post-undergraduate work experience of applicants to business school has grown. The range is great but the average is now four or five years. A myth has developed that you must have four years or more of experience or top business schools won’t even look at you. That’s not true at Stanford. Yet the myth has deterred outstanding early-career applicants from applying. While those who have worked longer bring valuable experience to class discussion, we want to see a few strong early-career students in the mix too.

What do I mean by early-career?

Generally, applicants with fewer than three years of full-time work experience. This group includes individuals who want to pursue an MBA directly following undergraduate study with no prior full-time work experience.

Why reach out to these prospects? First, remember that the Business School’s philosophy is to have maximum impact on the management effectiveness of leaders at different career stages. The Sloan Master’s Program is aimed primarily at mid-career managers. Executive Education supports practicing mid- and senior-level managers. The MBA is a transformative experience for those who know, no matter their career stage, that leadership of organizations is their lifelong calling. That’s where we have a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the development of rising leaders.

Second, we think we’re missing out on some talent. I know at least two current chief executives of major corporations who years ago were denied admission to the Business School partly because they applied too early, but they were admitted elsewhere. We don’t want to lose outstanding candidates to other programs because we are perceived as unnecessarily rigid.

Third, the opportunity cost of being out of the workplace for two years is the largest cost component of an MBA, and that cost is lowest in the early-career stage. In addition, for candidates thinking about when to begin a family, early entrance to business school is often an attractive option. Women now earn the majority of undergraduate degrees in the United States and will be increasing in the MBA applicant pool as a result. Evidence suggests that women and men are at parity in law and medical schools partially because many women are able to establish their post-professional school careers before taking time out for children.

What are we doing to recruit early-career candidates?

Over the last several years, we have increased our efforts to reach undergraduate students by visiting 50 colleges to discuss the merits of an MBA education in general and at Stanford specifically. For the first time this year, the Business School offered the GSB Summer Institute for liberal arts and science undergraduates and early-career individuals to provide an early exposure to management education.

What do students with less work experience contribute?

Professors observe that early-career students are able to contribute along with those who have more work history. Early-career applicants may have fewer work experiences, but it is the quality of their experiences and not the quantity that matters, and we select all our students for the quality of what they bring. Different early-career applicants make different contributions, just as is the case with other demographic groups that make up the class—and that’s the point: We admit people as individuals, and by having outstanding early-career applicants in the pool, we have a stronger pool from which to select. Each person makes his or her own unique and valuable contribution to the whole, and each receives individual benefits from the program.

Recruiters strongly support the presence of some early-career students in the program. These students are sometimes more flexible about the location and types of positions they consider, and they can be more patient in the career years immediately after the MBA—factors that lead to considerable placement success for them. Our emphasis has always been quality of experience rather than quantity, focusing on what applicants have achieved relative to their opportunities.

Does this mean that Stanford is only interested in early career applicants? No. It also does not mean that you have a better chance if you apply at a younger age. It just means that these schools are becoming increasingly open to all ages, and realize that you have a lot to contribute in different ways at various life stages. Your job as an applicant is to search internally for what you have to offer – whether it is ten years of accumulated work experience or a high quality, unique summer internship.

By Jeremy Dann
Setting aside time to read over the next few months is one of the smartest things you can do to enhance your candidacy for top-flight MBA programs. Many candidates have not read a book for personal enjoyment or education for years, and they often don’t consider the busy summer and fall before MBA application season a good time to start up again. But when you examine the list of reasons for diving into some good books over the next several months, it really seems like a no-brainer. Reading can:

• Improve your vocabulary and mastery of grammar: reading is a change of pace from GMAT prep, but can still help you in this area
• Improve your writing: your b-school essays will represent one of the biggest and most important writing projects of your life. Getting ideas about interesting sentence structures and storytelling methods will be invaluable
• Give you more to write about: you may think of whole new essay ideas or refine ideas about certain sections of essays
• Give you more to talk about: business school interviewers want to learn about the “full you.” Many interviews go into current events, history, politics, etc., so if you can demonstrate that you’ve kept aware of the world outside of your cubicle, you’re a step ahead of the game.

Demonstrate your passions
By no means is it necessary to plow through a stack of the latest business books so that you can drop buzzword after buzzword in your essays and interviews. And you shouldn’t feel obligated to round out the “weak” areas of your business experience by hitting the local bookstore to get “Stocktrading for Dummies” or “Marketing for Dummies.” After all, we go to business school in order to learn about disciplines that are new to us.

The most important thing is to further develop your own interests and passions, not demonstrate that you are a member of the “Warren Buffett Book of the Month Club.” If you are interested in art, read about that. If you are intrigued by the history of baseball, immerse yourself in it. If medical science advances fascinate you, find some gems in this arena. Of course, it never hurts to develop some form of “business perspective” on the subjects you feel passionately about. For instance, if you love reading about medicine, mix in some books about, say, the economics of the healthcare system in the United States or the behavior of the global pharma industry.

If you wish to transition to a new sort of career after business school, demonstrating this kind of commitment can be particularly important. If you have been an IT consultant for the last five years, but want to become an entrepreneur and launch a new restaurant concept, you should show a commitment to the area that goes beyond spending your $50 consulting per diem in the finest restaurants your client’s city has to offer. Reading about consumer trends, restaurant/retail entrepreneurs or the organic food movement helps show that you follow your interests, you don’t just talk about them.

Some ideas about what to read
To reiterate: read anything, just read! That’s the key element—thinking about words, structures, ideas and storytelling. Even John Grisham’s latest paperback helps with that.

But, if you wish to assemble a reading list with a little more of an application and interview preparation agenda, here are some ideas. First of all, I recommend that all my clients read selections from Songbook, by Nick Hornby (the fellow who wrote High Fidelity and About a Boy). This is an entertaining book featuring essays about the author’s favorite songs and the impact they have had on his life. Hornby uses music as a “door” to enter into discussions about some very serious issues, like his son’s autism. Since his essays are of a similar length to some you’ll be writing for your applications, you can really get some strong ideas about structure and storytelling.

Here are some other books that are not only entertaining an interesting, they might just influence your ideas on business without pounding you with a hail of buzzwords (Please click here to check out the reading list on Amazon):

Powerful ideas from science and history
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn
You’ve heard the term “paradigm shift” a thousand times. Read the incredibly persuasive book that essentially coined the term.

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond
Learn why some societies thrived while others vanished.

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, by Robert Wright
Illustrates how certain ideas, philosophies and cultural institutions come to the fore; argues that one of the main motive forces of human history is a drive toward more cooperation.

Viewpoints on the economy and society
The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman
A must read in an era of increasing globalization; illustrates the technological and societal forces that make the world a smaller place everyday.

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
Isolates the reasons why certain trends becomes phenomena.

Freakanomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Strange viewpoints and sometimes counterintuitive analyses of critical economic and societal issues

Costing the Earth, by Frances Cairncross,
A little outdated, but this is the most compelling economic analysis I have ever read about the true impact of economic activity on the environment, and the impact of environmental health on the economy; by a former Economist editor

Business books that make you think
The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen
Illustrates the organizational impediments to innovation faced by industry leading companies.

Trading Up: The New American Luxury, by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske
Isolates the trend of affordable luxuries, a force behind many of the top consumer brands of the last two decades

The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures, by Frans Johansson
Illustrates how the most compelling innovations come at the intersection of diverse disciplines

Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things, by Donald Norman
Design is a huge part of major recent success stories such as I-pod and Target stores; read a great book about what makes great design

Business History
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., by Ron Chernow
Compelling business biography.

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Daniel Yergin
Yeah…more oil, but it’s important stuff and this was a Pulitzer Prize wining book on the rise of the commodity to its current place of prominence in the world economy.

Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers’ Trust from Wedgwood to Dell, by Nancy Koehn
Sweeping intro to the discipline of business history, cutting across a wide variety of industries.

Please click here to check out the reading list on Amazon

Applicants frequently ask me, “Here are my numbers, here is a copy of my resume. Do I have a chance?” That’s always a difficult question to answer because the resume and numbers are really only the tip of the “application iceberg”. There is so much more to this process. Reapplicant Chillpill clearly “gets” it as she frets over how to stand out and states that the GMAT is the easier part of the process.

The Outlook in Higher Education published an article in April about Business School Admissions, featuring Stacy Blackman Consulting and some recent clients. I am reprinting the article below because I think the client case studies do a good job of illustrating how numbers and resume do not get you in. It is true that extremely low numbers and a very poor resume can keep you out. However, stellar numbers and work experience on their own will not get you in. Read on…

GRADUATE SCHOOLS
Getting into Top B-schools
Success Requires a Strategy
April 10, 2006

by Sandra Gardner

There’s no question that getting an M.B.A. (master’s degree in business administration), especially at a top school, is expensive. Out-of-state tuition and fees can range from about $35,000 to nearly $40,000 a year, plus living expenses, for the top four schools. And for full-time students, in what is generally a two-year program, there’s the added cost of lost wages.

Is getting an M.B.A. really worth all that time and expense? The answer is: definitely, if you want to more than double your income, according to surveys of M.B.A. holders salaries. For M.B.A. holders from the top four schools – University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton, Northwestern University’s Kellogg, Stanford University and Harvard University – the salary levels spiral to upwards of $165,000 a year. Not only that, but acquiring an M.B.A. can provide additional benefits of greater compensation growth, more stable long-term employment, and a higher likelihood of participating in the work force, according to ”The ROI on the M.BA.,” an article by Antony Davies and Thomas K Cline, published by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. (R0I is “rate of investment.”) Since 1993, the authors report, expected wage growth for workers with professional degrees, including M.B.A.s, exceeded inflation by more than 2 percent. The wage growth for those with only undergraduate degrees averaged 1 percent above inflation.

Graduates with professional degrees have had 25 percent lower unemployment, and 81 percent have been work force participants, compared to 78 percent of those without professional degrees.

But being accepted into a top school program isn’t easy. The average GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) score was at least 700; undergraduate GPA (Grade Point Average) was more than 3.50, for the top four schools. In 2004, Kellogg took only 23 percent of applicants; Wharton, 16 percent; Harvard, 13 percent; and Stanford, 10 percent, according to Business Week’s “Best B-Schools of 2004.”

Hooking up with an M.B.A. admissions strategy firm like Stacy Blackman Consulting, based in Los Angeles, Calif., can make it all possible. Her success rate? She says that 97 percent of her clients are accepted at one of their top four choices. This includes clients with low GMAT and GPA scores and a lack of extracurricular or leadership experience. Blackman came to the business from a background in marketing products such as securities – and ice cream – at such companies as Charles Schwab, idealab! and Haagen-Dazs. Five years ago, she took that experience and translated it into business school admissions strategy, as one of the pioneers in the field.

Blackman, who holds an undergraduate degree from Wharton and an M.B.A. from Kellogg, believes that marketing people isn’t that much different from marketing chocolate chip cookie dough. How does she do it?

Basically, by a technique she calls “people branding.”

”It’s positioning people by thinking about the target market: what do they want and how can I appeal to those interests,” she says.

Grant Allen is a good example. Even being a cum laude graduate of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering didn’t work for his initial application to a top B-school.

“I didn’t even make it to the interview,” says Allen, one of Blackman’s clients, now in his first year at Wharton. “Before I talked to Stacy, I overemphasized my job achievements.” These included developing his own Web-design company as an undergraduate and working as an analytic and problem-solving consultant with Bates White, LIE, an environmental and product liability consulting practice; and a senior analyst for Dean & Company, a strategy consulting practice, both located in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, Allen’s marketing of himself to business schools didn’t differentiate him much from the pack of accomplished achievers with whom he was competing.

“You’re a smart person who’s done well at a job, and so has everyone else,” he says wryly. “Stacy helped me bring out my unique story.”

Blackman looked at things other than Allen’s G.P.A. and work history. Since 1998, he’s been traveling to South America, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean on behalf of a family foundation, International Cooperating Ministries. The Ministries is a church-building foundation started by Allen’s grandfather that has facilitated construction of 1,800 orphanages and churches in 35 countries.

“We work with the people in the country, providing overhead money and bridge loans for materials to build a place where people can worship and come together in a community center,” Allen explains.

Allen also co-founded with his father, a retired ophthalmologist, the Ocular Melanoma Foundation, a nonprofit education and research advocacy group for a rare type of Cancer.

Blackman helped Allen weave these threads into his essays so that his application told a unique story to admissions officials. As a result, he was accepted not only at Wharton but also at Kellogg.

“She acts as a coach, helps you clarify your thoughts, keeps you on track and enthusiastic about the process, and brings out the unique story you have inside you,” Allen says.

Though Blackman’s comprehensive marketing plan is custom designed, she and her staff, which includes 10 trained consultants, follow an overall schema. They conduct an initial conversation with the client about his or her background, M.B.A. admission goals, resume, and “numbers” (GMAT and GPA). The client then fills out a “Brainstorm Survey” Blackman created to identify achievements, goals, strengths, and challenges.

“The survey covers personal background and challenges, things that are not on the resume,” she says. “Schools want to know who you are as a human being.”

The client’s challenges and “holes” are assessed regarding B-school admission, and an action plan to meet these needs is put together. These include developing a school selection and target list, selecting and preparing recommenders and strategizing essay questions and an overall marketing plan. Support is provided in completing essays and resumes; planning school visits, interview techniques and preparation; and dealing with school decisions and enrollment.

Blackman will help a client find a GMAT tutor or volunteer opportunities, in addition to the motivation to go through extra rounds of essays, address areas of weakness and apply while working full-time. Clients work with the firm anywhere from a month to a year or something in between – however long it takes to complete the application process.

Her clients’ job history before business school ranges from investment banking to computer engineering to teaching and music.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make is the idea that someone who has a low G.P.A. or who is not an investment banker won’t get into business school,” she says.

That’s exactly what Janet Zhou had thought, even with her summa cum laude degree from the University of Memphis and years of working as a senior software engineer and technical product manager at Avolent, a leading enterprise application software provider.

“I was a software engineer for a long time,” Zhou says. “It was a difficult proposition to take my credentials and make them appeal to business school, to find the right way of describing myself so as to stand out from the very qualified applicant pool.”

Blackman noted that Zhou had emigrated from China at age 15 with no knowledge of English.

“Stacy asked me, what did I learn from that experience, the process of learning to speak English, learning about a different culture and finding an identity for myself with a blend of my cultural background and the U.S. culture,” Zhou explains.

Blackman added to this the fact that Zhou is fluent in Mandarin and volunteered at the San Francisco Asian Women Shelter, providing support, advocacy and Chinese language interpreting for domestic violence victims.

As a result of Blackman’s marketing, Zhou was accepted at MIT’s Sloan School of Business, the University of Michigan and Kellogg, where she is now completing her first year.

“She helped me design a strategy as to what to emphasize in my background and helped in writing the essays,” Zhou says.

Being a minority, from another culture or an immigrant family, provides an applicant with a unique perspective that can be an advantage, Blackman says. Even a not-so- perfect GPA doesn’t have to deter a business school hopeful, as was the case with a Hispanic client who’d failed a class in college.

“He grew up with a lot of challenges, in a poor family in a terrible gang neighborhood,” Blackman recalls. “But he’d developed so much as a human being, his essays reflected his accomplishments and maturity. He got into Harvard Business School and Wharton.”

Relating personal challenges that have been overcome is a big plus on an application essay, Blackman maintains, as is identifying a weakness that has been dealt with.

“For example, if you had low grades in college, business schools will question how you would handle their curriculum. Identify this as a weakness and let them know that you’re taking a calculus or accounting course to overcome this,” she says.

Blackman’s services aren’t cheap: her price for the first school is $2,750; the second school, an additional $1,500; for the third school and beyond, $1,000 per school; and a four-school package for $5,750. She also offers a $250 hourly service for clients who need specific help with a particular aspect of their application.

But her clients feel that the success they have hoped for is well worth the price. So much so, in fact, that the majority of her clients come to her through word of mouth.

“Don’t be afraid to expose a weakness. Sometimes a weakness can be turned into a strength. A ‘perfect’ person can show a lack of self-awareness,” Blackman advises.
“The key is to look at what you have going for you, who you are, what you can bring to the table. Market yourself.”

In other words: think of the nuggets that make up the unique product that is you. Just like Rocky Road.