*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

MBA programs want to admit applicants who they believe will make optimal use of the degree to achieve their professional goals. Therefore, it’s incredibly important to show in all aspects of your application that an MBA will take your career to the next level. Most candidates understand the need to explain why an MBA makes sense in the context of overall career goals, but how do you explain the career stumbling blocks and setbacks that are often part of working life?

Our client Dwayne had performed incredibly well in his work as a marketing professional. He had been promoted rapidly to Manager at his agency, and was sponsored by management for a leadership program. About a year before Dwayne wanted to apply to MBA programs his company went through substantial layoffs, and Dwayne decided to take a voluntary separation agreement and remain on as a contractor for a few months. In the meantime, he took the opportunity to pursue his long-term career goal in non-profit management and decided to focus his time on his volunteer activities and applying to school.

Right before applying to UCLA, Kellogg, Darden and Yale, Dwayne landed a position that was a reduction in title to Coordinator, but which allowed him to gain experience at a large national non-profit organization. Dwayne was excited about the opportunity, yet concerned about how the move would look to MBA programs.

We focused on how Dwayne responded to the layoffs at his agency with optimism and goal orientation. He was able to highlight his volunteer experience and what it taught him about his goals and working with others, and also we briefly mentioned the new position. Most importantly we explained the step back in title in detail and why this was the right move for Dwayne despite his five years of work experience in Marketing.

When Dwayne received his results he was excited to be admitted to Kellogg and Yale, and only faced the tough decision about which top tier program he wanted to attend.

We’ve addressed the concerns of applicants with a history of layoffs, or family business experience. What would you do if you needed to move into a new job just a few months before submitting your MBA applications?

Josh started working with Stacy Blackman Consulting last August and during our initial conversation it was clear that his current workplace was not incredibly stable. Soon after his third draft of essays for his Round 1 applications, he landed a new job. This was in the nick of time, as his former company lost a major client and started a round of layoffs. He was relieved to start a new position in a field he was interested in, but Josh was also concerned that switching jobs right before submitting his MBA applications would be an issue.

Josh had two concerns related to the fresh job:

1. How to talk about new work responsibilities in essays and the resume when he was still learning the ropes.

2. Most schools prefer current supervisors as recommenders and he wasn’t sure how to handle.

For his first concern we actually decided to frame most of his career goals story in the context of the work he had done for the previous three years. He worked in technology and had rapidly risen through the ranks of his former company, which was a startup. Josh discussed his lessons learned and what he wanted to gain from his MBA and future career and his eventual goal to start his own company. He also described the reasons he joined the new company, but spent most of his work experience examples on the responsibilities of his old position.

Josh’s resume was something we decided to push a bit later in the process. By the time we revised it for MBA applications he had almost two months of work experience at the new company under his belt and was more confident in describing his position.
Recommenders were trickier because Josh did not want to inform his new company about his MBA plans. He was able to explain in an optional essay that his current supervisor had only known him for a few months. Therefore he made the case for asking recommenders from his previous three years of work experience to comment upon his work and ability to achieve.

Josh ended up enjoying his new job tremendously, and was excited to recently learn he was accepted to Michigan Ross.

*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

Many strong candidates for an MBA program are not ready to attend school at exactly five years of full-time work experience. If you’re profile is a bit out of the normal age range for a full-time MBA education, you may be wondering what your options are to obtain the all important MBA credential.

Much like our client Max, Claudine was in her late 30s. Claudine had over 15 years of experience in her field, and had achieved an executive level position in Finance at a large consumer products company. Claudine felt that she had reached a career plateau in her firm and wanted to obtain an MBA to take her to the next level.

To decide which program was the right fit for her, we discussed Claudine’s goals, personal situation and needs from a program. In the short-term Claudine wanted to progress at her company or another similar corporate environment. To make it to the next level she knew an MBA would be a strong asset. While she enjoyed her colleagues and the work she did every day, Claudine harbored entrepreneurial ambitions in the long-term. She wanted to take her skills and partner with a big-picture idea creator to start their own enterprise. Ultimately she thought her skills and personality was a good fit to be a COO or CFO for a small company, and wanted to use the MBA to both learn the hard skills necessary to run the company and to possibly meet a suitable business partner.

Claudine’s goals could be achieved with any of the three available options: full-time two-year MBA program, part-time MBA or Executive MBA. We turned next to Claudine’s interests in the social and extracurricular activities available to MBA students. While she was attracted to the range of activities available in a full-time MBA program, she had an extremely demanding family life with two small children. Ultimately Claudine didn’t think she would be as involved in the social activities most full-time MBA students participate in. That led her to look more seriously at the part-time and Executive MBA options. Claudine’s desire to obtain the skills and the network available from a strong program led her to look most closely at an Executive MBA. Luckily she had the full sponsorship of her company, and was able to demonstrate leadership and value to her organization through their endorsement.

Claudine’s San Francisco Bay Area location gave her two excellent options for an EMBA, and she decided to apply to the Wharton EMBA program in San Francisco and the Berkeley-Columbia EMBA. With admission to Berkeley-Columbia Claudine was able to build a network with classmates from both California and NYC and was excited to expand her network to include her future business partner.

*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

Most MBA candidates face either serious writer’s block or a case of “too much information” when it comes to b-school essays. Yes, business schools tell you they want to know the real you. However, that doesn’t mean that your entire life story is relevant to your business school applications. Editing yourself (or working with someone else who can edit you) is a key strategy to producing quality business school essays.

Cheryl took a comprehensive package with Stacy Blackman Consulting and was looking particularly for help pitching her non-traditional background to MBA programs. Her target schools were Haas, Tuck, Anderson and Duke. Much like our client May whose career path was covered in an earlier SBC Scoop, Cheryl had pursued more than one career prior to pursuing an MBA. Cheryl had worked as an investment banking analyst for a year, then started producing off-off-Broadway productions with a group of friends from her undergrad theater classes. The first draft of Cheryl’s career goals essay was three times the word limit and included numerous anecdotes from her colorful theater experience. The essay read like a novel with anecdotes like the time Cheryl had to manage an alcoholic actor who threatened to quit the show right before opening curtain.

While Cheryl’s story would definitely hold an admission officer’s interest, we needed to transform her essay into a coherent pitch for her admission to the program. First we talked through the various experiences Cheryl had in her years of work experience. Then we applied a filter to all of her stories and asked: “Does this story demonstrate that Cheryl has key business skills?” If a story was compelling – but had more drama than skillset – we eliminated it. After extensive editing Cheryl’s essay was a coherent portrait of someone who worked effectively with creative people and had the skills to run an organization.

In the end Cheryl was happy with her less-dramatic essay because it led to real results. She attended Anderson and was able to pursue her dreams of combining her creative and business skills together in the entertainment industry.

*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

Right now we are mid-way between first and second rounds, and many prospective applicants are wondering if they should rush for the January deadlines or wait to apply next year. Timing is a highly personal decision that can include factors like: age, work situation, financial situation and career goals.

Helen sought our advice for her round two applications to MIT Sloan and Duke. It was mid-November and her deadlines were in January. She still needed to take her GMAT and was concerned that six weeks was not enough time to conquer the test, prepare her recommenders and write two full sets of essays. Every year we help clients in similar situations prepare full applications in a short period of time, but the most important factor was Helen’s own schedule and commitment.

To ascertain the best plan for Helen we started by discussing her work experience thus far and her career goals. Helen worked for a large technology company and had four years of work experience in project management. Her goal was to move to business development at a similar company post-MBA. Since four years is a reasonable amount of work experience for an MBA application and Helen had shown progression (raises and a title promotion) I asked her if she would see any significant promotions or raises in the next year. She didn’t think that a year would change her work experience significantly. Helen had a long track record of volunteering as a mentor to girls interested in science careers, and had a few years as a leader within her company’s mentor program. We didn’t anticipate any major changes or improvement to this volunteerism if she waited an additional year. At the end of the conversation we decided to aim for the current application year, and re-evaluate if the GMAT wasn’t a success.

Helen worked hard to draft her essays and review them several times with me. At the same time she met with her recommenders and prepared them thoroughly to submit her references by January. Helen was nervous about the GMAT, but she was able to score a strong 720 on her first attempt. The plan to submit was solid, and Helen was able to make the deadlines with a bit of hard work and dedication.

Helen’s efforts paid off, and she ended up attending Sloan and landing a great job in business development at a technology start-up post graduation.

To read more SBC Case Studies, click HERE.

*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

Everyone makes mistakes, and growing up can result in many mistakes you regret. If your mistake is still on your permanent record, how do you handle it in your MBA application?

In the first phone call with Jon he raised an issue that had been causing him a tremendous amount of stress. While in college he partied a bit more heavily than he should have, and made the mistake of driving home drunk from a party one night. Jon was stopped by a highway patrol officer and ended up with a DUI citation. Jon’s license was suspended for several months. Clearly Jon was very concerned about how to explain an arrest in his applications.

Jon’s experience was over four years before he applied for an MBA, and he had honestly contemplated how to avoid hurting himself and others with excessive drinking. Overall the experience was honestly a wake up call for him, and led him to moderate his drinking substantially. Jon influenced his friends and fraternity brothers and encouraged his social group to always designate drivers. Since the arrest, Jon had never operated a motor vehicle after drinking.

Upon hearing his story I believed Jon could actually make his error in judgment an asset to his application. In telling his story during our first consultation I could tell that Jon had genuinely learned quite a bit from the experience. Many MBA programs ask you to explain a mistake you have made, or discuss a challenge you overcame. The most interesting candidates have faced difficulty and learned from it, preferably changing their behavior for the better. Jon’s story was a solid example of this.

On a practical level we advised that Jon be completely honest about his DUI and explain what happened and what he learned in his optional essays for all schools. For a school that asked about a mistake Jon was able to use this experience as an example.

Those of you who have a similar issue in your past will be glad to know that Jon gained admission to USC and Duke.