This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com

Almost every day, I receive E-mails and phone calls from new clients that go something like this: “I have a 2.9 GPA, 680 GMAT, and four years of work experience in consulting. I’ve been promoted twice; I have good extracurriculars. What are my chances?”

MBA hopefuls then want to find out what is the most important part of the business school application. Is it the GMAT score, undergraduate transcript, essays, interview, letters of recommendations, or something else entirely?

Everyone wants to know what to focus on in their application, and how their personal circumstances rate. Top business schools don’t admit you based purely on your statistics, though.

It’s true that solid numbers can help your application be considered. While a 550 GMAT or a 2.5 GPA will raise a red flag at an MBA program like the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, a 700 GMAT and a 3.6 GPA make you a solid candidate. But even an 800 GMAT score and a perfect GPA can be rejected at an elite MBA program.

Ask most admissions committee members and they will tell you that it’s the sum of many pieces—there is no one “most important” part. The top schools want to know who you are, and statistics and a résumé don’t tell them that. It’s the essays, interviews, and recommendations that ultimately reveal the person beyond the paper.

Compelling essays, recommendations, and interviews can provide context for a low GMAT score or GPA—but the reverse is not true. Strong numbers will never make up for weak essays or a disorganized, negative recommendation.

Some say the most important part of the application is your so-called “weakest” part—one weakness could completely change how admissions committee members perceive your application. In fact, in a recent blog post, Yale School of Management‘s Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions Bruce DelMonico urged applicants to be up front about their weaknesses.

“Everyone has weaknesses,” he stressed. “We’ll see them, so you’re better off acknowledging them and incorporating them into your application than hoping we’ll miss them.”

While I doubt that any business school admissions committee would formally support this statement, I would have to cast my vote for essays as the most important part of your application. The essays allow the admissions committee to truly discover who you are. It’s where you write why an MBA makes sense as the next step of your career path, and how you differentiate yourself from all of the other individuals who also scored in the 700s on their GMAT.

The essays are your opportunity to present your strengths, explain your weaknesses, and generally convince the admissions committee members that you have a lot to offer the program and that you belong in their class.

The essays are also consistent among all applicants, so in that way they are less difficult to evaluate and compare. All candidates are given the same set of questions, and are reviewed by the same group of admissions members, creating a level playing field that can simplify the review process.

[Learn to strike the perfect tone in MBA essays.]

Interviews are very different; some are conducted over the phone, some at the business school, and all are handled by different types of individuals with different approaches.

Recommendations vary as well. While all applicants do their best to find great recommenders, some individuals work with MBAs who understand the process. Others work with people who have no idea what to write.

The essays are each individual’s opportunity to talk about their true self. You should know that most applicants to the top schools are qualified, in the sense that they would be able to handle the curriculum and benefit from the program.

However, to be admitted, you need to demonstrate that you are more than merely qualified. It’s the story that you put together about your goals, passions, and prior experience—and how business school fits into the mix—that will make the difference for you. Once that story is assembled, I can better answer the question: “What are my chances?”

This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com

When faced with any iteration of the leadership question on MBA essays, many business school applicants freak out because they think they have to come up with an example that is their greatest life or professional achievement. In reality, it’s not about grand gestures or formal leadership titles. The goal is leaving a footprint on whatever situation you’re in and doing more than a good job.

Applicants need to think through their past experiences to find the episodes that best illustrate their leadership skills. Sometimes, the best examples are not the first that come to mind.

Your leadership essay will often be different from an “accomplishment” or “achievement” oriented essay. Just because you achieved something outstanding does not always mean leadership skills were involved, especially if you did most or all of the work.

[Learn how to strike the right tone in MBA essays.]

One of the central tenets of leadership essays is showing that you can galvanize the actions of other people. You bring out their passions. You educate them. You help them see organizational priorities in new ways. And then they share in the achievement.

The work of a leader activates or improves the work of others, so find anecdotes in your professional and extracurricular background that illustrate this kind of pattern.

What kind of experiences will make the best tales of leadership? Think about challenges where the following came into play:

• Identifying/defining a problem

• Resisting conventional approaches; challenging status quo

• Marshaling resources to address a problem

• Motivating others

• Making good use of others’ talents

• Being open to new information and input

• Building consensus with appropriate stakeholders

• Guiding strong mid-course corrections; overcoming mistakes

• Building on success

Remember: Leadership is not just about the titles. Some candidates build their leadership essays around the fact that they were selected for or elected to certain positions where they had a high level of authority and responsibility: editor-in-chief of a college paper, fraternity president, captain of the hockey team, director of product development, or vice president of marketing.

But what did you do with this position? An editor of a college daily could write about how he or she was constantly challenged to maintain high levels of editorial excellence, manage staff assignments, and hit all deadlines. This is definitely an esteemed position with many responsibilities, but if you describe your role like that, it sounds exactly the same as the other hundreds of editors-in-chief of college papers also applying this season.

Define the leadership challenges you faced, not the management ones. Did you have to deal with a certain writer who falsified interview notes? Was there a sticky campus scandal that forced you and your staff to walk an ethical tightrope? Did you have to fire student editors? Did you lead a transition from a weekly to a daily with all of the scheduling and human resources rigors that entails?

Collecting impressive titles does not make someone a great leader—helping a team overcome great challenges does.

The strongest leadership essays will have heroes other than yourself. If you helped Terri in accounts receivable realize her full potential on a project you led, showcase her as a hero in your leadership tale.

In the best possible scenario, applicants should map out a good balance at the beginning of their application process between achievement-oriented essays and those focusing specifically on leadership. The good news is that, in many instances, you can still adjust your application fairly late in the process to achieve the appropriate balance between individual achievement and leadership.

Adding in a few sentences about enabling others, or educating and defining priorities for group endeavors, will go a long way toward rounding out your profile. Many achievement essays can be transformed into glorious examples of leadership when you shine the spotlight on others who were a part of a great collective accomplishment.

Don’t forget that leadership is never a solo effort. When it comes to MBA essays, you can’t go wrong if you show how you’ve worked to inspire others and bring out the best in them.

This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com

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. The broader your knowledge base, the more interesting you become to others, including the admissions committee.

The reality is that many candidates have not read a book for personal enjoyment or education for years, and they often don’t consider MBA application season a good time to start. But when you consider the advantages of diving into some good books over the next several months, getting into a habit of reading is a no-brainer.

The No. 1 reason to read more is to strengthen your GMAT reading comprehension skills and to improve your essay writing. There’s no better way to improve your vocabulary and mastery of grammar, and reading can be a welcome change of pace from GMAT prep books. If you read a variety of materials from different genres, you may also get some creative ideas when it comes to inventive sentence structures and storytelling methods, which can inspire your b-school essays.

Another big advantage of reading is that it offers you something to talk about with business school interviewers. Many of these conversations touch on current events, history, and politics. If you can demonstrate that you’ve kept aware of the world outside of your cubicle, you’re a step ahead of the game.

[Learn how to master your MBA interview.]

Several business schools have offered tips for business school applicants and students who want to catch up on their reading. Last year, Robert Bruner, dean of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, suggested a summer reading list for MBAs; the faculty of the University of Maryland—College Park’s Smith School of Business has posted an annual book list for business leaders for the past nine years; and professors from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania have also provided book recommendations for aspiring business people.

These lists provide great jumping-off points, but by no means should you 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 Trading for Dummies or any marketing 101 guides.

Make sure you’re regularly reading at least one of the general business magazines such as Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, or The Economist. With the holidays upon us, now is a great time to let friends and family know that you’d like a subscription to one of those periodicals as a gift this year.

However, it’s also crucial to further develop your own interests and passions, not just to 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 that area. If medical science advances fascinate you, find some gems in this arena.

[Find out how to specify a learning agenda in your MBA application.]

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 the economics of the healthcare system in the United States, or the behavior of the global pharmaceutical industry. Should you wish to transition to a new sort of career after business school, displaying 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, show a commitment to the area that goes beyond what the admissions committee will expect. Reading about consumer trends, restaurant and retail entrepreneurs, or the organic food movement helps demonstrate that you follow your interests rather than just talking about them.

You may counter that you just don’t have the time to read. Nonsense! Start by creating a plan that will make the task mentally manageable.

For example, a modest but meaningful goal might be to read three books over the next six months. That means reading one 300-page book every two months, or 150 pages per month. That’s just five pages a day. Anyone can do five pages a day—especially when the end result is becoming a more interesting, more compelling MBA candidate and person.

This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com

‘Tis the season for interviews! This is the most unpredictable portion of the MBA application process, since every interviewer is different. The same interviewer may even react differently depending on his or her mood that day. For the lucky round one MBA applicants who have been invited to interview by their target business schools, here are several tips for preparing and guidance on what to expect.

The role of the interview varies by program, so if possible, reach out to your network of current or former students at the school for an insider perspective. Most MBA programs will offer the option to interview on campus or with a local alumni volunteer. You should make your decision based on your personal needs, rather than on the basis of how it may look to the admissions committee.

If you have the time and resources to visit the school, you’ll have a great opportunity to meet current students and attend classes. However, if an on-campus interview coincides with a big quarterly meeting at your job, the additional stress would likely make the experience far less beneficial, so it’s probably better to interview with a local volunteer. No matter which option you choose, the admissions committee uses the same metrics to evaluate your performance.

The first step in preparing for your interview is to review your applications. A few weeks have probably passed since you hit the submit button, so you’ll need to return to the MBA applicant mindset by reviewing your overall application strategy. If your interview is “blind”—meaning the interviewer hasn’t seen any of your application materials—this review will help you remember what aspects of your background you want to highlight.

At some MBA programs, such as Harvard Business School, the interviewer will have already reviewed your application and will tailor his or her questions specifically to help the admissions committee learn more about you.

The second step in your interview prep is to review some typical questions. Many candidates post their experiences online in boards, forums, and blog posts.

Once you have a list of likely questions in hand, you can use those questions to practice. Being concise, focused, and enthusiastic is your goal, and knowing what talking points you want and need to share will help. Write out short bullet points to outline what you would say in response to your practice questions.

When I was at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University meeting on-campus recruiters for a summer internship, I learned about an interview technique called the STAR method. I consider it one of the most useful frameworks for effectively answering interview questions.

For those unfamiliar with this technique, STAR stands for situation, task, action, and result. The STAR technique can be applied when asked “situational” questions, such as: “Tell me about a time you failed;” “Tell me about a time you came up with an innovative solution;” “Tell me about a time you managed a difficult project;” and “Tell me about a time you led a team.”

The power of the STAR method is that it allows you to formulate a very complete answer, but it keeps your answer organized and prevents you from rambling on and on—a common occurrence in interviews.

Here’s one example of how you can organize your notes:

Situation: “Product A was losing market share to a new competitor.”

Task: “I needed to create a plan to regain our lost share.”

Action: “I led a team to implement tactics A, B, and C.”

Result: “We regained lost share, plus 10 percent.”

And then you stop.

Often, the interviewer will probe further, asking for very specific details related to your story. You need to be prepared to elaborate, but just start with the basic elements of your story. STAR will help you get there.

Once you know what you need to say, the only thing left to do is to practice. Enlist the help of family and friends, and ask them to provide constructive feedback. After you have undergone several mock interviews, you will feel more relaxed and be able to focus on connecting with your interviewer and demonstrating your enthusiasm for the school.

If time permits, think of a few interesting questions to ask the interviewer at the end of the conversation. Alumni interviewers will enjoy reminiscing about their experiences, and will especially like any questions about clubs or activities they were part of. Current students can provide a great perspective on what they wish they had known, or the most interesting aspect of their MBA experience.

Now that you have done your interview homework, the final step is simply to relax and enjoy the process.

 This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com

Finding the right balance between confidence and humility is one of the critical challenges you will face in crafting your b-school essays and in delivering answers to admissions interviewers.

No one likes a blowhard, but at the same time, no one else is going to “toot your horn” in your MBA application either. It’s all about your attitude, which will permeate your essays and set the tone for the way the admissions committee views you.

One of the key questions applicants often have is how confident they should try to appear. When you tell a story lauding your achievements to the admissions official across the table, that person’s visual cues can help you know when to scale back the confidence by one or two levels.

With b-school essays, you have one shot to craft your message, and admissions committee members with diverse personality types and differing levels of acceptance and patience for bravado will read your prose.

Likewise, some applicants face the dilemma of how much of an “expert” to paint themselves as in their field. It is critical to portray yourself as someone from whom your classmates can learn.

Many business schools are case study-oriented; the quality of the education is essentially determined by the content the students contribute in the classroom. Additionally, offline conversations are a huge part of the learning process for both academic subjects as well as issues related to career choices.

However, the “I’ve seen it all” attitude is definitely not something b-schools are looking for from their typical 25-to-30-year-old applicant. Even as you highlight the fascinating experiences you’ve had and the cutting-edge knowledge you possess, make sure you take careful stock of what you want to learn, both from your professors and your fellow students.

The people who take the best advantage of business school are those who come in with a high level of curiosity and a willingness to absorb new information like a sponge. In short, the appropriate balance is struck when you have a developed a detailed awareness of what you have to teach and what you have to learn.

So, how can you highlight your business and leadership achievements without sounding like you think you are God’s gift to commerce? Here are three pointers:

1. Acknowledge the team: NASCAR drivers use the “we” technique to a fault. “We were running great today. When we took that first turn, our car was running perfectly.”

You don’t want to sound like a cliché, but positioning your achievements as team achievements works wonders. Plus, your abilities as a business leader will ultimately be more dependent on your abilities to achieve in a team format than in an individual setting.

[Learn how to convince MBA admissions officials you've done your research.]

2. Balance your portfolio of essays: You will probably have more license to emphasize your impressive achievements in some of your essays if you gain credibility in others by being honest and open about failures, weaknesses, and doubts.

If you just highlight how the incredible amount of work you pitched into an entrepreneurial venture led to its success, you shouldn’t half-heartedly chime in with “sometimes I work too hard” as a personal or professional weakness in another essay.

3. Highlight mentors: If you are shining the spotlight on your leadership capabilities, make sure you also acknowledge people in your academic, extracurricular, or work settings from whom you learned some of these skills. This works equally well for hard skills—such as finance and negotiation—and for “soft” skills, such as leadership, communication, and mentoring abilities. Doing so shows you are good at recognizing the strengths in others and know how to learn from them.

It’s also important that folks who come from positions and industries lacking that “glamour” factor don’t downplay their accomplishments. Certain high-profile investment banks and consulting firms are definitely the main feeder companies to American business schools, but it is often the people who come from less well-represented areas that have the most to teach the section or study group.

You may have run a T-shirt shack. Or conducted accounting audits for sketchy firms. Or monitored quality control at a Senegalese ball bearing plant. Rest assured, you do have valuable things to teach your classmates. The trick comes in thinking through what those lessons are and showing you have an unusual perspective on them.

This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com

Almost every business school poses the question to applicants: “Why an MBA, and why this program?” Some do so explicitly on the application, while others pose the question during the interview stage. Either way, you need to know enough about the schools you are applying to so you can answer the question properly.

Don’t leave it to the various rankings to decide your list of schools for you. A lot of applicants forget that they are the customer—and should be the ones making the decision.

Schools are constantly tweaking their programs, printing cutting-edge brochures, and traveling from city to city to convince you—the prospective MBA—to consider their programs. Your personal ranking and fit with schools can differ widely from what the leading magazines and websites may suggest, so it’s important to have at least some sense of what you are looking for before you start your research.

Each MBA application will cost you a couple of hundred dollars and dozens of hours, so make sure the programs you choose to apply to have most of the things—both large and small—that you want from a school.

Are you looking for a program that is strong in general management and leadership? Or are you more interested in brushing up on your financial and accounting knowledge to complement your existing skill-set?

To find answers to those questions, be proactive. Go to the information sessions and ask real questions. Many candidates try to use these sessions as a forum for impressing the admissions officers, which I don’t believe is a very fruitful strategy. Call the admissions department and ask for the names of recent alumni in your area. Get in touch with one or more of those folks and take them out for a coffee.

When it comes to your essays, I can’t tell you how many first drafts I’ve read that cite the “unmatched student body, world-class faculty, and committed alumni network” as the reasons the applicant has chosen a certain MBA program. This person has said nothing.

You need to get specific in order to demonstrate to admissions officials that you’ve taken the time to thoroughly research the school, and that you have some legitimate reasons why you think their program fits well with your professional needs.

That said, don’t hold yourself to too high a standard here; you’re not going to blow the committee away with some statement that shows you are the figurative “soul mate” of their MBA program. I doubt any director of admissions has ever exclaimed, “My gosh, when she mentioned our emphasis on entrepreneurship, I just knew she had to be a part of our community!”

While you’ll have to dive deep in preparation for interviews, you can effectively research schools in just a few hours. Read firsthand accounts of the schools through blogs and guest posts on popular websites.

Also place particular emphasis on the following offerings or traits of the school to see the ways they mesh with your professional goals, learning agenda, personality, and preferences:

• Program format: Explore aspects such as case study method vs. lecture; traditional vs. accelerated; opportunities for study abroad; and opportunities for “hands on learning.”

• Academic offerings: Research specific classes in your areas of interest. Don’t make a laundry list; find a couple of courses and show how they might impact you.

• Faculty: Cite specific professors that you might want meet with, help with research, etc.

• Initiatives: Often schools will emphasize certain disciplines or issues for several years, and will host events and develop new classes on those topics. These series may have names like, “The Entrepreneurship Program,” “The Healthcare Initiative,” or “The Technology Roundtable.”

• Field studies: Check out faculty support for independent research, business plan development, etc.

• Cross-registration opportunities: What other resources does this university have to offer?

• Clubs: Explore academic and extracurricular groups available at the school.

Four to six sentences of solid material on “Why our program?” should set you up nicely. If you have the time and means to schedule a campus visit beforehand, you’ll have an even better sense of the program, allowing you to be more convincing when you discuss the school’s fit. Successfully articulating how a particular program suits your needs is a crucial first step in the b-school application process.