Exercises to Help MBA Applicants Develop a Personal Brand

Some b-school applicants balk at thinking of themselves as a “product” or “personal brand.” However, by examining your personal qualities, values, and aspirations, you’ll ultimately be able to find out which MBA programs best match your unique profile.

Think of it this way: If you had to create a marketing campaign for a new car, and you decided to focus on the vehicle’s seat warmers and sound system—when these days, potential customers are all about fuel economy—then your marketing messages would miss the mark.

The pitfalls in formulating personal brand messages for an MBA application are similar. Applicants should try five exercises to help them think like marketing strategists, identify strengths, and develop a personal brand.

Are you curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to discuss your strategy during a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.

Personal Brand Exercise 1: Create a “Brag Sheet”

In the real world, the practice of bragging is generally frowned upon. For our purposes, it will help generate messages you want to convey to the admissions committee. Begin by jotting down every possible unique, exciting, wonderful, dazzling thing you can think of about yourself. Think of it as “brag-storming.”

Don’t worry about anyone seeing your list. Also, don’t try to do this exercise in one sitting. Keep a notebook handy or start a memo on your smartphone, and write down ideas whenever inspiration strikes.

This list will do more than jog your memory. It also helps you realize that your hobbies, travel, volunteering, and personal or family life experiences can provide the raw material for brand messages and essays.

Admissions committees seek out well-rounded candidates. These people have experienced life, pursued their passions, and achieved as much outside of the professional setting as within it. The brag sheet idea emerged after months of working with a client who insisted he had nothing interesting besides work.

Just days before the application due date, he casually revealed a deep, lifelong interest in martial arts. However, he considered this topic inappropriate for a B-school application. We disagreed. Weaving this aspect balanced out a work-heavy application and added much color and interest to his profile.

Now, we always have clients do a brain dump of everything under the sun. That way, these types of stories don’t slip through the cracks.

Exercise 2: Generate Stories

In our work with applicants, we’ve learned that it’s better to sift through an array of life experiences and see what emerges as a core strength rather than lead off with what clients perceive as their strengths and then try to find examples that back those up.

You don’t need to write the stories now—start by scratching out a few notes. Things like “How I overcame a speech impediment,” “The time I backpacked through Asia for six months on $2,000,” or “Have worked in the family business since I was 14 years old” are fine.

Consider personal and/or leadership achievements to get the wheels turning in and outside of work. Think of times when your actions impacted a person or group. Remember those instances when you motivated others or solved a problem with ingenuity.

Don’t be afraid to touch upon setbacks or failures. After all, your strategies for overcoming them may be the best indicator of your future success in the business world.

How can you determine whether a story is worth fleshing out? See if you can list the concrete actions you took and the results you achieved. Your actions reveal your approach to a problem and provide clues about your strengths, capabilities, and character. The results indicate that your actions made a difference.

Exercise 3: Mine Stories for Strengths

Once you’ve winnowed down your list of stories, it’s time to figure out precisely which aspects of your skills, talents, strengths, and character contributed to your accomplishments.

Ask yourself how this experience shaped your life and made you stronger. Or, think about which strengths, talents, or attributes helped you make a difference. These answers will add to the pool of potential brand messages you might highlight in your application and essays.

We once had a client applying to HBS who wanted to write about his organizational skills as a core strength. Instead, we advised him to write about his ability to lead and inspire others. After all, he had written on his brag sheet about developing a program to provide vaccinations to the poor in underdeveloped countries—an enormous undertaking he developed from scratch.

Sure, his organizational skills helped, but his second strength was more compelling and came to the surface after viewing his stories.

Exercise 4: Analyze Program Fit with Your Brand

Once you’ve identified your personal brand messages, it’s time to evaluate which MBA programs align most closely with your unique profile. This is where research is critical. Look beyond program rankings and explore each school’s culture, values, and resources. Speak to current students and alumni to understand what each school prioritizes.

For example, if innovation and entrepreneurship are key to your personal brand, programs like Stanford GSB or MIT Sloan may offer the best cultural fit. On the other hand, if you thrive in environments that emphasize social impact, schools like Yale SOM or Berkeley Haas might resonate with your aspirations.

When possible, tailor your application to highlight aspects of your brand that match a specific program’s strengths. Showing a precise alignment between your values and the program’s mission demonstrates your thoughtful approach and increases your chances of admission.

Exercise 5: Seek Feedback and Refine Your Personal Brand

Sharing your personal brand ideas with mentors, colleagues, or even professional MBA consultants can provide valuable insights. External perspectives can help refine your messaging, ensuring it’s authentic and compelling. They might also uncover strengths you’ve overlooked or suggest ways to present your stories more effectively.

Remember that your personal brand is not static; it evolves as you gain self-awareness and incorporate feedback. Review your brag sheet, stories, and brand messages periodically to ensure they still resonate and reflect your true self.

As with a traditional marketing plan, the goal is to launch a product thoughtfully and effectively. In this case, the product is you. The goal is self-awareness, and combing through your accomplishments can greatly help. Once these elements have been clarified, you can effectively implement your best MBA strategy.

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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs. From our All-In Partnership to interview prep, essay editing, resume review, and much more, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.

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