“I Wish I Had Known This When I Applied to B-School”

As the summer rolls along, a new wave of MBA applicants gears up for the application process. With round one deadlines looming and round two not far behind, Stacy Blackman’s B-Schooled podcast emerges as a beacon of guidance and inspiration. What sets this podcast apart is not just the wealth of tips it offers but also the personal experiences of the hosts, making it a unique and invaluable resource in the MBA admissions landscape.

That’s why today, we’re recapping several vital takeaways SBC consultant and B-Schooled host Chandler Arnold has shared on the pod. “Some of these were lessons that I learned along the way with my own MBA application process,” he explains. “Others are lessons that I’ve learned with clients, from admissions officers or other SBC consultants.”

Check out Chandler’s reflections on essential things he wishes he had known when applying to business school. MBA applicants, think through these elements before you hit submit.

Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.

“I wish I had spent more time upfront thinking through the specifics of my career goals.”

Chandler: When I started the process, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with my life five or ten years after business school. But I underestimated the effort, energy, and introspection needed to get a clear picture. Thankfully, there are a lot of things that each of you can do in that category.

I’ve joked before on the podcast about what I call career goals Mad Libs. Think of this as a fill-in-the-blank set of sentences that give you a framework for thinking through these various questions to see how they connect. So, a career Mad Libs might look something like this:

My passion is all about ____. As you can see from my (experience A), (experience B), and (experience C), my ultimate career aspiration is to serve as (dream job title and function) at a group like (dream company or organization), so I can…. Here, you would describe the change you want to make in business or the world.

If you’re starting this process, fill out as many blanks as possible. Push yourself and challenge your thinking. Use the blanks that you have a more difficult time filling in as an indication of the areas you need to explore more. Talk to people in these spaces and refine, refine, refine. Ultimately, this statement will become the North Star for everything else you do in your application.

“I wish I had learned about story mapping earlier.”

Chandler: One of the biggest mistakes MBA applicants can make is repeating the same handful of anecdotes in their essays, recommendation letters, resumes, and then again in the interview. Instead, you want to weave together a series of stories from different perspectives in a thoughtful and focused way. I call this story mapping.

All the diverse experiences you share across the different parts of your application should come together in a compelling and consistent overarching narrative about who you are, what you’re about, and what you want to do with your life. This starts with where you are now, why you want to attend business school, what you want to do after business school, and where you ultimately want to take your career.

Think about each piece—the essays, the recommendation, the resume, the interview—as building blocks. They should each be beautiful and powerful but also function together cohesively as independent parts of a larger whole, telling a story about who you are and what you want to do with your life. Applicants who understand this are the ones who get noticed and rise above the rest.

“I wish I had given my recommenders more time, specific details, and helpful support when they were writing my recommendations.”

Chandler: Set up your recommender to succeed by giving them a packet about you and key moments from your work together, especially if it’s a past supervisor. Provide bullet points on essential projects you worked on, key deliverables you had, and significant results from projects you led.

Also, remind your recommender about the details of those events that speak to more than your ability to drive results. Ideally, your recommender can weave in descriptions highlighting your emotional intelligence, how you work with others, how you stand out from your peers, and how you function as a leader.

You can research typical MBA recommender questions online, but here’s a common one to prepare for. Schools often ask recommenders, “Describe a time you gave the applicant a piece of constructive criticism.” You want to arm your recommender with great examples that go beyond saying what the criticism or feedback was.

The best approach is to have the recommender state the issue and then tell the second half of that story—specifically, what you did with that feedback. Ensure they also mention what you learned from that experience and how you improved and knocked it out of the park next time.

Finally, please don’t confuse a letter’s word count with its persuasiveness. You don’t want a long, rambling letter that only gives surface references without depth or detail. A robust and focused recommendation offers high-level compliments but then backs these up with concrete examples that provide context, quantitative results, and specific takeaways.

“I wish I would have started outlining my essays earlier in the process.”

Chandler: Your essays and interviews are a golden opportunity to present yourself as something other than just a collection of stats. This is the space to share with the admissions committee what you’re passionate about, what lessons you’ve learned, what you’ll bring to the MBA experience, and what you’ll contribute to the world after you graduate.

Remember, the first and the last sentences of every essay are the most important. And after that, it’s the first and the last sentence of every paragraph. Those sentences are crucial in setting up your story and grabbing and maintaining the reader’s interest.

I’m a big fan of the five-paragraph essay format. You have an introduction with a winner of an opening sentence that catches the reader’s attention and lays out what you’ll talk about. Then you go on to paragraphs two through four, where you offer three supporting points—one per paragraph—structured in the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format.

Back up each point with a real-world specific example, ideally with quantitative results. Bonus points if you talk about what you were able to do, what you learned about yourself, and your leadership style in the process. Then, paragraph five summarizes your argument and wraps everything up. You might restate your main points. Or you could come back to that first attention-grabbing example in a slightly different way. You tie everything together to bring the essay full circle.

Of course, this isn’t the only acceptable essay format and structure. However, too many people write five or six stream-of-consciousness paragraphs that are more like a walk through their life experiences without a fundamental structure to the narrative. It’s critical to have a structure, along with powerful opening and closing sentences.

“I wish that I had been more honest and more vulnerable in my essays.”

Chandler: Schools are increasingly focused on emotional intelligence. When reading your essays, they want to connect with you to understand how you’ve learned and grown. They want to understand who you are authentically. When I applied, it was vital for me to talk about being a member of the LGBTQ community. But it took me a long time to figure out how I wanted to tell that story.

Listen to B-Schooled Podcast #103: The Power of Authenticity in MBA Applications

Ultimately, that experience became an onramp to a more extensive discussion about what I learned and how it changed me. I also explored how it made me a stronger, more empathetic leader and better able to connect with others in all facets of my life.

If you’ve battled cancer, survived a traumatic event, or had a life-changing experience you want to share, that’s great. But know this:

It’s not about the thing that happened to you. Instead, it’s about how you responded to that event, what you learned from it, and how you grew. That’s what these business schools want to understand.

It may sound like a subtle distinction, but it’s important. If you reread your essay and still ask yourself, “So, why is this important? How did I grow from this experience?” You probably need to push yourself further.

You may have picked the wrong example as a jumping-off point. Or, more likely, you need to lean into that experience more to share your vulnerabilities and how you grew.

“I wish I hadn’t spent so much time worrying that I wasn’t what the admissions officers were looking for.”

Chandler: I was obsessed with the fact that I wasn’t a typical MBA candidate. For example, I had spent my whole career working for a nonprofit organization. I was worried that my accomplishments wouldn’t stand out or resonate with an audience unfamiliar with nonprofit resumes.

To get around that, I specifically formatted my resume to highlight the quantifiable results that I’d driven. I put a big focus on quantifying successes not only in terms of dollars raised or children reached but also in terms of how I performed relative to the goal, relative to expectations, and relative to performance in previous years.

And that was all good. But I was still trying to pretzel myself into what I thought an MBA student was supposed to be. Looking back, I should have leaned so much more into who I was and what made me different, unique, and special relative to all the other applications they were reviewing.

I now realize that the two things that I was most worried about at the time—being gay and coming from a social enterprise background—were probably incredibly helpful in terms of helping me stand out and distinguish myself.

“I wish I had done more homework.”

Chandler: Now, I’m not talking about traditional homework here. And I’m not even talking about the homework of understanding what makes school X different or unique versus school Y. Obviously, you should do all of that. I’m talking about more student and alumni-centered homework—something I didn’t realize was possible when I applied.

Knowing what I know now, I say think about the clubs, student groups, or affinity groups that you might like to get involved with. Next, figure out who those co-presidents are and reach out to them.

I was the president of a few clubs at my business school. Frequently, folks would reach out to me and say, “Hey, I’m an admitted student. I’d love to learn more about the Social Impact Club. Do you have 15 minutes that we might have a quick phone conversation?” And I always said yes.

I’ve worked with many clients who’ve reached out to many current students, and 85-95% of them are happy to have a short conversation. That’s a great way to learn about the program and specific topics or issue areas you’re interested in.

Tap Into the School’s Alums, Too

Another thing I’d suggest is to do that same “homework” with alums from your dream school—especially alums with a similar background or doing work that you’d like to do after graduation. This is easier to figure out than it might first sound with Google, LinkedIn, and alumni magazines.

Many of my clients have been able to say something like, “I’m coming from the entertainment world. I want to go to Fuqua and do X, Y, and Z after graduation. Oh, wow. Here’s an alum from Fuqua who’s doing X, Y, Z who came from a similar background.” Suddenly, they’ve identified someone ten years ahead in their career progression who came from a similar spot.

You can do all kinds of things with that information. Most importantly, you can use them as proof that someone from your background can thrive at Duke and do what you want to do after graduation. Reach out to that person to learn more about their experiences. If you ask for 15 or 20 minutes, most people will say yes to a prospective student.

Even if you don’t connect in person, you can learn a great deal by becoming a student of the career paths of those who have gone before you.

Hindsight is Always 20/20

In the end, applying to business school is as much about introspection and personal growth as it is about crafting the perfect application. Chandler’s insights offer a roadmap to navigate this challenging process with greater clarity and purpose.

Whether it’s defining your career goals, creating a cohesive narrative, or understanding the value of authenticity, these lessons are crucial for standing out in a competitive field. As you prepare your application, take the time to reflect deeply, seek advice, and be true to your unique journey. Your MBA experience will be richer for it.

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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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