5 Ways Poets Can Overcome Quant Quandaries

Schools want to see evidence of quant skills. They want to confirm your ability to handle the demands of a rigorous program. For liberal arts majors who haven’t taken math since high school, the quant score on the GMAT takes on greater importance because it can be the only evidence of quant ability.

If you fall into this “poet” category and have received a less-than-ideal quant score on the GMAT, then I suggest you do one or more of the following:

1. Take a GMAT prep course and retake the exam if you believe you can increase your score.
2. Brush up on your math skills by taking online classes like MBAMath, or more traditional courses like calc, accounting, statistics for business, and econ. Traditional classes are preferable if one also has a low GPA. Indicate somewhere in your application that you’re addressing this weakness.
3. Offer specific examples or anecdotes in your application essays that highlight your competent quant skills, despite your not-so-high GMAT quant score.
4. Take advantage of the optional essay as yet another place to boost your competitive edge.
5. Ask your recommenders to vouch for your quant abilities.

If after taking these steps you’re still not a competitive candidate at your first choice schools, consider reevaluating your qualifications – maybe you’re aiming too high with these target programs and should choose schools that will view your scores as competitive.

Your MBA application strategy should address these issues. Please see A Winning MBA Application Strategy and GMAT Prep, Your Score, and MBA Admissions for more information.

This post is part of an ongoing series, MBA Admissions A-Z, that offers applicants insightful tips on every aspect of the business school admissions process. Join us as we explore the ABCs of the MBA!

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You want to make sure your MBA application essay has no errors, so you run spell check on your computer, get rid of all those squiggly red and green lines, save your essay as FINAL, and then submit.

But wait! Your essay isn’t really complete until you do a solid job proofreading…with your eyes and ears. Your word processor’s spelling and grammar editor is excellent for catching obvious errors (the ones you’d catch anyways), but it is less than perfect (and in some cases a lot less than perfect) at finding the more obscure mistakes.

The best way to proof an essay is to print it out, move to a different chair or desk, and read it aloud slowly with a pencil handy so you can write in corrections that you will later enter on the computer. Reading aloud will slow you down and allow your ear to catch what your glassy eyes will miss. As you give your essay its final proofread, stay on the lookout for the following:

1. Check for the proper school name. There are few things worse than submitting an essay to HBS that begins with the words “I want to go to Wharton because” (and that’s putting aside the fact that an essay opening like that is pretty bland). Not only does it show the adcom that you didn’t do a good job proofing your essay, but it also shows that you sloppily lifted your Wharton essay, without writing a new essay specifically geared toward HBS. Actually, here is a trade secret: Before you get to the proofreading stage, use your computer’s “Find” function (Control-F for PCs) and search for “Wharton” – make sure you replace each one with “Harvard.” And then, since you should never rely on your computer alone, your read aloud proof will serve as a double check .
2. Check spelling and usage. Your computer’s spell checker may catch obviously misspelled words, but it won’t catch words that are spelled correctly but that are used incorrectly. “Illicit feedback” isn’t the same thing as “elicit feedback” (which is probably what you meant). Your computer – amazing as it is – can’t read your mind!
3. Check grammar and style. I recommend turning off your computer’s grammar checker and instead relying on your own eyes and, and in this case, EARS as well. Grammar errors are often easier to identify when you hear them read aloud. Something may look right, but if it doesn’t SOUND right, then it probably isn’t. Before submitting your essays, do a final read through and LISTEN for mistakes and awkward phrasing.

You may also find that now, during the final proofreading stage of your MBA essays, is a good time to recruit a friend, family member, colleague, or professional editor to read through your essay. After looking at your essay 4,557 times, you may simply gloss right over errors, reading what SHOULD be written rather than what IS actually written. A fresh pair of eyes and ears can catch what your exhausted and biased eyes and ears missed.

Explore Accepted’s professional MBA essay editing options. You’re a professional applying to a professional program. Have seasoned pros edit your critical MBA essays. They’re simply too important for you to rely on anyone else.

This post is part of an ongoing series, MBA Admissions A-Z, that offers applicants insightful tips on every aspect of the business school admissions process. Join us as we explore the ABCs of the MBA!

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You’re an Indian male with an IT background, or a consultant from New Jersey who majored in Econ, or a Chinese bank manager who also dabbled in engineering.

In short, you are an applicant who comes from an overrepresented background – what can you do to prove that you are a unique candidate despite your run-of-the-mill profile?

1. Highlight unique hobbies, interests, and activities. A good way to avoid being stamped “Typical” is to show that even with your unoriginal professional/social/geographic/economic background, you are in fact quite a distinct individual. For example, you’re an Indian IT male who is also an underwater photographer who’s won three international marine photography awards (and the first was when you were 12 years old). Or you’re a consultant from New Jersey who has also run a successful home-based empanada delivery business for the past four years. You get the point – you may have a typical job, but you’re definitely an individual.
2. Be specific in describing what you do and what you have done. Are you an engineer or an environmental engineer who worked in the rain forest near the Amazon? Do you volunteer or have you led teams in building 5 houses for Habitat for Humanity? A few concrete details distinguish and differentiate.
3. Reveal non-traditional goals. Not all similar pasts lead to similar futures. By being as specific as possible in the description of your post-MBA goals, you’ll prove that while your professional experiences may look like others’ in the crowd, your future goals are distinct – you’re headed somewhere entirely different!
4. Create essays that reflect your personality. If your resume and stats won’t set you apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to work extra hard to make sure that your MBA essay truly embodies what’s special about you. Use your distinct voice to relate your unique personality. There may be hundreds of accounting majors applying to your target school, but there’s only one with your individual traits, passions, visions, goals, and perspectives – YOU!
5. Choose recommenders who really know you. The better your chosen recommenders actually know you, the better job they will do praising your unique talents and attributes. The recommender with the most impressive title isn’t always the best person for the job. Instead, choose someone who you know and trust, and who knows not just what you’ve done professionally and/or academically, but who you are as a person.

For more tips on how to distinguish yourself in your MBA application, please see Diversity, Overrepresentation, and You.

This post is part of an ongoing series, MBA Admissions A-Z, that offers applicants insightful tips on every aspect of the business school admissions process. Join us as we explore the ABCs of the MBA!

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You’re a grownup – you don’t need to be told that lying is wrong…or do you? This kindergarten precept often needs reviewing when MBA applications roll around. Even the most honest of applicants sometimes fall prey to the sinister temptation of the Little White Lie – “Okay, so I worked there for ALMOST a year (7 months) – no one will know if I fudge that a bit on my MBA resume” or “Office Assistant is practically the same thing as Office Manager, right?” – or bigger lies like saying you don’t have a criminal record when you do or changing the data on a transcript or forging a recommender’s name. These are all – big and small – serious no-nos. They are ethically wrong; and if that doesn’t do it for you, try this – they are serious threats to your acceptance, and then success, at top schools and a future career.

Rule of thumb: Say the facts and don’t look back. Your MBA apps are not the place to lie, fib, exaggerate, misrepresent, or even avoid telling the truth. Call it what you will, just make sure you don’t do it.

Here are three reasons why:

1. Background checks are likely to turn up any material misrepresentations. When they do, the school will withdraw the offer of acceptance. You will see your acceptance turn into a rejection with the attendant embarrassment and inability to apply to those previously friendly institutions.
2. If the lies aren’t caught during the background check, the misrepresentation may need to be perpetuated and could actually come up in the future with even more devastating and shameful consequences. (This happened to someone my husband knew at work as well as to the former head of admissions at MIT undergrad. In the former case, the false claim had NOTHING to do with work or professional competence.)
3. There is also the possibility that in the future you will have a conflict or “falling out” with someone who knows about the fallacy. That person can then go to the school or future employer and reveal the fallacy out of spite, claiming that spasms of conscious are driving him to confess. (I have heard of such cases.)

In short: Lying in applications is serious business. Even if you get away with it during the admissions process, it can still have serious consequences way down the line.

Learn how to mitigate MBA profile weaknesses wisely and honestly with the expert tips founds in MBA Application Weaknesses 101.

This post is part of an ongoing series, MBA Admissions A-Z, that offers applicants insightful tips on every aspect of the business school admissions process. Join us as we explore the ABCs of the MBA!

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A good application essay is comprised of both anecdote and analysis, the what and the why of your personal experiences. Telling a straight story (anecdote without analysis) will leave your essay flat, with no depth or insight into your character or motivations; on the other hand, an essay that rattles on about the why but omits the what will be boring and overly theoretical, lacking substance and voice.

Your goal: To create an essay that balances these two components, that’s full of descriptive details about what happened (your experience) AND why such things occurred (or how you reacted or responded).

Essay Component #1: Anecdote

The first component of a compelling essay is the retelling of what happened to you. This is the story element of your MBA essay. Most applicants launch their essays with an anecdote to draw in your readers. Good idea. (For important storytelling tips, please see our free special report, From Example to Exemplary, or the on-demand webinar, Essays that Stick.)

Essay Component #2: Analysis

For this second component, you’ll want to talk about your motivations for pursuing the experience in question or the lessons learned as a result of it.

The questions below will help you shape the analysis component of your essay. After thinking of a good anecdote, a key experience that you’d like to share, make sure your essay also addresses the following:

• Why is this experience one that you wanted to bring to the adcom’s attention?
• What makes you tick? Why did you make the decisions you made?
• How did a particular experience motivate action in the future?
• What did you learn from this experience?

You’re applying to b-school, so your quant skills are probably pretty good – so let’s put this in solid math terms:

Anecdote + Analysis = Your Awesome Application Essay

For more essay writing tips, please see MBA Application Essays 101, a resource guide containing special reports, webinars, and blog posts on every aspect of the MBA essay writing process.

This post is part of an ongoing series, MBA Admissions A-Z, that offers applicants insightful tips on every aspect of the business school admissions process. Join us as we explore the ABCs of the MBA!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

This post is part of an ongoing series, MBA Admissions A-Z, that offers applicants insightful tips on every aspect of the business school admissions process. Join us as we explore the ABCs of the MBA!

How to Choose the Best B-School for You

We’ve boiled down this complicated process into 4 simple steps: determine your post-MBA goal, evaluate your qualifications, research programs, and choose schools that support your goals and that are likely to accept you based on your qualifications.

Let’s take a close look at each step:

1. Determine Your Post-MBA Goal

This step is deceptively tricky. Often applicants think that stating their goal is as simple as saying, “I want to go into investment banking,” or worse, “I want a position of responsibility that will allow me to grow.” Of course nothing in the MBA application process is THAT easy! Determining your MBA goal requires that you think about your FIL – Function, Industry, and Location. The adcoms want to know more than the straightforward declaration of your chosen field and they certainly don’t want a vague, vacuous statement of intent. They want to know what you truly see yourself doing, and possibly where (the Location element isn’t always essential, but in some cases it will add an important dimension or flavor to your goal). Furthermore, breaking your goal down into short-term and long-term phases will also help add depth and breadth to your goal and will help you figure out which programs are best for helping achieve those milestones. (See A is for Aspiration for more details on this.)

2. Evaluate Your Profile

You can’t choose a business school if you have no idea where your qualifications fall on the competitiveness spectrum. Certain programs, for example, won’t even look at an application (or at least, won’t look at it very seriously) if your GMAT is below a certain number or if you don’t have two years of work experience. These stats, along with other considerations like community service involvement, GPA, leadership experiences, and others, are important because they offer the adcoms a glimpse into who you are and how you’ll contribute to the next top b-school class. From your perspective, your qualifications will help you establish which programs are appropriate for you – after all, if you only scored a 660 on the GMAT and have limited work experience and weak leadership skills, then HBS or Wharton probably aren’t realistic options for you. One of the most important parts of choosing the best MBA program is choosing the best program for YOU. Know your strengths and weaknesses and you’ll save yourself from getting way in over your head.

3. Research Programs

Now that you’ve done some soul-searching and introspection about what you want (step 1) and who you are (step 2), it’s now time to start learning about your options. Which schools will support your goals? At which programs will you be a competitive candidate? Which schools would benefit from having you as a student? And of course, which programs would you benefit from as a student?

Begin the school research process online. Most schools explicitly state what they are looking for in their applicants. If you don’t fit the bill, move on. Once you’ve weeded out the obvious no-go’s, continue narrowing down your options by speaking with current students and alumni, reading student blogs, looking at the rankings, and attending MBA fairs or info sessions.

4. Choose Schools

Congratulations! You’ve now laid all the groundwork necessary to choosing the best business schools for you! Now you can confidently apply to those MBA programs that support your goals and that are likely to accept you based on your qualifications.

For more in-depth advice on choosing a business school that matches your qualifications and goals, please see Accepted’s FREE special report, Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One.

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