Category Archives: MBA Admissions

Ethics & Community, Leadership, MBA Adcom, MBA Admissions

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective MBA Applicants

Motivational guru Stephen Covey died on Monday from complications following a bicycle accident in April. Covey is best known for ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ which sold over 20 million copies in 40 languages. The book (and tapes, CDs, video razzmatazz etc.) has many critics. But seeing as the soundbite “seven habits” has become pretty much synonymous with success-lingo, I long ago thought of writing down my Seven Habits of Highly Effective MBA Applicants.

I realize now is my chance, so here they are:

Habit 1. Know thyself. This is of course the Oracle at Delphi, but Covey wasn’t original either. The fact remains that self-knowledge, particularly in this case knowledge of the parts of yourself that count for MBA admissions—and being able to find these attributes in your profile—is the core of MBA admissions success.

Habit 2. Be yourself. Another old saw, but no less true for being so. If you don’t apply as “you,” you lose the authentic power of your own voice. Many applicants try to apply as someone else, or the “ideal” applicant. Being dinged for being you is hard. Being dinged for being someone else is pathetic.

Habit 3. Gain and demonstrate experience. Successful applicants have sought out and embraced significant experiences (work and other.) You don’t need to have traveled to the International Space Station to have had a significant experience. You just need to have taken the life chances that came your way, and be able to talk intelligently about them.

Habit 4. Develop and demonstrate character. Experiences, particularly challenging ones, create character. Good character is not just good ethics. It is the fully rounded resource base for individual decision-making and action that leads to positive choices for the individual and those around him/her.

Habit 5. Assume and demonstrate seniority. Successful applicants have reached for opportunities to become senior in their spheres of activity. Seniority is not a job type or a salary level; it is any position that implies responsibility, influence, and leadership of others.

Habit 6. Be bigger than you. Successful MBA applicants have walked the walk of doing something that is not entirely self-oriented. As I’ve written elsewhere, you don’t have to have fed the starving in Ethiopia: almost any form of unpaid community involvement counts.

Habit 7. Simplify. Push yourself to know what’s really important to say in your application, and say only that. Don’t throw everything at Adcom and hope something sticks.

Habit 7+1. Covey added an eighth habit, see below. My eighth is: A touch of class. You don’t need to listen to Dvorak while pruning your bonsai and sipping chai tea (see Habit 2.) But if your favorite book is Harry Potter and your favorite show is Phantom of the Opera and you spend a lot of time on your sun tan… while there’s nothing technically wrong with this, you leave your competitors a lot of room to beat you.

For the record, these are Covey’s seven: Be proactive. Begin with the end in mind. Put first things first. Think win-win. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Synergise: learn to work with others to the benefit of all parties. Sharpen the saw: keep yourself physically, mentally and spiritually refreshed through such things as exercise, reading, prayer and good works. He later added the eighth: find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

MBA Admissions, MBA Admissions Book, MBA Essays

MBA Studio is 10!

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It is 10 years since MBA Studio was founded. It started more by chance than design, as seems to happen in this industry. I had worked on a few applications, including my own, and found I was good at it (and successful.) This was due to my media-editor background, my strategic marketing training, and my b-school cultural immersion. Anyway, quite early on I realized I was saying things to clients that had not been written down. So I wrote a book (MBA Admissions Strategy) which, happily, was snapped up by the first publisher I sent it to (McGraw Hill) and has since become a best-seller, now in 2nd edition.

On the back of the book, and gratifyingly also often by word of mouth, the client side of the business grew strongly and I was quickly forced in to a decision that has defined MBA Studio ever since: Do I adopt a flotilla of sub-consultants and spend my time managing them? Or do I stay a hands-on practicing MBA admissions advisor? I chose the latter because I was far more motivated by the intellectual and strategic challenge (and fun!) of crafting a savvy application that finds the way to pick the lock of the admissions gates and get a person admitted to an elite school, sometimes beyond even their own expectations. There is nothing better than getting the “wow, I’m in!” email, knowing I’ve meaningfully improved someone’s entire career and life prospects. (Full disclosure: I do of course have marketing and administrative support staff.)

So it’s been 10 years, and here’s to the next 10. As a point of demarcation, I’ve decided to implement some changes in service provision. Where MBA Studio used to handle all aspects of the application, as defined by the book, the focus going forward will be on the essays and allied asynchronous services. This is a business decision. Full-service provision for a one-consultant operation is inherently “lumpy” – I have to leave big spaces of time to fully serve clients who sign up in August for a large menu of services that they may use sporadically, or not at all, or in a January rush! This means every year I’ve been turning clients away. With an essay focus I’ll be able to work more consistently, and for more clients.

In another adjustment, the free essay review is withdrawn. There is simply no longer time to do them. In its place are sample reviews which demonstrate what’s on offer (see Services tab.)