Um, So do You REALLY Want an MBA?

People spend a lot of time, money and effort applying to business schools. They fret over every aspect of their application, do painstakingly research, silently compare rankings and prestige.

They just HAVE to get in to… HBS or Stanford or UCLA or Kellogg or wherever they’ve got their hearts set on.

But all this effort obscures a very important question or two. Do you really want an MBA? Do you really NEED an MBA?

I urge you to ask yourselves these questions at some point along the path. Maybe it’s best to do what it takes get in, first. But once you’ve gotten the proverbial “big envelope”, you should instantly forget all the work you put in to getting admitted. Because that should not impact your decision at all (google “sunk cost fallacy” to be sure).

So how should you think about the MBA decision? Well, you need to do a cold, hard look at the degree’s ROI. I’m not saying you have to spreadsheet it out with perfectly chosen discount rates. I mean you should think very realistically about the salary boost you may get, weighed against the cost in tuition and forgone salary you’ve paid to get the diploma.

Now, some people factor things like “network” and “knowledge” in to this calculation, but I suggest you weigh those separately. You may value these things more than a positive ROI, but they need to be evaluated independently of that calculation.

OK, so now it IS time to look at all those “non cold, hard” factors for going to business school. Sure connections are nice, learning is interesting, spending two years in an academic environment is pleasant. But ponder these qualities in another context: what ELSE you could be doing with two years and $60,000? Might there be other ways to recreate these very qualities at a far cheaper rate?

This is a big and complex decision and I’m not going to be able to answer it in a blog post. Send me an email if you’d like to talk it through. But I really urge you to think how you will feel undertaking a rather large loan as you pursue an MBA degree, and what that will mean for your life.

It’s kind of a big deal.

My Consulting Prices

Pricing isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It’s not just a matter of cutting prices and watching demand soar – besides covering expenses and generating a profit, your prices send market signals about the quality of your offerings.

I’ve gotten a few comments recently about the prices for my MBA admissions consulting services. Prospective students have asked me why I’m far less expensive than most of the agencies they’ve been researching. They wonder if this means I’m “not as good as those guys.”

Weird how trying to do the right thing can hurt you sometimes!

Here’s how I arrived at my pricing. First, I simply don’t feel comfortable with the rates that many of the nationally-known admissions agencies charge. I just do not think it’s right to ask students for $5.5k or more for 3 schools. That’s too much.

Second, I don’t view my client relationships as something to be monetized as much as possible. Students pay me what I consider a just fee for my experience, skills and advice and are in turn motivated to work even harder on their applications. But they aren’t paying me so much as to be desperate to “get their money’s worth” or to be uncomfortable about the investment they’re making.

Finally, there’s a big reason those nationally known agencies charge nearly double what I do: they’re basically marketing shops. They are nationally known precisely because they spend more on marketing: advertising, search engine optimization, hiring bloggers, attending admissions shows and so on. In turn, they hire admissions consultants (to do the actual work) with whom they split their fees. So they need to charge double what I do to cover their costs.

As far as quality, I feel confident that I offer an exceptional service. I work intensively with every student, giving them insights throughout the process that help them do more than just apply effectively to business schools. I try to give them communications, writing, narrative building and logical thinking skills that will be with them their entire careers. And I’ve been doing this with a strong record of success for far longer (since 2002) than many of these agencies have been around!

Start Me Up

Entrepreneurship is hot again. Let’s face it, a lot of people are creating their own jobs, careers and futures because there aren’t tons of jobs out there. The entire ecosystem of MBA roles has been shrunk by this recession and it’s tough to see them coming back soon.

So you want to be an entrepreneur – and more importantly, you’re telling business schools that.

Be careful.

First, you aren’t alone. Many applicants are saying this too, so it’s not going to make you stand out. Probably the opposite – nearly everything you say will be filtered through this prism and you’ll likely be categorized with all the other would- be entrepreneurial applicants.

Second, there’s a chance you don’t know what entrepreneurship really is. This isn’t meant to be harsh. It’s just that being a successful entrepreneur is a really difficult thing. You have to overcome huge obstacles with few resources. It is decidedly not easy.

Third, do you know exactly what kind of entrepreneur you want to be, what precise industry and industry niche you want to be in? Hint: green energy is not a good answer.

Here’s the thing: business schools are terrified of students sitting in the career center without jobs as graduation approaches. Business schools don’t want graduates messing up their salary and employment figures.

So if you tell MBA programs you want to be an entrepreneur, you’re going to be considered with all the other would-be entrepreneurs. And business schools are going to ruthlessly evaluate whether you have the skills, mentality and demonstrated experience to be a successful entrepreneur.

In turn, you’re going to have to anticipate and disarm these questions. You’re going to have to show you understand entrepreneurship on a deep level. You’re going to have to validate yourself as a true entrepreneur through your past experiences. And finally, you’re going to have to have a very detailed picture in your mind of your entrepreneurial plans after b school.

Send me an email if you’re a would-be MBA entrepreneur and I can help you think through these issues.

Angles and the MBA Admissions Process

Business school students – and yeah, businesspeople – are always looking for angles. Get a better grade, build more market share, win a contract. Here’s the thing: there are bad ways to find an angle and better ways.

I urge you to look for your better angles when applying to business school.

Here’s a bad angle: “My dad knows someone on the adcom of Columbia.” Or “I’m working with someone who used to do admissions for Harvard”. Or “my recommenders are letting me write my own letters, so what should I say?”

Bad angles are short cuts. Bad angles are looking for the easy way out. And bad angles, in my experience, lead to poor results. In life, in business and business school admissions.

So what’s a good angle then? A good angle is having a big picture behind your entire admissions package. A good angle is understanding the deeper qualities the essays are trying to get from you and infusing those qualities into every story you tell.

Good angles take more work, more thought, but they truly lead to better results. In life, in business and business school admissions.

Here’s an analogy. For decades, US automakers relied on lobbying Congress for special treatment, lenient regulations, lower mileage standards and so on. All the while Japanese brands were competing on quality, fuel economy, design and pricing. Eventually the US automakers’ angles ran out. They were in disastrous straights even without the recession. It took government bailouts in some cases (GM) and radical rethinking in other cases (Ford) for them to claw back from the brink and start recapturing market share.

Looking for easy angles is exactly like lazily lobbying Congress to save your company rather than focusing on innovation and growth.

Moral of the story: Don’t be GM. Be Lexus.

As always, feel free to email me with any questions: eric@fulfilament.com

Facebook and Business School Applications

There was a time, about two years ago when I could count on hearing the word “Facebook” in multiple overlapping conversations around me.

But Facebook hit a web-wide takeoff trajectory about 6 months ago. Companies suddenly noticed EVERYTHING was happening on Facebook, with traffic dropping on their own sites as an estimated 44% of all web activity now taking place on social networking sites.

Just as quickly, every media player, blog and content provider slapped a Facebook badge across their site to promote their material and brands. And they’ve begun to deeply integrate with Facebook so that commenting on stories is now a highly networked affair.

Business schools figured this out too and courses on social networking have sprung up on campuses everywhere. I’d be a more impressed if they’d anticipated these developments rather than responded to them, but better late than never.

It’s fascinating to me, especially this key irony: the web was supposed to become a wild free for all, abandoning its America online beginnings and letting billions of individual websites bloom. And yet we seemed to have returned to a closed, highly ordered and visually rigid environment for much of our online activities.

But what’s Facebook have to do with business school applications? I think a ton.

First, knowing what’s going on out there is crucial when applying to business school this year. The entire global economic, financial and cultural landscape is changing – almost in real time – and you need to show that you get this.

You should also think deeply about what the Facebook revolution means for your future in whatever career path you choose. I don’t mean that you need to be an expert in social media marketing. I mean that whatever industry you work in, whatever role you choose, you need to be constantly vigilant. Ready for near-instantaneous revolutions in your customer base. Instant adoption of competitive or complimentary technology or platforms.

The people who will succeed in this environment will be adaptable, strategic, fluid. I realize these are catchwords, but they also have real meaning. You can train yourself to think like this, to constantly be ready for radical change.

And you should probably start today, as you’re preparing to write your MBA applications.

Feel free to email me with any questions eric@fulfilament.com!

Lady Gaga and Business School Applications

I’d like to broaden this to “Lady Gaga’s life lessons.”

Whatever you think of Gaga, you can’t deny she’s running the show. Global stardom, videos that get noticed in a jaded age, mastery of Twitter and Facebook… Gaga is doing it all.

I find her story inspirational. When you have time, read this piece in New York Magazine about how she got her start. I think it has lessons for anyone embarking on a career path.

Gaga wasn’t an instant success. She started playing piano at 4 and always knew she wanted to be a performer. Knowing what you want to do early in life is an incredible gift, one we’re not all lucky to have. But even if you don’t have that gift, you can decide NOW what you want to focus on.

Gaga performed all throughout junior high and high school, appearing in musicals, constantly honing her talent and stage presence. After graduating, she decided to forgo college and give her musical career everything.

The NY Mag article describes how hard she worked. She refined her act continuously –moving from a rock n roll style to ultra pop. She played tiny venues, endured negative feedback, experimented constantly and relentlessly promoted her shows.

In the article, she recounts how in Los Angeles everyone wants to be a star but no one wants to do what it takes. She did what it takes.

Gaga also built her own team of artists, designers and costumers with whom she works today. She didn’t let a record label dictate her team, filling it up with talented people with whom she didn’t have had a deep or organic a connection.

So what does this have to do with business school? With business?

First, you need to want b-school. You need to really want it. You need to put in the time thinking and crafting and honing your messages. You need to get those essay drafts on paper and then relentlessly improve them.

You need to ignore what people are telling you to do and trust your own vision and instincts and uniqueness.

And when you are IN business school and beyond you can’t let up. Not in this environment. Not with this level of competition. You’re going to have commit yourself to constant innovation and renewal, within the context of your own unique vision.

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Leadership and HBS. And Kellogg. And Stanford. And…

Leadership, leadership, leadership! Shmeadership.

Ok, I might be going a bit crazy. But I’m a bit tired of leadership. Tired of reading about it anyway.

I bet adcoms are tired of leadership too. But it’s their own fault.

I get that you want leaders, Kellogg. I really get it. But here’s an idea: why not come up with a more intelligent way of uncovering a candidate’s leadership skills than explicitly asking about it?

Because you’re the ones who have to read the same essays over and over.

Sure, the leadership question lets you easily weed out applicants who have no idea how to frame the issue, but by now there’s enough good advice around about how to answer these questions correctly.

Which means the margin applicants get from answering it properly is eroded. If everyone knows how to answer these correctly, it gets tougher to stand out. (If you don’t know how to answer it, email me and we’ll talk)!

I used to agonize over the “Why ______ (HBS/MIT/TUCK/ETC)” essay portion. There was NOTHING new to say, no brilliant strategy for answering this section. Yes, I had some subtle tricks and ideas, but really there’s no genius way to attack this.

Then I realized something: just answer it the “right way” and move on. Show that you know how the game is played and be more creative in a better place.

Leadership essays are getting that way too. There really is a right way to do them, but once you’ve gotten to that point the only way to differentiate yourself is through writing style and essay structure. The content is going to be pretty similar.

But that’s ok too. If you can, innovate structurally. If you can’t, hit the correct points and move on. Just show that you get it, and save your differentiating skills for another essay.

That’s why admissions is such a strategic game. Even when it’s a little boring it’s interesting.

Wharton 2011 MBA Essays

I like Wharton’s essay questions for 2011: They’re well-thought out and fairly interesting. Incidentally, the first question about designing a course is a must-answer to my mind. Email me at eric@fulfilament.com if you want to know why.

Anyway, here’s question number four:

Discuss a time when you navigated a challenging experience in either a personal or professional relationship. (600 words)

This isn’t a mind blower or anything. You’ll see it on many business school applications. But there’s a crucial word in the question. And it’s NOT “challenging.”

It’s “navigated.”

Many students will be tempted to seized on the ‘challenging’ aspect of the essay. They’ll go in to incredible detail about the situation, describing every aspect of what happened.

Of course they’ll explain how they handled the situation, but in my experience they’ll miss crucial elements of what the word “navigated” means.

To get “navigated” right, you’ll need to explain your thought process when faced with the challenge. You’ll need to explain how you felt about the issue initially – the emotional response to having a barrier in front of you. But you’ll need to intelligently answer how you developed a strategy to overcome that barrier.

Your strategy will need to be well thought out, multifaceted and, well, strategic. Then you’ll need to discuss every element of how you put that strategy into place.

Finally, you’ll need to tell what worked and what didn’t and what lessons you drew from the experience.

You have a good word count for this essay so there’s time to develop a narrative here. But you need to hit the navigation theme really well to make this work.

Feel free to email me with any questions eric@fulfilament.com!

Visualization and Business School Apps

Don’t mean to get all Tony Robbins on you here. But when writing MBA essays and prepping for interviews, having real vision is crucial.

Take the “what are your future career goals” essay found on every business school application. It’s easy to put something together about working in “marketing for a renewable energy company” or “joining a private equity firm specializing in China.”

OK, nothing wrong with those (well, maybe something could be wrong with those, but that’s for another day. You need to be VERY careful about how you discuss your future goals.)

But your essay will be weak and vague if you don’t have a clear vision of what these roles entail. What exactly does your job look like day to day? Who are you working with? What challenges are you facing? What skills are you putting to work? What innovations are you prepared to bring? What is your industry expertise like?

Sometimes we put off visualizing these things because they force us to think deeply about issues we haven’t considered. Roadblocks. Daily work realities. Whether or not our career plans are actually viable. Much better to figure this out on your own rather than having an admissions committee wonder if you know what you want.

The same applies to why you want an MBA and why an MBA at a particular school. Again, visualize everything about your MBA experience. The classes. The group projects. The on-campus recruiting process. Student activities. Volunteer work. Then translate this vision into words on paper and what you say in interviews.

Going through the process of ‘seeing’ business school related issues clearly in your mind’s eye will truly give everything you say and write real force and clarity.

And that can make a huge difference in the incredibly competitive business school admissions game.

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Getting Started on MBA Essays

For some people, writing comes easily. Others stare at a blank page and feel overwhelmed. For the second group, I use a simple technique to get them started on their business school essays.

This always follows a long conversation about how to attack the specific essay and how it fits in with the rest of the essays. We’ve discussed the stories we want to tell and the points we want to get across.

Now we have to get writing.

Let’s look at one of this year’s Kellogg questions as an example:

Describe your key leadership experiences and evaluate what leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experiences (600 word limit).

Here’s how I’d advise a client to get started. Remember, this is after we’ve discussed the strategy behind the essay. Now we’re working on tactics – actual writing.

This may seem obvious, but use the word count to set up your essay structure. Here we have a 600 word limit, a request for some key leadership stories and then a request for self-evaluation.

OK, 600 words, two main segments. Easy. Budget 300 words for the first segment, then 300 words for the second segment.

The first segment asks for key leadership experiences. If you have one overwhelming story, you can use the 300 words on that alone. Other than one killer story though, the best bet is to use two, 150 word leadership stories here.

Now you transition to the second segment: “leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experiences”. You have 300 words budgeted for this, so I would suggest discussing 3 main areas. The math is easy: 3 paragraphs of 100 words each on a distinct leadership area.

Remember, this is just a basic technique. There are many other elements that go into creating a great essay, such as themes that weave throughout the piece. But this is a good, logical way to get started and create solid first drafts of your essays. After you see it on paper, you can begin to dress it up more to take it to the next level.

Visit my site to learn more about MBA applications!