How to personalize your interest in an mba program

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How to Personalize Your Interest in an
MBA Program

By the Amerasia Consulting Group,
Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting
How to Personalize Your Interest in an
MBA Program
MBA Admissions Consultant | http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com

Just yesterday, Paul linked to some fantastic, in-depth
Haas stuff that will help any applicant craft their Why
Haas answers within a career goals essay. It's the kind
of detailed research that allows someone to really shine,
so definitely check it out.
HOWEVER. The simplest and most important thing you
can do to improve your Why School X portion of career
goals essay is to personalize any and all content.
What do I mean by "personalize?" Simple: make
anything you write about the school specific to you, your
experience, your desires, or what you require from a
program.

Never just state absolutes, generalities, or even known
truths and facts - always make them personally-held
viewpoints. Examples are the best way to understand
this (after the jump):
Example #1
GOOD - "I am seeking an intense MBA experience, which
is why INSEAD is my top choice."
BAD - "INSEAD is one of the most intense MBA
programs in the world."

WHY - The first sentence is a statement about what you want (an
intense experience), which is used as justification for pursuing the
school. It doesn't matter whether you are right or wrong in your
assessment, so long as you believe it and can then base a decision
on that belief. Whereas in the second sentence, you are simply
stating a fact. There are multiple problems with this:
A. you might be wrong,
B. even if you are right it might sound lecturing (which can
irritate a reader who is far more of an expert on the subject
than you are), or
C. even if you are right and the reader is not mildly irritated, you
still miss a chance to express something about you.
Anything in any essay that doesn't tell the reader more about
you, your world, and what you want is wasted space.

Example #2
Good - "One thing that drew me to Duke right away was
the small class size, which has always been the ideal
setting for me to grow and learn."
BAD - "Small class sizes are the best way to learn, which
is why I love Duke."

WHY - This one has a wrinkle, which is that the "bad" sentence
sort of seems to personalize the statement with the "why I love
Duke" part.
The problem is that the revelation is still not based on a
personal belief, but rather a statement of fact. Indeed, this
statement of fact is even more egregious than the INSEAD
statement above because it's offering up as concrete fact
something that is highly debatable. Maybe large classes are
the best way to learn. Maybe it's online. Maybe it's one-on-
one. Who are you to say? Who am I to say? None of us are
experts in the sphere of ideal learning models, so this just
sounds completely arrogant. Whereas in the "good" example,
we see that it's simply a personal preference that is the basis
for further interest in Duke.

I could go on and on and write 10 examples, but two is
probably enough.
The main thing is to read every single sentence you write
about a program and make sure that it's always personal
- told from your perspective, your opinion, your beliefs,
and your desires.
If it dissolves into "brochure writing" - just statements of
fact, no matter how benign or flattering to the school -
there is zero upside and plenty of downside.

It's a small thing, but we see it crop up in probably 90% of
the essays we read, so it's obviously a fairly widespread
problem.
And while it may not be the entire difference between
being admitted or denied, it can definitely be the
difference between getting a good or a bad read of your
file. And in our experience, *that* is often the difference
between being admitted or denied.

If you are interested in a free initial consultation, please email
mba@amerasiaconsulting.com. Our boutique approach pairs you with a
consultant capable of walking you through the above steps and
perfecting your application.
Finally, make sure to download our free How to Apply guides.
http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/

How to personalize your interest in an mba program

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How to personalize your interest in an mba program