For most people, admittance into a top MBA program requires two things: (1) that you have what it takes to get in, and (2) that you sell that fact to the admissions committee with a first-rate application. If you want to learn more about what it takes to get in, read our article on the subject. This piece will focus on the second part of the formula--putting together a winning MBA application. Crafting a superior application is more art than science, but is absolutely critical to your chances of admission. The following is the method we at Brody Admissions suggest using and it is the method our counselors will use when working with you.

First, analyze your strengths and weaknesses to establish your baseline level of admissibility. Second, create a story with themes designed to augment and support your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses. Third, use all the pieces of the application to construct the story and themes (you’ve got to nail this one!!). Fourth, follow through with attention to details.

Strengths and Weaknesses

This requires some serious introspection. Think about your past accomplishments, career trajectory, performance in college, and community activities. If you’ve taken the GMAT, consider your score. Then, weigh these against the five criteria outlined in our article, “What Are the Top MBA Programs Looking for in a Candidate?” To remind you, these criteria are (1) academic performance and promise; (2) demonstrated leadership potential; (3) personal qualities and interpersonal skills; (4) oral communication ability; and (5) career direction and purpose. If you read our article, you should be able to get a good feel for your strengths and weaknesses. Let’s take Joe Masters as our case example (get used to seeing case examples—MBA programs tend to use them a lot).

Joe is a 27-year-old brand manager at Procter & Gamble. He attended the University of Illinois, where he received a degree in marketing. His undergraduate GPA was a 3.6 and he has taken the GMAT a couple of times—his best score is a 650. Joe has been promoted three times at P&G and currently has two assistant brand managers working with him. He has been responsible for launching two major product extensions. He has also led the United Way at Work initiative in his division at P&G, helping to raise over $100,000 for the cause. Additionally, Joe has been active for the last three years in Big Brothers/Big Sisters, serving as a mentor to three underprivileged youths in Cincinnati. His reasons for getting an MBA are a bit vague, but he seems to have an interest in pursuing a strategy career, maybe as a consultant at Bain, BCG, or McKinsey. He has also thought a lot about the financial upside to an investment banking career.

With just this amount of information, we could rate Joe on the five criteria. Academics: average to strong. Leadership: strong. Personal attributes/interpersonal: strong to very strong. Oral communications: unclear. Career direction and purpose: average. Remember that these ratings are designed to calibrate him against the typical application pool to a top MBA program. He has good prospects, looking like a reasonable candidate for schools 11-20, but a “bubble” candidate for the top 10 schools. Joe's clear strengths are in his personal attributes, his community service and activism. He has had impact on his community. His clear weaknesses are in his lack of career focus and in the academic realm. The 3.6 is not bad, and given that he has 4-5 years of work experience, it will not weigh heavily. But the 650 is low for the top 10 schools. He also has the potential to demonstrate leadership qualities: while his community leadership is clear, his work experience still needs more explanation. His oral communication skills cannot be judged by the information given. It will be his job to make them apparent.

Themes

After analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, you should think about your audience and their criteria again and craft a story designed to emphasize your strengths and de-emphasize your weaknesses. With Joe, our story would look something like this: Joe has a solid academic record, particularly in quantitative subjects (if possible, emphasize the portion of the academic record that means the most to MBA admissions committees). He has shown continued development and growth in his career, taking on more and more responsibility, and has led major initiatives. He also has a passion for serving his community and has had a major impact on individuals and organizations. Though he has been very successful in his marketing career, he wants to assume a greater role in the success of large organizations like Procter & Gamble. He believes the only way to do that is to develop an expertise in strategy. For Joe, getting an MBA at a top school would be the best way to not only gain deeper knowledge in the latest thinking in corporate strategy, but would help him jump-start that new career.

We have outlined a number of themes for Joe: “successful marketing career,” “impact on the community,” “MBA jump-starting new career,” etc. Now we need to fit those themes into the framework of the application.

Nail the Application

The sections of the application include the following: personal data, academic record, letters of recommendation, work experience (resume), activities & extracurriculars, essays, and the interview. If you talk to admissions officers, you will realize quickly that you really need to nail the essays and the interview, and your recommenders must be well chosen. To truly nail the essays and the interview, you have to get the content right—i.e., the themes, and you have to do it with style. An essay with style is one that is well written and compelling. Managing your interview means having presence, being upbeat and reactive, and exuding confidence. So how do you get the content right?

The first question fits well into Joe’s theme on career trajectory. He should focus the part on “progress to-date” on the impact he has had, and the leadership he has exhibited at P&G, being careful to use specific anecdotes to bolster his case.

For the second question, we would focus on the successful launch of the two new products (maybe holding back on these when answering the first question). Another good topic would be his United Way campaign, showing the admissions committee how he would be able to serve as an example for non-profit leadership in the context of a Fortune 100 for-profit company.

The third question would be a good place for Joe to hit all of his themes, downplaying his slightly less-than-impressive academic record. In fact, this question is tailor-made to allow Joe to make his best case possible for the committee.

These "3 of 6" questions should be viewed as opportunities to complete your story and add the element of well-roundedness. With the “Outside of work, I…” question, Joe could talk about the life that he turned around when he took on a mentoring relationship with one of his Little Brothers, showcasing his personal qualities, or even take a chance and focus on an interesting hobby. Admissions committees like to put together a diverse class. With the “Describe your most challenging professional relationship” question, Joe could establish his interpersonal skills by showing how he turned around some work-related relationship and made it work for the good of the project, for example.

The interview is where Joe must really shine in the “interpersonal relationship” area, and where he should prepare answers to the following questions: “When is an example in your career where you’ve exhibited leadership?” “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” “Why do you want an MBA?” He can use his themes to craft an answer to each of these with confidence that he is bolstering his case. The interview is also the place to showcase oral communication abilities--no "ums" and "likes", but lots of eye contact and clarity. Other applicants are asled, "why did you chooseyour undergraduate school, " or "Why did you go to work at X?" This gives the interviewee the chance to show how he thinks about career planning.

When Joe selects people to write his letters of recommendation, he should choose at least one who has been in a position of leadership at Procter & Gamble, preferably his direct manager or someone else who knows him well. He or she should be prepared by Joe not only with a write-up of Joe’s accomplishments, but even suggestions as to what themes he most wants emphasized for the admissions committees. Joe’s manager could easily write about how Joe has had an impact on the organization through his leadership and drive. He or she could also speak to Joe’s ability to work in teams and his interpersonal skills. Joe’s manager should be encouraged to show Joe’s ability through examples and anecdotes. The details make the story resonate.

It doesn’t make sense for Joe to ask his manager to talk about his academic performance or aptitude, though the manager could talk about the United Way work.

Follow Through

Admissions officers tell us that there are a few common mistakes that really kill an application. Some applicants put the wrong school name in one of their essays. Others send them in with obvious spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Many applications lack polish. Applicants just don’t take the time to get it right. Usually they don’t get it right because they procrastinate and finish their application at the last minute.

Having credentials and themes is great, but without a professional application, you're sunk. You need to set a schedule for yourself, or have your Brody counselor set one for you, where you have milestones and due dates— for both drafts and final essays, for asking recommenders to write your letters, for setting up interviews (and preparing for them), etc. Then you need to stick to that schedule. You may believe that you can just sit down on a Saturday and throw together a solid application for each of four MBA applications. That's just not going to happen.

This is one of the chief benefits you get from hiring an independent counselor, e.g. from Brody Admissions. We serve in part as process coaches, making sure you stick to the plan with plenty of time for polish and professionalism. Good admissions counselors make sure you don’t just walk into an interview without having spent the time considering all the questions they might ask—and preparing your responses.

Admissions officers are trained to identify those applicants who have rushed their applications, and they don’t look at them favorably. Why not give yourself every possible advantage? Make sure you’ve followed through on the details.

Demonstrating Career Focus

As you follow all the steps in creating a distinct and professional application, one theme should flow through all of your work. The theme is “focus.” You have to demonstrate to the admissions committees that you have thought seriously about your career and why an MBA makes sense for you right now. In their minds, you need career focus in order to make this a success. Admissions officers may realize that a significant number of MBA students change their minds during their time at business school. That focus is not the same when they leave as it was when they came in. But, in fact, they still have focus; it is just redirected. No dean of admissions wants to believe that he is accepting students who just want to take a break from the “real world” for a couple of years. He wants to believe that he is helping a whole slew of potential matriculants take that next step in their plan towards greatness and responsibility.

You might want to give some thought to this. Make sure that the MBA is the right choice for you. If you are unable to articulate a clear career plan, at least enough so that admissions committees would buy your story, maybe you aren’t ready to get an MBA. Of course, you could obviously just lie on your applications and in your interviews—but then you might end up with a career that doesn’t fit your personality or interests. Find your career focus before you apply, or speak with a Brody counselor if you are struggling with it. Your applications will suffer if you haven’t found that inner voice.

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