How to connect the dots for an Ideal MBA Application
Making your place at a top-notch business school is a catch-22 and what makes it so difficult is crafting the ‘ideal essay’. Now tens of factors come into play while writing an exceptional essay and you need to ‘connect the dots’ to not only make it ideal but also reasonable. You must have heard a lot of times about ‘connecting the dots’ in the MBA community and you might wonder what it really means?
In the most simple terms, ‘connecting the dots’ means to be able to establish the links, links from past experiences to the present, links from present to future, and links from past to future. The readers, in this case, adcoms, should be able to grasp the relevance of the career goals you stated. They should be able to reach your stated goals through the story you crafted in your essay but the process does not end here. You have to connect the dots between your essays and your interviews and so, the essays should not only be impressive but also very concise and genuine and it should give the idea that you have researched thoroughly about what you have written and about the school to which you are applying.
- Now breaking into parts, one has to work on the following aspects:
- Establishing links between prior career experiences and future goals.
- Making sure to connect professional and personal experiences
- Connecting your narrative and career vision to the school’s values
- Finally, linking Essay and the Interview
Establishing Links Between Prior Career Experiences and Future Goals
Now, this part is very crucial because the adcoms should be able to know your motivation for pursuing a particular field. And this motivation can be your interest in the field, associated career growth, and monetary gains. Now, here, you need to connect the dots between what careers you have pursued in your past and how you have reached this particular goal now. Not only this you need to establish links between your present and future by having a concrete answer of an associated growth in the career. For example, if you say you want a career in Investment Banking and all your career experiences have been in the field of tech, how you reached to IB? If you have not explored this domain in your prior career then where have you explored this interest of yours? Have you taken some courses on it? Are you involved with some IB companies beyond work?
So, this is how the role of making connections play an important part. The decision-makers should not have any doubt about what you have stated in your essays, it should be at-least coherent, and well-connected to make it understandable first.
Establishing Links Between Prior Career Experiences and Future Goals Making Sure to Connect Professional and Personal Experiences
Now ‘an ideal essay’ should not only talk about your career achievements, but it should also give a glimpse of what you are as a person. It should talk about your community involvement, your love for soccer, the band that you started back in the college, the book that you loved the most, or the countries you love traveling. Talking about these things helps in knowing the various sides of your personality and the different dimensions of you beyond work but for that to be done, you need to not only connect the dots between your interests and activities but also add insights to these experiences. For example, if you say, you love dancing, what have you done till now to pursue that interest? What you have learned from that experience and what are the struggles you faced there? How you deal with the stress in your life?
Also, try to connect your professional and personal experiences, say, if you have highlighted yourself competitive in sports you may highlight yourself ambitious in work. This is how your essay starts taking the shape of your ‘live’ personality.
Connecting Your Narrative and Career Vision to the School’s Values
A very important part of an application to a school is connecting your career goals and your personality to the vision and values of the school. For example, if a school looks for an ambitious and collaborative leader, you ought to exhibit these values in you through your story. You may need to show a strong career experience and high aspirations in your future. You may need to show how you helped others in your workspace, how you have been involved in community service.
Another very important part is how a school fits in the ‘picture.’ Simply put, how a particular school will help you achieve your career goals and fill gaps in your profile. You need to identify those gaps and then connect this narrative to the business school’s curriculum, environment, and values. This will highlight your self-awareness and that you are serious about applying to the school and so, did thorough research.
Finally, Linking the Essay and the Interview
You have done almost everything to give your best shot in crafting an ‘ideal essay.’ Now comes the easy part, your interview should be an extension to the essay you crafted. And for this to happen your essay should be genuine. Your interview should be in alignment with the career experiences, the goals, interests, and the values you mentioned in your essay.
Now, throughout this article, we have talked about crafting an ‘ideal essay’ but here I would caution you to not look for an ‘ideal essay’ that the school or adcoms may want to see. Rather, look in you for crafting a genuine essay to make it ideal for you. While you focus on connecting the dots, do not overwrite or exaggerate. MBA and Beyond has led many to their dream schools by helping them bring their stories out and it’s your time now to craft and bring your own story and study and thrive in your dream schools.
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