[分享]書籍:Your MBA Game Planning

[upl]

What are your stats? This is the most harmful phrase in the English language, as far
as any business school applicant is concerned. In this case, “stats” refers to an applicant’s
basic quantifiable characteristics, such as “700 GMAT, 3.5 GPA at a top-25 undergrad,
four years W/E in P/E.” W/E in P/E???

Something is terribly wrong. That stream of numbers and letters tells us nothing
about who the applicant really is. What does she like to do for fun? What kind of
leadership roles has she taken on? Where does she want to be 10 years from now?
We have no idea. Yet we’ve gotten to the point where many business school applicants
immediately ask each other this question whenever they meet. It’s a senseless
secret handshake.

Make no mistake, the numbers do matter. You need to demonstrate a minimum
level of intellectual ability in order to get into any business school. But even though the
Stanfords and Whartons of the world boast GMAT averages in the low 700s, don’t fool
yourself into thinking that a 770 GMAT score means that you’re definitely in. Even
more importantly, don’t think that a sub-700 score means that you’re definitely out.
The same goes for your undergraduate GPA. And your work experience. And anything
else that you can slap a number on.

Unfortunately, the majority of applicants fall into this trap. They focus on one or
two statistics and let the rest of their applications suffer. Even worse, they focus on the
wrong things, and assume that ultra-high GMAT scores or impressive jobs (such as
“four years W/E in P/E,” which means that an applicant has four years of work experience
in private equity) will carry them into business school. Or they think that a 620
GMAT score equals certain rejection from any “top 10” school, which couldn’t be further
from the truth.

We spoke with hundreds of fellow applicants while working on our own business
school applications. Many of them were amazingly bright and were great at what they
did, but sometimes they didn’t seem to “get it.” They would say things such as, “I took
6 Your MBA Game Plan

the GMAT three times, and I went from a 670 to a 690 to a 700. I’m thinking of enrolling
in another GMAT prep class and taking the test a fourth time. What do you think?
Don’t worry; I’ll get around to the essays eventually.” To the admissions committee,
applicants with great GMAT scores but so-so essays and recommendations are a dime
a dozen, and “dime a dozen” won’t get you into a top business school.

After seeing too many qualified business school candidates get rejected because of
critical strategic mistakes in their applications, we decided to see if we could help. We
examined the advice available on the market and realized that while there were some
good books that target the business school application process, many of the applicants
who were reading them were still asking the wrong questions. So we took a step back
and tried to get to the root of the problem. We realized that many applicants are of
top-business-school caliber, but don’t understand what admissions committees are really
looking for in an application.

We decided to build a new application framework. We took a close look at each
part of the application process and asked, “What are admissions committees really
looking for here, and how can applicants make sure that they’re delivering it?” The
result is a strategic approach to the business school application process. By applying
this approach through your MBA game plan, you can greatly improve your chances of
receiving admittance into the top programs.

We haven’t made a living from providing college candidates with application advice,
but we have managed to get into the top MBA programs during a very competitive
year by using strategic analysis and targeted approaches. We’ve been in your shoes,
and hope to share with you what we’ve learned over the course of the application process.
We also hope we can save you from some of the most common mistakes that
applicants make. If you can make it easy for admissions officers to see that you have a
distinctive profile and would fit well with their schools’ cultures, then you’ll quickly get
ahead of other candidates. And getting ahead of other candidates is probably what you
were shooting for when you picked up this book in the first place.
Best of luck to you!
—Scott and Omari


Chapter 1: New Game, New Rules 7
Chapter 2: The Four Dimensions of a Perfect Applicant 19
Chapter 3: Applicant Profiles 32
Chapter 4: Understanding the Application Components 47
Chapter 5: Developing Strategies for the Top Programs 125
Chapter 6: Assembling Your Game Plan 206
Chapter 7: Game Over 218
Index 234
About the Authors 240

[cck1]

good book