In this entry, I’m responding to an email from an applicant who is trying to get off of the GSB’s waitlist. This is a situation that I KNOW some of the readers out there can identify with, so I tried to make my response as general as possible. For those of you reading this who are waitlisters, keep the faith! I know of some people in my class at the GSB who got in off the waitlist and there are a lot of factors that come into play here, so it could just work out for you if things line up correctly.
———-
“J” wrote:
“Marquis,
First off, I want to thank you for your blog entries. They have been very inspiring and insightful throughout the application process. I live in the SF and ever since I began my application process, the GSB has been my top choice. I am waitlisted at the GSB. I am drafting a letter to the Admissions Committee reiterating my interest and the one thing I am struggling with is unraveling my “something special I bring to the table” and I really want to drive that point home in the letter. How did you figure out what your “special somthing” was? I have a pretty standard profile: investment banker from the midwest, went to Michigan.
If there is one thing that I have learned from my interations with the GSB community is that the people at Stanford are very supportive and really want to help others (me) succeed. This is the type of person that I am, mentoring youngster in Oakland and speaking with folks looking to get into investment banking. I need to communicate my what I specifically bring to the table.
I appreciate any additional insight you can provide.
Best,
J”
———–
My response:
J,
When it comes to articulating that “something special”, you’ve got to dig deeper than your top-level profile (banker, Michigan alum, from MW). I always tell people that they’ve got to be willing to put their business out in the street because this may be your only chance to apply to the given school. For me, figuring out my “special something” came pretty easily when I met other people who were applying during info sessions. I couldn’t get over the fact that most of those people were talking about the same stuff, no matter who was asking (“I went to X school for undergrad…I want to do Y as a post-MBA career…I’ve done Z in my career since college”). The more I heard about these things, the more I became bored with it and realized that i wasn’t the type of guy to say those lines over and over. So, I took some time to figure out what made me different and came up with a combination of several qualities that (I thought) made me unique from others. I crafted my “hook” around that and the rest was history.
In your case, it might make sense to elaborate on what you had at the end of your last paragraph below. Talk about why you feel that it is important to give back through mentoring and by telling people about investment banking. Is the root of that somehow linked to your childhood or some other point in your past? was there some event or person who helped to teach you the importance of giving back? What sort of intrinsic motivation do you get from it? Then, once you’ve got that spelled out, tie it into your interactions with the GSB community so far. Talk about interacting with the GSB students and alums that you’ve connected with, what you might have seen during your campus visit, and what you’ve heard about the school. That way, they’ll see that you’re not just the standard Bschool applicant who is going to hit people with the same lines I mentioned in the paragraph above.
Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.
-Marquis
———-
“J” wrote:
“Marquis,
First off, I want to thank you for your blog entries. They have been very inspiring and insightful throughout the application process. I live in the SF and ever since I began my application process, the GSB has been my top choice. I am waitlisted at the GSB. I am drafting a letter to the Admissions Committee reiterating my interest and the one thing I am struggling with is unraveling my “something special I bring to the table” and I really want to drive that point home in the letter. How did you figure out what your “special somthing” was? I have a pretty standard profile: investment banker from the midwest, went to Michigan.
If there is one thing that I have learned from my interations with the GSB community is that the people at Stanford are very supportive and really want to help others (me) succeed. This is the type of person that I am, mentoring youngster in Oakland and speaking with folks looking to get into investment banking. I need to communicate my what I specifically bring to the table.
I appreciate any additional insight you can provide.
Best,
J”
———–
My response:
J,
When it comes to articulating that “something special”, you’ve got to dig deeper than your top-level profile (banker, Michigan alum, from MW). I always tell people that they’ve got to be willing to put their business out in the street because this may be your only chance to apply to the given school. For me, figuring out my “special something” came pretty easily when I met other people who were applying during info sessions. I couldn’t get over the fact that most of those people were talking about the same stuff, no matter who was asking (“I went to X school for undergrad…I want to do Y as a post-MBA career…I’ve done Z in my career since college”). The more I heard about these things, the more I became bored with it and realized that i wasn’t the type of guy to say those lines over and over. So, I took some time to figure out what made me different and came up with a combination of several qualities that (I thought) made me unique from others. I crafted my “hook” around that and the rest was history.
In your case, it might make sense to elaborate on what you had at the end of your last paragraph below. Talk about why you feel that it is important to give back through mentoring and by telling people about investment banking. Is the root of that somehow linked to your childhood or some other point in your past? was there some event or person who helped to teach you the importance of giving back? What sort of intrinsic motivation do you get from it? Then, once you’ve got that spelled out, tie it into your interactions with the GSB community so far. Talk about interacting with the GSB students and alums that you’ve connected with, what you might have seen during your campus visit, and what you’ve heard about the school. That way, they’ll see that you’re not just the standard Bschool applicant who is going to hit people with the same lines I mentioned in the paragraph above.
Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.
-Marquis
