The following is an email that I got a few days ago and it’s taken me a while to respond to it because I wasn’t sure of how to best do so. This reader is asking about the “WOW factor” of people who get into top business schools and there’s really no “right” way to answer this sort of question. I was being real in my response, so I hope it doesn’t come off as disingenuous…
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Harish wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
Your blog has been really amazing. It has given me a good insight into the MBA application process, and about THE STANFORD. I am a prospective MBA applicant for the Fall 2008 Class. I have taken my GMAT and I am in the process of shortlisting the list of universities to apply.
Reading through a few other forums and blogs, I get a feeling that all the applicants who make it through to the top schools such as Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and Chicago seem to have been consistently exceptional. By “exceptional”, I mean a very powerful resume (list of achievements like being a state topper in high school, completed their under graduation from an ivy league school, an exceptional GPA, reasonable extra-curricular achievements). Applicants getting admitted into schools like Stanford/Harvard seem to have some kind of entrepreneurial experience also. (A few people do call this “The WOW Factor”).
Schools do publish the average/median GMAT scores, GPA and the pre-MBA industry stats about the admitted students. And I completely understand that extremely convincing essays along with the GMAT and GPA makes or breaks an application. But I am not able to gauge the weightage of resume in the application process.
Having cleared the toughest application process (at Stanford) and got to know about your fellow classmates’ profiles, your thoughts on this aspect of the application process would be extremely helpful.
Thank You
Harish”
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My response:
Harish,
You’ve asked me a pretty challenging question here, so I hope my response is the sort of thing you were looking for. As I understand your question, the best way for me to respond to your message would likely be to answer the following two questions:
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1. What is “the WOW Factor”?
To many people, “the WOW Factor” would be defined as you put it in your email, “I mean a very powerful resume (list of achievements like being a state topper in high school, completed their under graduation from an ivy league school, an exceptional GPA, reasonable extra-curricular achievements). Applicants getting admitted into schools like Stanford/Harvard seem to have some kind of entrepreneurial experience also.” And, to an extent, this definition is correct for many of the students that you’ll see attending the top business schools, but there are many others who don’t fall into these categories. So, these other students would have a “WOW Factor” of their own, right???
Of course they do, which is why I’m not a big fan of the concept of “the WOW Factor”. It’s such a subjective idea and I fear that many are psyching themselves out during the application process by worrying about it. I’ve talked to several applicants who’ve limited their set of candidate schools because of limitations they place on themselves, which does nothing but GUARANTEE that they won’t get into certain schools (because they never even apply). In these cases, I try to get the person to concentrate more on presenting themselves as an attractive “package” to the schools rather than altering their schools of interest. I like to refer to this as the notion of developing your “hook” (or your “personal application marketing pitch”). This involves taking stock of your educational, professional, and overall life experiences and combining them with your current/future passions and aspirations to create a unique and compelling story about why you want an MBA and deserve to have a spot in [X SCHOOL]’s Class of 200X. For some, this may be easier said than done, but it’s an absolutely necessary part of creating your own “WOW Factor”.
You’re probably not going to believe this, but I was just as worried about this issue as you are when I was applying to school. Yeah, I’d gone to Princeton, but I believed my undergrad GPA and extracurriculars and work experience to be far from what could get me into a top B-school. Also, I couldn’t get over the fact that I was just a regular guy on paper, i.e. no real “WOW Factor” as far as I saw it. Instead of letting that deter me from applying, I decided to create my own “WOW Factor” by telling my story well…it was all about positioning. The best way to make my application “pop” was to figure what made me different from other applicants and craft my story out of those qualities, which was a lot more straight-forward than I’d expected because I am pretty different than your average B-school cat. And I guess it worked out pretty well too. Looking back, it was somewhat foolish for me to question how tight I was back then because I can look in the mirror now and say “damn, you’re fantastic, Marquis”. But, saying that is MUCH easier when I’m at the “finish line” than it was when I was getting ready to “run the race”.
Over the past few years, I’ve directly helped well over 50 people with their business school applications and many of those folks questioned whether they had what it took to overcome any perceived shortcomings. And, in those cases, all it took was a little tweaking to strengthen their positioning and, the next thing you know, they’re getting acceptances from top-20 schools. At the end of the day, your “WOW Factor” is what you make of it. Now, you’ve got to decide how you’re going to approach it. You can either dwell on someone else’s “very powerful resume” and worry about the qualities that someone else might bring that you don’t have or spend your time making sure that the admissions people get a glimpse of what makes you a good candidate that can stand out among a group of applicants. The choice is yours…
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2. Do you need to have a “WOW Factor” to get into a top school?
OK, before I answer this question, PLEASE KNOW THAT I HAVE NEVER WORKED FOR A BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMISSIONS OFFICE!!! I’m saying this because you should take what I say here with a grain of salt. This is only one recent grad’s perspective on the issue and, if you know any other B-school folks, you should ask this question to them, as well.
If we use your definition of “the WOW Factor” from the second paragraph of your email, then I don’t think you need THAT kind of “WOW” to get into a top school. A “traditionally strong” resume/profile of what you’ve done in the past is not the end-all when it comes to applying to business school. Of even greater importance is what you can potentially do in the future. This is why the “Why MBA?” question on the application is so important…and this is where my definition of “the WOW Factor” comes into play. You have to focus on both bringing out the strengths in your own background and describing how an MBA from [X BUSINESS SCHOOL] is necessary for you to build upon that background to reach your short- and long-term goals. Doing this doesn’t require that you have an Ivy League undergrad, off-the-charts extracurricular achievements, a ridiculous GPA/GMAT, or some entrepreneurial experience. I had classmates from a wide range of backgrounds and the common theme among all of us is that we brought something special to the table…make sure that you let the admissions committees know what your “something special” is.
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Did the above answer your question? Let me know if anything I’ve said here is unclear. Take care.
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