Justin Marshall is a Forster-Thomas essay coach who has helped hundreds of applicants get in to the top MBA and MFA programs in the country. He can also be seen regularly in New York City taxicabs (Why? Feel free to ask…)
There’s always a huge sense of joy and accomplishment the moment you submit your last application to your last school. The dreaded application process is over!Time to go out and celebrate with a few drinks and a few friends! (For the record, I believe the former is more important than the latter, but that’s me).
Just one word of advice: Brace yourself for the next day. Even if you don’t drink, you’re going to feel something akin to a hangover.That’s because the joy of completing your applications invariably gives way to the hardest part of the application process: the waiting game.
I know all too well how difficult the waiting game is.I experienced it firsthand years ago when I applied to MFA programs. Every day seems to last an eternity.Your body begins to ooze adrenaline every time you merely glance at your inbox. And it gets worse with each passing day.
If pharmaceutical companies could find a pill for ARAS (Application Response Anxiety Syndrome), I guarantee it would sell like hot cakes. But until such a pill is available, you’re just going to have to cope with the waiting game. Here’s how:
First, realize why the waiting game is so hard: You have no power. You were in the driver’s seat of your candidacy for many weeks (if not months), and now you’re a blindfolded passenger.Your fate is in the hands of others. Is it terrifying? You betcha. So acknowledge that you are powerless, and allow yourself to be nervous.Bottling up your feelings won’t help.
Next, replace your sense of powerlessness with action. Rather than focusing on the one thing you can’t control, throw yourself into something you can. If you are a runner, start training for a half-marathon. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to play guitar, start taking weekly lessons.Whatever it is, set yourself manageable goals and stay focused on them. If you think you don’t have any time, think again—you managed to complete your grad-school application, didn’t you? Now all that essay writing time is free time.Even if it’s tough to work in a cooking class after work, the peace of mind you receive from achieving something (instead of waiting for something) makes it well worth the effort.
Third: The best way to stop feeling helpless is to help others. So join a non-profit organization, or increase your participation in one you’re already a member of. Yes, I know this one sounds obnoxiously “shiny happy people.” But it works. And it has an added, strategic benefit: If you don’t get in to the school of your dreams, you’re already adding or enhancing an extracurricular activity that will make your candidacy that much more powerful next year.
The waiting game is almost never any fun. But once you realize that you’re the one who gets to set the rules, you’ll find that it’s a game you can win.
—Justin Marshall
PS: By the way, if all else fails, you can always have another drink.
Knowing the difference between being a volunteer and a mentor can transform your candidacy—and there is quite a difference. A volunteer helps out when possible at a fixed time. A mentor is a when-needed role model who shows the mentee how to step up, pushes them to do better, and keeps on giving even when it seems like it is all in vain. So, in that frame of mind, call your mentees three and four times a week, at all hours if necessary.
And do not just email. Call, email, call, email…etc., until your mentees just can’t do anything else but rise to the occasion and to the bar you are setting. They look up to you. (Of course, if you are still having trouble, this means that you need to be in communication with the heads of the mentoring program—especially if your student is not responding to your exhaustive nagging.)
I was with Marta, one of my MBA candidates, when I told her emphatically: “When in doubt, always go with the golden opportunity.” In this case, we were choosing between nail polish colors at Dashing Diva nail salon. We had it narrowed down to Yellow Cab, Lime Juice, or–you guessed it–Golden Opportunity. But this is a story for another post.
After our nails dried, we went to SB for a cup of joe to discuss an even more important issue: Marta’s newly improved relationship and its impact on her MBA essays. Two months earlier, she and her boyfriend had been on the verge of splitting up due to problems of the heart and, well, in the bedroom.
After some soul-searching, Marta finally realized that the root of the problem lay with her. She had been (as so many of us are) almost entirely concerned with her own needs, both emotional and physical. The relationship took a turn for the better, Marta confided, when she realized that being a better lover, partner, and person meant paying attention to the needs of others—something we at Forster-Thomas have long been in support of and always drill into our clients’ heads. Marta had finally “gotten it.” Making a difference on the lives of others makes you a better MBA candidate…and lover.
This realization affected her creativity in a major way—when you stop being totally wrapped up in yourself, you have much more freedom to think and to breathe. Her unleashed creativity not only made Josh a happier fellow, but it unlocked the inner writer in Marta. The recent drafts of her MBA essays quickly went from good to great. Suddenly she was taking risks and writing about things in her life that really mattered: leading life fearlessly, making time for friends, family, and even Big Sister flag football events instead of the same-old essay topics about leveraged buyout responsibilities (these are important, to be sure, but are well-covered in resumes and recs).
Simply put, candidates who want to make a difference, by nature, are people who understand the concept of operating in service to others. So think about it. Who do you want to be around?Who would you want on your campus? Somebody whose life is about taking care of themselves or somebody who is about making a difference in other people’s lives?
And that’s the real golden opportunity. That’s why MBA candidates who understand this not only create powerful applications. They also make better friends, colleagues and (dare I say) lovers.
“Stop your crying!” I said to Arun, and later to Linda, not to mention a bunch of other Forster-Thomas candidates who were recently accepted to more than one of their top MBA program choices. That’s what I call a high-class problem.
So you got into several of your top MBA choices—say, both Kellogg and Booth—and now you don’t know what to do? First things first: You don’t choose a school by its ranking in a magazine or because your mother wants to wear its name like that bright red Hermes scarf at her bridge game. The first rule of thumb: Ask yourself what the school is going to do for you in the long run. Will it help you get the job you want, tackle the career change you want to make and/or, of course, ultimately help you, as Gandhi would say, “be the change you wish to see in the world”? Ok, ok, I know you rolled your eyes on the last one, but an Aunt can dream. For example, if you’re relatively weak in the quant area, no one doubts that a Booth MBA received an extremely rigorous quant education.
That said, don’t make the choice based on upfront cost. The differences in tuition among MBA programs are negligible in the long run. After you’ve considered the long-term benefits the school has for you, go and re-visit. Attend admit weekend. Hang with the people. These people are not only going to be your classmates, but they are going to be your friends and contacts forever. If you don’t like them now, chances are that’s not going to change much. Which brings up another point: Where are recent alumni now?
Yes, yes, we know that Warren Buffett went to Columbia Business School. But really, how’s that going to help you? Find out where the recent MBA grads are now—three years, five years, seven years out—and talk to them. Also, word to the wise: Don’t drink too much at admit weekend, and do go home alone—you don’t want to have a reputation before you get there. (Oh, we’ve heard stories … also see “Admit Weekend Crashers”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhdVhlyYThw … it’s not exactly what we’re talking about, but it’s damn funny).
Back to decision-making in the light of day: Ultimately, the reason visiting is so important is that when you step onto the campus, you’re going to get a feeling. It’s unexplainable. It’s just one of those things that you know. You feel it. After all your research is done, use your heart, not your head. On that note, consider that you might meet the man or woman you’re going to marry. An Aunt can dream.
And now, a word from Forster-Thomas’s interview-skills specialist, Sarah Blanton: If you have an admissions interview, rest assured that you’ve jumped the first major hurdle towards getting accepted. They already think you’re smart, ambitious, accomplished and, most of all, qualified (otherwise they wouldn’t be wasting their time).
Your challenge in the interview is to take about half an hour to an hour to make an impression that will match or exceed their expectations of you. At the end of the day, most applicants have competitive grades and scores, relatively similar accomplishments professionally, and strong personal qualities according to their recommendations. The interview is an opportunity to set yourself apart with your personality.
Share your thoughtfulness, your charisma, your sense of humor, your edge, your grace, your spirituality… but don’t force it. The interview is not a stand-up routine, nor is it a potential soap box. Allow the interviewer to kick off conversation, but be able to guide it. A successful interview is one where the interviewer asks the usual formulaic questions and the applicant takes these bland questions in new and fun directions. Trust that your unique characteristics will come through.
Show some excitement—whatever it might be about—and be sure that the stories and experiences that have shaped you, are shared (regardless of whether the interviewer has asked the exact question you hope for). There’s no better interview than the one where the interviewer hears a new twist on an old question. That’s memorable.
In short, make the interviewer wish he or she could continue the conversation over a drink, or make him or her wish you’d been there in class when he or she was in b-school, but most of all, be that applicant who inspires the thought, “Wow, I met the most interesting applicant the other day…”, for that is the final piece to the application puzzle: Are you someone they want in their community now, for the two years of business school, and into the future as a member of the alumni network?
Numerous people call us up who’ve been referred by successful Forster-Thomas candidates the February before they apply and, after doing one of our candidacy assessments, are “almost ready to sign up.” “Wow,” they tell us, “you guys seem amazing. And if I decide to work with an educational consultant, you’re the ones…” Wait for it…wait for it. “I just want to get the GMAT out of the way first.” Just ask my Office Manager, Katie Kennedy. All the calls go through her, and she can tell you from firsthand experience over the past four seasons that this is, to put it mildly, A BIG MISTAKE! And then the application/admissions timeline usually goes something like this:
The Loser Candidacy: 1. Beginning of June: Take 1st GMAT and get mediocre results.
2. July 1: Call Katie to make sure we still have space, but want to wait until he/she gets his/her GMAT out of the way…again.
3. End of July: Get closer to desired GMAT results.
4. Mid-August: Still studying for GMAT.
5. Early September: Start working on rest of candidacy, including scrambling to be part of a committee in the non-profit you signed up to volunteer at a year earlier, and tracking down your recommenders—who are too busy writing other people’s recs. And, of course, be in a constant state of terror.
6. Mid-September: Call me at Forster-Thomas and panic.
Can you see the irony in all of this?
Whether they had signed up with us back in February or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that they focused solely on the GMAT, leaving extracurriculars, essays, recommendations, et al, on the back burner. Now, not only is the Round 1 deadline (and even Round 2) deadline around the corner, but the pressure is awn! More pressure equals worse work.
Is getting the ball rolling on your candidacy something you could put off until mid-June? You need at least two months to study for your GMAT and you think, “Oh I’m not taking it until October! I have PLENTY of time!” You don’t! The sooner you begin, the calmer you’ll be, and the more latitude you’ll have for better GMAT results and better applications overall; most importantly, you’ll have better essays.
Starting your candidacy early also means you get to really make a difference in the extracurricular activity you’re involved in. Not only does this give you something to write about, it allows you to be a leader who makes a difference, not a last-minute Larry who, at best, could be a white knight that saves the day at the last minute. What you think that takes and how impressive do you think that is to an admissions committee? A successful admissions schedule looks like this:
The Winner Candidacy:
1. January: Party season is over: begin studying for your GMAT. Watch the Superbowl alcohol-free.
2. February: Up your commitment to your extracurricular.
3. March: Zero in on your long-term personal and professional goals. Start organizing them & writing them down. (Visit Schools)
4. April: Organize (make list) of your accomplishments and leadership experiences, both professional and personal. (Visit schools)
5. May: Take your first GMAT.
6. June: Begin working on response to essay question about long-term goals (this question does not change from year to year). (Sign up and study for second GMAT)
7. Beginning of July: Essay questions are out. Write first drafts.
8. Mid-July: Confirm your recommenders.
9. End of July: Kick ass on second GMAT.
10. Mid-August: Launch that “first-ever” or “best-ever” fundraiser or program.
11. Mid-September: Finish essays and applications.
12. End of September: All recommendations are in.
13. October: Submit applications.
14. November: The party’s back on. Begin laughing at friends who chased a GMAT score and are scrambling to pull it all together.
See, was that so hard? Not even a full year, not to mention how cute Katie is and the fact that you’ll be making her life a lot easier.
This is a shout out to parents, high school students, and undergrads choosing their majors. Simply put, liberal arts majors can fare better in graduate business school admissions than finance majors do.
I deal with a great many undergrads and their parents who argue that getting an undergrad finance degree is the best way to serve them on their path to success, their track to getting into HBS, and ultimately having successful business careers. While certainly there are those who go from being undergrads at Wharton, Ross, McIntire, and a handful of other great undergraduate business programs to the most competitive jobs on Wall Street, another entire (and in some ways more competitive) group are economics, political science, and even English majors from selective schools like Amherst, Williams, and Colgate. Not only do we see our own college candidates eventually get these jobs, we see the resumes of our legions of MBA candidates.
There is a reason why these candidates get snapped up by the likes of Goldman Sachs and McKinsey and, eventually, Columbia Business School. The reason is this: strong critical thinking and leadership skills. A strong liberal arts background develops leaders—people who can think across the board and are not limited to their understanding of spreadsheets and quarterly projections.
This is not to say that having great accounting skills is unimportant. Any Wall Street bound or pre-MBA college student should take calculus, microeconomics, statistics, and accounting. But these classes are not enough. Understanding the human condition through Shakespeare signifies that the candidate is operating on a higher level—the analytical ability such classes develop improve your problem-solving skills and add intellectual nimbleness. Critical thinking skills come from writing a paper on comparative literature or comparative religion, not from comparing the bottom lines of year-end reports. In short, and with all due respect, people who have really strong liberal arts backgrounds hire those who have the ability to run a calculator.
That’s the difference, folks. If your goal is to ensure getting a job just outside of college, then yes, you probably want to major in accounting. And if you want to get a really great accounting job, go to Ross undergrad. If you want to get into graduate school at Ross and eventually transform GM, take some good quantitative coursework. But major in French.
Andrew called my cell phone at an uncharacteristic hour, with an even more surprising nervousness in his voice. This tall, confident trader–a lacrosse star at his Little Ivy and a standout professional at his big securities firm–had just been assigned his interviewer for Wharton. “I googled him, and he’s a pretty important guy; he’s gotta be in his fifties at least,” Andrew said. “How am I going to hold my own? He’ll eat me alive.”
I chuckled, because I’ve heard this fear a thousand times. Alumni interviewers come in every shape and size, age and experience level. Some schools try to match you with someone similar, others give you a list of people to choose from, and others simply assign an interviewer to you.
While you never know what your interviewer will be like until you’re seated in front of her, I’ve noticed some definite trends. In general, I prefer my candidates to get older interviewers, not younger–the closer in age your interviewer is, the more likely he will see you as competition. He’s more likely to test you, screw with your head, challenge you on your answers, play cat and mouse. You know, pull out the measuring stick. Older interviewers, on the other hand, are more likely to want to get to know you. I told Andrew he’s more likely to be offered a drink by this seasoned alum than drawn and quartered.
Of course, that answer spun Andrew off onto another fear: “Is getting offered a drink some kind of test? I mean, if I accept it, I’m a partier, and if I decline it, I’m being rude!”
I told Andrew to trust those sharp interpersonal skills that had gotten him so far in his career already. “As soon as you walk in, while you’re taking off your overcoat and adjusting to your chair, make some small talk: ‘Have you been doing this long?’ ‘How about those Yankees?’ Whatever usually works for you. Does he just grunt or dive into an answer? If he sits ramrod straight and his desk looks like Martha Stewart herself organized it, then play it a little cooler. If he props his feet up and doesn’t even glance at your resume, adjust accordingly”
No matter what, however, be yourself, I cautioned Andrew. Calibrating your style is not the same thing as pandering to the audience.
A couple of weeks later, Andrew called me to report on the interview. “David, man, I’m so glad we had that talk, or that interview would have freaked me out!”
Turns out that the interviewer hardly asked a single question about Andrew’s leadership experiences or five-year plan. After asking some questions about why Andrew wanted an MBA and why he was attracted to Wharton, the guy launched into a story about how much he loved his own time there–especially some of the “girls” he’d gone out with.
“Then he started peppering me with questions about, well…you know, basically how much I got laid.” I almost burst out laughing. “I mean, he wasn’t creepy about it, it was more like locker-room talk, like we were old buds. If you hadn’t kind of told me something like that might happen, I would have thought he was trying to trap me or something.”
The interview did get back on track–Andrew got to tell his favorite leadership story we had whittled down to a tight narrative–but the tension had gone. He spoke with the easy confidence Andrew had when he first walked into my office eight months earlier–the same confidence that got me to say “yes, I want you as a Forster-Thomas client”–instead of the nervous nelly he had become after getting the interview. Once he relaxed, Andrew got to shine, flash his hundred-watt smile, even make a little fun of himself when answering a question about his weaknesses. And Andrew got the proverbial fat envelope from Wharton as well.
Be yourself. That’s much more attractive than twisting yourself into a Stepford candidate–plus, chances are, you’re not a great actor. You’ll be fooling no one but yourself, and stripping yourself of all the individual quirks and traits that make you memorable.
When your goal is to make more money–by going to graduate school (like getting an MBA or law degree) and/or getting a new job, the battle exists at a 90-degree angle. It’s way uphill. Yes, I like making money, and ok, I want to be famous–blah, blah, blah. But I can tell you from firsthand experience that when it was all about money or me (fame), the struggle was pretty much insurmountable. At the very least, it was slow as hell. When my long-term professional goals finally became about something greater than myself, like making a difference (this difference doesn’t have to be saving the Spotted Owl or inventing the next Twitter; it could be just as significant to make a difference in your Leveraged Finance Group at Merrill Lynch), the money and the notoriety didn’t necessarily flow like wine, but the tap finally opened a lot wider and led to some really cool stuff: faster cars, a bigger house, better restaurants, 4-star vacations…and oh yeah, an inspired profession wherein I make a difference. So, the first and most important step to more for you is more for someone or something else.
Be careful that your recommendation is not a giant commercial. You’re not Prince Charming, you’re not Nelson Mandela, you’re not the new iPhone. In the absence of some kind of weakness or criticism, your rec reads like a 30-second commercial and ultimately has less credibility. Remember, weaknesses are opportunities for growth, not candidacy killers.
The only topics to skirt completely are: bad leadership skills, shyness, bad verbal communication skills, fear of confrontation.
