MBA Blog: The Wharton School

Home > ADCOM Blog Home		Print

MBA ADMISSIONS BLOG!
« Previous | Main | Next »

MBA Admissions Essential #4: Thoughts on Consultants & Coaching

So it is time to apply to b-school. And you are worried about the competition. Your friend, Juan, has hired a consultant to help him prepare his applications to b-school. Apparently Juan has managed to find someone who knows all the “ins and outs” of applying, and has offered to help him write some “winning” essays.

Should you consider hiring your friend’s consultant? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? On the plus side, there’s the general knowledge that consultants have of MBA programs. Some consultants may have even worked for an admissions office and be familiar with how candidates are evaluated.

On the downside, consultants can so finely tune your essays that your own personal voice is lost. Or, even worse, your essays may read like they were written by multiple authors. Adcoms reading your application will gain no insight into the true you. And they may question the authenticity of your work, calling your integrity and admissibility into question.

While a consultant may seem like a quicker route to your MBA destination, he or she can be expensive and not without pitfalls. So, if you are to use a consultant, use him or her in an advisory capacity only - as a sounding board and someone with whom to discuss your thoughts and ideas. If you are unable to find a suitable coach or choose not to use one, do not be concerned. All the resources you need to present the best application possible are readily available.

Virtual resources to guide you in your MBA preparation include the websites of individual business schools (including our own student2student discussion board); mba.com, managed by the General Management Admissions Council (GMAC), an organization supporting business schools; and applicant and student blogs (links are posted along the side of this webpage).

You may also learn about b-schools and the application process by going on campus visits (view our visit program), attending forums where representatives of hundreds of schools around the world are interested in meeting and talking with you, as well as receptions and other events sponsored by individual schools and/or groups of schools (view a list of our events).

At the end of the day, the truth of the matter is that most MBA programs select the best applicants rather than the best applications. Spend less time on “impression management” and more time on letting us adcoms get to know the true you.

13 Oct 2006 05:49 PM in Application Preparation | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/103776/6422035

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference MBA Admissions Essential #4: Thoughts on Consultants & Coaching:

Comments

I posted my response to this piece at http://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/2006/10/18/thoughtful-blog-post-about-admissions-consultants.html .

Posted by: Linda Abraham | Nov 8, 2006 3:47:03 PM

Bharat: this may surprise you, but we do admit many fine candidates who do not possess superior written communication skills. This is just one part of an application and a candidate profile. Cheers, Mae Jennifer (adcom)

Posted by: MJS | Oct 28, 2006 3:54:11 PM

This post indeed is very helpful. Especially considering the case of Alex Brown. I suppose a lot of applicants might take his consultations as a sure shot for Wharton.
However, there are a lot who might not want to, or might not afford such services. On one had I understand the voice of the applicant may get lost by hiring a consultant edit/suggest on an application/essay. On the other I cannot help thinking how a normal application representing average communication skills (grammar etc.) can stand against an impeccable application that's been fine tuned with the help of a consultant. I am supposing that provided the fierce competition among the applicants, a slight up or down may result in ding/acceptance after the interview process.

Posted by: Bharat Upadhyay | Oct 24, 2006 4:07:09 PM