How to focus essays to handle work experience

[Luke.Doolittle]

I'm looking for some insight into how to focus my essays to deal with (the problem of?) my work experience. A quick profile:

Schools: Kellogg EMBA program (I know, not typical of average posters here but I'm old )

Age: 30

GMAT: 770

School/Major/GPA: Top 5 Engineering school / Electrical Engineering / 3.8

Work Experience:
Business Analyst for a government contractor
Personal Trainer for a large corporation
Social consultant for a very small consulting company (~10 employees)
Software Developer / Architect for small to medium sized consulting company (~100 employees)
CURRENT: Product Owner for a mid sized Neuro-Medical company (~500 employees)
CURRENT: Software consulting for my own firm (with 2 at-will employees)
Oh, and I also plan on applying to MGMAT in hopes of becoming an instructor there

Other Achievements: Published several papers on Clinical Neurophisiology in the last 2 years, I will have my MCPD certification by the time I apply

Extracurricular Activities: Not much to speak of...

Recommendations: Excellent (one from current boss, other from former peer who I still work with in consulting / academic research). Both are highly credentialed.


Soooo the obvious problem is my work experience: it's all over the place. Based on my journeyman like experience I can bring a lot of diversity to an organization. And ultimately I want to do consulting so I think that fits. But I have never managed people (things yes, people no). Also I have heard that Kellogg is a very team-oriented program and my experience doesn't really fit with that. Any tips on how to convey this kind of work experience and experience mismatch in a positive light?

Also, more generally, do I have a reasonable chance of being accepted? I'm barely old enough for an EMBA, but I figured too old for a full or part time. So I figure I will go for the EMBA. If only there was something in between...

[essaysnark]

Hey Luke.Doolittle -- first of all, congrats on that GMAT! Wow! And the GPA too! You're running on all cylinders already.

Next up: You're not too old for F/T Kellogg, and definitely not too old for P/T. Up till very recently, average age at Kellogg F/T was 29; it's slipped to 28 now (? could be wrong); the P/T programs almost always are just slightly older. But they all accept a range, and 30 could be totally fine for Kellogg.

Most EMBAs look for 10 yrs work exp, and they do expect managerial experience. The F/T and P/T programs do *not* expect/require managerial experience.

So now to your question: All you need to do is figure out your narrative. There's a storyline in here that you need to define for the adcom -- how did these different roles and this circuitous path prepare you for the next step? It's important to establish how your past has prepared you for the future (short-term goals), so you're right, you need to get control of your messaging around it - but this is definitely not a massive weakness, and you also rightly recognize that it's given you diversity of experience. So, you can likely position this as purely a strength.

The risk though, as you've intuited, is that it's random and the adcom may not "trust" that you really know what you're doing now - they may doubt that you have a true plan for the future. Those doubts will be taken care of based on how you present. It's all about packaging.

Every candidate has whatever facts of his/her profile to work with. The essays are how you reveal the highlights and offset the negatives (everyone's got some negatives), and show the adcom how you're ready to go for this next big step.

Yes, it's more art than science, and yes, it's more involved than we can ever do justice to in a short answer to a blog post -- but our point here is, you TOTALLY have an opportunity to do some cool stuff, and this essay-presentation thing is a very do-able challenge.

Hope this helps but let us know if we can add anything further!
EssaySnark

[Jon@Admissionado]

Naaaah, you aren't too old for full time. And actually given your wacky all over the place background, a full time MBA will likely be more up your line as it will give you the opportunity to settle into your goals. (oh yeah, kickass GMAT my friend!)

And continuing on the software/IT track seems to make sense for you. show them that you are around to stay and aren't doing this on a whim, and with your 3.8 + GMAT plus fun/wacky stories you might have, you have pretty good chances even at top full-time programs.

[FutureWorks]

Hi Luke,


We would suggest that you should give full time mba a short. Congrats on you GMAT score!! You are not too old for full time mba.
You need to showcase the variety in your work experience as appositive thing and something that will set you part from other candidates �. Do keep in mind that the quality of your work, your academics and beyond academics will play an important role in determining your candidature. Work on these aspects and leverage them to your academics standard i.e stellar and success will be yours

[AbhiJ]

The risk though, as you've intuited, is that it's random and the adcom may not "trust" that you really know what you're doing now - they may doubt that you have a true plan for the future. Those doubts will be taken care of based on how you present. It's all about packaging.

Sometimes i wonder this application process is a big fat lie. Adcoms want to hear lies, even though statistics suggest just the opposite. More than half the MBA graduates change jobs/sectors 2 years after graduation - yet they want to take candidates who are sure like a arrow and bow. Most people do MBA to change careers yet career changers make adcoms nervous. Is this just false hype ?

[essaysnark]

Sometimes i wonder this application process is a big fat lie. Adcoms want to hear lies, even though statistics suggest just the opposite. More than half the MBA graduates change jobs/sectors 2 years after graduation - yet they want to take candidates who are sure like a arrow and bow. Most people do MBA to change careers yet career changers make adcoms nervous. Is this just false hype ?

Uh.... wow. Don't even know where to start with this. This is a misunderstanding of reality, and also a misunderstanding of the best approach to writing essays. It seems that you're responding to our statement about "packaging."

Here's the right way to present yourself in your essays:

- identify your strengths, and show the adcom why they are strengths and how you've used them, and how you'll use them in the future
- know your weaknesses, and present enough evidence to counteract them and minimize their impact on your overall profile

That is what we mean by "packaging." It is NOT about lying. It is NOT about making stuff up. The application process, when approached with the right mindset, often is a major act of self-discovery. See what the GSB has to say about it: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admissi ... ays-p.html We often see people discovering more of who they really are through this process - it's pretty darn cool.

Yes, the schools know that most people do something completely different when they go through their MBA. The MBA is, after all, about change and growth.

But to not have a clue what you want to do with the MBA means you'll miss the opportunity of it. If you don't know why you want an MBA... why do you want one? The adcom's not gonna let you in if you haven't figure that out. Plus, you will be overwhelmed and lost when you get there - oncampus recruiting for summer internships starts almost immediately in term 1 - if you still haven't figured out your career path, you're at a serious disadvantage on day 1.

Most adcoms ARE NOT "nervous" about career changers. Most MBA students are there to change careers.

What adcoms are uncomfortable with is people who don't know what they are doing, who don't have a plan.

How can they be expected to invest in someone who hasn't figured out how'll they'll maximize that investment?

It's like asking a VC for funding but you don't really know what your business is.

OK we're on a soapbox here - just really hit a nerve, very sorry if we're goin' extreme on ya AbhiJ but it gets our goat when people think that we're suggesting that applicants make stuff up. That is *not* what EssaySnark is about. Our advice is about discovering who you are and then selecting the right elements from your past to properly support your future vision.

Just like any storyteller would do.

The difference of course is that your story is the truth.

/rantover

[Luke.Doolittle]

Thanks guys! That gives me some things to think about.

[AbhiJ]

EssaySnark,

I was never suggesting that packaging means telling lies. I actually like and follow your blog.
What i said was the cumulative feeling i got over reading the different admission consultant posts - just read the link below.

https://bschooladmissionsformula.com/fil ... l_FREE.pdf

[essaysnark]

AbhiJ, thanks for your reply. Your remarks about how adcoms expect applicants to lie seemed directed at us, given the quote of our prior comments.

As we've hopefully made clear by now we do not agree with advice offered to make up one's career goals in an effort to impress the school. HBS does not expect to graduate a class of 900 future Jack Welches each year; there's only 500 corporations in the Fortune 500 and they don't all get new CEOs every year, so where would all those graduates work?

The best career goals are ones that are believable and achievable. It's true that HBS can select among the most interesting and impressive goals -- and even more precisely, among those who have already done interesting and impressive things in their lives. And, having well articulated goals, that require to massive advantage that a Harvard MBA can provide, most definitely will help in showing why an MBA is the right next step.

One of the most common problems, and frequent causes of rejection, is having vague goals, or goals that are too ambitious. Crafting your goals typically is a lot of work, and a lot of reflection, and it needs to be done carefully with an eye to what you've already done that provides the proper foundation of skills and experiences. A track record of prior successes is way more important at Harvard than majorly impressive future goals. The HBS Admissions Board can see right through goals that are architected as a ploy for admission.

There's an awful lot of advice out there. Some of it may work out great for some candidates and certain schools. As the consumer, you need to be careful how you adapt what you read -- and it sounds like you are doing exactly that.

Best of luck,
EssaySnark

[Kaneisha Grayson]

I'm loving this lively discussion. Luke - what did you decide to do after all? EMBA, Full-time, or Part-time? I think you would make a strong candidate for the top full-time programs--as long as you can tie the whole narrative together. Inquiring minds want to know...

[Luke.Doolittle]

I'm loving this lively discussion. Luke - what did you decide to do after all? EMBA, Full-time, or Part-time? I think you would make a strong candidate for the top full-time programs--as long as you can tie the whole narrative together. Inquiring minds want to know...

Phew! Well, I am still alive. Just FYI.

I've spent the last month or so talking to just about everyone under the sun, doing a ton of reading, research and introspection. In addition to Kellogg, I've decided to take a shot at Tuck and Fuqua for a number of reasons each. I've spent a large number of hours doing profiling exercises and, naturally based on my experience, I have a flock of interesting but disparate features and stories. Any overarching suggestions? Do each of the answers to the questions have to echo a specific, centralized theme or can they be a tad disconnected?

[Luke.Doolittle]

My journey continues here

https://www.beatthegmat.com/double-waitl ... tml#459535

[Jon@Admissionado]

Work Experience:
Business Analyst for a government contractor
Personal Trainer for a large corporation
Social consultant for a very small consulting company (~10 employees)
Software Developer / Architect for small to medium sized consulting company (~100 employees)
CURRENT: Product Owner for a mid sized Neuro-Medical company (~500 employees)
CURRENT: Software consulting for my own firm (with 2 at-will employees)
Oh, and I also plan on applying to MGMAT in hopes of becoming an instructor there

Any tips on how to convey this kind of work experience and experience mismatch in a positive light?

I could help more if I could see your resume and essays but basically you have to buil within the realm of the possible a logical and coherent story arc. Where not entirely possible you may want to think of omitting small moments, and finally you want to let them know that "I may have bounced all over the place, but THIS time I've found my thing"

I read your other post and what you have written here makes me think that maybe you didn't have convincingly clear and unified career goals??


A thought.

Can you get in? YES!! and you should be.