B-school apps

1. Start early with the whole damn thing. The process is tedious and you will rely on others to help. This should ideally happen in a positive, constructive environment without time pressure. If you are forced to put stress on your supporters due to approaching deadlines, this creates a lot of frustration on the other end.

2. In that context, be mindful that even filling the application forms, which seems a very straightforward and easy thing to do, will take a considerable amount of time as you should ideally also tell a story within these forms, esp. employment history. Also, make sure that you flip through these forms once in advance as they sometimes ask for stuff, which you probably do not know from the top of your head but will have to to research (e.g., for Wharton in my case, graduation year of your mum&dad)

3. For the education section of Wharton (but also for HBS, Kellogg, etc), you will need to upload trancripts for each of your study programs (master, bachelor, etc.). Transcripts must include grades for each and every course, so start hunting for these bits of paper/pdfs. If you don't have proper English transcripts, you can also submit self-reported transcripts as xls which are available as preformatted files in the application portal. Plan in some time to fill these out dilligently.

B-school apps

I found these few websites with good tips and samples

http://www.accepted.com/Zones/bschools.aspx

http://www.clearadmit.com/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/freegmatlearningforum.cfm

B-school apps

I have just produced 3 short storylines, from which we will distill and elaborate the most compelling pitch (see attached). This pitch should then be reflected in reco letters but especially in essays. I feel it is a good mechanism, as it forces you to think through where you are coming from, why an MBA makes sense, etc. Do take a look and start crafting your own storylines! The important thing to bear in mind is that these should be very preliminary bullet point drafts first, to avoid wasting time on word smithing.

B-school apps

I am currently in trouble because I depend on both my recommenders to finish my letters on time but I did not build sufficient rapport and trust with them in advance. These are very good work relationships but a smart move to establish credit both with peers but especially with superiors is to start "giving" up front, e.g. by proactively offering support or asking "Where/how can I help you", doing something nice, writing/calling for birthday, etc. A little cultural sensitivity is necessary to judge what is appropriate but if done correctly, this guy will be much more willing to pay back by spending time in a good recommendation letter later on. So start investing in your recommenders by offering to help!