Admission
It took me a long time to get this admission letter. When I first started the stupid prep things, I did not know what this was all about. I was just told that this was going to be not only cool but also a must for my future career success. I was wrong, however, because I realized that MBA is just a stepping stone, not a ticket-to-the-moon.
At this moment, I just wanted to look back and give a fresh thought to my painful MBA prep days so that I can fresh start the new chapter of my life. plus I hope this can give others a better understanding about this process.
1. GMAT
I got my 700 on Oct. 7. 2005. You know what? The next day was my wedding day! I took the GMAT on the previous day of my wedding! It was CRAZY. I think the test-taking skill can improve your score up to about 20 - 30point. But I have to admit that I tasted the logic and skill MBA requires while prepping for the GMAT. So I’d like to say that taking GMAT was a terrible experience but studying GMAT was fun. (those who are prepping for their GMAT may not agree with me. but this was true to me)
2. TOEFL
I hated this test most. not because I was not good at English but because of the level of TOEFL test. Don’t get me wrong. I do not mean that TOEFL is easy.(it is easy to some extent when compared to GMAT, though) Rather, the amount of time I have to spend to improve the score was different. my PBT score was 650. it was extremely hard to improve the score. so i gave up.
3. ESSAY
The hardest and most important part! People say different story about the importance of each criteria, GPA, GMAT, TOEFL, etc. But most people do not hesitate agreeing with the importance of essays. Essays are like sales pitch. you are given a certain number of words to sell yourself to Adcoms. Like sales pitch, it’s extremely important to show what you are trying to sell. simply put, it is distinguishing yourself from other competitors. This is what essays are all about. You already proved your academic ability with you GPA or GMAT. You provided your career strength in your resume. So the product - YOU - is already made and set for the next step: marketing. of course application package as a whole plays the role of marketing. but the most important tool for marketing is your essays.
Toughest challenge I faced while writing my essays was setting my career goal. It was back and forth between “Do I really want to do this?” and “Does this make sense from AdComs’ perspective?” My conclusion is There’s no right answer for this.
So go for what you think will work for you. and make AdComs believe it.
4. INTERVIEW
I hear people arguing about the importance of interview as well as other criteria. But I think those arguments are pointless. I think every simgle criteria is extremely important in this tough selection process. What’s more important is what criteria is more important to YOU in terms of marketing yourself. Let’s say that you have really great numbers and your resume is excellent and your essays are gorgeous. then what? interview may not be that important. But for guy like me - international, weak GPA, something lack in the application package - the interview could be the last chance for me to sell myself. So to me interview was really important. and especially for Cornell’s tight-knit culture, impressing interviewer with my sense of humor and communication skill was truly important and I believe it played a vital role in making me attractive to AdComs.
5. GPA
I have a extremely weak GPA. I used optional essay to compensate it. but I have to say it was hard. so my suggestion is do your best at your undergraduate studies. if you didn’t, do your best to make up for it and forget about it. Unfortunately my strategy to overcome GPA can not be a good example for others becuase I did not do any additional things but the optional essay. There are a lot of different opinions about this as well. some are true some are not. you pick what you need for your markting yourself.
6. FIT
one of most important parts of application is finding FIT with schools. if can’t, you should apply as many school as possible. in most cases, it’s the school not you that finds the FIT part. So do whatever you can to find the FIT factor from each school and apply as many as possible. One thing for sure is the more you are clear about yourself the easier it becomes to find YOUR school. so do your homework. it’s your first and last call for the successful application.
In my case, Cornell found me. So I have to say that I was lucky and really thankful to Cornell.
ok. I briefly overviewed my view about MBA prep. like most of MBAs say, I also believe it is a lot about luck. But do not depair. the “luck” part is like mating. think about your significant other or your soul mate or your lifetime friends. don’t you think you are lucky to be a friend of your best friend, husband to your wife, or wife to your husband? That’s it! so you should believe you can do it cuz you’ve already done this kind of thing before. Good luck to everyone ^^
