The Most Important Issues: #1

A successful business school application is one that reassures the admissions committee that the applicant will be a success in school and in later life. Unfortunately, the typical application simply makes baseless, lame assurances of that prediction: "I will succeed." Don't let your application belong to this group!

You will assure business schools of your future success if you accomplish two key tasks. First of all:

You have to know what skills and knowledge you hope to get out of business school.

Every one of us (admissions committee members) would prefer Applicant B. We’d all be more confident that B would stick it out through the two years of business school, excel, and make the school proud in years to come. Why? Because he has a solid reason for going. He needs business school — it’s not a whim.

Likewise, to increase your chances of admission to the school of your choice, you must assure admission committee members that you have a solid reason for attending b-school.

Set aside a page in your Admissions Notebook to answer, at some length, the question: What skills, knowledge, and qualifications do I hope to gain from business school?

The more answers you have to this question, and the more specific they are, the stronger your application will be.

(Also, you’re more likely to apply to "the right schools for you." If you need a strong program in finance, you’re less likely to choose a school whose strengths are in other fields.)