Earlier this week Tara Weiss at Forbes interviewed me for a piece she was doing called Tips For Getting Into A Top Business School. It was the third time Tara has interviewed me on the subject of MBA admissions, and I really enjoyed our talk once again.
In the interview I told her about how many of our admissions consulting clients are afraid to discuss past failures or weaknesses in their applications. If you don't have any weaknesses or failures to discuss, then what makes you interesting?
I know one applicant who pursued a pro sports career, only to have to give it up and go on to a successful "normal" career and then apply to business school. Pretty interesting, but she was extremely reluctant to talk about her whole sports experience. "But I don't want them to think I'm a loser who didn't accomplish my goals," she argued.
Do you think that everyone at Harvard or Wharton has achieved every one of his or her goals? Do you think that the admissions office at those schools believes that's the case? Of course not! An applicant without any failures or faults or like a movie plot with no conflict -- not very interesting or believable.
For more MBA application advice, see an interview that Tara did with me and Omari Bouknight earlier this year.
