Michelle: Career Goals, School Research and the MBA Application

May 13, 2013 :: Admissionado Team

Mark Lellouch here. Yesterday, I was just another member of the Admissionado MBA consulting team. And now, I’m Michelle’s consultant… with a blog!

Is this what fame feels like?

Anyway, like Kyn (who is working hard with Axolotl), I just had my first call with Michelle to kick things off. We wanted to get an early start, to get aaaall the pieces in place so we’re ready to rock when those essays are released…gulp, next month.

And here’s how it aaall went down:

We talked about her short-term goals (strategy consulting), her long-term goals (to lead an education technology company) and how they connect to what she’s doing now (they do… quite nicely). And that’s a VERY good thing. When it comes to career goals, you must always, always, always connect your past experience to your future goals. The adcom needs to see that you have a foundation, and you need an MBA to get from where you are to where you want to go. [So if you take one thing from this here blog post, take THAT!]

And Michelle is on her way.

What Michelle needs to do, though, is build her case for why she needs an MBA from each SPECIFIC program. At HBS (one of her target programs), where the school of education is closely tied to the MBA program, that’s not a hard case to make. But Michelle’s gotta apply to more than 1 school… especially when that one schools is one of the most competitive on the planet. [Another tip: apply to 5-7 schools. That’ll let you go for those reach/dream programs, but will also let you play it smart and keep your options open.] So she’s gonna have to do her homework. And that’s exactly where she’s at right now: researching other MBA programs with strong ties to education, her field of choice..

When next we meet, we’re gonna talk through her findings and shortlist her target schools. And once that’s done, the real work starts: building her overall strategy for the adcom that proves she’s got what it takes (the brains, the brawns and the strategic thinking) to succeed in her short and long-term goals.

She’s gonna be re-taking the GMAT in June, so let’s all wish her good luck!

And follow her on her journey riiiight here.

More soon,
Mark