School Applications Part 2: Writing Essays and Branding

As a marketer, I know that communicating a consistent brand image is key to good marketing. This applies to business school applications - the essay component in particular. Figuring out the answers to the key questions I mentioned in my previous post helps with this. However, as the essays generally have word limits, you do need to make sure your application as a whole "brands" you the way you want to come across to the admissions committee.

I must admit that I struggled with trying to figure out my "brand image" (marketing products is much easier!). So I did end up enlisting the paid aid of Admissionado with an exploratory package to clarify how I should "market" myself. In doing so, it also helped me work out what strengths and accomplishments I should focus on and bring out in my application.

Some things that I learnt in the process:

1. Comparing your profile to others who have been admitted is really not useful.
   You are compared against the people who are applying in the same intake so what might be an outstanding candidate profile for a previous intake is not necessarily true for your intake.
2. Posting your profile in forums and blogs and asking if your profile is ok to apply to school A, B or C is not the most effective use of your time.
   As there's not a lot of detail or personality that you can show in those posts, consultants can only offer the more obvious advice. Plus even if your profile is great for a school, how you write your essays and present yourself will be the deal-breaker.
3. Be confident in your accomplishments and achievements - especially for those who fall in the humble category, myself included.
   Everyone applying to the top business schools who post their profiles always seem so much more fantastic. However, if you actually start thinking and writing down your accomplishments, big and small, you'll discover you're actually great too. It's all about how you present it.
4. Start with the application with the most number of and most thought-provoking essays first.
   This was the INSEAD application in my case - 4 job essays and 5 motivational essays. Planning and writing those essays helped me solidify what I wanted to do, my thought processes, and gave me the material that I could then tweak to suit applications for other schools.
5. Enlisting the aid of someone who knows you (and preferably is good at writing and understands business) to help proof-read your essays is extremely helpful.
   For me, this was my brother, who was subject to reading many essay drafts (9 application drafts just for INSEAD!), and whose feedback I could not have done without. If you haven't already noticed, I like writing long sentences and I certainly struggled with word counts. My brother helped me cut to the chase and get my point across in a more succinct manner. I was also able to view my "stories" from his different perspective, and uncovered some strengths and weaknesses I was previously unaware of.

What I can say about the essay writing process is that it's labour intensive and highly reflective. I definitely obtained a better sense of myself at the end of it and gained more self-confidence too!