There’s no need to be competitive when you encounter fellow MBA applicants.
Business school is by nature a place for competitors because business is competitive. Great leaders usually have some sense of besting others whether it comes to quarterly earnings or annual sales. Still, business school itself is a place to work together in perfect harmony---exchanging best practices while challenging each other to be your best.
When you’re applying to b-school there’s a natural tendency to beat out your fellow applicants.
With a limited number of seats and a large pool of b-school hopefuls, the application process can quickly feel like a game of musical chairs. It’s all fun and games until the music stops and a mad scramble for a seat ensues. After years of work to get to this point, you might be tempted to cast courtesy aside and do whatever it takes to get a bit of extra consideration in the selection process.
The most common places for the gloves to come off is during campus visits, class visits and interviews.
While the opportunity to make a good impression in person is extremely limited during the application process, you should avoid at all costs the urge to elbow out your fellow applicants while on campus. School officials as well as students are always paying attention to their daily visitors and how you treat others is generally noted with great interest. Of course being courteous to the staff and faculty is a given, but have you thought about how you are treating your fellow applicants?
Remember your fellow applicants are your potential classmates.
Just by being in the process together, you know you have something in common. This is a good thing to keep in mind as you have opportunities to interact with your co-applicants. Whether or not they will end up in the class with you, behaving as if you will be their cohort-mate will favorably impress everyone who is watching.
So save your cut-throat competitive nature for the business world and be nice to your fellow applicants. Schools will take notice and consider you mature, thoughtful and able to cooperate—all great qualities to demonstrate as you embark upon the b-school journey.
For information on how we can guide your business school application process, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com or go to http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/contact