I have surpassed the 5000 visitor mark!
It's an exciting feat for me. You guys have kept me motivated and I love the little community that we have going on here! I actually had no idea that my blog would become as popular as it is. It initially started out as a venue for me to record my ideas in preparation for b-school essays. It has evolved into an online diary and you guys have been great in keeping me focused! I know I have been missing in action lately, but I have been incredibly busy...but that's ok right?
I'll give you guys some statistics about my blog, because some people have been curious:
Total Visits - 5,395
Most Visits in 1 Day = 250 - this was the day I posted my GMAT debrief!
Top Countries = United States -> India -> Canada
Top States = New York -> Canada
Top Referring Site = www.BeatTheGMAT.com
SPECIAL GUEST
On another note I would like to give something back to you guys for the continuous support. Way back in one of my previous posts I received a comment from my now friend - Brett Nowak. I think it was my Dartmouth post that caught his eye. I don't remember the exact post and quite honestly don't feel like searching for it haha. In any event, we bonded over the fact that he was admitted to Tuck! Yes... I'm jealous. He and I have kept in touch since March because I think he's a great resource.
Brett Nowak - owner of www.IvyAppSuccess.com:
- Graduated Harvard in ’03 where he played varsity hockey and started the Harvard Fly Fishing club
- Drafted by the NHL then play professional hockey in the AHL for 2.5 years
- After hockey, I helped build Meteor Solutions, Inc., an angle funded startup, into a profitable company as the Business Development Manager
- Was accepted into Tuck school of business in ‘09
- Caught a 17lbs Steelhead on a fly rod, a big accomplishment for an obsessed fly fisher like me
- Deferred a year from business school to start Ivy App Success and IAS Recruiting
- Attending Tuck this fall
Aside from having another person to meet when I get back up to visit Tuck in the fall, I think he can offer all of us some incredible advice over the next couple of months. It's nice to be able to pick the brain of a student who just went through the application process. Last month I told Brett about my upcoming 5,000th visitor as a thank you to you guys... and to him for the advice he's given me.
Disclaimer - "I'm asked to promote a lot of things via my blog, but I feel that I should be candid about anything that I post so it does not seem like it's not genuine. I asked Brett to answer the questions below, because for me he's been a great resource since March and I wanted to share the wealth!"
Me: Why did you choose to start IvyAppSuccess.com?
Brett: There were many reasons why I started Ivy App Success but initially it was because I wanted to make it easier for people to apply to business school.
The biggest reason why most people don’t get accepted is that they don’t apply or don’t apply well. I wanted to share my knowledge and abilities with others so that they too would get accepted into top business schools (regardless of their GMAT and GPA).
I also spent time thinking about what type of business I wanted to start and what valuable skills I had. Since I had helped people get accepted into school even before I was accepted, I was very confident that I would be a strong admissions consultant and knew that I enjoyed the work.
This year, I will provide more tools that facilitate the application process. I’ll be writing more tutorials and providing an online application management tool to help more people finish their own great applications.
Me: As a student who has been through this process that many of us are looking forward to ending, can you tell me what you wish you knew when you were applying? Why?
Brett: I wish I had spent more time picking the right schools. There are a ton of great schools out there and although I picked a great one, I could have explored my options further.
I also wish that I had applied to some schools with the goal of getting accepted and receiving a scholarship. I would have applied to two top 40 schools, possibly in a later round, with the hope that I would get a decent scholarship offer. To me, a free MBA degree from a 35th ranked school is comparable to a degree from a top 5 school that costs $180,000. I would have liked to have this option.
Me: It seems as though there a lot of people who know they will be applying this upcoming season. Even though applications have not come out yet, is there anything that one can do to prepare for application season?
Brett: First, get the GMAT over and done with now. Take it twice and get a great score so that you don’t have to worry about it while you’re writing the essays and application.
Second, start to network the crap out of each school. The more people you know at or graduated from your target school the more likely you’ll get accepted. These contacts can give you valuable information on how to apply and sometimes even write in on your behalf. Reach out to them now so that you’ve built a relationship with them early.
Me: Let's say I'm an international applicant and did not get the best score on the Verbal portion of the GMAT nor did I score in the 50th percentile on the AWA section. What, if anything, can I do to show competency in the English language?
Brett: Write great essays and really practice for the interview. Take language classes or practice regularly to prepare for the interview because if you can’t communicate well in the interview, you’ll have a hard time getting accepted. Plus, this class will be a nice extracurricular activity on the application.
Then let your recommenders compensate for your poor Verbal score. Suggest to them to possibly mention things about your ability to communicate. And finally, include classes on your resume or extracurricular activities that demonstrate where you demonstrated English skills.
Me: What's the highest GMAT score you've heard of being rejected from a top business school? What's the lowest score you heard of that was accepted to a top business school?
Brett: Someone I know was waitlisted from Tuck with a 720 on his first GMAT attempt. I told him that he should take the GMAT again but he decided against it. When he talked to Adcom, they said he was waitlisted because of his GMAT score. As for the lowest, I believe there was a 580 person who got accepted into HBS last year.
Me: Piggybacking off of question 5 - Can you explain what a "Hollistic approach" is and how important is one's story in the application process?
Brett: A better way to think about the “Holistic approach” is that the application process is a zero-sum competition, which means that you must beat other applicants for a set number of spots. For example, if you get a 720 on the GMAT and 500 other applicants get a 720, you are now tied with 500 other applicants for a class of 200. Therefore, to get accepted into a top school you must find areas – the holistic parts - of the application to BEAT THE COMPETITION. These are the areas that get you accepted into top business schools.
Brett can be reached via www.IvyAppSuccess.com... You can also sign up for the newsletter which is very informative.
No comments:
Post a Comment