As candidates tackle interviews and preparation for Round 2 applications, we would like to revisit an important aspect of the application: the resume. Given the many roles that the resume plays in the business school application process, drafting a resume (or CV) is an excellent starting point for someone embarking on the next round of MBA applications. Here are several reasons why now is the time to focus on polishing your resume:

1) Crafting a resume can serve as the creative starting point for candidates trying to develop their positioning strategy and career goals for the MBA admissions process. Distilling all relevant educational, professional and extracurricular experiences into a coherent one-page document can be an eye-opening exercise. This step is helpful to many applicants because it can reveal overarching themes in their work and activities or bring to light key selling points in their profile.

2) Nearly every top school requires a resume. This is usually requested as part of the written application. Even if the school does not request a stand-alone resume, they will usually solicit similar information within their application forms (employment history, educational background, etc). In addition, candidates are often required to bring a resume to their admissions interviews as a starting point for conversation.

3) Since MBA admissions officers often ask themselves whether a candidate seems likely to gain employment upon completion of the MBA program, the resume is a barometer of an applicant’s potential to market his or her skills and experiences. The adcom is curious to see how a candidate presents his or her experiences prior to earning the MBA degree. Providing the committee with a polished, coherent resume is a great way to demonstrate one’s potential appeal to campus recruiters.

4) The often daunting process of MBA admissions has to start somewhere! Many applicants spend far too much time thinking about essay questions or worrying about recommendations before they’ve actually defined their overall admissions strategy. This is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse.

In contrast, the resume is a defined step that can help a candidate make true progress in the MBA application process. And remember, once you’ve drafted your resume, it serves as a handy summary of your experiences for when you and your recommenders are drafting and writing those essays or recommendation letters.

For valuable guidance in crafting your resume, check out the Clear Admit Resume Guide. This guide will teach you to organize information strategically to play to your strengths, eliminate jargon to write for the admissions committee, and situate your responsibilities in the big picture for maximum impact. This 17-page document, which includes illustrative examples, step by step instructions, an active verb list and two full resume templates, is available for purchase, preview and download from the Clear Admit shop.

About Clear Admit:

Ivey Consulting has partnered with Clear Admit to provide comprehensive admissions information and consulting services to business school applicants.  We’re excited to feature their regular guest postings here on the Ivey Files. Learn more about them here.

In last week's post about letters of continued interest, I referred to a "duty to update," and this week I'll say a little more about that.

As Ivey Files readers know, I strongly recommend that people submit their applications early in the admissions season, ideally before the end of November. So what happens after you hit the submit button? All applications I know of include language imposing a duty on you to update your applications after you submit them and while they are still pending.

What kinds of updates do they mean? Obviously, they don't need to know that you broke up with your girlfriend, or that you finally perfected your holiday turducken (yum!). They're talking about updates to your application -- no more, no less.

NO LESS:

Your duty to update requires you to notify schools of any parts of your applications that have changed since you submitted them. For many applications, that would include things like:

• Employment updates: Did you start a new job? Were you let go from your old job? Did you switch roles within the organization? You'll need to update.
• Education updates: Have your grades come in from fall semester? If you've already graduated, have you signed up for a class just for fun this coming semester? You'll need to update. Note that LSAC imposes a separate duty to update as well ("Updating Your Transcript Information").
• Activities updates: Have you started a new activity since you submitted? You won't score many points for that (especially if it looks as if you're doing it just for your applications), but technically, that's a required update, so you may as well. More importantly, if you've deepened your responsibilities or leadership role in an existing activity, make sure to let them know.
• LSAT updates: If you already listed the December test date on your applications, then there's nothing to upate, because they'll already know that a new score is coming down the pike.
  
  If you didn't list the December test on your applications (most likely because you already took the test previously, and you were on the fence about whether to retake it in December), and you did in fact take the test, and you are not canceling the score, update your schools. They'll automatically receive the score once it's ready, but they'll want to know that it's on the way (which is why most applications ask you to list when you have taken or plan to take the test). If you didn't want schools to hold up your applications for a test you weren't sure you'd be retaking, then it made sense not to list it originally, but you'll also have to remember to update as soon as you have retaken it.
• Disclosure updates: Has any academic disciplinary action or legal action been taken against you since you submitted? Unfortunately, you'll have to update.
• Anything else that the application form originally asked about and that has changed in the meantime.

NO MORE:

Is there such a thing as an unnecessary or superfluous update? You bet. I often see people write update letters that dwarf the length of their personal statements, and that's overkill.

Most commonly, I've seen people give blow-by-blow accounts of every little thing they do all day long in their new role as Junior Intern to the Assistant Deputy Chief of Communications for Senator So-And-So, or as Underling Case Assistant at Fancypants Law Firm, P.C. Guess what? In most cases, the blow-by-blow account is just not that interesting to the rest of the world. More importantly, if the application did not invite (or give you space for) that level of detail the first go-round, you shouldn't get much more granular in your update. Treat admissions officers' time as valuable. It will not help your cause if they conclude you're a pest.

Any other application updates that you have questions about? Please post in the comments.

Former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School and a recovering lawyer, Anna Ivey founded Ivey Consulting to help college, law school, and MBA applicants navigate the admissions process. Read more admissions tips in The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions, recently updated and available as an e-book. Follow Anna on Twitter (@annaivey).

Last week we offered some advice to help applicants avoid common pitfalls in writing their essays for the Round Two deadlines.  This week we’d like to offer some more advice.  Although these tips might not apply to everyone or to every school, these are some good basic strategies to employ.  For personalized advice about your applications, contact Clear Admit directly.

1.    Think strategically when delving into anecdotes that are highly personal. While breaking up with your college sweetheart may have had some impact on who you are today, you’ll want to be careful about using personal matters as the basis for an essay.   While there are certainly exceptions, we find that examples from the professional sphere or from extracurriculars typically make for stronger, and more compelling, essays, as they speak to the things that the admissions committee cares the most about, including qualities and skills that relate to professional success. 

2.    Keep it current. In considering which examples to explore in an application essay, one should choose college and post-college experiences to elaborate on, as these experiences will appear to have the most relevance for your application and provide the greatest insight into the person you will be on the campus of the MBA program.  In other words, if your essays prominently feature stories from high school, you are likely making a strategic mistake.  Younger applicants may find examples from college their strongest, as they may not have accrued the same leadership and teamwork experiences that older applicants with more work experience have.  All applicants, though, should include at least one recent story in their set of essays.

3.    Put yourself at the center. In talking about your future goals or in elaborating on your work experience to date, you will want to put yourself in the picture, indicating what you would like to do in the short and long term or what role you specifically played in the various projects or assignments at work.  Your application essays are meant as an opportunity to provide the adcom with greater insight into your candidacy and what sort of business person you are and will be in the future.  Thus, elaborating on what others have done or talking generally about the state of your industry of choice will not appear a meaningful discussion unless you can demonstrate how the material relates to you and pertains to your goals and interests.

4.    Follow the guidelines. Many times applicants attempt to tweak the font size, spacing, or margins in their application essays in an attempt to stay within the various schools’ page limits.  The admissions committee, however, will not be fooled.  Rather than playing with the formatting, focus on making your discussion clear and concise.

Best of luck to everyone working on their R2 applications!  For one-on-one advice and counseling, send your resume to assessment@clearadmit.com and set up a free initial chat with one of our admissions counselors.

About Clear Admit:

Ivey Consulting has partnered with Clear Admit to provide comprehensive admissions information and consulting services to business school applicants.  We’re excited to feature their regular guest postings here on the Ivey Files. Learn more about them here.

Today we would like to offer a handful of essay pointers in brief in order to help applicants avoid common pitfalls as they gear up for the Round Two deadlines.  While we should caution that every applicant is unique and that some of these tips may not apply to everyone, we wanted our readers to have an introduction to some of the basic strategies they should be employing.  As always, contact Clear Admit directly for more tailored advice to your candidacy.

1.    Remember your reader. In application essays and resumes, applicants often get caught in the technicalities of their work, losing their reader in jargon.  Keep it simple in order to make your discussion easy for your non-specialist audience to understand.  Such clarity will help the reader to appreciate the nature and significance of your work.
 
2.    Be specific. Specifics are of the utmost importance in application essays, as the adcom wants to see details of what you’ve accomplished in the past, what you would like to achieve in the future, and how you are a good fit for the particular MBA program.  Explaining the reasons for your interest in the school will also help to differentiate you from the many other applicants arguing their case for a place in the MBA class, as they will show that you not only have clearly articulated goals, but also that you have a deep understanding of the MBA program and how it is uniquely appropriate for you*.  Though applicants sometimes worry about the word limit, it is important to keep in mind that you can replace often vague and generic points with specific ones without adding any length.  For instance, rather than stating that you would make a great and lasting impact on X industry, you can state that you would do A and B.

3.    Focus on fully realized successes. In approaching essays about an accomplishment or achievement, applicants should focus on stories and projects in which a positive outcome has been accomplished or is ensured, as potential successes are not actual ones.   Talking about a project that is ongoing or that is just starting to come together will not be as meaningful as one in which an applicant has already displayed leadership, initiative and creativity in accomplishing a goal.  Though ultimate impact may have not yet been observed (an example being that increased profit has yet to be realized), one’s goals in the project should already have been attained (meaning, for example, that an applicant already built and motivated a team to achieve the desired end).

Check in with us next week for more advice on how to avoid the common pitfalls in applying to MBA programs.  For personalized advice and counseling, send your resume to assessment@clearadmit.com and set up a free initial chat with one of our admissions counselors.

*Some programs, like Harvard Business School do not explicitly ask applicants to explain their fit with/interest in HBS itself.  As such, when it comes to Harvard our comments about ‘specifics’ apply to the stories the applicant describes, but not to a ‘why HBS’ argument.

About Clear Admit:

Ivey Consulting has partnered with Clear Admit to provide comprehensive admissions information and consulting services to business school applicants.  We’re excited to feature their regular guest postings here on the Ivey Files. Learn more about them here.

Recently I applied Early Decision to my top choice school and was placed on the waitlist.  I have good softs, however both my UGPA and LSAT are at the school's 25%.  This is my absolute first choice law school, and I mentioned this fact in my personal statement.  I have a plan of attack for positioning myself to try to get off the waitlist, which includes taking a tour and writing a LOCI based on that tour, as well as updating them on a pending work promotion, and I may take the February LSAT in order to try to boost my numbers.  My question is with it only being early December, should I send a LOCI this early or should I wait until late February/early March to send a letter in which I can include more details and therefore sound more compelling?  In sum, how early is too early to write a LOCI?  I want to let them know that I am still very interested, but I do not want to sound hollow.

You're already waitlisted? That's interesting, because many Early Decision (ED) schools would just have rolled you over into the Regular Decision pool and wouldn't start putting people on an official waitlist until sometime in the spring. It's an interesting development that schools are already starting waitlists. (Any other applicants in that situation? Please share in the comments.)

Here's the Meta-Rule that should govern any communication an applicant has with any school: Check if they've given you specific instructions, and if so, follow those. What did your waitlist letter say?

Some schools expressly invite additional communications and materials, in which case it's fine to submit a LOCI (letter of continued interest). Other schools will expressly tell waitlisted applicants not to send in more information, and not to bug them. If any of your schools tells you that, back off. Let them make the next move, or they'll think you're a pest. And still other schools invite updates, but only after a certain date. Those are all things you should confirm in your waitlist instructions.

If your ED-turned-waitlist-school does invite a LOCI, ask yourself what purpose you want it to serve. Is it meant to show them that they are your first choice? You've already told them that in your essay, and since talk can be cheap, you proved it by applying binding early decision. You don't risk sounding hollow (applying binding ED is the opposite of a hollow promise), but you do run the risk of sounding repetitive.

Most people who apply to a school binding Early Decision don't all of a sudden stop wanting to go there if they get waitlisted. On the other hand, since your ED school released you from the binding commitment once they rolled you onto a waitlist, you are essentially a free agent now. It might have some value to the school to know that even though you're no longer bound to accept, you would still do so. You would effectively be binding yourself beyond the Early Decision commitment. If that's a promise you're happy to continue making, go ahead and do so, no need to wait until March.

Also note that you have a duty to update all your pending applications, so if you have changed jobs, you need to update schools with that information. If you've been promoted -- or demoted, or fired -- you need to update. If you have a new grade or set of grades, you need to update. If you have a new LSAT score, they'll find out anyway once LSAC processes and sends off your updated LSAT Report, so that's not something you need to take affirmative steps to update schools about.

What kinds of updates aren't helpful? Things like "pending" or "expected" work promotions. Don't toot your own horn until the news you want to share is official. Schools typically don't release/ding people from a waitllist until much later in the season (typically in the summer), so you'll likely have plenty of opportunities to send them official updates as they happen in real time.

Any disagreement out there? Stories to share?

Former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School and a recovering lawyer, Anna Ivey founded Ivey Consulting to help college, law school, and MBA applicants navigate the admissions process. Read more admissions tips in The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions, recently updated and available as an e-book. Follow Anna on Twitter (@annaivey).

"Hey, this is Anna, leave me a message." BEEEEEEEP.

That might be a perfectly fine voicemail greeting for your friends and family to hear, but it's not appropriate in a formal, professional context. Now that admissions season is in full swing, it's a good time to check your voicemail greeting -- you probably haven't listened to it in a while -- and make sure it is appropriate for schools to hear if they contact you by phone. And this time of year, admissions officers do pick up the phone if they have questions or -- even better -- happy news to share.

All of your interactions with schools, whether on the phone or otherwise, should be formal and professional. (That will also be true when you're sending out resumes and interviewing for jobs.) From the moment of your first contact with a school, you are being evaluated on your professionalism. Schools -- especially graduate schools -- want to know that they are admitting people who walk and talk and quack like grown-ups, and who will behave professionally as students, on the job market, and as alumni.

Here are a couple of other reminders:

• "Hey" is not a professional greeting, whether on the phone or in an email or in person, and will probably make a poor impression in a professional context. "Hi" and "Hello" are both fine.
• Don't pick up the phone if you're in a noisy environment. At a game? In a restaurant? Playing Wii? Watching TV at a friend's house? If you're not sure who's calling, let it go to voicemail. Admissions officers don't necessarily expect to get ahold of you whenever they happen to call, so let them leave a message if the time or place isn't right for a professional conversation, and call them back when you're in a quiet place.
• The number you list on your application is the number that admissions officers will use if they want to reach you by phone. If, during application season, you anticipate having only intermittent access to that phone for whatever reason, update your voicemail greeting so that admissions officers konw when they can expect to hear back from you. Alternatively, your voicemail greeting can direct them to another number where you'll be more easily reachable for that period of time.
• Never call an admissions officer (or a professor) by his or her first name unless expressly invited to do so.
• As the University of Michigan Law School recently reminded everybody (here and here), schools do care how you behave on the phone, and guess what, they have caller ID. If you decide to call a school, always be professional and polite. Even if you don't give your name, it's not that hard for them to figure out who you are.

Some of you are already fielding phone calls from schools, including offers of admission. Questions? Comments? Any other advice to share? Please post!

Former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School and a recovering lawyer, Anna Ivey founded Ivey Consulting to help college, law school, and MBA applicants navigate the admissions process. Read more admissions tips in The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions, recently updated and available as an e-book. Follow Anna on Twitter (@annaivey).