Monday Morning Essay Tip: Overrepresenting Your Overrepresentation
May 31st, 2010
Many in the MBA application pool—particularly male investment bankers and Indian software engineers—worry that they are overrepresented. While applicants can’t change their work histories, they can change the way they introduce themselves to Admissions Committees.
Example 1: “As an investment banker, I….”
Example 2: “Managing a team to code a new software product for ABC Corp., I….”
In these brief examples, each candidate mistakenly introduces the reader to the very overrepresentation that he/she is trying to avoid. Many applicants feel it necessary to start their essays by offering their titles or company names, but this approach can immediately give the reader pause: “Here we go again.”
Overrepresented candidates need to consider their introductory lines quite carefully. Rather than stating the obvious, a candidate might immerse the reader in a situation or present a special aspect of his/her position.
Example 1 (launching into a story): “At 5:30 pm, I could rest easy. The deadline for all other offers had passed. At that point, I knew….”
Example 2: (stand out): “While managing a multinational team, half in Silicon Valley and half in Pakistan, I….”
In the first example here, the banker candidate avoids drab self-introduction and instead immerses the reader in an unraveling mystery. In the second example, the software engineer candidate introduces him-/herself not as a “coder” but as a multinational manager. While each applicant’s situation is different, every candidate can work with his/her story to avoid the pitfalls of overrepresentation.
Posted in Blogroll, Monday Morning Essay Tips
