[Personal Branding] Conclusion about uninvited by HBS

Q:
(Modified from original wording.)
To DavidLee

Could you make a conclusion about what you said above:

Age is not the problem. The problem is so called "decent essays" are not good enough to persuade HBS that he is a 'philanthropist' or 'future leader of community'?

Thanks


A:
The conclusion is applicants need to convince adcoms why you can lead the school forward in global scale

age is never the problem

but the geometric progression you've grown in the career as equivalent

how high you've climbed and how hard you've hit the ground in those years

supposingly general college students graduate at the age of 22

at the age of 30, there're 8 solid years to thrive your career

even masters would have at least 6 solid year

for general college graduates, the time allows you to go through the career accommodation period for the first year and a half or so

then another couple of years to accumulate the cross-displinary specilizations for managerment preparation

being promoted to managerial responsibility at the faster third year or slower 4th year (if you stuck, it means your leadership style is still adjusting)

then at the 6-year line your experience should be ready or semi-ready for a senior manager position

with a master degree, this career curve should be steeper 20%~30%

and the scope should be broadened to regional market level

if you're an entrepreneur, 8 years time is absolutely enough for at least failed twice and now thrive the third start-up

especially for HBS applicants

at the year of 30, adcoms are expecting early executive mindset from applicants

global-scale leadership should be demonstrated multiple times

and at some point of your career

there should be some signs proving "game-changing" leadership

it's a very reasonable prerequisite for HBS

in my experience as MBA career consultant in NSHMBA

a 27 year-old lady in Kellogg MBA, undergraduate from Stanford, before MBA she already completed the corporate yearly R&D plan for her spaceship equipment company supplying NASA, approved by the her board of directors

a 350-page yearly plan, it's literally a thick book

another Indian graduate from Wharton MBA, should be younger than 30 based on his appearance and figure (probably 28 or 29)

excellent English without accent, perfect resume, expressed himself orally very clearly with perfect wording

easily tell he practiced at least hundreds of times

before MBA, he thrived in operation management in IBM during his very early career, extremely consistent career path

in his resume, the first points of each position are all the same

"Being promoted in 4 months to next level"

"Being promoted in 6 months to next level"

"Being promoted in 9 months to next level"

before MBA, he was already senior operation manager in IBM

although I adviced him to add some objectives on these bullets or take them off (you don't get promoted for no reason)

the gentleman insisted to leave them there

another very young Wharton MBA, 27 years old

Lehman Brother senior analyst, fortunately entered Wharton before crisis

at least 200+ financial analysis and reporting experience

multiple promotions toward investment banking before crisis

all these examples reach higher and faster before age of 30

and when you meet these people in person

you'll be blown away by their enthusiasm

their world-changing mentality

and extremely solid skills, both technical and managerial

but no arrogance at all

all of these young superstars are very friendly

passionate to help people around

and you can tell that's why they got promoted so fast

hope these examples can help

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[Personal Branding] Decent essay??

Most of time when applicants refer the so-called "decent essays"

when you really do some deeper research on those "essay guides" lying quietly in the nearest book store at the corner of your street

you'll know the ones people refer to are actually not that decent

and most of time far away from the criteria b-schools are looking for

for the common myth about community service

it's not necessary

and won't necessarily prove the applicant a philanthropist

it's about the mentality behind

the authentic empathy

and the whys

only when these question behind questions (QBQ) link together with your entrepreneurial personality will adcoms believe you do things for humanity reasons

the most deadly mentality is to display everything you have on the table and wait for a miracle

it's not an auction, nor a slave sale

it's like the school is a carriage and these students are the horses pulling in the front

YOU are the leader who lead the school forward and change the world

not waiting for the schools to change you

[Program Fitting] Don't understand HBS...

Q:
quote from BW:

"I’m
having a really difficult time understanding how these selections are made and in particular the emphasis on age. If you are 27+ and have great “real world” accomplishments, we do not want you in our student body because it is presumed you clearly do not need an MBA to be successful. If you are young, we like you because we can still mold you into something great, even though your accomplishments are working later hours and getting“A’s” on your Calculus exam.

How is this really selecting the most likely success stories? What kind of contribution and input are they really bringing into the classroom if they are fresh out of school or have 2 yrs of experience in the classroom?

Bottom line is that MBA schools are one big business. If you believe that, (and you are in denial if you don’t), then how is this helping you
secure big endowment checks from your alumni in the future: Go with the already successful 27yr old + or take a gamble on rising stars?.

At the end of the day, does the 2-3yr age gap make a difference in the big picture? We both have 40-50yrs to live!"


A:
as you look into HBS's curriculum

it's easy to tell their 2 forks are heading toward more entrepreneurial and more leadership in organizational restructuring

especially for conglomerate

and due to their academic role on the extreme end

they're looking for some explosive signs indicating leadfrog career

something significant on historical standpoint that nobody had done before

either extremely rare or extremely fast

although LZ is the youngest project manager in the industry

at the age of 30 they're looking for signs on more strategic on corporate scope

or some indication about early executive mindset

since their college drop-out is the richest guy in the world for 1.5 decade

and not even 50 yet

for a globally dominant school like HBS

nothing is too successful to be educated from them

it's about your mentality to do something as worldwide leader

with an extremely steep learning curve

see the successful HBS essays

you'll literally find many people at the age of 30 had already approached regional-director level

or done something revolutionary at their mid-20s

the intensity should be game-changing

not only a youngest something that many people had done even faster before