Application Strategy: Demo-lition Derby - Concept is best served with an example

1. Application Strategy:
Demo-lition Derby
http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/

2. Application Strategy:
Demo-lition Derby
When you charge people thousands of dollars to
help them with their MBA applications, you had
better be sure to look in every nook and cranny
for an advantage. We pride ourselves on doing
just that and that mentality has allowed us to
come up with incredibly helpful strategies for our
clients.

3. Application Strategy:
Demo-lition Derby
Everything from "structure your essays like a Hollywood
screenwriter" to "finish your energy strong with a simple
shift in body language" to "add an alternate short-term
career goal to your first paragraph on your first Columbia
essay" has come from a dogged determination and
willingness to constantly find advantages.
Obviously, most of those advantages are not for public
consumption as it would neither be fair to our clients or
terribly bright to reveal every "state secret" we have.

4. This concept is best served with an
example, so here is one:
An applicant is an Indian male with a background in IT.
Say, 29 years old. 730 GMAT score.
Lots of volunteerism and extra-curricular activities. A bit
of formal management experience on select projects. Not
much experience outside of his home country A career
goal of going into consulting. Long-term aims of bringing
enterprise back to India.

5. Continuation
You don't have to be an MBA admissions expert to know
that this individual is from a highly represented group of
students.
What can he do to stand out?
Obviously, the best step is to cultivate a highly
individualized and personal narrative, complete with
robust personality, unique interests, and impeccable
polish.

6. Continuation
However, the first step is to be smart about where he
applies. Specifically: he should apply somewhere
besides the schools were every other person in his
demo is applying.
Most international students are drawn to schools in
huge, renowned U.S. cities. This is natural as students
assume they will find people and cultural markers that
allow for an easier integration.

7. Continuation
The downside is that everyone is thinking this way, so as a
result, programs in New York and Los Angeles and Boston
and Chicago and the Bay Area are oversubscribed with
international students - and particularly Indian males from
an IT background.
The counter to that is to look at schools in smaller cities and
even small towns. They might make someone from India
squirm, but they present a huge opportunity because a
fraction of the applicants from that demo are applying
there. Rough estimate here, but I would venture to guess
that about a third as many Indian males apply to Ross as
they do to NYU,

8. Continuation
despite the fact that the schools are roughly the same size
and have similar admissions profiles. I would say Tuck gets
half as many as Haas. Duke half as many as Kellogg. The
list goes on. Schools that are "out of the way" often have a
harder time generating a rich and deep pool of students
outside of the U.S., making it a prime opportunity for
international students - particularly our Indian male test
case - to stand out more easily.

9. If you want to find out more about how we work and what
we can do to help you as an MBA applicant, email us at
mba@amerasiaconsulting.com for a free consultation.
http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/