Getting into a top MBA program

Lately so many people have asked me how to get into a top MBA program that I am going to just summarize what I tell others.

There are five key decision points around which an admission committee makes it's call:

- Intellectual Ability - Mostly manifested through your Academic performance/GMAT etc

- Professional Achievement - Some good indicators of this are #promotions, level of responsibility relative to your peers in the same profession

- Clarity of Future Goals/aspirations - Mostly reflected in the Why MBA? Why now? kind of questions - Again it is important to show a continuity of thought process in setting goals/aspiration from pre-MBA to post-MBA - even though these might be two different industries/career

- Personality - Who you are? What type of person you are? Are you a good person to work with?- These aspects are mostly reflected in your essays, choice of topics of your essays, recommendations and personal interview

- Quality of Recommendations - How others perceive you and how does that triangulate to your description of you that comes across in your essays/application. Consistency from all reference points - from essays to recommendation to personal interview is key here.

Apart from the above list, each school adds a slight variation/color to its selection process. It is best to get a good feel of that by talking to students from that particular school. About Wharton I could say these points - The list below is in no way exhaustive and is just IMHO:

- Wharton definitely gives a lot of importance to Intellectual Ability/Rigor - so your academic record/GMAT are critical

- Clarity of your future goals/Aspiration is critical

- Wharton tends to be more "Brand crazy" than other schools - For example, Wharton would admit a "slightly OK" candidate with an experience in a branded company such as Microsoft, Goldman etc but reject a "Slightly Better" candidate from a non-branded company/startup.

- Wharton is definitely lot more open to people with more than 5-6+ years experience than other schools