How to Choose your MBA Stories

Hey, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us today on our webinar. Today, we'll be talking about how to choose your best MBA stories. So hopefully most of you are working ahead for round one applications or working.

Maybe on European applications. I know Insead is due Friday. For those of you who might be working on that, I guess that's tomorrow.

So today we're going to be discussing a lot about how to choose which.

Stories, how to balance those across your.

Application, and also how to think about.

Storytelling to make sure that your stories are really well structured and sell your profile nicely.

The session will be recorded and everyone.

Will receive the record in the next.

Couple days, definitely during any point in the webinar. When you have a question, please feel free to send it in the chat box.

We'll have some time for Q&As at.

The end and so make sure to add those. We'll answer as many as we can. And today I'm really excited to be.

Joined by Emma Fell. She's our director of editing here at Ellen Waldease Consulting.

So she's an amazing wizard of storytelling, really just an amazing editor and really.

Good at thinking about how to structure.

Stories and how to sell your profile. Really excited to have her on the webinar today. Emma, do you want to say a quick hello?

Sure. Hi, everybody.

I'm Emma, like Ellen said, and I'm excited to be here today with you.

Awesome. So what we will start out with today is just doing a brief recap of what you'll learn in the session. So the first thing that you'll learn.

Is how to distinguish between stories and.

Data points to ensure that your application.

Cuts through the noise.

So a lot of people make this mistake without realizing it. So we'll go more into depth. We'll also look at how to choose the best stories from both your life.

And your career to make sure you get the admission committee's attention.

And we'll also look at how to use expert storytelling techniques to really make sure that your stories stand out and.

Also demonstrate that at your top choice. Business schools.

So if you're applying to European business.

Schools, US Business schools, Canadian business schools.

Asian business schools, this use of storytelling.

Technique is something that you can use.

Across the board to really make sure.

That your application stands out.

So here's Emma, our director of editing. Alongside the rest of our team, Emma and I have worked with clients from around the world, helping 98.7. I have to correct that percent of our comprehensive consulting clients everywhere except Antarctica.

Gain admission to at least one of their target schools.

So our methodology really focuses on highlighting what makes you unique because you definitely.

Don'T get into business school by acting.

Like everyone else or being like everyone else.

When it comes to your essays, you know, standing out is really essential. So that's always our main focus.

So just a little bit about us so you guys can know us a little bit better. A couple fun facts I really love learning new languages. I started learning Mandarin and Serbian this.

Year, my pandemic hobby. And hopefully I can meet a lot of you guys in Asia soon. You're supposed to be in Shanghai in 2020. Maybe we'll see you guys in 2022.

Yeah, and I also like learning new.

Languages, but I thought of a couple other fun facts for you today. My first fun fact is that I have a third degree black belt in Taekwondo. Actually I haven't practiced since for a while now, but I learned a lot of good lessons that I still retain today. And my other fun fact is that I drive and unfortunately very often need to fix my red and yellow 1975 VW bus who has been a part of our family for over 10 years now.

Yeah, I'll take it from here. So our goal is to help you.

Not only choose your best stories, but.

Really learn how to tell them in.

A way that demonstrates that you belong at your top choice programs.

We want to start with really talking.

About the role that stories play in your MBA application. So and maybe we'll start with really what is a story?

So and what is storytelling?

So storytelling means isolating specific experiences or.

Stories to tell the reader using a specific set form.

There are really all kinds of stories.

That you could choose a few examples.

Of these might be talking about as specific successful project you had at work.

Describing a life changing situation that you.

Went through telling the reader about a volunteer project. And there's really this list is really just the beginning. There's really endless possibilities about what you could use in terms of stories from your past experiences. You could really go from something like a time you participated in sports or.

Even a story from your childhood about.

A particularly meaningful moment. There's really all kinds of things that you could use as stories in your essays. So we really want to emphasize though.

That you really want to try to.

Be specific with your stories.

Each story should really demonstrate a single.

Experience, not a range of experiences and not a whole period of time, but really one specific example.

Yeah, so I think one of the things that has come up lately just thinking about the last week, we have a client who is working in the auto industry and working with some sustainability.

Projects, but wants to transition to a.

Role more focused on sustainability. And when thinking about a goals essay.

It'S really important for us to have experiences from the past that demonstrate that.

Your goals make a lot of sense.

And that you're going to be successful.

So we were brainstorming some stories, and she said, oh, I've worked in the.

Auto industry doing sustainability projects for four years.

That's not really a great starting point.

Because that's really just kind of a.

Whole period of time, and that doesn't.

Really tell us a lot.

So what we needed to do is.

Dig down into.

Specific moments. So things like, oh, you know, I worked on this deal or I worked.

On this initiative, and here's what happened and here's how it turned out in the end.

So that is something that's really important.

To make sure that you're focusing on a single snapshot in time.

I think one of the best pieces.

Of advice I ever got on this point was to kind of tell the story of the war through the eyes of a soldier, so to speak. So looking at, you know, how am I going to tell all of this experience, Huge thing that's been going on.

Boil it down into, you know, one.

Specific experience that really does make life.

A little easier for you to write.

But also better for us to understand the value that you add.

Yeah. So to, I guess, to reiterate or to jump on that, like, for example, if I worked at Microsoft, I really.

Don'T want to just say, okay, I.

Worked at Microsoft for a number of.

Years and everything went really great, and that's why I got promoted. Instead, I really want to isolate a specific project or a specific task we.

Had at Microsoft and talk about my.

Role in solving this problem or in solving the problems that came up or any issues that that came up during the project.

So we're going to move on to how to brainstorm your story pool. So basically, how to think of a.

Collection of examples that you can use for stories in your MBA essays.

So we generally suggest that you brainstorm.

Your best six or seven stories or so. If you're applying to multiple schools, this.

Really helps you kind of be able.

To pick and choose which ones might work best for what application. And she didn't know that before. She didn't know that they were famous for that because they always drank bad coffee.

And this moment of her realizing, like.

Oh, like our region is really famous for this, but it doesn't trickle down to us because it's really expensive, and it doesn't land here.

This really helped her realize. This little moment really helped her realize, like, okay, I really care about this.

And I want to go into fair trade, for example.

And so this could be a really good way to think about how even, like a little moment that might feel insignificant really made a big impact on her personally. And this could be. This could make a really good story.

For your essay because of that.

So now we can move on. We not only want to talk about what is a story, but we also really want to talk about what's not.

A story, especially because this is one of the things we see clients struggle with very often.

So we like to distinguish between stories and what we like to call data points. A data point is really a single event that has no conflict and thus no problem that needs to be solved.

Nothing that needs to be resolved in the story.

Data points can be really good for.

CVs or letters of recommendation or your.

Online forms, but they don't necessarily make.

Good stories or good. Yeah. Good material for your MBA essays.

So, for example, if you say attending college, this is a data point, unless there was some sort of big hurdle while you were in college or to get into college, there's no real point.

Of conflict that needs to be addressed here.

So just telling the reader that you went to college doesn't really make for.

A story because there's nothing. There's nothing to do. There is no action that needs to be taken and no conflict that needs to be resolved.

On the other hand, if you were.

To tell the reader a story about overcoming a family tragedy while in college, that really helped you realize that, for example, your grades were really important to you and you included what happened, how the event affected you, and what steps you overcame to overcome this challenge, then we might have a story to tell.

So I think a couple of examples, just to make this a little bit clearer would be, you know, for example, we've had clients say, oh, I graduated.

Summa cum laude from my university, and that's a tremendous experience and a tremendous.

Achievement, but it doesn't really make a good story. So if you were watching a movie and someone said, hey, I graduated summa.

Cum laude, end of the story, you'd.

Be kind of like, huh, Well, I wouldn't watch that movie again. So you want to kind of think.

About things that have a beginning, a middle and end. Some kind of story of overcoming challenges like Emma mentioned, or overcoming some kind of conflict.

So if, for example, you know, you maybe came from a very low income family but passed at a top university.

But were kind of shocked by the.

Different culture, or had to work a.

Full time job and had to balance studies with a full time job. And in the end, you know, you were still able to graduate summa cum laude.

That's a great way to use that in a story. So sometimes data points can be a.

Great way to introduce a story or to end a story. Another example would maybe be an award that you won or a promotion at.

Work telling a story an example and then saying, in the end, you know.

I was really proud to be promoted for my efforts, or I was recognized by the company with an award.

So that's a really good way to.

Kind of integrate those into stories. But they usually don't make stories themselves.

Whereas, you know, we had a client.

A couple of years ago who was.

Going on track to be a professional baseball player, went to university because this.

University was a great baseball university. And during his first year, he got.

Injured and had to really rethink his.

Whole life and make a pivot to a new career. So telling that story of, you know.

This is where I was going, this is what happened, this is, you know.

Where I ended up going and how it led me to where I am today.

That is an interesting story.

Yeah. And if you have, if you end up using, like trying to use a.

Data point and, you know, but you don't really have this element of conflict or this element of, you know, beginning, middle and end, you, you can end up presenting this in your essay, but.

Not really leaving leaving kind of the.

Reader to wonder, so what was the point of.

Hearing this?

Like, okay, that's a great accomplishment, but.

This could make a really good story.

For your, for your essay because of that.

So now, now we can move on. We not only want to talk about what is a story, but we also really want to talk about what's not a story.

Especially because this is one of the things we see clients struggle with very often.

So we like to distinguish between stories and what we like to call data points. A data point is really a single event that has no conflict and thus no problem that needs to be solved.

Nothing that needs to be resolved in the story.

Data points can be really good for.

CVs or letters of recommendation or your.

Online forms, but they don't necessarily make.

Good stories or good, yeah, good material for your MBA essays.

So, for example, if you say attending college, this is a data point. Unless there was some sort of big hurdle while you were in college or to get into college, there's no Real.

Point of conflict that needs to be addressed here.

So just telling the reader that you went to college doesn't really make for a story because there's nothing, there's nothing.

To do, there's no action that needs to be taken and no conflict that needs to be resolved.

On the other hand, if you were.

To tell the reader a story about overcoming a family tragedy while in college, that really helped you realize that, for example, your grades were really important to you and you included what happened, how the event affected you, and what steps you overcame to overcome this challenge, then we might have a story to tell.

So I think a couple of examples, just to make this a little bit clearer would be, for example, we've had clients say, oh, I graduated summa cum.

Laude from my university, and that's a.

Tremendous experience and a tremendous achievement, but it doesn't really make a good story. So if you were watching a movie and someone said, hey, I graduated summa.

Cum laude, end of the story, you'd.

Be kind of like, huh, Well, I wouldn't watch that movie again. So you want to kind of think.

About things that have a beginning, a middle and end some kind of story of overcoming challenges like Emma mentioned, or overcoming some kind of conflict.

So if, for example, you know, you maybe came from a very low income family, but passed at a top university.

But were kind of shocked by the.

Different culture, or had to work a full time job and had to balance.

Studies with a full time job, and in the end, you know, you were still able to graduate summa cum laude.

That's a great way to use that in a story. So sometimes data points can be a.

Great way to introduce a story or to end a story. Another example would maybe be an award that you won or a promotion at.

Work, telling a story, an example and then saying, in the end, you know.

I was really proud to be promoted for my efforts, or I was recognized by the company with an award.

So that's a really good way to.

Kind of integrate those into stories. But they usually don't make stories themselves.

Whereas, you know, we had a client.

A couple of years ago who was.

Going on track to be a professional baseball player, went to university because this.

University was a great baseball university. And during his first year, he got.

Injured and had to really rethink his.

Whole life and make a pivot to a new career. So telling that story of, you know.

This is where I was going, this is what happened, this is, you know.

Where I ended up going and how it led me to where I am today.

That is an interesting story.

Yeah. And if you have, if you end up using, like trying to use a.

Data point and, you know, but you don't really have this element of conflict or this element of, you know, beginning, middle and end, you, you can end up presenting this in your essay, but.

Not really leaving, leaving kind of the.

Reader to wonder, so what was the point of.

Hearing this?

Like, okay, that's a great accomplishment, but what else did they want to say about it?

And it kind of would leave the.

Reader, you know, it kind of leaves the reader feeling like this is maybe uninteresting or maybe even a little odd that they're telling me this without understanding kind of where you're going from here or how you got there.

So next we want to take a look at telling your story in STAR format. Star format is really a way to.

Help structure your story. And you may have heard us talk about it before. We really like star.

So STAR stands for situation, task, action and results. And this can be a really, really.

Good way to clearly structure your answers, clearly structure your stories and give a clear flow and purpose to your answers.

So to dive in a little deeper, situation is really the context of your.

Story and the background information you need to understand the setting, to understand everything else that's going to come next, all the details you need.

Your task is really concrete.

This problem or this challenge that you.

Faced, keep in mind, this can be.

An external problem, like raising X million dollars or overcoming an interpersonal challenge with a colleague, something, something tangible and visible.

Or it can be an internal problem.

For example, overcoming your fear of speaking in public or being afraid to fail.

Your action really correlates to the task. It represents what you did to overcome.

That challenge or tackle the problem.

This can really be as simple, quote.

Unquote, as changing a mindset, or quote unquote, as complex as leading a company turnaround.

For the results. I think this, this section of your STAR is particularly important for MBA essays. And usually according, according to our method.

It really has two parts.

It really has an internal component and an external component. So external results are really these tangible.

That are often quantifiable that show what happened as a result of your action. So for example, that might mean the project was successful, you beat a deadline by two weeks, or you were able to raise a specific amount of time capital.

These are kind of the results that.

That you can see and that you would expect from any story. You want to know what happened because, because you took action. Internal results, on the other hand, are include, include lessons learned so what you got out of a situation, this can mean growing as a person, valuing failure, or coming to understand a specific personal value and why it was important to you.

So this is really, really more what.

You personally got out of. Out of, out of your story in terms of what you learned about it.

So this is, I think, something that people sometimes struggle with is, okay, but how do I actually do both of these things? So I guess a really obvious example.

Would be maybe with what matters most and why the essay for Stanford.

So thinking about, okay, here's the project.

Here'S what happened, here's how I demonstrated leadership and overcoming it.

You know, in the end, we were.

Able to save 20,000 jobs or something like that. But for me, it was really important because it showed me that by applying my consulting toolkit, I could make a real impact in the communities that I worked within.

So that's a good way of saying, okay, here's the external result, save 20,000 jobs, but here's the internal result, here's.

What it meant to me, here's how.

You know why, why it matters. It's also important because it allows us.

To kind of clarify what you want the author or what you want the reader to get out of the example.

So even in an essay like Stanford, or, sorry, like Harvard, where you're mentioning.

A lot of different examples within one.

Essay, bringing that internal result tells us.

Why each of those stories was included, what you hoped that we got out of it, and helps us build into the next example. So as I mentioned, in kind of.

That very brief previous example, they don't.

Really have to be long either. You can very easily include both of these, and I think that that's something people worry about, is if I include both external results and internal results, my essay is going to be way too long.

But you can really boil that down.

To, you know, we saved 20,000 jobs, and it proved to me that I can make an impact in my community using my consulting skills.

It doesn't. I mean, of course you can go more into depth, but even in a.

Short essay, you can still make sure to use both of these to add a lot of power and value to your examples.

Yeah. And I think for almost any story, it's really important to try to include.

Both whenever you can. Just because, like Ellen mentioned, this really helps the reader get from one step to the next in your essay. And to see.