How to Find Your Personal X-Factor

MBA admissions—especially at top business schools—can get highly competitive. If you’re intent on getting accepted at a top B-school, you’ll need more than just a stellar GPA or GMAT score.

Stacy Blackman, founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting, recently explained the importance of having an “X-factor” in your application and offered a few tips on how applicants can make their application stand out.

“Top MBA programs rely heavily on students teaching each other through discussions,” Blackman says. “The life experiences you share with your classmates should be compelling and beneficial for your peers. So, if you’re struggling to identify your personal X factor, get ready to do some serious introspective work. Self-reflection is an essential part of the business school application process.”

DIG DEEPER

To identify your personal X-factor, you’ll need to dig deeper into your life experiences to find things that set you apart.

“Applicants often overlook aspects of their background that seem commonplace to them but would actually set them apart,” Blackman says. “An easy place to begin is by assessing whether you have any differentiating professional experience. Do you work in a field or industry that typically doesn’t see a lot of MBAs? This could be your entry point.”

Self-reflection is especially important if you’re coming from a more traditional B-school background, such as finance or consulting.

“You might have to dig deeper to find things that set you apart if you’re coming from one of the usual feeder industries,” Blackman says. “Did you work on any high-profile projects that many people—even those outside your industry—would have heard about? Writing a narrative around something like that could be an intriguing option. AdComs love it when applicants can provide a firsthand, insider perspective on topics that have made waves in the business world.”

If you’re having trouble self-reflecting, take a step back and consider where you currently are in life and think about why you’re even pursuing an MBA in the first place. Taking time to do this is critical.

“Not allowing yourself that time and space to be introspective early on is a missed opportunity,” Fortuna’s Sharon Joyce, former Berkeley Haas Associate Director of Admissions, says. “For most people we’re working with, who have been incredibly successful in both academics and career to date, the missing piece at the outset is often thinking deeply on why the MBA is the vital next step and being able to express this from a place of authenticity and depth.”

HIGHLIGHT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND PERSONALITY

Even the smallest achievement can serve as your personal X-factor, Blackman says. A lot of times, those achievements may not even be noticeable to you.

“Sometimes, you need an outsider to point out actions you may have undervalued,” Blackman says. “We’ve helped SBC clients realize when they made an impact on their companies that lasted long after they left. Maybe you came up with a new way of doing annual analyst reviews. Or you spearheaded your company’s first DEI initiative. Perhaps you helped your firm increase its footprint in a new geographic area.”

Another tactic to discovering your X-factor? Think about what makes you, you.

“Do people often come to you for advice? Have you been trusted to do something or given a responsibility that people in your position typically don’t do? Maybe you have always come up with crazy ideas that somehow ended up working since you were a little kid,” Blackman says. “Or it could be as simple as mentoring a summer intern. If you can widen your lens and show a pattern of how you’ve informally mentored others, then boom! Now you have an essay theme.”

Sources: Stacy Blackman Consulting, P&Q

Next Page: Finding The Right School “Fit”