Schmoozing Your Way To MBA Success

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Don’t Hide From MBA Admissions Background Checks

 

“You need to own it.”

Ever hear that one? It probably came from some new age flake, who’s happy to rehash his divorce, bankruptcy, and stint in rehab. “It’s part of who you are,” he’ll chime. “It got you to this point. You learned from it. Embrace it.”

You can almost imagine how his story would fly in an interview. ‘Honesty is the best policy’ may work for 5th graders, but just wait until you start looking for a job (or a graduate school). Take a risk that didn’t pan out? Some will judge the failure, not the effort and courage. Get popped for a misdemeanor as a teen? What’s to say history won’t repeat? Fair or not, your one mistake can offset a lifetime of achievement and goodwill.

When you apply for a coveted spot in an MBA program, you’re competing against the best young professionals in the world. Chances are, they’ve had few brushes or blemishes. If you’re upfront, you’re just opening yourself up to more scrutiny. And the margin for error was small already.

Alas, the truth eventually comes out. And there are reasons why business schools invest in background checks. Let’s face it: It’s scary enough for a program to have an inside trader like Rajat Gupta or a transcript forger like Matthew Martoma on its alumni list. But what if – God Forbid – someone like that slipped through the cracks and was exposed during his or her two-year stint. How would a school explain that to its current students?

So schools are examining backgrounds tighter than ever. And that’s one reason why being transparent and candid is the best policy, explains Stacy Blackman, who heads a business school admissions consulting firm (Stacy Blackman Consulting). In a recent U.S. News column, Blackman notes it is usually “willful deception or lying by omission” on big issues like “ethical lapses or questionable behavior, not disclosing a layoff or firing, evidence of plagiarism and not disclosing a criminal conviction,” that can sink a candidacy.

In her practice, Blackman has worked with candidates with issues in their past. Her advice: “If you’re on the fence about whether to include or explain something in your application, chances are you probably should mention it.”

In fact, such situations can work to a candidate’s advantage according to Blackman. “Major failures can translate into a story about lessons learned and self-improvement which can actually help your candidacy if you show how you’ve become a wiser, more humble person because of them.” However, this advice comes with a caveat. “If the incident you’re wondering about including is personal in nature and does not appear anywhere on your official record,” Blackman writes, “you may decide not to draw unnecessary attention to it.”

In other words, Blackman advocates the age-old ‘honesty is the best policy’ approach. “The admissions team isn’t looking for perfection in applicants,” she writes. “The schools just want to make sure all applicants are who they say they are.”

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Source: U.S. News and World Report

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