My Attempt to MIT Sloan Optional Essay

Wow, I'm really not used to the manner people today blow their own horns. It used to be only politicians would dare do that, but apparently everyone and their "younger artistic sister" find it okay now.

Which is probably not a bad thing (if you can't say good things about yourself, who else will?) -- it's just that it makes me feel I'm from another planet entirely.

Hey what's up, bro? I have unsolicited suggestions both personal and professional.

Professional: Your thing needs to be more specific. List more concrete crap that admission officers want to see, particularly meaningless statistics that these people would get off on, since this is B-school, emphasize on BS skills: e.g., improved user conversion on X project from 10% to 25%. led X project with Y developers using X PM methodology and delivered to customers Z months ahead; just throw in one tech skill for good measure.

Personal: You seem to be very 1) implicitly smug about your accomplishments and 2) vague about your goals except that you are fixated on prestige and the Asian immigrant story, such as listing your wife "being a doctor" and your very endeavor of applying to "b-school" and your family's "started from the bottom now we here"; no one cares, bro.

First, you have to learn how to toot your own horn without blowing your cover. Stroke other people's egos like applying to b-school, figure out the crap that those people care about, e.g., "innovation" and pretend that you buy into their system, I used "big data to analyze which African village is in the most need for water and went out and tried to get grants." Have to brag yourself and give a reach-around to the powers-to-be without appearing to brag yourself.

Second, you have to learn how to have a real concrete goal. Don't care about your family, don't care about what awkward nice things people have to say when you solicit rec's from them. Say something real, like "I want to be the next Korean superstar and take over the world!!" means more to me than "Data Scientist". I may not like "Korean superstars" but at least I'll have respect for someone who knows what they want and won't take crap from anyone.

Let me be brutally honest, because I think this gives you a clear POV on this. I think if you would have invested the time you put into this website and the surveys into some good cause or a smart idea that produces only a(nother?) single line in the newspaper, you would send a much stronger signal than what you have now. Especially MIT is a place that asks for people who do things, not those who do use the megaphone (mens to manus). I believe you might be a smart person and have ambitious goals but the approach might just not fit to the institution you aspire.

The main questions that remain unanswered to me are: 1. What does the website serve for? 2. What has he achieved so far? (entrepreneurship record, projects etc.) 3. Where has he been a decision maker? 4. What professional recommendations does the person have? (And how biased are they?) 5. Social impact? 6. REASON WHY? (Being at MIT to be at MIT?)

Whatever I missed in the first five points, you really need to fix #6. It is the far most important.

Among the answers by your friends, there is nothing really tangible. So far, it is just a collection of adjectives. It reads like you are a nice person but the special something is missing. Imagine you just had an interview at Sloan and there were likely around 30 others like you. How do you make sure to get reminded by the interviewers and how?

"The guy with the friend survey", "the data-driven decision maker" or "the one with the family" is not likely to give you a signature move.

I'd say give yourself some time and start something else; develop yourself. Don't expect MIT to polish a raw diamond. Also, don't forget that business experience, professional recommendations etc play a much more important role as any friend-recommendation. Further, I have worked with many MIT people and institutions in the past and what I can say is that it might be one of the places where many people who have bright ideas and great backgrounds are still interested to stay low and humble. They don't necessarily search for attention. I might be corrected by MIT people that this perspective is totally wrong, but that was my experience in about 8 years.

@auctiontheory. "It's pretty clear that the two best B-schools to get you ahead in life are HBS and Stanford GSB.". The more I think about this sentence, the more arguments come to my mind why this is complete nonsense :)

I'd stick with native scrolling. The accelerated scrolling (I'm assuming via a jQuery plugin) made it difficult to explore the content.

Assuming that you are interested in technology entrepreneurship, I'm not sure that an MBA program is the best use of your time and money. It's pretty clear that the two best B-schools to get you ahead in life are HBS and Stanford GSB. The ROI drop off is pretty steep after that, at least outside of Wall Street.

The differentiator is not quality of education, it's brand and network. E.g. see where top VCs get MBAs.

I don't know the requirement for the essay but I'm guessing that the admissions board is supposed to get to know you or your work better through the essay. I'm not sure how successfully this website achieves that goal. Also try to follow the "show, don't tell" mantra.

That being said, the design is nice and best of luck to you.

You should move the survey response bars into a more neutral organization, otherwise it places "respectful" and "team player" in a context where they appear to be lacking compared to your other traits. Also, I believe you mean 'persistent' in your scrolling text bit at the top.

I wonder if this will put social pressure on the reviewers. Do they have to accept the popularity (if this thing becomes so viral?) into the admission account or will they be able to decide independently. I think the initiative is great and truly admirable for an MBA graduate study.

Psst: it's "persistent".

Looks great Sol. All the best of luck.