Author and consultant Paul Bodine answered questions from B-school applicants about the admissions process. Here’s a copy of the online conversation

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Paul Bodine

Business school applicants are always looking for advice and strategies to write pleasing essays, perform well on the interview, and breed into their dream business school. Paul Bodine, author and admissions consultant, recently fielded questions from BusinessWeek reporter Francesca Di Meglio and the public at a acquire a livelihood chat occurrence through applications and getting accepted to top MBA programs. Here is an edited transcript of the chat by information adhering everything from the moment of campus visits to deciding how to handle the failure essay properly adhering an application:

PaulBodine2008: Starbot asked approximately applicants with weak postcollege extracurriculars getting into top-five business schools. [The question was accidentally deleted from the system.] Business schools make out that IB and consulting folks, for example, have to work ungodly hours, but poor post-college extracurriculars is still a weakness that you urgency to make up for for, especially at the rise aloft schools. If you have specific reasons, be pleased with a family crisis, then you should argue that in an optional essay. Most of my clients who get into the top schools have healthy undergraduate as well as strong postgraduate [extracurriculars].

Sandip: I want to apprehend how much pith adcom gives to a GPA in an application of a person through six years [of work] actual presentation.

PaulBodine2008: The more work experience you have, the less adcoms care about undergrad GPA. If your GPA is 3.0 or higher and you have a shrill (say 620 or above) GMAT, then you should subsist fine.

Of run after, at the top schools any blemish could be a intellect to ding you in favor of someone else, in such a manner it also depends on where you’re applying.

Soni: When asked about failure-related topics, is it advisable to draw up personal or professional?

PaulBodine2008: Great question. It depends on what material you’ve used in the other essays in that essay set, as well as which of your failures are the strongest stories (for example, what taught you the most?). Given two miscarriage stories of equal power, I might choose the personal one because it reflects less negatively on your career profile.

DWright: How important is it to visit a school’s campus in the sight of applying? Does it appear since a "lack of influence" if you do not visit?

PaulBodine2008: Schools will tell you they don’t attention if you visit. But if you living in the Bay Area and none made it to Satnford’s campus, that will hurt you. Talking about your campus visits is one of the ways you can personalize your business school discovery suit—for example, to discover the schools that you be delivered of made extraordinary strain to get to apprehend them. But INSEAD would not penalize someone from Mumbai for not making it to their campuses.

Starbot: From your experience as admissions consultant, do you see MIT Sloan’s] preferred solicitant profile to be different from perhaps Wharton’s or Columbia’s]? For example, would it be fair to say that MIT Sloan prefers those through Engineering/CS lettered or career backgrounds, and have career goals in manufacturing/IT rather than banking/PE?

PaulBodine2008: No, I don’t think MIT Sloan has preferred applicants in conditions of applicants’ academic or professional background. They want applicants to be assured of about their strengths in multiple areas. The preferred applicant profile at MIT is someone who makes a strong case that MIT’s resources fit happy with their career goals.

Soni: When asked to prepare a presentation about self, what should be the approach?