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How Ishu cracked Vanderbilt?

Ishu had only 3 years of work experience but still cracked one of the best business schools in the world, Vanderbilt.

Here’s her story.

Ishu’s goals story

Ishu’s goals story lacked specificity. Ishu needed to tell the business school why they were her target school for her selected goals. The reasons she was talking about seemed like reasons that could fit any business school.

What helped her and could help you if you’re in a similar situation is networking. She needed the inside scoop. She could have easily come up with five or more reasons to attend her target schools but she needed to find very exclusive and unique reasons that can only be divulged by people who have experienced the business school firsthand.

Thus, networking with students who were currently studying at Vanderbilt or had graduated from Vanderbilt. This would help her tell the admissions committee how much their school values to them and how much effort she had put into knowing the school and its community.

Ishu’s essay analysis

The first drafts that Ishu sent us for her essays were rough around the edges.

Sometimes she would digress and wouldn’t address a part of the question. Other times her research of her post MBA job profile seemed to be very limited. This was another place that networking came in handy for Ishu.

She needed to research her employability. Saying you want to switch to a different job function in your essay is never enough for a business school admissions committee. Ishu would also need to show them that it would be easy for her to get hired post-MBA and that her selection of goals was an informed decision. For this, her research needed to be about the types of recruiters, at his target schools, that hire for his desired function and the types of positions they hire in.

Thus, networking with professionals already working under the job functions she aspired to join was the best way to move forward.

These issues can create a major red flag in her essay. So, we also asked her to go through the entire video library on Interviewninjas.

Once she did that and took into account our feedback, the essays were much better quality.

But getting over every hurdle like the champ she was, Ishu was able to crack Vanderbilt, the perfect school for her.

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