00:00 I'm actually trying to get into a top
00:01 business school while we walk safeward's
00:07 so there are three main steps that you
00:08 need to Ace number one is your resume so
00:10 I'm going to teach you the GMAT and GPA
00:12 scores you need as well as the work
00:13 experiences that you should have and
00:15 number two is your actual application so
00:16 things like your essays as well as your
00:18 recommendation letters so I'm gonna
00:19 teach you how to write an actually good
00:20 essay by showing you my essay and number
00:22 three are your interviews which are
00:24 super important for sealing the deal so
00:25 I'm gonna teach you how to actually
00:26 crush your interviews so think about all
00:28 the competition you're up against when
00:30 you're applying to a school like Harvard
00:31 or Stanford where the acceptance rates
00:33 are like five maybe ten percent and on
00:36 top of that you're applying against
00:37 thousands of applications of candidates
00:39 who are super talented intelligent and
00:41 really hard working and so that's why
00:43 it's super critical to think about how
00:45 your application is going to
00:46 differentiate amongst all of the
00:47 competitions so that's why I'm going to
00:49 teach you guys first how to
00:50 differentiate your resume not just your
00:51 GMAT and your GPA scores but more
00:53 importantly your work experience to
00:54 Showcase how much impact you're gonna
00:57 so let's talk about two really annoying
00:59 acronyms AKA GPA and GMAT which are
01:03 basically table Stakes for your
01:04 application to even be considered where
01:06 the average GPA for a top business
01:08 school student from undergrad is
01:09 somewhere around three seven so when you
01:11 think about how much room you have to
01:13 run in terms of a lower GPA you ideally
01:15 don't want to be below let's say like a
01:17 3-3 except for the caveat if you were in
01:20 like a really hard stem major where the
01:22 admissions committees are actually okay
01:23 with you having a lower GPA coming from
01:25 a really difficult math and sciences
01:26 background but if not and just in
01:28 general in life ideally you get the
01:30 highest GPA possible now let's talk
01:31 about the acronym that I actually can
01:33 help you with which is your GMAT so the
01:35 GMAT is basically like an adult version
01:37 of the SAT and as someone who didn't do
01:39 that well in the SAT and also isn't that
01:41 good with standardized tests I actually
01:43 started freaking out when I first had to
01:45 take the GMAT but what I will tell you
01:46 right now is you can actually crush it
01:48 without being a great test taker and
01:50 that's with this specific strategy so
01:52 the average GMAT score is somewhere
01:53 between 730 and 740 points which is
01:56 somewhere north of the 90 percentile and
01:58 so you have to ask yourself how am I
02:00 going to get above 90th percentile on
02:02 this really hard exam well the good news
02:04 is that the GMAT actually can be cracked
02:06 really really well if you promise to
02:08 commit to it now what I mean by that is
02:11 the GMAT tests your critical thinking to
02:13 some degree but it does so in a really
02:15 strange way which is kind of this GMAT
02:17 style of thinking that I will say is not
02:18 applied anywhere else in life and is not
02:20 relevant but don't tell them I said that
02:22 all you have to do to learn this GMAT
02:24 style of thinking is actually just
02:25 practice taking the test a bunch of
02:27 times it's really just a function of
02:29 repetition if you tell me John I promise
02:31 to commit to you for the next three
02:33 months every Saturday and Sunday I'm
02:35 going to wake up every morning no matter
02:36 how hungover I am or what have you and
02:38 I'm going to take an official practice
02:39 exam that's provided by the GMAT
02:41 organization I promise you if you put in
02:44 that work you take as many practice
02:45 tests as possible you will come out of
02:47 that with an above 90 percentile score
02:49 where just like me who I'm not that
02:51 great of a standardized test taker I
02:53 somehow walked out with a 770. now that
02:55 we've gotten those two acronyms out of
02:56 the way let's talk about the real things
02:58 that will actually differentiate your
02:59 resume Beyond just the table Stakes of
03:01 being a good student and that is your
03:04 work experience so let's talk about the
03:06 jobs that business school admissions
03:07 committees generally love seeing on your
03:09 resume the two top industries that's in
03:11 the most students into a top business
03:12 school are either management consulting
03:14 or Finance so something like Investment
03:16 Banking or private Equity so you're
03:17 going to see a lot of people in your
03:18 class from some of these top companies
03:20 here which are great places to start
03:21 your career if you want to start there
03:23 and hop into business school and also
03:25 kind of sell your soul but a great
03:27 places to jump off into and actually get
03:30 into a top business school but here's
03:31 the thing you do not need to start at
03:33 one of these top companies or go to one
03:35 of these super top ivy league honcho
03:38 Poncho schools in order to get into a
03:39 top business school all you really need
03:41 is to have work experience that's super
03:43 meaningful and has made an impact
03:45 because when you think about these top
03:47 companies they're really just a proxy
03:49 for saying you have some sort of stamp
03:50 of approval on top of the fact that you
03:52 probably worked on something really
03:53 interesting and meaningful and that's
03:55 why over half of the classes that go
03:56 into top Business Schools actually come
03:58 from Industries like the non-profit
04:00 sector the military Healthcare you name
04:02 it basically not your average square
04:04 consultant or investment banker which to
04:06 be clear I came for finance so I'm just
04:07 making fun of myself but I just want you
04:09 to know what actually matters is when
04:11 you think about your resume and the
04:12 bullet points on that resume it's really
04:14 about what kind of impact you had and
04:16 how interesting was your experience so
04:18 as you think about planning your career
04:20 or your work experience to get into a
04:21 top business school it's all about
04:22 pursuing something that you find
04:24 genuinely interesting because those are
04:25 the types of things where you're going
04:26 to raise your hand and go do something
04:28 super super cool so let me give you some
04:30 examples of some of my friends who've
04:31 gotten it so my friend Lily started in
04:33 marketing and then spent four years at
04:35 the Clinton Health Access initiative
04:37 specifically helping distribute vaccines
04:39 around the world she had no prior
04:41 Finance honcho management consulting
04:43 experience whatsoever but it worked on
04:45 really impactful things that saved
04:46 thousands of lives and now she's
04:48 crushing it at a startup Meanwhile my
04:50 buddy Julian started as a soccer player
04:52 before working as an actuary and now
04:54 he's crushing it at a private Equity
04:56 Fund so basically the Point here is that
04:58 there is a bar let's call it the bar of
05:00 interestingness and I want you to think
05:02 about what is your bar of
05:03 interestingness and whatever you do
05:05 think about what would be super cool for
05:07 you to achieve or a place for you to go
05:09 work at I want you to go do that and
05:11 enjoy doing it and make impact and
05:14 whatever organization that is or
05:16 whatever you're doing whether you're
05:17 working for a company or starting your
05:18 own thing go do that go crush it I
05:21 promise you that's what the admissions
05:22 committee is going to love but with all
05:24 that being said I know how scary it is
05:25 to think about your resume so I'm going
05:27 to put my resume down below you can
05:28 download it completely for free and use
05:30 that as a reference if it's helpful so
05:31 now that you have your work experience
05:33 under your belt now we need to talk
05:34 about how you're actually going to
05:35 differentiate in your actual application
05:37 and we'll do that in an actual classroom
05:39 this could be you one day so the
05:42 applications process is really just
05:43 College admissions 2.0 where you've got
05:45 an essay portion sometimes you've got
05:47 some short statements or personal
05:49 statement sections per school and then
05:50 lastly you have your letters of
05:52 recommendation but remember there are
05:54 thousands of chats out there competing
05:56 for the limited amount of lots of these
05:57 top Business Schools so you have to ask
05:59 yourself how is my application going to
06:01 differentiate and when I think about
06:03 that in my MBA class there's literally a
06:05 Navy SEAL as well as a multiple gold
06:08 medal winning Olympian in my class
06:10 there's just no way that my application
06:12 or my profile is ever going to be that
06:14 interesting so you have to ask yourself
06:15 how John did you as a regular person get
06:19 into a top business school and it's
06:20 because I learned this one key Insight
06:23 that all of us share which is I will
06:25 never be the smartest or most talented
06:27 person in the room but what I'm better
06:29 at than everyone else in the world at is
06:32 just being myself so as you think about
06:34 writing a really good essay you should
06:37 almost see the essay writing process
06:38 actually as a soul-searching process
06:41 because this is what's going to get you
06:42 a really good essay where the best
06:44 essays are really just almost vulnerable
06:47 works of art where you think a lot about
06:49 what is your authentic story like what
06:51 is your background what were your
06:53 struggles growing up what were your
06:54 vulnerabilities and insecurities and how
06:56 of those shapes you you like what is
06:58 your life story and then you tie all
06:59 this together into a really neat tie and
07:02 a really neat bow of saying this is the
07:04 business school that's for me because of
07:05 all my background that's informed my
07:08 career aspirations later so as a good
07:10 example I'm just going to read you some
07:12 of the lines from my essay to Stanford
07:13 my mom and I immigrated to America when
07:15 I was just a child escaping my abusive
07:17 father and our trials in China behind us
07:19 armed with a PhD in mechanical
07:21 engineering my mom succeeded as the only
07:23 female engineer in her male dominated
07:24 division while rebuilding a life for her
07:27 son as an immigrant single mother my mom
07:29 always grounded her success in a
07:31 gratitude towards technology which
07:33 empowered her independence in our
07:34 Southern and entirely Caucasian
07:36 Community this gratitude serves as the
07:38 Cornerstone of my belief that technology
07:39 is the greatest agent for positive
07:41 change and then what you'll see that I
07:43 did in my essay which you can download
07:44 for free below is I start to weave in
07:47 examples of how technology has impacted
07:48 me and specifically talk about my work
07:50 experience as well where I talk about
07:52 how the internet actually allowed me and
07:54 my mom to start our own online business
07:55 when I was growing up I also talked
07:56 about how as a kid with absolutely no
07:58 connections because of the internet I
08:00 was able to learn everything I needed to
08:02 learn to get a job in Investment Banking
08:03 that otherwise because I had no
08:05 Connections in and no money and no
08:07 family background I wouldn't have gotten
08:09 that job no matter how hard I had tried
08:10 and so as I thought about escaping
08:12 competition through authenticity of
08:14 telling my story and being uniquely me I
08:17 then had to ask myself within my essays
08:19 why specifically this school and once
08:22 again this is where you tie that bow
08:24 really well of hey you know for me it
08:26 was I love technology this is how it
08:28 shaped me and given me a fair shot at
08:30 the world well what school is better for
08:32 technology investing technology
08:33 entrepreneurship than Stanford Business
08:35 School and so as you think about really
08:37 nailing your application this is the
08:39 last critical part that I'm about to
08:41 teach you guys which is how do you
08:43 actually sell yourself to a school and
08:45 really show them that you've done your
08:46 research so the way you sell a school on
08:48 saying I really want to come here and
08:50 you should actually pick me is by doing
08:52 your homework now what I mean by that is
08:54 basically I want you to obsess over
08:55 every single detail possible you can
08:57 learn about this school in order to show
08:59 them that you really put in the work to
09:01 actually really care about the school
09:02 and you really want to go there so what
09:04 that meant for me was going to a ton of
09:05 networking and informational events that
09:07 a lot of these schools actually host in
09:08 different cities as well as actually
09:10 cold messaging and cold emailing a ton
09:12 of different alums and also current
09:13 students at Stanford Business School to
09:15 actually learn more about the school
09:17 because what I did through that process
09:18 was I learned more about the school's
09:20 culture and I learned more about how to
09:22 talk about Stanford specifically and
09:24 I'll throw some lines up here from my
09:25 why Stanford essay and from that it
09:28 showed the admissions committee that I
09:29 actually knew what I was talking about
09:31 and on top of that all this hard work
09:33 that I put into learning about Stanford
09:34 and why it was a good fit for me was
09:36 actually super critical for me to crush
09:38 the very last step of this process which
09:41 so let's talk about the interview the
09:44 interview is the second round of your
09:45 application process where the only way
09:47 you'll get an interview is if you crush
09:49 your work experiences and your
09:50 application but the good news and also
09:52 the scary news of an interview is that
09:54 at this point you basically have a 50 50
09:56 shot to get in and so that's why it's
09:58 super critical to really crutch this
10:00 interview and these are the tips that I
10:01 have for you on how to actually do that
10:03 so one day you're going to be going
10:04 about your life and you're going to get
10:05 an awesome email that says
10:07 congratulations you've been invited to
10:09 interview and you're going to get
10:10 connected with a specific Alum of that
10:12 school who's going to interview you so
10:14 this is where doing your homework comes
10:16 back in where I want you to look up this
10:17 alum's background on LinkedIn or
10:19 whatever and learn more about what they
10:21 do so that you understand them as a
10:23 human being and then in actually
10:24 scheduling your interview and
10:25 communicating with them you want to be
10:27 super responsive super polite super
10:29 professional all the regular interview
10:31 best practices now from here when you
10:34 think about the actual interview itself
10:35 it's going to be basically entirely
10:37 behavioral so what that means is likely
10:39 you're going to be feeling really tense
10:40 and nervous for this interview because
10:42 you're like oh my God there's so much
10:43 pressure my life is on the line I want
10:44 to get into the school but what I want
10:46 to tell you here is I just want you to
10:48 like and be present and just be your
10:50 full authentic self because that's
10:52 what's gotten you so far to this
10:54 interview is showcasing your unique
10:55 background and telling your unique story
10:57 and so as you sit down for this
10:58 interview they're going to ask you all
11:00 the typical questions like what's your
11:01 story why do you want to go to the
11:02 school and I just want you to be a
11:03 genuine human being and thankfully
11:05 you've done all this research on why you
11:07 want to go to this specific school so as
11:09 you sit down and talk to this Alum about
11:11 their experiences and you're like oh
11:13 yeah I know that class I'm really
11:14 excited about that one or oh yeah I even
11:15 know someone in your class because
11:17 you've done all that research you're
11:19 going to get along really well and
11:20 connect with that Alum really well and
11:22 show them that you really really really
11:23 want to go to the school and you've also
11:25 done all this work telling your story on
11:28 why this specific school is the gateway
11:30 to your career dreams and so this is
11:33 your homework number one I want you to
11:35 nail your work experiences I want you to
11:36 work super hard to achieve whatever you
11:38 want to achieve in your career so that
11:40 you can take that and bring that into
11:41 your application where you're going to
11:43 do the soul searching process of just
11:45 sharing your unique background your
11:47 authentic self and your story free so
11:49 that you can land that interview where
11:51 you're going to be once again your full
11:53 authentic genuine self and then end up
11:55 with an offer to join a top business
11:57 school so that one day all of this
11:59 student debt can be yours all right see
