B-Schooled: Get Your MBA Admit

For this two-part conversation, Chandler sits down with SBC Consultant Dawn Clare to discuss her "One Minute Method" for identifying underrecognized individual strengths.  As many of you know, Dawn is no stranger to the podcast and brings so much to this conversation. Dawn graduated as a PepsiCo Scholar from Harvard Business School with concentrations in finance and marketing. Dawn was also admitted to the Stanford GSB. Outside of her work in admissions consulting, Dawn has experience at a wide range of companies, including Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Pepsi, the Carlyle Group and Warner Bros. In part one of this conversation, Dawn described her “One Minute Method” for identifying strengths. This methodology really is about focus – helping you to identify and focus on your own superpowers and how best to make these central to your MBA application. In part two of this conversation, Dawn shares how to apply this methodology to application time management especially during periods of stress or anxiety. In this segment Dawn focuses specifically on: Helping you improve your own productivity, Managing your workload during times of stress and anxiety, Figuring out what to do when you get stuck on essays and/other parts of their application, Using this methodology to "stand out from the crowd" -- especially if you are a part of an over-represented demographic, Moving from overwhelm to productivity when the application becomes too daunting; breaking down big application elements into smaller manageable pieces in order to move forward. Dawn and Chandler also discuss how many applicants are currently overwhelmed by all that is going on in the world… and how to use this methodology to move from overwhelm to excitement by identifying new strengths they hadn't thought about before.

For this two-part conversation, Chandler sits down with SBC Consultant Dawn Clare to discuss her "One Minute Method" for identifying underrecognized individual strengths.  As many of you know, Dawn is no stranger to the podcast and brings so much to this conversation. Dawn graduated as a PepsiCo Scholar from Harvard Business School with concentrations in finance and marketing. Dawn was also admitted to the Stanford GSB. Outside of her work in admissions consulting, Dawn has experience at a wide range of companies, including Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Pepsi, the Carlyle Group and Warner Bros. In part one of this conversation, Dawn shares her framework the "One Minute Method" for identifying individual strengths and how she uses it with her clients. This exercise focuses on taking one minute to focus on what they do that is AMAZING. This exercise sounds simple, but when done correctly a series of times is incredibly powerful.   This exercise is designed to be simple to support you with limited time. You can do it as many times as you would like and it is incredibly powerful. In this segment Dawn focuses specifically on: helping applicants who might be stuck on essay topics, potential interview questions, or other elements of the MBA application, focusing on your instinct and intuition for a brief time rather than over-analyzing or comparing yourself to others, centering who you are at core, clarifying your own internal intrinsic value, and harnessing that to make your application as strong as possible, offering specific and actionable tips on how to think about yourself in new ways or “break out of the box” that others might have put you in. Numerous applicants have found this exercise to be especially useful, when “stuck” or during times of application stress and anxiety. If you enjoy this conversation, we hope you will join us next week for part two of this series.

In this episode replay, Chandler dives into 6 tips for MBA essays that even the most confident writers might miss.

This episode will motivate you to get going on your Round 1 MBA materials, and will cover what makes the most sense for you to be working on right now before applications are released.

Memorial Day weekend in the United States represents the unofficial kickoff of the 2025-26 business-school application year! What's the number one thing you should be doing right now if you plan to apply?

This replay episode covers 5 MBA applicant pitfalls – as in, traits, attitudes or approaches that some MBA applicants take that can ultimately derail their chances of success.

Have you bounced around in your career a bit? If so, you’ll need to be strategic in how you communicate your career story — and future career goals — to MBA admissions committees. This replay episode discusses what to do if your career moves don’t look exactly logical “on paper.”  We’ll also cover how to write about being laid off or being fired, as well as what to do in your applications if you’ve worked somewhere for less than a year.

After working so hard on your MBA materials for months on end, it can be shocking and devastating if you're not accepted anywhere. What should you do now? This episode discusses 5 paths forward for MBA hopefuls who were dinged.

Many interviewers report that they make up a big percentage of their mind about applicants during the first few minutes of an interview. This episode replay shares a number of very specific suggestions and tips to make yourself stand out during these first interactions, now that we're in the thick of Round 2 interview season. Our host Chandler shares his suggestions for something he calls a “personal MBA soundbite” – including how you can create this soundbite, how you can incorporate it into the beginning of your first question, and how you can use this language to provide a framework for your entire interview.  While each is different, the main goals of a personal MBA soundbite are to: summarize who you are in an interesting/memorable/dynamic/compelling way at the start of your interview, create a framework for the first part of your conversation so that the interviewer understands your life and work experiences in the appropriate context given your future goals, and   develop a short *elevator pitch* that can not only be useful as you prep for your interviews… but also in terms of other elements of your admissions journey–from speaking to current students, to alums, to admissions officers, etc.  This episode is perfect for anyone wanting to start off on the right foot for that all-important MBA admission interview.

After you've celebrated the huge achievement of getting into an MBA program, you have to figure out how you're going to pay for it! This episode replay focuses on the details of paying for your MBA with your own money, with "free" money, or with loaned money. It also includes what the FAFSA is used for and what your program's financial aid office can assist with.