Collaborating With Consultants To Maximize Your Chances Of Success

If you choose to work with an MBA consultant, then expecting them to work for you, instead with you can prove to be an Achilles Heel for your application. Many applicants reach out to consultants because they do not have time, need focused expertise and thus need to beef up their efforts to enhance their chances of success. Your consultant is a part of your support system, but ultimately you have to be your own representative.
Here we will discuss why a consultant is not your delegate, but you have to be the one behind the wheel.

What does a consultant in general do for you?

Consultants have been around since the dawn of business. In general, they are hired by companies to make strategic decisions because it’s a safer bet. They provide an unbiased and objective point of view which might be missing for an insider. The same goes for an MBA consultant. However, just like companies, you will benefit more when challenging them or working with them. Else, there is a good chance you will lose control of the larger picture and the final output.

You know yourself best

Some cliches are true, like this one. While a consultant will help you portray the required stories for your application effectively, always remember that you are the one communicating it finally to the admissions committee. Further, the choice of stories and the personalized element are dependent on your experiences and skills, while a consultant can help you position the narration in an effective and impactful manner, the content is often dependent on you since you are the one who has lived through your life journey.

A consultant isn’t a magic wand

Or a fairy godmother of admission. Hiring a consultant will certainly help, but they cannot make up for a poor GPA or an insufficient GMAT and other core aspects of your profile.  For example, the average GMAT score for Harvard is 730. If you have, say a 650 in your GMAT, a consultant might be able to justify it in your application and maneuver around it, but it is not a foolproof mantra for admission.

You have to own your essays and letters

It is a reflection of your personality, and a consultant cannot portray it better than you. While he or she will guide you about what is to be highlighted, it is on you to lay bare the contents of your story. Don’t do half the work and expect the consultant to do the other half, instead, you have to bring your 100% so that your final application is beyond 100%. Of course, you can always work with your consultant to evaluate the crucial elements and values that should be captured in these facets of the admissions application and further enhance your narrative to make it captivating for the admissions committee.

You will have to give time

While an MBA admission consultant will make your job substantially easier, you cannot pile it on them and not devote requisite time from your end. In fact, applications that are framed purely by the consultant, and not without significant inputs from the candidate are at a higher risk of getting rejected. This is because your application will lack the requisite personalization that often makes all the difference to the admissions committee, remember they are reading thousands of applications in a given year and hence are quite apt and skilled in evaluating them from a finer lens. The admission team wants to see your personality and communication skills via your application and not that of the consultant.

In effect, a consultant is not someone you have loaned your brain to in order to work for you. The more proactively you are working with the consultant, there are more chances you will have a coherent and cohesive application.