Overcoming a Perceived EMBA Application Weakness

Every executive has a moment in his or her career that may seem best left forgotten: a series of layoffs that left a two-year gap in a resume, a series of too-quick job changes, or maybe a brief stint attempting to launch a company that failed.

For an EMBA applicant, the past may seem like an open book with everything from undergraduate transcripts to a GMAT score—potentially taken several years ago—on the table for an admissions committee to judge. So what can a prospective EMBA student do to take control over his or her narrative? Sweep a bad GMAT score under the rug? Try and omit a college transcript that shows he spent more time in his senior year partying than studying?

Brett Twitty, Director of Admissions for the executive programs at the Darden School of Business, gave Ivy Exec some helpful tips for an EMBA applicant with a perceived weakness to overcome.

“I think it’s always valuable for an applicant to reflect while preparing her application. All applicants have strengths and weaknesses, and there is value in addressing a potential weakness directly. The key is to explain and not excuse,” Twitty advises. “Admissions committees are interested in who an applicant is at this point in time and the impact she will have on her classmates, and we understand that past experience is not always indicative of future results. However, depending upon the situation, applicants sometimes have to take a more active role in leading us to this realization.”

For example, let’s say an applicant knows that his GMAT score is below the average for past incoming classes at his chosen school. He should not provide the admissions committee with excuses, such as writing in his personal statement that he was going through a particularly stressful time when he sat for the test. Instead, he may want to take control of the narrative and tell the admissions committee that his most impressive career achievements have been in situations that called for outside-the-box thinking—a great asset in the business world that is not necessarily assessed by the GMAT. Providing a few anecdotal examples of these achievements will help add color and personality to the application rather than merely a litany of excuses.

So how do you know whether your perceived weakness as an applicant is worth mentioning? Twitty encourages prospective students to seek guidance from the admissions committee itself.

“One way to figure out if a perceived blemish is worth addressing specifically in the application is by speaking with a member of the Admissions Committee. Most admissions officers who work with exec students regularly offer guidance and counsel about the application process. Being able to really get to know candidates through the admissions life cycle – from prospect, to applicant, to admitted, to matriculant – is one of the great privileges of exec format recruitment,” Twitty says.

Of course it is vital that an applicant keep in mind that any conversation with a member of the admissions team—even by phone or by email—should be treated as an extension of his application. To wit, he should avoid over-communicating or asking questions that he can find an answer to on the school’s website. These conversations can either be a helpful tool in the admissions process for the applicant, or they can demonstrate a lack of preparedness or insecurity. Make sure you use these opportunities wisely and treat them with the formality of a mini-interview.

Ultimately, acknowledging a perceived application weakness can show admissions officers that you know yourself and accept responsibility.

“I think we are all particularly interested in self-awareness, as it is central to so much of what students will do during their time in business school – learning and leadership development, to name two relevant pursuits,” Twitty explains.

In this way, an applicant can demonstrate self-awareness by cleverly positioning a weakness. In doing so, he can turn his weakness into a strength.