导读目录

我已经过去了纽约大学，根据我的一些感触，写了这封很长很长的电子邮件。它帮助我澄清我对商学院的一些想法，我想这有可能帮助到我的那些未来考虑申请商学院的朋友。 我刚刚完成了整个申请过程，我对此非常熟悉，下面详细地描述了我的经验。

序言：

你有一个很长很长的准备时间，所以我的第一条建议是不要想太多太遥远的事情。我知道你也许经常听到这句话 ，你的申请首先应该基于你的兴趣 ，学习你感兴趣的专业，做你擅长的事情 ，才能做得很好。这也意味着要确保你是完善充实的，你需要时间来追求的爱好和课外活动，并且你需要记得你要不断地向外探索，冒险。这将让你成长为一个人。

商学院和其他研究生院的最大区别之一是，他们不一定看学术成果。商学院要挑选一些完善充实的，来自不同背景的、拥有有趣的经验的人。这使得整个申请更为公平（或者有时更“随机”）。 不像法学院，在那里一份漂亮的成绩单，一个高的Lsat成绩一定能保证你的录取，在商学院， 你常常会发现分数较低 ，但是有丰富经验的学生，他们也能被顶尖商学院的录取。所以，在申请过程中，预测你的处境是非常困难的。

对学校讲述你的故事：

商学院的申请，重点在于 “讲述你的故事”。学校希望看到你是一个对未来事业有明确计划的人，他们渴望了解你为什么要申请商学院，商学院如何成就你的未来事业。 当然，极少数人，能够很幸运的20岁出头，就能将自己的人生事业规划完整。 因此，商学院是一个你能够重塑自我的地方。

请确保你有数学，经济学或统计学课程背景，你的成绩单应该足以证明你有良好的数学运用能力，不会让数学成为你今后在商学院的绊脚石。 商学院对数学的要求很基本，所以，如果你是经济学专业，相信数学对你来讲不是问题。

在此之后，你应该尝试证明，你对经济或者商业的兴趣。 重要的是要记住，商学院将自身定位成达成目的的手段，而不是目的本身。他们希望录取那些雄心勃勃、计划利用商学院为自己的事业推波助澜的学生。 他们不希望学生申请商学院，只是因为他们看中名校的一纸文凭，他们也不会录取那些对自己的人生毫无规划，希望通过商学院的这两年来寻找目标的人。 商学院中充斥着这样的人：他们也许不知道未来究竟要干什么，但是，每个人都能讲一个完整的引人入胜的故事，一个关于他们未来规划的故事。

尝试在你感兴趣的领域，成为领导者。尝试成为一个俱乐部的头，一个运动队的队长，一本杂志的编辑，或者一个电影导演。商学院将寻找那些接触过“管理”理念，具有管理经验的人， 他们想知道你是否和他人互动良好，你是否有一些“领导”的技巧，你是否在你所领导的领域付出了组够多的努力 。

现在，我们来谈谈工作经验。曾经，极少的本科生能毕业之后直接进入商学院 。虽然现在商学院似乎越来越多的录取了本科毕业生，但是他们所占的比例还很小。 你会发现你在申请过程中会遇到很多麻烦，因为每一个申请的作文题目，基本都是关于领导力和个人经验的。你的答案越不普通，越具有多元性，就越好。作为一个本科生， 由于大部分本科课程都是相似的，因此回答这样的问题会让你很头疼，比起那些有成堆经验的已经工作的人，你的答案更加不容易出彩。你的答案也很可能是令人难以信服的，因为甚至在你开始你的职业生涯之前，你就要大谈特谈职业发展。

我强烈建议你在一家你感兴趣的公司或者非政府组织实习， 我也强烈强烈建议你在你感兴趣的领域工作至少两年再考虑申请商学院。 对于很多人来说，商学院是不是一个明智的选择。如果你已经有一个公司，你还想往上级流动，为什么你要选择花费20万美元，而商学院毕业以后，你很可能在你原有的行业内仅仅只有小步提升。 我认为商学院尤其适合那些有兴趣转行，或者已经达到了事业的瓶颈，需要重回课堂来为他们充电的人。 我觉得美国的情况略有中国，在中国研究生教育越来越普及，成了就业的基本门槛，但在美国，在花费一大笔学费进入商学院之前，先拼搏一番看你有没有可能成功是很值得并且很必要的。

大学毕业后的数年也将让你有机会成为一个更完善的人，去你一直想去的地方旅游， 看你一直渴望看的东西，冒险一下也无妨，尽管失败会把你的生活推向一个较为艰难的境地，但是你还年轻，你的年龄给了你选择激情的权利。你可以启动一个公司，写了一本书，搬到秘鲁，俄罗斯，南非 - 即使你失败了，你将展示各学校，你有一种激情，一种对独立的追求，你雄心勃勃。如果你成功了，你好到了你真正能投入进去的事业，也许你已经不再需要商学院为你推波助澜了，你已经很成功了。

如果你读完大学，你有一个非常强烈的想法，商学院是你渴望进入的地方，那么不惜一切代价，通过各种手段，去申请。如今商学院提供给本科生越来越多的特殊奖学金。

商学院会参考：你的成绩单，GMAT或GRE ，文章和推荐信。
成绩单：这个很简单，取得好成绩！但也请记住，成绩不是很重要，因为其他学校的毕业生到商学院， 通常的平均GPA是3.5左右。

GMAT和GRE：就个人而言，我选择了GMAT ，但GRE也是一种选择。我的理解是，GMAT的数学部分有点难度，GRE的的词汇部分是有点困难。选择最擅长的 ，但要确保你努力学习，做好，因为这是迄今为止申请中最容易的部分。

Essay：这是申请中最困难的部分。我申请了五所学校，在所有申请中写了约40篇文章 。我不断地打草稿，不断地修改 。既然你现在还有这么多年时间， 我的意见将是现在开始练习。在任何你有灵感和想法的时候记录下来它们，记录你生命中重要的时刻，以及它们是如何改变你的。什么对你有特别意义，为什么？你练习得越多，就会成为一个越好的作家。这些文章可以是博客，可以是日记，甚至可以是发表在校园刊物上的文章。一定要把你的Essay发送给那些已经被商学院录取的朋友们读一读，他们比谁都清楚什么样的文章是商学院的教授们想看的，你发送给越多的人阅读修改，你的胜算也越大。

建议：商学院不主张学生把学术成就拿来作为参考，显然，对于本科毕业生，这一点也不尽然。不过，找一位你在实习中、工作中遇到的能给你的职业规划提出真切意见的上级或雇主给你写推荐信，是非常有分量的。学校想看看谁是你作为一个人，作为一个雇员和一个同事表现如何，不仅是一个学生。

关于申请过程：

年初开始，你应该在你想申请的前一年的1月或2月就开始准备所有材料。早考GMAT,让它不要成为挡在你申请过程中的拦路石 ，留给自己充足的时间准备其他更难的事项。 如果你真的准备好了，你可以GMAT 和GRE都考，如果你搞砸了其中一个，你完全可以不寄给学校你考的不好的那项成绩。然后你应开始研究学校，清楚没一所你想申请的学学校的特色。 虽然商学院都声称是独特的，但是我发现他们在校提供的课程十分相似，真正不同的是，不同学校能提供的校外的资源接口。确保你选择的学校，在你未来的雇主那里有良好的口碑。

早日开始你的文章能给你提供充足的准备时间， 你的目标是在7月底让一切准备材料就绪，以便你可以赶上所有的一流学校的申请截止日期 ，这也能提高你被好学校录取的可能性 ，如果你的第一轮申请不理想，你还有机会选择一些退一档的学校。 请记住，申请过程是很耗费时间的，而且大多数我认识的人只申请了五六所学校。

尝试去那些你想申请的学校看看，看看你是否能适应并且享受你在那里的生活和学习。尝试和在校生见面并且交谈，因为那些单独的面谈经历能够成为很好的写作申请的材料。

然后，等待开始。你等待着你的面试邀请 。面试邀请是一个非常好的迹象， 这意味着学校喜欢你，也会考虑你，现在准备来面试你。最热门的学校在接受你之前要求亲自面谈， 为了准备这些，你的故事应该继续。为什么商学院？为什么是现在？为什么是X校？一定要清楚每个学校和每个项目之间的细节差异。

尽量不要气馁，等待的过程是十分漫长的，也尽量不要想太多，尽量不和别人比较。 最后，为你敲开商学院大门的，是你的独特之处，不是你有别人也有的共性。有些人GMAT成绩不高，并不意味着它在学校时候成绩不好，也不意味他没有卓绝的能力，也不意味着它不是一个会讲魅力故事的人。你不可能知道每个申请人的细节，于是不如花时间在那些你可以掌控的地方上，比如好好准备面试。

总结：

1）忠实于自己，找出你的兴趣和擅长所在，记住，你的兴趣和你的充满激情的追求，比任何其他条件能让你成为一个更为出色的竞选人。

2）想清楚你需要商学院么？为什么？为什么是A学校，不是B学校？商学院能给你今后的事业哪些帮助。我知道这样的问题也许很难，但你无法回避，逼迫自己去回答吧。

3）准备并尽早提出申请。你给自己的时间越多，越可能成功。

4）不要让对商学院成为你享受现在大学生活的沉重负担，抓住现在能有的一切并且好好利他，做快乐有趣完善的人。

希望这些想法帮助。希望你未来好运，如果你大学毕业以后决定申请的话，到那时我已经从纽约大学毕业了。如果你还有更多的问题，你知道去哪里找我。

此致，

安德鲁

英语原文：

Hi Cassandra!

I've gone and written you a long, long email. It has helped me to clarify some of my ideas about business school, and I thought it might be interesting to send to some of my friends in the future if they ever consider business school. I haven't discussed EMT at Stern specifically, because although that is my planned major, I won't start until September so I can't tell you much yet. I did, however, just finish the whole application process, so I am very familiar with that and have described my experience in detail below. So apologies about the length and lack of specifics on Stern, but I hope this is helpful.

The preamble:

You've got a long, long time to prepare, so my first piece of advice would be not to think too far ahead. I know you probably hear this all the time, but the most important thing for your application is that you follow your interests, study what you're interested in, and do what you do best and do it well. It also means making sure that you are well-rounded, that you take time to pursue hobbies and activities outside of class, and that you remember to push your boundaries and do some activities that will make you grow as a person.

One of the big differences between Business School and other graduate schools is that they aren't necessarily looking only at academic achievement. B-Schools want to pick a class of well-rounded, experienced people from diverse and interesting backgrounds. This makes for a much more equitable (or sometimes much more "random") selection process. Unlike Law School, where a certain GPA and LSAT score can almost guarantee admittance, with B-School, you often find people with lower grades or lower scores but really strong experience are admitted to top programs. It can be very difficult to predict or control where you stand in the admissions process.

With that general material out of the way:

Business School applications are all about "telling your story." The schools want to see that you have a clear, organized plan for your life, and that you have a very specific idea about how business school fits into this plan and why. Of course, very very few people are lucky enough in their early or mid-twenties to have anything remotely resembling an organized life plan. Therefore, business schools become all about the "story:" how do you shape, twist, make up, and imagine your experiences and desires into a coherent argument to present to B-Schools.

Some small basic things can help. Make sure you have enough Math, Economics or Statistics courses on your transcript to demonstrate that you are good with numbers and won't struggle with the academic side of B-school. The level of Math in business school is pretty basic, so even just taking one or two classes in these areas would probably be enough to show you have the required skills. If you are planning to major in Economics or Science, don't worry about this. But if you are a humanities student, consider taking a Micro Economics class or something similar. This will also demonstrate that you had an early interest in the Business field.

Following on that, you should try to demonstrate an interest in economics or business, or in how they relate to your chosen field of interest. If you are interested in Media and Entertainment, sit down and try to work out how going to business school would help you advance in that field. It's important to remember that B-Schools see themselves as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. They want students who are ambitious and plan to use business school to get them ahead in their chosen fields. They DO NOT want students who are applying to business school because they want the credential on their record, or because they don't know what they want to do and need more time to figure it out. That being said, B-School is full of those kind of people (who have no idea what they want to do yet), but all of them managed to tell a compelling story on their applications about how business school was the right place for them and how it would help them in their careers.

Try to display initiative and become a leader in an area that interests you. Try to become the head of a club, the captain of a sports team, the editor of a magazine, or the director of a movie. B-schools will look for that kind of engagement and "management" experience. They want to know that you are good at interacting with people, that you have some "leadership" skills, and that you are invested enough in what you do to want to take ownership of it.

Now, about work experience. It used to be the case that very few students came straight from undergrad programs into Business School. Although schools now seem to be admitting more and more students straight out of college, it is still rare and you may find yourself struggling with many parts of the application. Each application asks specific essay questions about "leadership" and personal experience, and the more varied and interesting your responses, the better your essays. Since most undergrad programs are similar, it will therefore be harder for you, as an undergrad, to put the same amount of color and diversity into your application as someone who has been out of school for a few years. It will also be difficult for your to argue convincingly that you understand how business school fits into your career, not having begun your career.

I would strongly advise looking for a summer internship at a company or NGO in the field that you are interested in during college. I would also strongly strongly advise trying to find a job in your field for at least 2 years after college before considering school. For many people, Business School IS NOT an intelligent choice. If you already have a great job at a company you like, with opportunity for upward mobility, why spend $200,000 for a school that at best can only send you back into the same field with a small promotion? I think business school is best for those who are interested in changing careers, or who have reached a ceiling in their upward momentum and need business school to help them take that next step. I feel the situation is slightly different in China, where graduate education is becoming more and more of a basic threshold for employment, but in the US it is certainly worth trying to succeed on your own before spending a lot of money to do so.

Those few years after college will also give you a chance to become a more well-rounded person, to travel places you've always wanted to travel, to see things you've always wanted to see, and to take some risks that might be harder later in life. Start a company, write a book, move to Peru--even if you fail, you will be demonstrating to schools that you have a passion and are independent and ambitious about pursuing it. And if you succeed or discover something new that you really love, it will either give you a great story to tell on your application or maybe even make you so successful you don't need to apply at all!

If you finish college and you have a really strong idea that B-School is the place for you, then by all means, apply. Consider looking into the growing number of special scholarship programs B-Schools offer for students coming straight from undergrad programs.

Basics about the application:

Business schools considers the following: your transcript, your GMATs or GREs, your essays and your recommendations.

Transcript: pretty simple here, get good grades! But also remember that grades aren't quite as important to B-School as other grad schools. The average GPA is usually somewhere around 3.5.

GMATs/GREs: Personally, I took the GMATs, but GREs are an option too. My understanding is that the GMATs' math section is a little harder, while the GREs' verbal section is a little harder. Take whichever you feel most comfortable with but make sure you study hard and do well, as this is by far the easiest part of the application.

Essays: And this is the hardest part of the application. I applied to five schools and had to write somewhere around 40 essays by the end of the process. These will take endless drafts and revisions. Since you are thinking so many years ahead, my advice would be to start practicing now. Not seriously, yet, but take a moment every once in a while to jot down essay ideas. Try to remember the important moments in your life, what you felt and how they changed you. What is especially meaningful to you and why? The more you practice, the better a writer you'll become. The same subjects that make good essays might make good blog postings, diary entries, or even publications in a student journal somewhere. Consider those options as a way to practice. When you start applying for real, make sure you send your essays to be read by friends who are in business school already. They will know best what makes a good application essay. The more people who read your work, the better it will be.

Recommendations: B-schools discourage applicants from using academic references, although this must not apply for undergrads. Nevertheless, consider looking for a mentor at a summer job or internship who might help advise your career and eventually write you a recommendation. The schools want to see who you are as a person, as a worker and as a colleague, not just as a student.

About applying and the process:

Start early, in January or February before the year you want to apply. Take the GMATs and get them out of the way, giving yourself time to retake them if necessary. If you are really well prepared, you could take both the GMAT and the GRE, and send only your best score, that way avoiding having to send two scores if you mess up the first time. Start researching schools and get an idea about what makes them different. Although B-schools all claim to be unique, I found them to be quite similar in terms of on campus offerings. One big difference, however, can be what sort of access they give you off campus. Make sure each school is known by recruiters in your chosen field and that they have a good track record in placing students in that area.

Start your essays early so you can get several rounds of revisions done for each. Your goal is to have everything wrapped up by the end of July so you can make the Round 1 application deadline for every top school on your list. This will give you a slightly better chance of being accepted and also give you the opportunity to apply to safety schools if the first round doesn't go well. Keep in mind that the application process is quite time intensive, and most people I know only applied to a small handful of schools, like five or six.

Try and visit as many schools as you can to see if you would enjoy life on that campus and in order to become familiar with specifics of the schools that you can use in your essays. Try to meet and talk to students, either on campus or through your school friends and alumni, as those one-on-one conversations can become useful material in your applications.

Then the waiting begins. You sit and wait for interview invitations. An invitation to interview is a very good sign, it means the school likes you, is strongly considering you, and is now ready to meet you. Most top schools require interviews in person in order to offer you a place in the class. To prepare for these, keep working on your story. Why Business School? Why Now? Why at School X? Call on your research into the subtle differences between each program, and your experiences with students from those schools and during visits. You usually have the opportunity to attend a class or two on the day of your interview, so if you schedule your interview for the late afternoon, it will give you a chance to look around campus and have a very fresh impression in your mind when you go into your meeting.

Try not to get discouraged. The waiting process can be long, and you may be rejected from schools you were confident about or accepted to schools you never dreamed would take you. Try not to think about it too much and try not to compare yourself to others. In the end, it is your unique strengths that will get you into school, not your similarities to the rest of the class. Just because someone has a low GMAT score doesn't mean they don't have a high GPA, amazing extracurriculars, or are just a fantastic and charismatic storyteller. It's impossible to know the details of everyone's application, so don't try. You will be a happier and less-stressed applicant if you try to put the waiting out of your mind and focus on the things you can control, like preparing for interviews.

That being said, it's impossible not to be curious and I did find a few useful websites where applicants posted their experiences in interviews, including the questions they were asked, which can help you prepare.

In conclusion:

1) Be true to yourself, figure out what you're interested in, good at, and passionate about and pursue those things aggressively. This more than anything will make you a strong candidate.

2) Begin trying to explain how B-School fits into your career plan. Do you need B-School to succeed? Why? Why would School X help you more than School Y? Play the Devil's advocate, force yourself to come up with strong answers to these questions.

3) Prepare and apply early. The more time you give yourself, the better your application will be.

4) Don't let worrying about Business School make you forget to enjoy college. Enjoy your undergraduate experience and try to focus on getting the most out of that for now. Happy people with fun stories make good classmates.

Hope these thoughts help. Best of luck with the next two years and good luck if you decide to apply to school. I'll just be graduating then, but if you have further questions, you know where to find me.

Yours,

Andrew