Empowering future leaders to land the MBA of their dreams. ๐ From higher ed executive to entrepreneurial innovator, I've spent years on the frontlines of Graduate Management Education, shaping how tomorrowโs leaders are formed. Now, Iโm bringing that experience directly to you, connecting ambitious minds with the right MBA paths to unlock their full potential. Because where thereโs a will, I find the way.
Only humans need apply
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Today, I want to tell you about something really important. Only humans need applyLast week, I came across an article by one of my former MBA professors at Babson. Some of you might even know him - Tom Davenport. Heโs widely recognized as a leading authority in analytics and AI. Heโs co-authored nearly 30 books, published over 240 Harvard Business Review articles, 70+ in MIT Sloan Management Review, and more in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, you name it. In short: Tom is the real deal. A big thinker and someone I was lucky to learn from. One of his most recent books has a title I canโt stop thinking about: โOnly humans need applyโ. Just days ago, I was at the AIGAC conference, the annual gathering of admissions directors from every top 25 MBA program in the U.S. and Europe. This year, we were hosted by UC Berkely Haas, Stanford GSB, and UCLA Anderson. If youโre not familiar, AIGAC is the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants, and itโs one of the few spaces where AdComs and a small group of vetted consultants come together for open, real conversations about whatโs happening inside MBA admissions. Fewer than 50 consultants worldwide attend this conference each year. Thatโs a tiny slice of this industry and itโs not a coincidence. The consultants who show up invest in staying on top of the most important and most current trends in MBA admissions - and we do it in direct, candid conversation with the people actually making the decisions, at Stanford, Haas, HBS, Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, INSEAD, LBS, and beyond. And this year, one theme came up again and again: What AI is doing to MBA candidates and especially to their essays. You know what word kept coming up? Human.Thatโs a message I heard again and again from every single AdCom. AI has made MBA essays more polished but far less human. Essays that read well on the surface but have no heartbeat. No voice. No sense of the person behind the application. And thatโs a problem. Because the bar has shifted again. MBA essays were never about writing.Theyโve always been about clarity, substance, and personal insight. But now, more than ever, the way to stand out is through unvarnished authenticity. Not the curated, performative kind. Not the canned โlessons from hardshipโ and โahaโ moments that sound good but say nothing. The un-orchestrated authenticity (which has always been THE only kind). That doesnโt mean baring your soul in dramatic fashion. It means showing the AdCom what you are all about - not simply what youโve done, but why it mattered, how it happened, how it changed you, what you carried forward. Showing them how you were part of something bigger than yourself. It means writing with insight, not just information. Because in the end, the strongest MBA essays donโt sound like they were written to impress, to dazzle with a clever AI-minted turn of phrase. They sound like they were written by a person with clarity, conviction, and something meaningful to say. Which brings me to the most important part of my message today: How do you actually access that authentic version of yourself?How do you find the clarity, the courage, and the specificity to tell the AdCom something real - something that no AI could write for you? Hereโs the good news: thereโs a process for that. Over the past few months, Iโve completely overhauled the curriculum inside MBA ABC, my group coaching service for serious MBA applicants. And one of the things Iโm most proud of, which came directly from a suggestion by last year's MBA ABC cohort, is a whole new layer of support around essays. Not just school-by-school advice for the top MBA programs (though yes, youโll get that too). But something deeper. A structured, proven framework to help you uncover the stories that actually matter. The ones that reveal what shaped you, how you think, what you value, and where youโre going. I call it your Narrative Vault.And youโll use it again and again. In your essays, interviews, short answers, and even future job applications. Because once you build it, youโre not guessing anymore. Youโre not staring at a blank page. Youโre working with real material - the raw substance of who you are and where youโre headed. But what is MBA ABC?Itโs the coaching program I created four years ago to do what traditional MBA admissions consulting rarely does: Make expert support accessible without watering it down. ๐ฏ On June 13, Iโm hosting a free Career Vision Workshop.In this live session, Iโll walk you through one of the most critical and often misunderstood parts of the MBA application: how to frame your post-MBA career goals in a way thatโs specific, credible, and deeply connected to who you are and what youโve done. Youโll see exactly how I teach this inside MBA ABC, using the same tools and frameworks my cohort members get. And youโll walk away with a clear roadmap for how to craft a strong career vision, whether you decide to join MBA ABC or not. โYou'll also understand how conceptual framing can be the game-changer for your MBA career vision. โ The workshop is free. Itโs live. And if you're applying in Round 1, you should absolutely be there. ๐
Free Live MBA Career Workshop, June 13, 2025โ I hope youโll join me. It's the best first step you can take toward building an application that doesnโt just check boxes but actually resonates. Onwards and upwards, Petia P.S. Did you catch the insights into what MBA AdComs scan for in your MBA admissions resume? |
My MBA Path
Empowering future leaders to land the MBA of their dreams. ๐ From higher ed executive to entrepreneurial innovator, I've spent years on the frontlines of Graduate Management Education, shaping how tomorrowโs leaders are formed. Now, Iโm bringing that experience directly to you, connecting ambitious minds with the right MBA paths to unlock their full potential. Because where thereโs a will, I find the way.
How the "why MBA" question got twisted I saw a version of this maddening mistake three times on r/mba this week alone. Sometimes I chime in but it's, of course, a futile battle. The myth persists, kept alive by MBA candidates (or admits) and MBA admissions consultants alike. As a rule, these are people who never sat on the other side of the table as admissions directors. But somewhere along the way, they decided that "why MBA" means you, MBA hopeful, have to prove well beyond reasonable doubt...
Truth or Myth: MBA Essays Can Save a Low GMAT or GRE? Youโve probably heard it before: โGreat MBA essays can make up for a poor GMAT, but a great GMAT canโt make up for poor essays.โ Itโs a saying as old as admissions forums themselves, and while it sounds catchy, itโs far from entirely accurate. Yes, essays are critical. But letโs get one thing straight: the GMAT and GRE measure something entirely different. Your essays wonโt tell AdComs how well you think under pressure with the timer on....
Hard Truth #1: The MBA AdCom can love you and still say "no" to you. In MBA admissions, knowledge is power. The learning curve can be steep, and reapplying is no fun. As a former Dean of MBA Admissions, Iโve closely tracked trends in the MBA admissions space for over a decade. Iโve observed the ebb and flow of application volumes and the evolving profiles and motivations of applicants to top MBA programs. When I launched My MBA Path, I quickly joined AIGAC, the Association of International...