Chioma Isiadinso Isiadinso - The Best Business Schools Admissions Secrets: A Former Harvard Business School Admissions Board Member Reveals the Insider Keys to Getting in

Copyright 2008, 2014 by Chioma Isiadinso
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Byrne, John A. MBA Class of 2015: Harvard vs. Wharton. Table: A Tale of Two Business SchoolsHarvard vs. Wharton. Poets & Quants. July 19, 2013. Accessed April 29, 2014. www.poetsandquants.com/2013/07/19/class-of-2015-hbs-vs-wharton. Permission granted.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Isiadinso, Chioma.
The best business schools admissions secrets : a former Harvard Business School Admissions Board member reveals the insider keys to getting in / Chioma Isiadinso, M.Ed.Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Business schoolsAdmission. 2. Master of business administration degree. 3. Business education. I. Title.
HF1111.I85 2014
650.0711dc23

2014018560

To Ari and Aku. You are a blessing and a constant joy in my life.

I first met Chioma Isiadinso in 2005 when I was the CEO of one of the largest banks in Nigeria. Chioma had recently finished her time as an admissions assistant director at Harvard Business School (HBS) and was recruiting in Nigeria on its behalf. She had invited me to participate on an HBS alumni panel for a prospective students event. I was halfway through a decade-long period as CEO of the bank, an experience I never imagined I would have when I was starting my MBA at Harvard Business School in 1980.

With degrees from Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, I thought that an MBA would position me for a top placement at a state-owned firm upon my return. Over the next thirty years, I ended up acquiring and running a large bank and investing in and leading a major mobile technology operator in Nigeria. I have had the opportunity to lead and manage people in two different industries at companies that were at different stages of growth. I can directly attribute my success in these ventures to the training and confidence I acquired during my MBA at Harvard Business School.

When I was applying to the MBA program at HBS, I knew what I was looking for in an MBA program. I wanted a program that would provide me with a comprehensive overview of various aspects of running businesses, including areas such as finance, management, marketing, and governance. I wanted a program that would prepare me to lead an organization in the future rather than just be a specialist in any one functional area. I wanted a program that would equip me with the skills to pursue opportunities across various industries rather than being a prisoner to one particular sector. As Chioma would say, I was looking for a school whose brand was connected with developing leaders.

Applying to top MBA programs these days is much more difficult compared to when I applied in 1980. Given my education and personal background at the time, standing out in the MBA applicant pool was not as difficult as it is today. I did not have to spend a lot of time developing and communicating my personal brand. I was able to stand out from the crowd much more easily because there were so few in the crowd that had a similar brand. Today, if I were to apply to a top MBA program, I would have a hard time standing out from the crowd. That is why this book is so important to business school applicants of today and tomorrow.

The book is divided into three parts. Part One encompasses the first five chapters of the book, which provide you with a big picture overview of the MBA admissions process and teach you how to develop your personal brand and how to pick MBA programs whose brands are a natural fit for your brand. Part Two covers the next four chapters, which dive into the details of the actual MBA application and teach you how to weave your personal brand throughout your entire application. Part Three includes the final five chapters, which give you advice on how to choose which business school admittance you should accept, how to overcome potential challenges that may put your application at a disadvantage, and how to fund the MBA program you decide to attend.

As a former HBS admissions officer, when it comes to advising you on how to successfully apply to top business school programs, no one is better qualified to do so than Chioma. She wrote the book on it in 2008The Best Business Schools Admissions Secrets. In this updated version of her bestselling book, she has packed it chock-full of valuable insights and advice that she has gained from years of expertise in the MBA admissions process.

This book is like an MBA application blueprintChioma teaches you how to successfully develop your personal brand and then leverage your brand throughout the MBA application process. When Chioma asked me to write this foreword, I was more than happy to do so. I remember what it was like for me to apply to business school in 1980 and recognize how helpful this book would have been for me at that time. As the competition increases each year to win a coveted spot in one of the top business school programs around the world, I can envision how so many applicants will benefit from developing the personal brand advice and strategies that Chioma provides in this updated version of her book.

Hakeem Belo-Osagie
HBS MBA 80
Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria

Why write a second edition? Well, the simple answer is that a lot has changed in the six years since I first wrote The Best Business Schools Admissions Secrets. Countries such as Greece have gone bankrupt. Lehman and Bear Stearns, financial powerhouses, are no longer in existence. The worlds population has grown to more than seven billion. Weve witnessed some firsts; the United States of America elected its first African American president, and South Africa became the first African country to host the World Cup in 2010.

Major changes have also taken place in the world of business school admissions. International Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs are developing a stronger reputation across the globe, giving the U.S. MBA programs some serious competition. International MBA programs offered by Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE) and Instituto de Empresa (IE) in Spain, Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have moved ahead of many top U.S. MBA programs like New York Universitys Stern Business School, Northwestern Universitys Kellogg MBA program, and Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business in the 2014