Making Your B-School Application Stand Out
To separate your application to business school from the thousands of others being considered during any given application period, you must craft it into the "story of you." You need to know why you want to go to business school, and then spend the time and effort to translate that self-awareness into a compelling story that not only highlights your strengths, but also demonstrates an awareness of your weaknesses and a plan to improve them. But before you can accomplish this, there are a few things you have to keep in mind before you jump into the applications themselves.

In order to spend the time your applications deserve- and you need lots of time, even if you're applying only to one school - you must first and foremost know your deadlines. Secondly, you must not flirt with missing those deadlines. Don't let the latitude offered by rolling admissions lull you into procrastination, either; remember that the later you wait to submit your applications during a rolling period, the fewer remaining offers of acceptance a school will have to award.

Of course, GMAT scores and GPA are very important; at some schools, you may be ruled in or out depending on their spotlessness. Your undergraduate GPA is untouchable at this point. If it is a weak spot and you have the time, consider taking a class or two to show you are up to the academic challenge of business school. Your GMAT score, on the other hand, is still in your control. With preparation, you can address any shortcomings on that account.

Applications are now available in paper and online formats through schools' websites as well as admissions services websites such as this one (PrincetonReview.com offers over 100 business school applications right here). Indeed, some business schools only accept online applications. Unless you have sparkling penmanship and a cramp-proof hand, a good old typewriter can also become your best and possibly hardest-to-find friend.

Regardless of the format in which you transmit your application, you must proof your work with extreme care. Beyond your scrutiny, allow another set of eyes to proof it as well. You could make a terrific tweak at the suggestion of a friend or family member who catches something that your weary eyes do not. Online, tools such as PrincetonReview.com's Application Inspector* are ideal for catching fields that you leave blank, but you need real people to help you with a qualitative assessment of your application, its references and essays. (It always helps to call the school by its correct name and not its competitors', for example -- a mistake that happens all the time.) Allow yourself plenty of time to get the input you need; it will take awhile.

Which brings us back to deadlines. Another important reason not to lollygag on your application is financial aid. While the period for accepting and considering applications may last into the spring, the deadlines for financial aid opportunities such as merit-based fellowships often arrive sooner than that.

Remember, requests for financial aid do not affect a school's decisions concerning admissions. Just don't let that hard work on the application go to waste because you missed every opportunity to help pay tuition and other expenses.

Crafting the Application
As the application says at Columbia University School of Business, the goal of the application is to allow the emergence of "your academic, personal and professional accomplishments and ambitions… Your application and essays should present you as an individual of diverse skills and interests." This is the "story of you." As many recent applicants have learned, there are many ways to tell your story to an admission committee. Your job is to utilize every single one of them to the extent that you feel makes a genuine, compelling case for your acceptance.

Essays
The essays capture in essence the mission of your effort on the application. For the best possible essays, spend the time on them that they deserve to communicate your self-awareness of why you want to go to business school. Try also to approach each one individually. One recent graduate of NYU spent "a long time" on the essays but would now "spend longer, get friends to read them critically, and potentially seek professional editorial help to sharpen and clarify them."

You may choose to "cannibalize" your essays and remold them to fit the different questions phrased by each school, but do so carefully. If you start to feel like your applications are running on an assembly line rather being borne from a one-of-a-kind mold each time, the chances are greater that the admissions committee will feel the same way.

Supplemental Statements
Virtually every aspect of most applications can be appended with a supplemental statement from you. These statements offer you a further opportunity to tell your story, but beware of coming off as insincere of an apologist. Whatever you say, be careful not to pass the buck; take responsibility for your record. Ultimately, supplemental statements should used, but not abused, in order to clarify and accentuate the facts behind aspects of your application that may beg questions, create uncertainty, or benefit significantly from added explanation. However, consider those supplemental statements against the content of your essays. If the essays address the very subject of a supplemental statement, you may be more successful refraining from the supplemental statement altogether, or by simply stating in it, " (Blank) is a defining characteristic of my life, as discussed in Essay #2."

* Application Inspector is available for use on applications submitted online via The Princeton Review.