Among students returning to school to obtain specialized degrees after they've completed their undergraduate education, the men and women that apply to business school have often seen, lived, and accomplished a great deal more than your typical grad student. With the average age of business students among the highest of all professional degrees, years of post-college experience must be accounted for. The question is, how do you pare down those many years of your life into the equivalent of a few sheets of paper?

Unlike college applications, your life no longer fits into a transcript and a short essay, and your GMAT score only represents a certain aspect of your ability. "For business school, the application process is much more of a mosaic of who you are now, and it speaks to why you, the applicant, sees your next step as being measured in business administration," says Ann Attanasio, Director of Graduate Business and Leadership Programs at Loyola College in Maryland.

Make Every Word Count
Most business schools ask for any combination of application materials, including transcripts, GMAT scores, personal statements, resumes, and letters of recommendation. The trick is to imbue every part with as much information about your accomplishments as possible, highlighting team experience and leadership capabilities. With the typical business student possessing anywhere from 4 to 10 years of work experience, you have to learn to sell yourself using as many key terms as possible. Make it clear that you want to return to school at this point for all of the right reasons, and explain precisely why you're about to spend several years learning everything there is to know about business. "An MBA is fundamentally a leadership experience, and we want to know you're there because you want to be in a leadership position. That's the kind of potential we're looking for in any student we admit," says Attanasio.

The resume will be perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the application; as with any job you've ever applied for, you're encapsulating hours of toil and sweat into a few lines and you're expected to make each experience stand out. Use action words such as "organized" and "created" to describe your achievements, and where it's possible (and appropriate), use quantifiable terms to describe the progress you've achieved, such as money and man-hours saved, percent increased, and revenue earned. Highlight the ways in which you've surpassed the expectations of your positions and the arc of your career as a result; after all, one of the best things about returning to school later in life is that you're able to show how you've risen throughout the years.

"You need to have done your job well--that's kind of a baseline--but what we're really looking at is how you've deepened and broadened your leadership positions over time, whether it be in one position in which you've taken on additional responsibilities, or whether it's been demonstrated through advancement in the organization," says Attanasio.

Letters of Leadership
Even when a school does not require a letter (or letters) of recommendation, you should still send them. As far as you're concerned in the application process, "recommended" should be as good as "required." Recommendations should almost always come from someone with whom you have a professional or academic relationship (preferences vary according to school). Professional letters should always come from as high up as possible, but never sacrifice the opportunity to get a letter from someone who knows your work just to get a bigger name. Find someone who has seen you in a role as a team leader, and ask them to speak of your strengths in that area. "We really want them to speak from a birds-eye view about leadership capacity, how you've gone above and beyond, your problem-solving abilities, how you work in teams--all of those kind of leadership skills," says Attanasio.

The Ball's in Your Court
Finally--although it seems obvious--don't be afraid to sell yourself, and sell it loud. It may have all seemed easier the first time around, when there was less of you to present, but the advantage is all yours at this point. Business students come from a variety of backgrounds and educational areas, so any aspect of your past that you can relate as being an asset in a business environment is one more unique quality to set you aside from the rest. Unlike some academic fields, where time only succeeds in dulling your familiarity with the material, business is a practical field where time and experience bring life to your studies. As long as you're able to convey both the breadth of skills that you've learned and the significance, you'll look pretty nice on paper.