Reaffirmation Sessions

Thursday mornings are my reaffirmation sessions. As a member of the Johnson Admissions Group (JAG) I am scheduled to conduct interviews for prospective Johnson School students at 9:15 and 10:15 am. For the past several weeks, I have met with some enthusiastic, intelligent, engaging, and inspirational individuals who all have at least one important common tie - they want to come to the Johnson School. At some point during each interview I perk up. It is something in their confident tone or eloquent word choice that takes me back to a time when I was on the other side of that interview doing and saying everything I could to show how much I wanted to be a member of this community. In that instant my love for this place is reaffirmed.

The Johnson School means something different to every person who is fortunate to become a part of it. Why did I choose to come to the Johnson School? This is the same question I get in just about every real and informational interview with prospective students I do. I don't get tired of the question nor do I tire of answering it. I didn't want to come here. I had convinced myself I wanted something different for grad school...some place different. I was going to go to a big school in a big city. As I started researching and visiting the campuses of the potentials, I found myself right back here wondering why I ever thought I needed anything else. I give three reasons just as I did when I interviewed:

1. This one is easy. Familiarity of the campus and the school - an undying love, really. Given that all I was about to encounter as a career switcher was going to be so new, I needed something that wasn't so foreign.
2. Dynamic course offerings giving anyone the opportunity to study anything (hint: look at our university motto). Although this is a general management program, we are not just churning out investment bankers and consultants. Some of my classmates are entrepreneurs who have already begun their new ventures. Some of them are going to join one of the most vital and influential movements of our time - the education reform movement. And still others are going to be developing new business ideas that target the 4 billion people at the base of the pyramid.
3. The school wanted me. At no other institution did I get the attention and access to students, faculty, and alumni as I did here. As each new person I met shared their "why Johnson" story with me, they also were eager to help me figure out my own answer to that question.

Demonstrating a feeling is not an easy task but as I sit and listen to the interviewees' reasons for applying, I can discern the passionate from the the passive applicant. To those of you preparing for your business school interviews - especially for the Johnson School - don't overlook this ever important component of your presentation. Don't just run through a list reasons you compiled by looking online. Tell me a story of how you have connected with the school in some way. Tell me how the Johnson School is going to help you accomplish your dreams. Tell me, why Johnson?

Cheers!