Quick Question: What is a good way to grab a school's attention on a graduate school application?

Quick Answer: There is a lot that goes into grabbing the adcom’s attention and standing out from the crowd. First, exceeding their stats (GMAT, GRE, undergrad GPA) by a meaningful amount is one way to stand out. The stats are just one piece of the puzzle though and while exceeding them can catch the adcom’s attention it’s definitely not a guarantee of admission.

In order to stand out from the crowd, it’s critical to also convey a unique value proposition – in other words, you want to show them what you can uniquely contribute to their school. That is made up of a bunch of different factors including your work experience and the success you’ve had there (i.e. have you worked at particularly prestigious firms and driven meaningful impact there, generating revenue, reducing costs, etc? Have you held leadership positions that are unusual for someone your age?) as well as your post-degree goals and the impact you intend to have there.

Factors like demographics and personal background matter as well. If you are coming from a demographic that’s very overrepresented it will be tougher to stand out, whereas if you come from a unique one the adcom will appreciate that you’ll contribute to the class mix.

Finally, you want to be sure to tell a strong, compelling argument for why you need the degree and the specific career goals you aspire to achieve once you have it.