Applying to an MBA program is like climbing a mountain. Your application is the mountain, and you're the tour guide driving the bus. The admissions directors are the passengers. We want the mountain, your application, to be as smooth and beautiful as possible, with a clear and direct line to the top. This means that we need to address any downhill sections. Make sure there's a pretty waterfall or a great expanse of view or something pleasant to make the downhill portions of the journey an unskippable part. For example, if you have a low GMAT score, you can address this in your optional essay by explaining why you weren't exactly chomping at the bit academically when you were a 19-year-old kid, and how you wouldn't trade your undergrad experience, low GPA, and all for anything. Because it made you who you are today and helped shape your present day respect for academic rigor and success. Our goal with your application is to make the trip to the top as easy as possible for the directors. While the journey to the directors may come across as polished, practiced, elegant, even excellent, you and I know it's because you spent a lot of time and effort getting to know yourself and working on every aspect of the application from a holistic big picture view, not becoming obsessed or bogged down with raising your GMAT score by ten points. So, relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the climb! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices