Re: Ask Jon Frank at PTT - 工管

Greetings from sunny Chicago my friends.
Jon Frank here, your friendly neighborhood consultant. And the neighborhood
to which Im referring, of course, is Chaoyang.
There was a great question in our Shanghai seminar --and I wanted to
share it. So my co-founder Raj was presenting a point about how important it
is to present your stories cleverly. With "craft." After all, that is Rajs
background (screenwriting in Hollywood.)
So one girl asks a great question: which is more important, the facts of your
story, or how you tell it? Here is how we responded...
The facts, of course, are more important. That is, without the facts--the
cool stuff that youve actually DONE in your career, you are dead in the
water. It doesnt matter how great you are at writing--this isnt a writing
contest of course. You NEED the facts to make your essays, stories, and work
experience sing.
But here's the problem; everyone's got those kinds of stories. Or at least,
everyone gunning for the BEST schools in the world has em. THAT is where the
writing comes into play. The craft comes into play. Everyone has the great
stories, so at THAT point (and not before) THAT is the part where you can
make your stories, and your application stand out.
The facts--the experiences themselves are the first part of the equation. The
part that you cant LIVE without. Then and only then, do we shift into the
craft section of the application prep.
Hope this helps folks, and more from China shortly.
Jon Frank
Co-Founder, Precision Essay

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HBS 2005

http://www.precisionessay.com/

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