Let’s set the scene:

You’re home for thanksgiving. You’ve just finished draft one of your MBA application essay.

“Hey, everyone,” you say, “I just finished my essay. I sure could use some notes.”

“Sure,” says your Mom, Dad, Uncle Farley, Aunt Monica, Great Uncle Craig and even Mr. Pearson, the creepy next door neighbor you don’t know that well.

“What are you doing here, Mr. Pearson?” you ask.

“Borrowing some sugar. I’ll get those essay notes back to you ASAP,” he says, closing the door behind him.

Okay, it’s great your friends and relatives want to help out (and that they can all be together for the Holidays!) But, in the MBA admissions consulting game, this is what we like to call too many cooks. In fact, exactly five too many cooks.

Hold onto your hats, I’m about to drop a knowledge bomb on you:

Instead of getting shallow feedback on your application from lots of people, it’s best to get deep feedback from just one person whose judgement you trust. Someone who knows your accomplishments, goals, strengths and weaknesses. If it’s a friend, great! Your Aunt Monica? Also great.

But your friend AND Aunt Monica AND that guy at work AND total strangers you’ve met in an MBA Admissions forum… not sogreat.

And here’s why:

1. Everyone’s got an opinion, and, oftentimes, those opinions contradict one another. So if your goal is to be stopped dead in your tracks, unsure of which way to turn for the next draft of your essays, then asking 100 people for their opinion is the best idea you’ve had all year. But if you want to make progress, and keep your message coherent (and your voice intact!), then you’re going to want to stick with one person’s feedback. And that one person better know you well (more on this in a second). A “crowdsourced” effort will only muddle your arguments and hide your voice. MBA Admissions committees will definitely notice if your essay sounds like aword-collage or, worse, like someone that is very clearly NOT you.

2. It’s more important that you get feedback from someone who knows YOU, not the individual programs.

This person should be about getting to know you, so you can get your best stories across in the most powerful, passionate and succinct way. Your job, as the applicant, is to present the best damn version of yourself that you can… no matter the school (or what the school is “known” for). What the adcom doesn’t want is a stack of apps from applicants that all look, sound, and feel the same. Kellogg may be known for marketing, but that doesn’t mean you should pose a “marketing” guy to get in. And you shouldn’t tell Wharton you’re a finance guy if that’s not really you. Every school wants diversity, so wouldn’t it be smarter to figure out what makes YOU stand out, put that front and center for the adcom, and, you know, stand out? Yup, exactly. So find the guy that knows YOU and helps you tell your story in the most compelling way, and just stick with him.