MBA tour in SH

Been to the MBA tour in SH last Thursday. Not many big brand schools there (you can count them by one hand), and I don't apply to any of them. But there were quite a lot of people attending the fair, even including some expats! The only thing i found useful is the lecture on application process given by a Stanford alumni. Here're some of my "take-away points" from his speech:

1. Before you begin the application, deal with the two big questions: WHY MBA? & Which School? If you don't deal with them on the first hand, they will haunt you during the process.
2. The Selection Process.For the 1st round, all the application will be printed out after the deadline, and will be distributed to every adcom.They'll need to read maybe thousands of applications during a weekend, probably won't spend over 5 min on a single application, so u need to be sure that your application is eye-catching enough to be selected into the pool for second thought.And meanwhile, they won't take your nationality/gender/background into consideration in the 1st round, since each adcom can't sync up with all other adcoms.But they will take those factors into consideration after 2nd round, so apply as early as possible.
3. The Essays.You need to differentiate yourself from other applicants, and the best way to do so is to write about the real you in your essay.Pay attention to those details not just in workplace, but from real life.Tell a good story about yourself.Write a profile to list the experiences that's happened to you, the decisions you've made and the things that's important to you, and most importantly, you need to tell WHY!
4. Manage your recommender.Talk to them about the content that they're going to put into your recommendation.Give them a profile of you so they can reference it.Remind them to submit the recommendation on a scheduled basis.Pick the recommenders who know you the best and can tell the most convincing story about you.