Admissions Tips
Nearly every week of the calendar year we post an admissions tip that is relevant to the current state of the admissions cycle. Browse all of our tips in the Admissions Tip category or look at tips that relate specifically to where you are in the application process: researching, planning, applying, deciding.
Admissions Tip: Going Beyond School Websites
In keeping with the recent Admissions Tips we have posted for the new crop of applicants to the Class of 2016, today we want to offer some tips on engaging the community of one’s target programs. Communicating with b-school insiders can be beneficial for a number of reasons: In addition to learning about a given school and your potential fit, you’ll also generate material for your essays, demonstrate your interest in the program, and perhaps even make an ally or two. In your efforts to go beyond the schools’ websites and promotional materials, we recommend reaching out to individuals in a few key groups:
Current Students – People who are currently enrolled in a given program can obviously provide the clearest picture of the present state of the school community. They are often more capable of evoking their school’s overall culture than brochures put out by the admissions offices and can describe to prospective students the ins and outs of academic and extracurricular options. Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Approaching the Career Goals Essay
With essay topics for the coming year already being released by some schools, there are applicants who are eager to get started on their written applications. Though essay questions tend to vary year to year, the two things that nearly every prospective student can count on being asked are “What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals?” and “How will Business School X help you achieve these goals?”
These are the fundamental questions of the entire application process; identifying clear answers will help in everything from creating a list of target schools to communicating effectively with recommenders and interviewers down the line. As such, it’s a great idea to begin drafting answers to the Career Goals essay early and often! To help you get started, here are some general pointers: Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Round 3 Results
With the MBA programs releasing their Round 3 notifications in the upcoming weeks, the 2012-2013 admissions season is coming to a close for the vast majority of MBA aspirants. We’d like to offer our congratulations to all those who have gained admission to one of more of their target schools and wish good luck to waitlisted applicants whose fate is presently a bit less certain. For all those who submitted their applications in the final round and received an unfavorable decision, we’d like to share a few tips that we hope will make the process of facing rejection as productive as possible:
1) Understand the odds and consider reapplying in the early rounds next year. If you failed to gain admission to a school in its final application round, you should not give up hope or instantly assume that your profile contains some glaring weakness that will forever bar you from acceptance. Because relatively few spots in the incoming class are available by the time of the Round 3 deadlines, it is always most difficult to get into a school at this point in the year. In many cases, an earlier application is all that you need to find success in the process. Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Considering the Campus
Continuing our series of admissions tips geared towards those individuals who are just beginning to think about their MBA applications, we wanted to offer some advice on factors to consider with respect to a school’s facilities and location. Whether speaking with current students or touring the campus for oneself, it’s helpful to approach these information-gathering experiences with as clear a sense of what matters to you as possible. Here are a few broad categories to consider:
1) Facilities - Are state of the art classrooms and impressive new architecture a priority for you? Would you prefer a school that is headquartered in a single building to one spread over a larger campus? What about wireless access and use of technology in teaching? If any of these factors are of significant importance and could tip the balance between schools on your list of target programs, you’ll want to do this sort of research up front. Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Avoiding Red Flags
When applying to the top schools, it is important to avoid “red flags” in your application. For the uninitiated, red flags are negative items that stand out in your file and may result in rejection from business school. While most applicants understand the basic red flags, like a 2.4 GPA or a recommendation letter that raises serious concerns about the candidate’s maturity, there are many less obvious triggers.
Some time ago, an Admissions Director Symposium organized by the Graduate Management Admissions Council produced an interesting publication on the subject of admissions policy and red flags. Here is an excerpt from their report: Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Addressing Academic Strengths
While we devoted time last week to advice on addressing weaknesses in one’s academic record, today we wanted to explore the other side of the issue: the strengths that lie in your undergraduate record.
Beyond issues of aptitude or previous achievement, there are a number of other things that your academic profile might say about you. For instance, if you have a range of quant-focused classes in your record, this might create the impression that you are well prepared for the sort of coursework you would undertake in business school. Meanwhile, if you have pursued extensive coursework in an area beyond the more traditional disciplines of economics, business administration or engineering, this could indicate some unique interest or perspective that you would bring to the classroom. Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Addressing Academic Weaknesses
To follow up on last month’s advice about GMAT preparation and timing, we wanted to offer some general comments about the role of academics in the admissions process. Many candidates considering business school focus on the credentials they will hold and the network that they will join upon graduation, but it is important to keep in mind the academic experience at the heart of any MBA program. Because a business school is, after all, a school, it makes sense to begin your consideration of your profile by thinking about your academic aptitude and track record to date. Your performance in your educational endeavors up to this point will be treated as a predictor of your success in business school.
While this is all well and good for applicants whose undergraduate GPAs and GMAT scores are close to the average of students at their target schools—about 3.5 and 710 for the top programs—things become a bit trickier for candidates who fall below the pack in either or both of these categories. Continue reading…
Columbia Business School Admissions Officer Debunks Common Application Myths
A Columbia Business School (CBS) admissions officer devoted a recent post on Voices — a blog co-written by current CBS students and admissions officers to help provide a student perspective — to debunking some of the myths prospective applicants often seem to believe about the CBS admissions process.
For starters, CBS Admissions Officer Matthew Moll encourages prospective applicants to let go of the idea that they must seek out a recommender with the highest possible title. Instead, urges Moll, choose recommenders who know you best. “It is tempting to seek a recommender with a senior title, but if the CEO of your organization doesn’t work with you directly, he/she will not necessarily be able to speak to the recommendation questions asked by the admissions committee,” Moll advises. “It is in your best interest to find those business professionals who are invested in your career and want to see you succeed.” Continue reading…
Admissions Tip: Feedback Sessions for Denied Applicants
As many of our readers know, a small number of leading MBA programs offer admissions feedback sessions to applicants who did not make the admissions cut in a given season. Though we’ve touched upon this subject before, we’d like to use today’s blog entry to underline the importance of these feedback sessions for those of you who are considering reapplication.
While not all schools offer feedback, a handful of schools issue an open invitation to all unsuccessful applicants. Additionally, some programs occasionally offer feedback “by invitation” to top candidates for whom they just didn’t have room that year. In all cases, if you are given the opportunity to get feedback, you should absolutely take advantage of it. There are several reasons for this: Continue reading…
Exclusive GMAT Insights and Advice for MBA Hopefuls From Top GMAT Community Leaders
Each year thousands of individuals begin journeys that they hope will ultimately lead to an acceptance offer from top-tier business schools around the world, and for the majority of these applicants one of the first steps on the b-school path is studying for and taking the GMAT exam. With the 2012-2013 application season wrapping up, a whole new cohort of aspiring MBA students are beginning to get serious about their own school choices and application materials. Most schools won’t be releasing their updated application requirements until later in the summer, so one concrete element of their application that they can start working on now is properly preparing themselves for taking the exam. We sat down with the founders of the major online GMAT communities (Beat The GMAT and GMAT Club) as well as the Director of Academic Programs at leading GMAT test prep firm, Veritas Prep. These individuals have a combined wealth of experience to draw upon when providing helpful tips and insights to share with anyone contemplating an application to business school in 2013-14. In the article that follows, readers will have the opportunity to learn about common misconceptions many test takers have about the exam, successful approaches to creating a study schedule, specific tips that can help those who struggle with either the verbal or the quant sections, and valuable insights on how to approach retaking the test. We additionally have checked in with the official information provided by GMAC, the organization that creates and administers the GMAT exam.
Admissions Tip: Waitlists That Discourage Supplemental Information
We have previously posted some correspondence tips for those applicants who have been waitlisted by schools that welcome supplemental materials and communication. Today, we’d like to provide some advice to those who are in an arguably more difficult position: waitlisted by schools that discourage further contact with the adcom.
This may sound obvious, but if a school indicates that they do not want supplemental materials, then you should respect their guidelines. In other words, do not send along a new recommendation or an essay if the program has clearly indicated that you should not do so. There may be exceptions to this—for example, if a dramatic change has taken place in your candidacy—but in most cases, you should simply follow the rules. Continue reading…
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