You've decided to apply to a top full-time MBA program! It's a daunting task, but well worth it! Below you will find everything you need to know about what admission committees look for in successful applicants.
MBA program admissions:
MBA admission committees evaluate their candidates on the following factors:
- GMAT: The GMAT is a standardized test, similar to the SAT for undergraduate degrees but a bit harder. Everyone who wishes to gain MBA program admissions needs to take this test. On average, test takers score around 500-550. The average score for top MBA programs, however, is in the 700 range. Many schools also publish the 80 percentile range, meaning that 80% of admitted students score between a certain range (usually 650-750). The GMAT is NOT the decisive factor when admitting applicants. However, it's supposedly a good indicator of an applicant's academic rigour. For most b-schools, the GMAT will be slightly more important than the GPA, which is the other indicator of academic rigour.
- GPA: Your undergraduate's Grade Point Average (GPA) is another factor when evaluating an applicant's academic potential. Here, it depends on where you got your undergraduate degree from. For example, a 3.4 GPA from Harvard University will be by far more valuable than a 3.8 GPA from an unknown community college. Also, should you have a low GPA (there's nothing you can do about this now) then you should have a high GMAT score to offset this blemish (or the other way around). Another way of "fixing" a low GPA is building an alternative transcript by taking business courses at your local university and hopefully earning A's.
- Work experience: There's typically no bottom limit as to minimum years of full-time work experience for top MBA program admissions. However, most top MBA programs strongly encourage students to have at least 2 years of post-undergraduate work ex. The average for top MBA programs is 4-5 years. What is more important than the actual years of work ex is what you were able to achieve during those years and that you feel ready for b-school, having the ability to contribute to class discussions intelligently and giving peers the opportunity to learn from you, the same way you would like to learn from them. For example, if you were promoted twice in your 2 years of working to a position with a lot of responsibility then you will have a stronger application than someone who worked for 6 years and was promoted once (given the same role and company).
- Essays: Writing concise, persuasive and emotional essays is crucial for top MBA program admissions. Here, you often need to answer why you want to specifically attend the MBA you're applying to (research the school well!), what your short & long term career vision is, and what your greatest accomplishments to date are. Each b-school will have around 4-6 different essay questions. Some don't have anything to do with business (which are great opportunities to differentiate yourself and write about something creative or emotional). The admissions committee primarily wants to get to know you as a person and through your essays assesses your fit with their b-school in terms of culture, career goals, and intellectual ability. Typically, you should spend many days (if not weeks!) on perfecting your essays. Ask family or friends who attended a top MBA for advice on your essays. If you don't have family or friends then have a look at MBAvolunteers.org, a group of current and former MBA students from the world's top business schools who review MBA applications in exchange for a donation to charity.
- Recommendation letters: Top business schools will ask for 2 (sometimes 3) recommendation letters. Typically, you would want both letters written by someone you know from a professional setting (e.g. your boss, a client, business partner, etc.). Make sure you help your recommender by drafting some bullet points on what you've achieved over the past years, helping them write what you'd like the admissions committee to know about yourself. Typically recommendation letters are not the greatest factor in an application (since the admissions committee knows that many applicants even write them themselves), but a poor recommendation letter can severely hurt your overall application.
- Extracurricular activities: Applicants often engage in extracurricular activities before they apply to business school. This is because they hope to differentiate themselves from other applicants with similar common backgrounds and work experience by being involved in something interesting in their lives aside from just working. Extracurricular activities provide great material for essays, especially if you're passionate about what you do outside of work. For example, you could be involved in arts, a non-profit, sports, a start-up, or anything else where you can demonstrate passion, personal development or leadership. Try to get involved because you care, not only because of getting in to b-school.
- Interviews: After passing the initial screening process of MBA program admissions, you will be selected for a personal interview which is conducted by the admissions staff, faculty, or alumni. During this interview you will be asked several questions around school fit and your intentions of attending the business school you're interviewing for. Here the b-school really wants to make sure you are serious about your application, since the yield percentage (students accepting an offer) is a key factor when it comes to MBA rankings. The higher the yield, the lower the acceptance rate. The interview also gives you the opportunity to find out more about the MBA program, so make sure you research the school well to ask good questions at the end of the interview.
