MBA Admissions

At Harvard, where the author got her law degree, she shows up on the business-school campus and asks random students if they know any introverts.

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What should an applicant do when placed on the waitlist at his or her dream school?

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While the past few weeks have seen a number of admits and rejections handed down to Round One MBA applicants, the fate of many remains uncertain.

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As candidates tackle interviews and preparation for Round 2 applications, we would like to revisit an important aspect of the application: the resume.

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It's Tough Love Season* here Chez Ivey, and right around the holidays, it's time for my annual public service announcement to applicants, wherein I say some version of "STOP ACTING LIKE A CRAZY PERSON." (All-caps this year!)

Last year I wrote a whole blog post about how waiting is the hardest part, with a Tom Petty/Eddie Vedder video and everything!

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We often stress that, to present oneself effectively in one’s application essays, it is critical to think carefully about what a given question is asking and what this might indicate about a specific school’s admissions priorities.

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I've written before that in your application essays, you must answer the question they're asking you, not the one you wish they had asked. Here's a related problem I often see: Rather than ignoring the question entirely, you might answer only part of the question and ignore the harder (and more interesting) bits.

Here are two examples, one from the MBA world, and one from the law school world:

• "What matters most to you, and why?" (Stanford GSB)

• "Say more about your interest in the University of Michigan Law School. What do you believe Michigan has to offer to you and you to Michigan?" (Michigan Law School)

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With applicants for the round one deadlines putting the finishing touches on their applications, the question of how strictly applicants need to adhere to word limits is perhaps more popular than ever.

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With MBA programs’ Round One deadlines just around the corner, we wanted to offer some words of advice about an often overlooked element of one’s file: the application data forms. All too often, we see candidates leave these online application forms for the last minute, even rushing to enter all the required information from work on “deadline day.

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As Round One deadlines approach,  applicants are coming to understand that applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more.

With the obvious incentive to save time where ever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing resume and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally.

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As many of our readers know, it has become increasingly common for younger individuals to apply to MBA programs.  Whereas the average age and years of work experience at the leading business schools have traditionally hovered at around 28 and five respectively, many programs are now carefully considering the more youthful end of the applicant pool.

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Good people can give you bad advice about your applications? Really? Says who?

The dean of admissions at Stanford's business school, for one. "Good People Can Give Bad Advice" is a headline in a post by Dean Derrick Bolton on Stanford GSB's admissions website, and I'm sharing his advice here because (1) it's great advice and (2) it applies just as well to law school and even college admissions. (Did you read that recent NYT article about the race to line up fancy and expensive summer experiences in service of college applications? If so, read on.)

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 Anyone who’s familiar with the MBA application process knows that August moves forward at an accelerated pace, and come September, entire weeks seem to disappear.  To help this year’s Round One applicants avoid the classic time crunch, today’s blog post offers some basic advice on how to approach the Round One deadlines at a reasonable pace.

Let’s start by taking a quick look at the published Round One deadlines for the top MBA programs:

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There are numerous sources that can knowledgeably rank the “top” MBA programs.  However, because business schools receive different rankings depending on sources’ criteria, it can be difficult to understand which are the “best” schools.

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As the summer progresses and applicants begin researching their target schools in more depth, we would like to highlight a valuable research tool: school-hosted blogs. The last few years have seen a significant increase in the number of MBA student blogs hosted by schools’ admissions offices, as well as in admissions offices’ use of blogs to keep applicants informed of deadlines, admissions policies and events. Both types of blogs are useful throughout the admissions cycle; the factual information in the admissions office blogs is helpful in understanding and planning for the application process, while the student blogs offer valuable insights into student life, culture and academics.

Below we’ve provided links to some of the active blogs hosted by the leading MBA programs. 

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Given the emphasis that schools place on a candidate’s work experience, it is important to be proactive in addressing gaps in employment.  When applying to business school, many candidates worry about how the adcom might perceive gaps in employment.  We would like to take some time to discuss strategies for addressing this issue.

It’s not unheard of for an MBA candidate to have a gap in employment, and this will not necessarily impact someone’s candidacy in a negative way.

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As many applicants are finding out at this time of year, conducting thorough research on MBA programs is an essential step in formulating a list of target schools and crafting convincing essays.

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We wanted to offer some general tips for the Class of 2014 applicants on getting the most mileage out of resumes in the admissions process.

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