Ask Jon Frank- P69-Q&A:WHY MBA? 7 OVERLOOKED REASONS TO GET AN MBA

JonFrank

WHY MBA? 7 OVERLOOKED REASONS TO GET AN MBA!--2. TEAMWORK

“The most important skill I learned in business school was teamwork. Its not easy to work in teams designed to push you out of your comfort zone. I was accustomed to leading but once you hit b-school you realize that everyones accustomed to leading, and there has to be a lot of give and take to be successful. I learned how to effectively umderstand other cultures, and how to be friends first and partners second. At Duke, we had a teamwork advisor whose fulltime job was to help us manage conflict. He did a brilliant job. As far as I know not a single MBA student at Fuqua has murdered another.”
–Spencer Gilbert, Duke Fuqua

“Darden’s heavy student-driven culture meant that I was part of a 6-person “learning team” that did all our cases together each night. Given that we’d completed 100 cases in the first month, this meant hours each night spent with the same group. Put 6 strong-willed, type A’s in a stuffy, small room together, and discussions are bound to get heated. However, I gained stronger listening and synthesis skills from this sometimes-stressful environment – learning to up my active listening skills and extract from my teammates what the “real deal” was – not an easy feat, given our different points of view – and then synthesize what I heard into my own decisions. This has served me invaluably since Darden. Regardless of your post-MBA career, you’ll be working with some sort of team…and you need to know when to speak, when to listen, and how to wisely identify the key learnings revealed. You’ll be a stronger team player AND leader for it!”
–Leslie Curry, Darden

JonFrank

WHO GETS INTO HBS? 7 INSIGHTS FROM THE ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR

Earlier this month, Poets & Quants published an article, A Revealing Interview with Harvard Business School’s Dee Leopold, and we couldn’t wait to write about it. Dee Leopold, managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid at HBS and 35-year veteran of admissions, definitely revealed a LOT.

In case you missed the article (or were too busy trying to hit that early deadline), we’ve picked out the seven most important, most revealing insights… straight from the Admissions Director herself.

1.It’s ALL about fit and personality.

“It’s a selection process. There aren’t rules like if you have this score you will be in and if you have that score you will be out. Selection is thoughtful and not rule-based… And it’s about the class. It’s not about whether I think John is a better person than Jim. It’s trying to get this wonderful salad going in the class and what ingredients does John bring and what does Jim bring.

We spend a lot of time imagining the kinds of conversations John would have with Jim if they were in the same section. What would they learn from each other? What would they ask each other? HBS is an amazing opportunity for conversations that you won’t ever have again in your life in terms of the richness of the kinds of people who are all heads-up and want to make a difference in the world and come from way different backgrounds. So we spend a lot of time thinking about what those conversations will be like. Those are fun speculations to have.”

“We are not hiring into a specific skill set to do a specific job. We are trying to assemble the best conversations so that would require a lot more things exploding in different places in a good way. You don’t want all the same types of people, and you are also catching people at a time in their lives when they are still changing a lot. You are catching people in flight and making some bets.”

2. Make a strong first impression… and fast.

“It’s fair to say that with 9,500 applications, we are not going to get to know 9,500 people. Our job is to get to that next stage—the 1,800 people who we are going to interview and to do that as fairly, intelligently and strategically as we can. And then pour it on in terms of our investment for the 1,800.”

3. Write honestly and be yourself.

“There were no word limits [for the essay], no expected answers. When I think about what that might feel like from a candidate’s standpoint I imagine there is this, ‘What should I write? What do they want to hear?’ That is obviously not the question I want them to ask. It is ‘what do I want to say?’ versus ‘what do they want to hear?’”

4. Highlight what’s UNIQUE about you.

“The way I organize my head is in a two-by-two matrix. One axis is work experience—or the voice you bring to the class—and the other axis is personal qualities—what kind of person you are. We don’t have people in the lower left corner. It would be great to have people coming from mutual backgrounds with amazing personal qualities who will be great at the case method.

I also think that maybe it’s time to think about the liberal arts majors. History majors know how to think analytically really well and they have context. If they have the quantitative chops, that is a cool group.”

5. Have a plan… but show curiosity, interest, openness.

“There is a big difference between having a laminated life plan and having some direction of what you might like to do. We are not big fans of laminated life plans…. I don’t think it’s true that people have to have found their one life passion at age 20 something. If they haven’t, you could call it passion deficit disorder but there is nothing wrong with you if you haven’t found your calling.

We don’t think you know what you want to do before you come here. You can say you want to be X and then you come here and everything changes for you.”

6. Remember, you’re more than a number.

“We are looking at sub-scores. We are not looking at overall numbers like a 700. We are looking underneath the hood of that…

If we are looking for your analytical ability, we can look in a lot of different places. You can take MOOCs and do well. We are not looking for people who can do abstract math. We are looking for people who can use numbers to get to words. A familiarity with financial accounting and statistics is a lot different than being able to develop theorems.”

7. Have a conversation. Make a connection.

“…[In the interview], our hope is that we just have a conversation. We are trying to talk about some industry-wide things and people just didn’t seem to find that interesting or exciting. And we think, ‘Oh my God, this is business school. You are going to have 550 cases and not all of them can be about the exact thing you do. Will you like it here?’ We are trying to figure out if you will really thrive in a case method environment and do you really want to be in a community where there are no bystanders. You really have to be a giver and not a taker in this ecosystem.”

Hope this helps and feel free to reach out anytime!

JonFrank

JonFrank

Why MBA? 7 OVERLOOKED REASONS TO GET AN MBA
Why MBA? Maybe you’re looking to develop some new technical skills that will put you ahead in your career. Or you want to rub elbows with the best and brightest. Or maybe you’re really into eating cheap burritos while pulling all-nighters on case studies. There are about 2349679034 reasons to get an MBA (that’s just a rough estimate  ), but what are you really getting from all that time and money? What are the skills that are going to pay off in the long-run and make you a better professional… and person?

Inspired by an article in the Economist, we asked our team of expert MBA consultants the most important skill they learned in b-school, but not the stuff they learned in class. Today, we’re looking at SEVEN of those often overlooked but extremely valuable soft skills that you ONLY get from the fast-paced, high-pressure, brain incubator that is b-school.

1. LEADERSHIP

“Through my learning team (7 people you do all assignments with), we had to do several group projects, some of which were observed by teachers and our mentor. We also had to do a 360 feedback at the end of the year to get all team member’s feedback on our performance. Through this, I learned that I can still lead the group without being the actual leader through positive encouragement and cheerleading. I learned when to step up and when to step back. I also learned when to push for better results and when perfectionism was non-productive. The learning team was one of the best growth experiences I’ve encountered in terms of being put with other people who want to lead and figuring out how I can still make an impact, while improving myself and my leadership style at the same time.”
–Christine Moseley, Wharton

“The most important soft skill I learned was how to lead and manage people who I had no direct authority over. There were many opportunities in b-school where I got to lead a bunch of my classmates from clubs to conferences to social trips. Technically, they were all my peers and did not “report” into me. So figuring out how to motivate and guide them to do what I asked was the biggest skill that I was able to gain by experience. There were many classes that I took that set the frameworks such as leading and managing teams and power in organizations, but learning by doing was the best resource/opportunity. Now I use the skills that I gained almost every day in the workplace. Everyone works on cross-functional teams where you would need something to be done by another person who is not your direct report. So this soft skill really comes handy to figure out how to manage people and adapt to different work styles. B-school was a fail-safe practice ground for the real world because everyone was in the same situation so you can make mistakes and learn/adjust your approach.”
–Tony Shan, Kellogg


2. TEAMWORK

“The most important skill I learned in business school was teamwork. Its not easy to work in teams designed to push you out of your comfort zone. I was accustomed to leading but once you hit b-school you realize that everyones accustomed to leading, and there has to be a lot of give and take to be successful. I learned how to effectively umderstand other cultures, and how to be friends first and partners second. At Duke, we had a teamwork advisor whose fulltime job was to help us manage conflict. He did a brilliant job. As far as I know not a single MBA student at Fuqua has murdered another.”
–Spencer Gilbert, Duke Fuqua

“Darden’s heavy student-driven culture meant that I was part of a 6-person “learning team” that did all our cases together each night. Given that we’d completed 100 cases in the first month, this meant hours each night spent with the same group. Put 6 strong-willed, type A’s in a stuffy, small room together, and discussions are bound to get heated. However, I gained stronger listening and synthesis skills from this sometimes-stressful environment – learning to up my active listening skills and extract from my teammates what the “real deal” was – not an easy feat, given our different points of view – and then synthesize what I heard into my own decisions. This has served me invaluably since Darden. Regardless of your post-MBA career, you’ll be working with some sort of team…and you need to know when to speak, when to listen, and how to wisely identify the key learnings revealed. You’ll be a stronger team player AND leader for it!”
–Leslie Curry, Darden


3. SELF-AWARENESS

“I’m much more aware (usually) of how I may sound to people and figuring out the personality types of the people I’m working with. I’m also better at figuring out what people really want, despite what say they want. As a result, I’m much better at dealing/working with people when they aren’t forthcoming or straightforward. Columbia has a “Program on Social Intelligence”. There are two required classes, one on leadership, one on organizations. There are also additional exercises and seminars which include assessments (self and from your study group).”
–Lauren Sickles, CBS

4. SELF-MANAGEMENT

“For me I think I was learning to “divide and conquer” while keeping consistency across the work. Given the amount of different projects, papers, assignments, etc and the desire to have lives, since CBS forms 4-5 person teams, we took the approach of splitting tasks when appropriate. While I don’t believe it’s applicable universally, in many cases it can prove to be a really nice approach to current projects following the same logic of assigning tasks due to specialization or interest. It also helped me “trust” others’ work and has taken some of the pressure off of thinking I need to be 100% on top of every single aspect of every project.”
–Regina Altaras, CBS

5. NEGOTIATION

“Without a doubt, negotiation is the top skill I learned. Figuring out what the other party wants. Understanding your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). Pursuing win-win solutions. Negotiation is core to a lot of basic activities: decision-making, human interaction, employment, relationships, you name it. If you’re by yourself, knowing what’s most important to you helps guide your actions. If other parties are involved, negotiating helps you co-exist peacefully (and even happily!). During business school, I took a class named negotiation, the most sought after (and lauded) class at Wharton. I’ve noticed that the more entrepreneurial and creative I am, the more negotiation comes in handy. New partnerships, lucrative contracts, interesting employment opportunities all require my negotiation skills, something I became more aware of during business school.”
–Bryan Lattimore, Wharton

6. HOW TO INTERVIEW

“So I’d have to say the most important thing I took away from my MBA experience was how to interview. Specifically, how to be confident in an interview setting, and how to try to control the conversation. I remember 5 months into the program I was in interviewing for a summer internship gig with Deutsche Bank, and got rocked. The guy who eventually got the job was the guy who admitted mid-way that he felt that things were not going well and suggested that they stop wasting time and end the interview prematurely. So that was kind of an eye-opener, and after that I did tons of practice. I took advantage of mock interviews with 2nd year MBAs, and also leveraged the career center’s resources. The ability to strike up a conversation with someone you dont know, and then drive the conversation based on an agenda… while still being a pleasant person to talk to is an art that I didn’t have going into bschool. I’m certainly no Picasso here, but at minimum I feel a lot more comfortable doing that now that I ever have.”
–Ajeeth Sankaran, Ross

7. HOW TO SELL

“The most important soft skill is “sales” or the ability to sell. Regardless of what post-MBA career path you choose, you will always be selling something. You will have to sell yourself to land your dream job, you may have to sell your company’s services or products, or sell your idea as an entrepreneur looking for funding. During my MBA at Wharton, I took advantage of Communications and Negotiations classes to hone in on my ability to build a sound argument, persuade others and deliver my story. As a startup Founder, I use these skills every day when speaking in front of large audiences, pitching the startup to new clients or customers and potential advisors or investors, and signing up new brand partnerships. I’m constantly selling myself as an entrepreneur, my vision for the company and our products and services. Sales is often an under-rated, under-taught, and under-practiced skill, but it has been the most important skill in my career.”
–Uyen Tang, Wharton

JonFrank

APPLICANT ADVICE: HOW I GOT INTO A TOP PROGRAM

Our buddy Frank got accepted into his top choice Financial Engineering programs – UIUC and NYU! Frank learned a lot in his experience applying with his Admissionado consultant Bolong Li, and now he’s got plenty of applicant advice to share. We could tell you about his experience, what he learned, and what he accomplished, but then we thought, why not let him tell you?

So here it is… Frank’s applicant advice and how he got into a top program

[Spoiler Alert: His advice applies to any and all programs, whether you're targeting college, grad programs or MBA programs.]

((Audio: Frank introduces himself))

#1 – Your Standardized Test Scores Aren’t Everything

“Keep in mind that preparing for graduate school applications is not a race for achieving high scores. Instead the admissions committee is curious about other aspects of you, including your personal interests, your personality, your soft skills such as leadership, and your extracurricular activities.”

((Audio: Frank on why test scores are not as important as you think))

#2 – Give Yourself Enough Time to Prepare for Your Essays

“Too many applicants prepare for their tests and essays simultaneously. I strongly suggest you don’t do that. You should keep in mind that the essay part is equally important comparing to the standardized test part… There will always be someone else with higher scores than yours, so you can only make a difference with your essays”

((Audio: Frank on the importance of your essays))

#3 – Diversify Your Academic Background

“For many Chinese applicants, their undergraduate curriculum may not perfectly match the admissions committees requirements. So diversify your academic background. You can attend more elective courses at other schools or study on your own.”

((Audio: Frank on diversifying your academic background))

#4 – Study the Official Website of the Program, Department, School and University

“There is plenty of information on the [official website]. You can tell the difference between similar programs such as their curriculum, preferences for applicants, student and professor backgrounds, and internship and placement rates. You should have a very clear idea of the nuances of similar programs and know very clearly what you want.”

((Audio: Frank on knowing what you want))

#5 – Use Your Experiences to Tell Good Stories

“All my stories, professional interest, and career ambitions came from my internship and working experiences, which is totally different from what I learned in school. So use your work and internship experience to tell a really good story”

((Audio: Frank on how he turned his long-term career vision into a good story))

((Audio: Frank says Thanks))

This is some tried and true advice, folks. Frank worked hard and learned a LOT in the process… and in the end, he came out on top. The tippity top! So before you start strategizing and planning for your own applications, let it aaaall sink in. Then get to it. As you’ve seen, you’ve got some work to do.

JonFrank

APPLICANT ADVICE: HOW I GOT INTO A TOP PROGRAM

Our buddy Frank got accepted into his top choice Financial Engineering programs – UIUC and NYU! Frank learned a lot in his experience applying with his Admissionado consultant Bolong Li, and now he’s got plenty of applicant advice to share. We could tell you about his experience, what he learned, and what he accomplished, but then we thought, why not let him tell you?

So here it is… Frank’s applicant advice and how he got into a top program

[Spoiler Alert: His advice applies to any and all programs, whether you're targeting college, grad programs or MBA programs.]

((Audio: Frank introduces himself))

#1 – Your Standardized Test Scores Aren’t Everything

“Keep in mind that preparing for graduate school applications is not a race for achieving high scores. Instead the admissions committee is curious about other aspects of you, including your personal interests, your personality, your soft skills such as leadership, and your extracurricular activities.”

((Audio: Frank on why test scores are not as important as you think))

#2 – Give Yourself Enough Time to Prepare for Your Essays

“Too many applicants prepare for their tests and essays simultaneously. I strongly suggest you don’t do that. You should keep in mind that the essay part is equally important comparing to the standardized test part… There will always be someone else with higher scores than yours, so you can only make a difference with your essays”

((Audio: Frank on the importance of your essays))

#3 – Diversify Your Academic Background

“For many Chinese applicants, their undergraduate curriculum may not perfectly match the admissions committees requirements. So diversify your academic background. You can attend more elective courses at other schools or study on your own.”

((Audio: Frank on diversifying your academic background))

#4 – Study the Official Website of the Program, Department, School and University

“There is plenty of information on the [official website]. You can tell the difference between similar programs such as their curriculum, preferences for applicants, student and professor backgrounds, and internship and placement rates. You should have a very clear idea of the nuances of similar programs and know very clearly what you want.”

((Audio: Frank on knowing what you want))

#5 – Use Your Experiences to Tell Good Stories

“All my stories, professional interest, and career ambitions came from my internship and working experiences, which is totally different from what I learned in school. So use your work and internship experience to tell a really good story”

((Audio: Frank on how he turned his long-term career vision into a good story))

((Audio: Frank says Thanks))

This is some tried and true advice, folks. Frank worked hard and learned a LOT in the process… and in the end, he came out on top. The tippity top! So before you start strategizing and planning for your own applications, let it aaaall sink in. Then get to it. As you’ve seen, you’ve got some work to do.

JonFrank

HOW TO GET OFF THE MBA WAITLIST, FROM SOMEONE THAT DID

Remember when we told you all those things you SHOULD NOT DO while biding your time on the MBA waitlist? Well meet our client, Tom (not his real name). Tom is a shining example of exactly what you SHOULD do if you’ve been waitlisted.

Basically, Tom took that WL status and crushed it with his bare hands. He snapped it in half like it was a toothpick. He drop-kicked it into outer space and it is now orbiting the sun with a bunch of asteroids and space garbage (and Sandra Bullock?)

Read on to find out what happened on Tom’s MBA application roller coaster ride.

SPOILER ALERT:

It’s a happy ending.

What was your initial thought when you were waitlisted at Darden? How did you feel?

Let’s just say it wasn’t my best week.  My dog died on Monday, Tuck waitlisted me on Tuesday, and Darden waitlisted me on Thursday.  Plus, for work-related reasons, I got barely any sleep that week.  It was one of those weeks where it felt like the entire universe went out of its way to make things difficult for me.  So, I was just exhausted, really.

Why do you think you were waitlisted at Darden?

Actually, I don’t have to guess.  A little over a month after I was waitlisted, I received an email from their admissions department, assigning me a contact in their office.  Right afterwards, she emailed me, and told me that, while my GMAT was in range, my quant score was a bit low.  She also said my application and interview did not really explain “why Darden” and how I would fit in, so she asked me to submit an additional essay answering that.

What did you do while on the Waitlist at Darden? What were the steps you took?

After a 1-hour chat with Damon, we discussed strategies going forward, and eventually I did the following:

1) Regular correspondence with Darden – which I always ran by Damon first – to provide them updates, reiterate my enthusiasm, etc.

2) I retook the GMAT, raising my score from a 710 to a 750.

3) Took a math course, which they hadn’t requested, but which allowed me to go above and beyond in terms of demonstrating both my enthusiasm and my quant skills.

4) I wrote the additional essay, which they requested, to explain why Darden and I fit. Damon helped me extensively with that.

Why do you think you ultimately got into Darden?

I think two things particularly helped.  Number one, I think the waitlist gave me the time and opportunity to really improve my application, tailor it to their concerns, and correct my weaknesses.  Number two, in so doing, I was able to really demonstrate how strongly I wanted to be there, not just through my words, but also through my actions.

What was the most challenging part of the app for you? And how did you overcome that challenge?

I think it’s tough.  I come from a pretty nontraditional MBA background, and I work for a small family business, so my biggest insecurity was demonstrating that my professional experience was competitive with what they were looking for.  Of course, that’s something that comes up consistently throughout the process, in the essays, recommenders, and interviews.  Damon was extremely helpful, both in helping me understand exactly what the adcom would be looking for, and in helping me with the verbal tap dancing that helped me turn my insecurities (I’m overeducated and underexperienced) into strengths (explaining how my experiences will give me a unique perspective in the classroom, and how they will position me for an interesting career afterwards).

What advice do you have for others who are on waitlists?

This only applies to schools where the admissions committee actually reaches out to its applicants and explains what they’d like to see done:

It can take a lot of time, and serious commitment, to actually address all their concerns. I mean, studying for and retaking the GMAT in just over a month, and balancing that with an additional essay and a math class, even while, you know, working a full-time job, is really tough, especially knowing that nothing’s guaranteed.  But I think by doing all that, while I missed a lot of sleep over the past 3 months, led me to a place where my application was very strong, and where I had seriously demonstrated my commitment.

It’s a lot of work, but it really is an opportunity.  The admissions committee is basically giving you a roadmap of what you need to do, in order to get the opportunity you’re waiting for—and wouldn’t anybody kill for that?  It’s up to you to figure out how much work it needs, and what your other options are, but recognize the waitlist as the opportunity is, and treat it as such.  Go for it!

JonFrank

I GOT INTO INSEAD, AND HERE’S HOW…

See this? This is us when we got news from our pal Jim (not his real name) that he had gotten into INSEAD.

Not that we were surprised. Homeboy worked HARD on his apps and he had some KILLER essays. But when it comes to the very unscientific process of bschool admissions, you just neeeever know what’s going to happen… for good or for not so good.

In this case, though, it was very, very, VERY good.

Check out some freshly minted advice from this freshly admitted B-school application rock star. Find out how he got into INSEAD (with a lower-than-average GMAT score), and take away a few gems of wisdom to apply to your upcoming app.

Here are his stats, ladies and gents:

Age: 29 years old

Undergrad: University of California at Irvine

GPA: 3.14

GMAT: 610 (Quant 39, Verbal 35.)

Fun fact: He’s a product of the community college system. He transfered to UCI midway through his college career.

1) Why do you think YOU got into INSEAD?

I felt it was my essays and how well organized and structured my story was. Without the help of AJ and the Admissionado team, I would not have been able to tell my story the way I wanted to. I have the experience, but I did not know how to tell my story.

2) What was the most challenging part of the app for you? And how did you overcome that challenge?

As you can tell my GMAT is low. In fact, in the range of scores for INSEAD I am at the absolute bottom of the pile with a 610!! This was by far the most challenging part of the application and it was all on me. A word of advice to all future applicants, give yourself PLENTY of time to study for the GMAT and try not to do what I did, which was to study, do the apps, and take the test right before the deadline! This only put pressure on myself, AJ and the team working behind him. As easy as it may sound to compartmentalize and try to separate the two things, 100% focus must go into the test as well as your essays and application.

3) Tell us about your interview. What do you think you did right?

Leading up to the interview I was nervous. So I prepared myself like crazy. Mock interviews with anyone and everyone I could ask. Researching on what questions it could be and it could not be. In hindsight, the over preparation was a little overkill, but nonetheless it prepared me well. The first interviewer was really chill and we got along great. It was mostly a personality test to see if I am somebody he and other alumni from the school could study with and hang out with. The second interviewer was a little tougher; I could not get a good read on him. I thought I did well until I asked for his advice…and he was very candid with me: to listen more and stop interrupting as much! Gah! However, I assumed it was like the first interview, which was a free flowing conversation and I was overly excited about asking questions about the school, his background, and experiences in international business. But, I guess it wasn’t that bad since I got in!

My advice? As cliche as it might sound, go in over prepared so that you wont get blind sided. While you will get questions that will make you think on your toes, be professional, insightful, enthusiastic, energetic and be yourself.

4) What advice do you have for future applicants?

Never give up, never! Dream big and follow your dreams! After finishing my GMAT a few days before applications were due, seeing the score of 610 devastated me. I was upset, distraught and even questioned whether I should turn in the app for INSEAD and my ability to go to a basic business school! However, this truly says that the GMAT is one component of an overall application. The essays are super important to show who you are as a person, to highlight your strengths and highlight your weaknesses, which may be hidden strengths. I believe this pushed my application over the barrier of the reject pile and into the acceptance pile. To future applicants: do not ever give up on yourself and your goals. Ever!

So there you have it. Smart advice from a smart guy. We wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors! (Although, let’s be honest, we don’t think he’s gonna need any luck.)

JonFrank

THE DING AND THE MBA REAPPLICATION: WHAT NOT TO ASK

When you get dinged, it’s hard to stop the questions swirling around your head. And the self-doubt. And the anger. And more of the self-doubt. And a lot more questions.

We hear ya. But the truth is, you’ve got work to do… and not much time to do it. And it’s VERY easy to get caught up in the wrong headspace, preventing you from moving forward on your MBA reapplication the right way.

So, we’re here to help you get out of your own way so you can get on your way to an MBA. [Oooh! Rhymes!]

Check out our list of questions you SHOULD and absolutely should NOT be asking yourself as you prepare for an MBA reapplication.

NOT TO ASK: What’s wrong with me?

Look, there’s nothing wrong with you, so cancel that pity party. The admissions process is complicated and it’s definitely not a science, so that ding may have nothing to do with you as an applicant. There could be a whole slew of reasons for that rejection. Maybe they hit their “quota” for “McKinsey guys” this year, or “future NGO CEOs.” Or maybe they had an influx of international students last year, so they had to pull back this year. Or maybe you didn’t apply early enough. It could have nothing to do with your GMAT or your essays or your undergrad GPA. At the end of the day, the MBA admissions process is a numbers game and sometimes those numbers just don’t work out in everyone’s favor.

TO ASK: How can I improve my profile?

To be a successful MBA reapplicant, you need to show PROGRESS. How are you better this time around? So instead of sitting there, drinking whiskey straight from the bottle, get out there and start improving that profile. Take on more leadership experience. Get more involved in stuff outside of work. Improve that GMAT score. You don’t have much time, so make the most of it.

NOT TO ASK: WTF??

OK, so, feel free to ask this one. But ONCE. You’re not helping yourself by harping on what happened. Dust yourself off and move on.

TO ASK: Do I Need an MBA?

You may know the answer. And it’s a big, fat yes. But this is definitely something worth thinking about before you start your MBA reapplication… all that hard work, time, etc. Do you need to do it all again? Do you actually NEED this degree? Are there other ways to achieve your goals? You’ve got the moment to consider it. So do it. Done? Great, now let’s reapply.

NOT TO ASK: Are schools even open to reapplicants?

Here’s a fun secret: they wouldn’t have MBA reapplication questions on their apps if they weren’t open to it!

TO ASK: What did I miss in my last application?

Be honest with yourself, and if you can’t give your app an unbiased review, ask someone else for help. But in order to have a successful MBA reapplication, you need to be better than the last time around. And you can only be BETTER when you know exactly where you stood the first time.

Things to consider: limited work experience, limited leadership experience, limited extra-curricular experience, a narrow list of target schools, not making a strong case for why you NEED an MBA, and disjointed career goals.

NOT TO ASK: Why did I even try?

What? Are we still having this pity party?!?! COME ON!

TO ASK: When should I start this process again?

Answer: NOW. When you’re reapplying, the game changes. You’ve gotta develop a different strategy (yup! one that shows how you’re BETTER than the first time), and you gotta…erm… be a better applicant than the first time. So there’s lots to be done. We know you are exhausted, you JUUUUST finished, after all. But you gotta get back in the saddle. You’ve done it once and now you know what went wrong and what you need to focus on. So this time is gonna be a LOT easier.

As G.I. Joe [always] said, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” So, really, you only have to fight HALF the battle this time. That’s not too bad, eh?

JonFrank

Q&A: FIGURING OUT YOUR SAFETY SCHOOLS

Question:

How can you determine what’s a good safety school? Is a gap of four or five schools (in rankings) a big enough gap?

Answer:

We get this question AAAAAALL the time here at Admissionado, and for good reason. Applicants want to know how to figure out which schools they have a great chance, a good chance, and a slim chance of getting into, and a big part of our business is helping folks figure that out.

That said, this isn’t an exact science. There’s no super-secret formula or magical calculation that tells you what makes a reach school vs. a match school vs. a safety school. But how can that be? Well, rankings aren’t exactly an exact science, either. The people who rank MBA programs are compiling and evaluating all sorts of data, some of which (like graduate employment rates, average post-grad salaries, etc, etc) don’t have anything to do (at least not DIRECTLY) with your chances of getting into that program. So, just because one school is ranked four or five slots higher than another doesn’t mean that you automatically have a better chance at the lower-ranked school.

So, how DO you figure out your MBA app strategy when it comes to safety schools? The most obvious and least precise recommendation here would revolve around the standardized testing (GMAT, GPA, TOEFL, etc). If your current GPA and GMAT scores are WAY higher than the particular MBA program’s published average, then you could start to look at that school as a POTENTIAL safety school. However, there are SOOOOOOOO many other factors to take into consideration—your specific work experience, your extracurricular activities, your projected concentration and business plans—that this sort of metric assessment is imprecise at best and misleading at worst.

At the end of the day, you can prep a reach/match/safety application list that ends up being totally wrong after you apply. We’ve seen folks get into two or three of their reach schools and only one or two of their safety schools… how much sense does THAT make? So, when it comes time to figure out where you want to apply and how great your chances are there, reach out to an admissions consultant and get a full profile evaluation to figure out the best strategy for you.

– Jon Frank

JonFrank

See this? This is us when we got news from our pal Jim (not his real name) that he had gotten into INSEAD.

Not that we were surprised. Homeboy worked HARD on his apps and he had some KILLER essays. But when it comes to the very unscientific process of bschool admissions, you just neeeever know what’s going to happen… for good or for not so good.

In this case, though, it was very, very, VERY good.

Check out some freshly minted advice from this freshly admitted B-school application rock star. Find out how he got into INSEAD (with a lower-than-average GMAT score), and take away a few gems of wisdom to apply to your upcoming app.

Here are his stats, ladies and gents:

Age: 29 years old

Undergrad: University of California at Irvine

GPA: 3.14

GMAT: 610 (Quant 39, Verbal 35.)

Fun fact: He’s a product of the community college system. He transfered to UCI midway through his college career.

1) Why do you think YOU got into INSEAD?

I felt it was my essays and how well organized and structured my story was. Without the help of AJ and the Admissionado team, I would not have been able to tell my story the way I wanted to. I have the experience, but I did not know how to tell my story.

2) What was the most challenging part of the app for you? And how did you overcome that challenge?

As you can tell my GMAT is low. In fact, in the range of scores for INSEAD I am at the absolute bottom of the pile with a 610!! This was by far the most challenging part of the application and it was all on me. A word of advice to all future applicants, give yourself PLENTY of time to study for the GMAT and try not to do what I did, which was to study, do the apps, and take the test right before the deadline! This only put pressure on myself, AJ and the team working behind him. As easy as it may sound to compartmentalize and try to separate the two things, 100% focus must go into the test as well as your essays and application.

3) Tell us about your interview. What do you think you did right?

Leading up to the interview I was nervous. So I prepared myself like crazy. Mock interviews with anyone and everyone I could ask. Researching on what questions it could be and it could not be. In hindsight, the over preparation was a little overkill, but nonetheless it prepared me well. The first interviewer was really chill and we got along great. It was mostly a personality test to see if I am somebody he and other alumni from the school could study with and hang out with. The second interviewer was a little tougher; I could not get a good read on him. I thought I did well until I asked for his advice…and he was very candid with me: to listen more and stop interrupting as much! Gah! However, I assumed it was like the first interview, which was a free flowing conversation and I was overly excited about asking questions about the school, his background, and experiences in international business. But, I guess it wasn’t that bad since I got in!

My advice? As cliche as it might sound, go in over prepared so that you wont get blind sided. While you will get questions that will make you think on your toes, be professional, insightful, enthusiastic, energetic and be yourself.

4) What advice do you have for future applicants?

Never give up, never! Dream big and follow your dreams! After finishing my GMAT a few days before applications were due, seeing the score of 610 devastated me. I was upset, distraught and even questioned whether I should turn in the app for INSEAD and my ability to go to a basic business school! However, this truly says that the GMAT is one component of an overall application. The essays are super important to show who you are as a person, to highlight your strengths and highlight your weaknesses, which may be hidden strengths. I believe this pushed my application over the barrier of the reject pile and into the acceptance pile. To future applicants: do not ever give up on yourself and your goals. Ever!