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It’s amazing how many business school applicants make avoidable application mistakes. It’s unfortunate, but hardly surprising, that these avoidable mistakes can result in an application being rejected. In fact, submitting an error-riddled application just makes life easier for MBA admissions committees. If they can put your application in the “no” or “maybe” pile, it frees them up to focus on the well-researched, substantive submissions – applications in which all parts of the application complement each other and when taken together, present a complete, holistic picture of who that applicant is, why she is pursuing an MBA, and why the school she’s applying to is the best place for her to pursue her educational and career goals.
What can applicants do to avoid the avoidable mistakes, and not only submit an error-free application, but the best application possible? Read on.
Rose Martinelli, Associate Dean for Student Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said application errors tend to fall into two categories: obvious and strategic.
The obvious errors are, well, obvious: Missing deadlines. Not following instructions. Failing to use spell- and grammar-check. Getting the name of the school wrong. Not answering the essay questions. Writing what you think the committee wants to hear, rather than providing the information the committee has asked you to provide.
Applicants can steer away from obvious errors with obvious solutions: proofread carefully, checking for “find-and-replace” mistakes. Figure out what the questions are asking, and answer them. Get someone you trust to read your essays, or better yet, hire an editor. Allow enough time to complete the package.
“We see so many applications, they all start sounding alike,” said Kellee Scott, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions at USC’s Marshall School of Business. “We’re looking for the uniqueness, the qualities and experience that set an applicant apart from the rest of the pool.”
Having the qualities and experience that set you apart isn’t enough – an applicant has to be able to use the format of the application to show your stuff to the committee. As Linda Abraham, Founder of admissions consultancy Accepted.com puts it, “You can be the right candidate, but if you fail to show it, you still won’t get in.”
The University of Chicago Booth’s Martinelli said the second group of application mistakes is much more important to avoid but much tougher to prepare for if you are short of time. These are what she calls “strategic mistakes”.
“The first leading indicator of a strategic mistake is trying to write one-size-fits-all essays for all the schools you’re applying to,” Martinelli said. “Believe it or not, a vast majority of applicants do this.”
The admissions directors we talked to agreed this technique is not only easy to spot, but backfires pretty quickly. Why? For one thing, each school provides a very different experience, from curriculum, to program and class sizes, to style of learning, to the types of candidates they look for. An application that fits one school won’t necessarily work for another.
“You have to understand why you want to go to the schools that you’ve chosen, and be able to demonstrate that in your application as well. It’s critical,” said Liz Riley Hargrove, Associate Dean for Admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Linda Abraham of Accepted.com agrees. “Unsucessful applicants fail to demonstrate fit,” she said.
How should an applicant go about “demonstrating fit” – showing that they are the right applicant for that school and program?
The first step, according to our admissions directors and consultants, is self-assessment. You have to know who you are, what your career goal is, and how an MBA can help you achieve that goal.
“The applicants who aren’t successful in our process aren’t able to show how an MBA can help them,” said Liz Riley Hargrove of the Fuqua School of Business. “We can tell by looking at the application if they really aren’t ready to take this on.”
The second step is to demonstrating fit is researching the MBA programs you’re applying to, using every tool available. In order to demonstrate fit, you need to make sure you are the right fit for the school. The only way to find that out is to first gain as much knowledge as possible about what each school offers in terms of curriculum, program, class size, and culture. Of course, you’ll do all the online research you can, and obtain any written materials available, but admissions directors agree, you have to do more than that.
Campus visits are crucial, whenever possible.
“Unsuccessful candidates don’t tend to visit the campus at all, or they visit too late in the process to really help them in their application,” said Kellee Scott of USC’s Marshall School of Business.
Using the schools’ alumni networks is also an essential part of researching schools, Scott said. “Anyone can go online and start asking questions of students,” she said.
Rose Martinelli of Chicago’s Booth School of Business said there are also plenty of opportunities to meet with alumni in person to find out what the school would be like. Most programs have alumni chapters across the country, and there are also lectures and other events applicants can attend to get a sense of the school.
“Understanding what your needs are, and drawing those to the resources and the fit of the institution is incredibly important,” Martinelli said. “It’s also the thing most often missed by the majority of applicants. Demonstrating fit, she said, is “what separates a great applicant from what I would call a good applicant.”
Once an applicant has determined which schools are truly the right fit, she needs to be able to use her application to show, not tell, the committee who she is, what she’s after, and how their school can help her get it.
“The applicants who do the best job really let their personality shine,” said Liz Riley Hargrove of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
“There’s a sense of authenticity in the applicant telling us who they are and where they come from that really resonates with me,” Hargrove said.
The takeaway?
Liz Riley Hargrove of Fuqua: “Be who you are. You don’t have to be anyone else to be successful in the MBA application process.”
Kellee Scott: “Don’t make assumptions about what you think we want to hear. Tell us who you are, and why you are unique to our applicant pool.”
Linda Abraham of Accepted.com: “Don’t tell me about your passion – show me. When there’s a sincerity that comes through, and details that reveal true and genuine passion, the contrast with a boilerplate essay is very stark.”
Rose Martinelli of Chicago’s Booth School of Business: “If you’ve got the guts, drive and passion to impact the world for positive change, it’s worth the effort. The application is just the beginning of the journey, but it’s an amazing journey.”
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