It was mid April; the long awaited spring bloom finally arrived from USA to my Canadian home in the form of an MBA acceptance letter. This event really called for a celebration because of the huge sacrifice value attached to an unfathomed gain. I put on my light jacket walked straight to the café nearby, and rewarded myself ordering a hot chocolate drink.
Whether to continue with the MBA admission process was still an important decision to make. I had run different simulations switching dozens of known variables to predict an MBA’s future benefit value. Few of my queries had definite answers, some of them came with partial results and many remained as a function of future opportunity.
The brisk weather outside kept the café visitors indoors. I reluctantly strolled to the outside patio and sat alone facing the sun searching for some level of focus and clarity. A sip of hot chocolate while glancing over the letter of acceptance made me feel quite excited about the challenges and possibilities ahead. I laid my head back on the long chair and decided to rejoice the process and the efforts that delivered the rewarding moment.
Rerun from the beginning – I called out to my brain for it to playback my MBA story. It skipped through some of the lesser details and quickly moved forward combining backgrounds and strategies applied. Almost six months ago, few critical questions demanded immediate answers. Will an MBA effort at this point in life ever pay off? If it pays off, how long will it take for it to breakeven? What is going to be the optimum limit of success from such an undertaking?
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Harvard Business School, Massachusetts
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Stanford School of Business, California
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The three preliminary questions soon untangled an overwhelming array of inquisitive thought processes. Is it a now or never situation to do an MBA? What are my true options if I stayed put on the same career path? Is this a plan to enhance the existing career or to make a complete switch? Will MBA give enough time and experience to ramp up equity in skills that are valued in the market place? How much funds do I need and how am I going to raise it. Which location and institutions will best fit my needs? Should I go full time/ part time or even do it online? How much support can I expect and how much should I leverage from family and friends? What career options can I avail both in corporate world and in free enterprise after the course was completed. What will be my success criteria and how will I determine a failed state. Is there a point of no return and if it ever comes to that, what will be the exit strategy. The search for answers only produced more questions.
The hidden cost in terms of time, labor and money for applying to an MBA program is considerable. Most colleges look at their applicants as future ambassadors of their brand. Because of this, each college sets certain minimum criteria’s for an applicant to gain admission to their program. Colleges usually use a broad -brush approach, focusing mostly on an applicant’s educational background, cumulative work history, current ability to learn followed by their personality to influence society.
To assess the applicant’s previous educational background, colleges request the applicant to submit a detailed transcript from all educational institutions previously attended. The detailed transcript includes individual courses taken; number of credits awarded; the grades received and finally the overall GPA. Most colleges usually do an internal review of the applicant’s transcript for benchmarking what level of learning the applicant has already undergone.
It is often a tedious task to get all necessary transcripts in time because of the logistics involved in sending them directly from the previous institutions to the colleges applied. The situation triples in complexity if the applicant has studied outside the country in which the applying college is situated. Certain colleges usually ask for an evaluation of the international transcripts from a locally accredited body.
For an international student, it is best to have their transcripts evaluated from an internationally accredited organization ahead of time because of the roundtrips it might take to get such a task completed. If the applicant attended any college abroad, it may turn out to be a nightmare to get the transcripts send directly to the applying colleges. A good idea in these cases are to expect delays and counter them with enough lead time to avoid missing deadlines.
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Yale School of Management, Connecticut
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Columbia Business School, New York
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Business schools mainly consider two documents to measure an applicant's exposure, progression and performance at work place. A resume is the first and reference letter is the other document used to figure out an individual’s career. Different colleges might prescribe different formats for the resume in terms of length and content. Because of the contextual relevance, it is best to have the resume thoroughly checked for any verbal or informational errors before cutting the final draft.
To gauge and validate the authenticity of the events stated in the resume, colleges usually ask for reference letters from the current employer or previous employers. Most institutions ask for two reference letters from previous employers taking into consideration the conflict of interest between present employment and future full time studies. This may not be the case if the applicant is pursuing an admission to a part time program were the employer might even help out with tuition benefits.
When applying to multiple colleges, the applicant will need many reference letters. It could turn out to be an obliging experience requesting more than one reference letter from a previous employer. To mitigate such a situation, it is a good idea to identify early on the number of recommenders required and their willingness to provide references. Also, offer each of the recommender's ample time to think about what the applicant’s accomplishments were during the employment. An applicant could even help by sending an email highlighting their achievements to jolt the recommender’s memories.
Be aware that it can be an over burdening experience for the recommender to write more than a couple of reference letters. To maintain high quality of output, it is very crucial that one does not overburden the recommenders. If desperate, at least space out the recommendation requests giving recommenders a fair warning on the number of recommendations that they will have to write. When planning to apply to multiple colleges, the best way will be to identify enough recommenders early on, match their tastes and affiliations with the college, give them fair warning and inputs so that they can present you in best light.
What recommender writes is usually only visible to the college officials. There is a good chance that the officials might ask about some content or interesting event highlighted by the recommender. A relevant recommendation from a person who knows you well will do more good than a person who is just an acquaintance but holds a higher corporate title. Reference letters also play an extra role in defining how the applicant maintained relations with the previous employers even after exiting the organization.
Usually all management programs require its applicants to take GMAT exam (Graduate Management Admission Test). Colleges use this mostly to predict the applicant’s aptitude towards business and their current learning ability to master the subjects prescribed to be taught during the course. Getting the best score possible in GMAT is very decisive because good colleges have a minimum cut off score to consider an applicant.
Due to the relative importance of GMAT, there are institutions that publish learning materials as well as run preparation courses to help potential business students get their best scores. Gearing up for the GMAT exam and getting the right exam schedule requires proper planning. Preparation for the GMAT exam can range from a month to three or more depending on individual's availability. It is safe to schedule your exam in a way that one has enough room to attempt the exam a second time in case of a bad day on the first attempt.
Another exam that has close ties with business program is TOEFL (Test of English as as foreign language). Most business schools ask their applicants to take this exam or a similar exam (IELTS) to gauge the applicants understanding of English. Since English is, a common medium to conduct business in major markets, it is always a good idea for an applicant to develop verbal and oral skills regardless of the need to take the exam. Schools look at this score mostly to identify deficiencies of an applicant than their strength.
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Stern School of Business (NYU), New York
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Zicklin School of Business (CUNY), New York
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A very important document that every college inspects carefully is the personal statement. Business programs usually ask an applicant to write about two or three topics ranging from personal achievements, professional progress, individual goals, unique extracurricular activity, potential contribution to fellow classmate, choice of the particular college and how the MBA will help the applicant achieve their aspirations. Each of these essays typically ranges from 500 to 1000 words. Emphasis should be on delivering concise, precise, valid and exciting interpretation of the requested information.
Since it is very exhaustive to put together even one complete application, it is advisable to focus on limited number of colleges than taking a long shot at many. One strategy is to optimize the combination of choices and likely hood. Choose one or two colleges that may guarantee an admission but do not retain the expected level of standards (defensive position). Add in a couple of more colleges that are very desirable but only presents a fair chance of admission (desired position) also apply to a few programs you really aspire but have limited chances of being selected into (offensive position). An applicant should tailor and position the application depending on which category the institution belongs with respect to their profile.
Once the applications are submitted, an uneasy waiting period follows. This is the time to prepare for interviews. It is quite natural that the applicant might get interviews from multiple colleges around the same time. This is because most colleges want to complete their admission process before hand to start the semester in time. Getting your suite dry-cleaned, preparing a charming opening statement and coming up with ways to continuously manage your impression can be a deciding factor in getting into a program of your choice.
If not already done before applying to a program, it is in best interest to familiarize oneself with the ethics and values of the college. One should expect some level of probing along these lines from the interviewer to judge if the applicant is a right fit to the organization. Plan travel, stay and time to acclimatize in a way that one does not look weighed down on the big day.
Interviews vary from business schools to business school. Some colleges do a screening telephone interview even before the face-to-face interview; while others just do face-to-face interviews. The duration of the interviews can also differ from thirty minutes to an hour. One way to tackle intelligent questions during an interview of this kind is by listing out relevant topics and preparing generic answers beforehand. When the interview attains a certain level of comfort, the applicants usually get a chance to ask about the organization. This is a great chance to prove one’s enthusiasm, hence have some genuine questions in stock. Win or lose, I think interviews are the most interesting piece of all the work one has to do in getting into a business school.
As noted, it can easily take up to six months from the day one decides to do an MBA to the day one finally gets an acceptance letter. A brief summary of the process includes - deciding to do an MBA; preparing and taking the required exams; listing out the programs to apply; getting the application ready for multiple colleges; evaluating your transcripts; sending the transcripts to colleges; finding recommenders; passing their feedback to colleges; finally preparing and attending interviews before going to the wait period of acceptance and rejections.
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Fordham School of Business, New York
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Lubin School of Business (Pace), New York
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I stretched forward and picked the cup to drink the last sip of hot chocolate. It had turned cold but still tasted good. The sudden realization that I have to pass on this good news of being accepted to an MBA program to my family, recommenders and others who supported my decision made me anxious. Then the frantic thought that acceptance to the program was just the beginning towards a long-term educational commitment with limited source of revenue generation got me all wired up.
From raising capital to self-doubt of an MBA’s worth continued to haunt me. I added to my order a coffee and moved to a warm corner inside the café preparing for a serious internal debate of whether I should join the program or not. This was the second time MBA has come along the crossroads of my life. Three choices appeared at once almost ten years ago. I got an offer letter to continue postgraduate study in computer science, an acceptance letter from a good MBA program and a chance to pursue further studies in film and photography. I dropped out my interest in business and passion for creativity to become a part of the global digital and informational revolution.
So many fascinating things had happened in the last decade including the privilege to work for interesting organizations and to chase a second bachelor’s degree in fine arts with focus on painting and photography. Towards the closing of this experimental era, I might have just moved up the Maslow hierarchy or could have possibly got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. This left me hanging with the dilemma to pursue the present employee course or to chart a new one.
Quite often, what complicates a decision process is the timing of it. I had to mail back my acceptance letter with a deposit to hold my seat in the selected MBA program. Whatever may be the underlying criteria for the college, it pushed me to take a stand - a choice between a certainty and other possibilities. Of the four colleges I applied to, two of them have come out with results. One institution accepted me, another put me on waiting list. I predicted acceptance to one of the pending colleges and a possible rejection by the fourth.
If one decides to challenge oneself, then they will always find that life is a run against time. I figured the need to do some more analytics to come up with the best option whether to pursue an MBA or not. It required further restructuring of my thoughts, narrowing the success criteria’s and build on the model of never letting a crisis go to waste. The waitress stood nearby to see my response as I took the first sip of the freshly brewed coffee - it was stronger than usual. Sensing that I approved the mix, she smiled and said – You look lost. I replied – Yes, Today- more than usual. We both laughed out aloud.
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