Consequently, some potential MBA candidates select their target programs and bypass others based on what they think the schools have to offer—but in fact, all top MBA programs are much more diverse than you might suspect.
This gives prospective candidates a holistic idea of what it would be like to attend that program. Each MBA guide offers detailed descriptions of the following:. You will also find school-specific, insightful comments from our team of MBA admissions consultants, who have all attended top-ranked business schools and have helped thousands of MBA applicants and prospective candidates gain acceptance.
Just choose the business schools you are interested in from the list to the right, add them to your cart, and check out. You will then receive an email with a link to download your guide s. Do you have feedback about our existing MBA guides? Email info mbamission. In particu- lar, an 80th percentile on the quantitative portion1 will clearly indicate to the admissions committee that you can handle the difficult analytical work required in the MBA curriculum.
If you do not score or higher, however, fear not! This is just the average score, which means that a good percentage of the previous class of admitted students scored below that—not everyone can be above average! We recommend the following ways to help ensure you attain the best GMAT score possible before submitting your application:. These days, many test-prep options are available beyond the traditional classroom experience, including pure self-study with textbooks, online classes, private tutoring and simply practicing by solving problems from past GMAT exams.
A number of free resources are available through the Manhattan GMAT Web site to help you maximize your score, and we recommend taking advantage of them, particularly the free sample GMAT test: www.
Admissions offices generally prefer test scores from the previous three years, but our point is that you should not feel that you must take the test only during the year in which you apply. Long-Term Planning. Further, by taking the test earlier, you leave yourself sufficient time to take the test again you can take the test only once per month if you do not score as well as you had hoped.
By taking the GMAT early, you will also free up time closer to the application deadline to dedicate to other aspects of applying to business school. Your GMAT score will be especially important if you graduated from college more than five years ago or if your undergraduate GPA was below the aver- age for students at your target school s approximately 3. Although we recommend making every effort to achieve the best score you possibly can, you should take care not to focus on your GMAT to the exclusion of all else.
Admissions committees consider your GPA another important indicator of your ability to succeed in the challenging academic environment of an MBA classroom. In evalu- ating your transcript, admissions committees will take into account your grades, your major, the institution you attended though to a lesser degree , any trends over time e.
In particular, they will look for evidence of some quantitative horsepower. If your transcript does not include any management, economics, finance or math classes that prove you have done well in quantitative subjects in the past, you will need to find another way to prove your competencies in these. Fortunately, doing so is definitely possible. Long-Term Planning counting, finance, economics, statistics and calculus.
Alternatively, you might consider completing Level I of the Chartered Financial Analyst CFA designation, which would reveal that you have the maturity and drive to dedicate yourself to a rigorous self-guided study pro- gram and that you have strong pre-MBA knowledge of the academic areas noted earlier.
Note: the CFA program can be remarkably time-consuming, and we recommend completing Level I well in advance of your application year. Although your GPA and your GMAT score are important, high scores do not guarantee success in the application process, and low scores do not guarantee failure.
We have seen candidates with GMAT scores get into Harvard and applicants with s fail to do so. Our point? The admissions commit- tees will examine your profile holistically, attempting to appropriately gauge your qualities as both an individual and a professional, plus your potential to contribute to your class and to achieve in your career.
Stats are only one factor in their broader decision. Defining post-MBA goals is difficult for many candidates. Most people ap- plying to business school recognize that the degree will pay dividends be- yond what they can anticipate, open doors in their career regardless of the direction they choose and provide an education that will be valuable in most business endeavors.
Should that not be justification enough for seeking an MBA? Others pursue MBA studies to diversify their skills and discover new professional avenues. Should that not be encouraged? By offering you one of the very few, highly sought-after places in their program, they are essentially investing in you. They therefore want to know what you plan to do with that investment. Their goal is to provide value and create happy, successful alumni.
They will look at your goals and aspirations to understand whether an MBA from their program will indeed further your goals and be of value to you—your ultimate success will reflect well on the school.
For most schools, wanting an MBA just for the education is not enough. You have to have a plan for your—and their—investment. Fortunately, there are no right or wrong career goals for a business school candidate, only more or less well thought-out ones.
If you have a broad sense of what you want to do—maybe you have an industry in mind—but are not sure of your specific plan, we recommend doing some honest exploration of your goals well before you begin to apply. Perhaps, for example, you believe. Under- standing how an MBA will be useful in the area you are considering is key to effectively conveying your need for the degree to the admissions committees. We recommend that when you discuss your goals in your essays, you be as detailed as you can credibly be without stretching your believability.
See our Personal Statement chapter for examples of the appropriate level of detail. If the thought of committing yourself to a path now is daunting, do not worry. Admissions committees understand that people change their minds, espe- cially as they learn more and are exposed to new options and information as part of the MBA experience. No one will force you at graduation to adhere to the goals you present in your application!
You should keep in mind that an MBA is a significant investment of your time and money. So, if you are not sure that you will use the degree to further yourself in your career, it may not be worth your time and energy to pursue such an intense program. So dig deep, do some soul-searching and be sure to develop goals that really inspire you.
Your Professional Life Questions you might have:. In addition to their desire to turn out successful leaders, business schools want to be sure that the candidates they admit will be able to participate meaningfully in the MBA classroom and bring a perspective to class dis- cussions that will be valuable to their classmates. Your career trajectory and professional accomplishments revealed through your resume, essays, recom- mendations and interviews will be a strong indicator of your ability both to contribute to the class and to be a leader beyond.
Maybe if I transitioned to consulting, I would get into the school of my dreams. Most bankers and consultants need an MBA to progress past a certain point on the corporate ladder, whereas no teacher truly needs an MBA to progress. What is more important than targeting a particular industry or position for the future is conveying your performance in past endeavors.
Places are avail- able in the MBA classes at all top schools for high-performing teachers, con- sultants and bankers alike—but not for low-performing individuals in any field. The leading business school programs want a diversity of experience. Long-Term Planning in their classrooms, and they want candidates who exhibit the promise of achievement—not just a job title—going forward.
The admissions committees will examine your professional experiences to see whether you tend to take on increasing responsibility in your work. This may be evidenced by promotions or by simply having more impact on the bottom line of your department or company through informal influence without a promotion. The admissions committees are also interested in the kind of impact you have had on others, in either formal or informal ways, such as direct man- agement, mentorship or training roles.
If you have never managed another employee or a team, do not worry. Many candidates applying to business school are in the same position. Leadership and management are actually two different things, and admissions committees take both into account.
Whereas management entails directly supervising other employees, leader- ship can include such broad interpersonal activities as mentorship, training, coaching, influencing and persuading others to adopt your ideas, taking re- sponsibility for an outcome, helping a floundering teammate and creating open and productive communication within a team. More simply, for our purposes, management is the use of position to gain the best outcomes and leadership is the use of persuasion to gain the best outcomes.
Examine your personal and professional history for these kinds of examples, and if examples are lacking, start looking now for opportunities to contribute to others and to take responsibility for the outcome of your work, so you will be able to discuss these in your application. If your job provides an insufficient outlet. At most top programs, students have an average of five to six years of work experience, but we remind you that an average derives from a wide range, Long-Term Planning.
Admissions committees will look beyond your industry, company name, title and years of experience and strive to identify performance! Aside from the sincere value that you can bring to your community by vol- unteering in some way, community work is an important element of your application. From an admissions perspective, contributing to others in this way shows initiative and motivation on your part and can differentiate you from otherwise similar candidates who do not go the extra mile.
For ex-. Showing personal commitment to and passion for a cause or organization and seeking leadership opportunities outside of work indicate that you have. Long-Term Planning strong personal qualities and provides the admissions committee with deeper insight into your candidacy. Still, some applicants mistakenly regard any form of community service as a prerequisite for getting into a top MBA program. We therefore encourage MBA candidates to carefully consider their com- munity experiences in the same way they would examine and evaluate their professional or entrepreneurial opportunities.
Although people can some- times make mistakes in their career paths, most gravitate toward areas or op- portunities in which they can excel, justifiably to further their own interests. The same is true for volunteer opportunities as well.
If, for example, you have always enjoyed a particularly close relationship with your grandmother and want to share this kind of positive experience with others, you might decide to volunteer to spend time with seniors at a retirement home, where you would naturally be predisposed toward success.
If you were quite passionate about your work there, you just might get others involved, expand the volun- teer program at the home, take greater leadership in the program and more. However, if you are not that passionate about the elderly, but there is a retire- ment home on your block, no matter how convenient it would therefore be to volunteer, doing so would likely be a mistake for you, because you would.
Although accomplishments in the community arena can make great subject matter for essays and clearly illustrate that you seek to make a difference, Long-Term Planning. For example, you can reveal your altruistic spirit through a simple personal commitment to a neighbor, relative or colleague—perhaps by helping them with a weekly chore or serving as a social outlet to someone with limited friends in the area—or perhaps via a small neighborhood beautification ini- tiative or by organizing fitness classes for colleagues or friends.
The key is not the organization, but your impact; you must show the admissions commit- tees that you are someone who aspires to excellence, is interested in bettering the lives of others and seeks challenges and opportunities for leadership.
If you have not been involved in a community activity up to now, we can reassure you that it is never too late to start. Again, the admissions commit- tees are interested in your impact and your altruistic spirit and commitment, rather than time served.
However, the more time you can commit to such an activity, the more opportunity you will have to truly influence and assist others and the more experiences you will be able to discuss in your essays and interviews. So, starting sooner rather than later is certainly beneficial. However, perhaps you have had trouble committing to any volunteer ac- tivities because you work incredibly long hours. The admissions committees know that such jobs exist, and they will take this into account when evaluat- ing your candidacy.
That said, you can always find something to do outside of work to show that you are a well-rounded individual and interested in life. For example, try volunteering at a soup kitchen for a few hours each Sunday; look into online volunteering options; spend some vacation time volunteer- ing internationally. Any effort you devote to a practice or organization out- side your work will enhance your profile and give you potentially rich fodder.
We simply recommend finding something in which you are genuinely interested and pursuing that. Long-Term Planning Questions you might have:. Admissions committees consider recommendations for two key reasons. One, they want to learn about your accomplishments, strengths and weak- nesses from a different perspective, and two, they want to understand how another person would assess your character.
Your essays will provide them with rich, valuable information about you, and your recommendations will present an objective perspective on who you are. Most schools ask recommenders very detailed and specific questions.
We therefore suggest that you seek letters of recommendation from the people who know you best. The admissions committees hope to gain a deep understanding of your character through your recommendations, and only someone who has worked closely with you will be able to comment vividly on who you are.
For example, the CEO of your company may have an im- pressive resume herself, but if all she knows about you is your resume, her.
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