Thinking about doing an MBA? First know this. Acceptance rates at top schools waver from around 6% to 20%, meaning that 80% to 94% of applicants are rejected. Behind those abysmal numbers are people — thousands of talented, accomplished, smart people. They are consultants and bankers, aeronautical engineers and marketers, people who graduated at the top of their class from the best university in their counties, who started charities, wrote novels, or are just plain WOW (which means “walk on water” because they are that good). These trends are not expected to reverse. So, how can you increase your chances of getting into your dream business school? By starting earlier, going deeper, and finishing stronger on your MBA application. For 15 years, my job has been coaching MBA hopefuls through the long application process. This includes: a standardized admissions test (usually the GMAT or the GRE); a series of application essays; letters of recommendation; possibly a video or a photo collage; and interviews. Applicants must also submit a professional resume, university transcripts, and various other documents depending on the school. It’s a demanding process, but when it goes well, I get a call from an ecstatic client yelling, “I got in!” Getting admitted is not as straightforward as meeting a list of requirements. Successful applicants must also be able to showcase other critical qualities throughout the application process (on their resumes, in their essays, and during their interviews). These qualities include leadership, collaboration, teamwork, intellect, curiosity, resilience, adaptability, humility, a meaningful commitment to community, a track record of impact, an open mind, and well … the list goes on. The problem is, nurturing all these traits takes time. Many highly qualified applicants simply start the application process too late to make progress in these areas. My hope is this article can help you change that. I’m going to show you how to fully take advantage of the time you have before applying to an MBA program — starting as early as when you complete your undergraduate degree. I am confident that if you follow these seven steps, you might discover that you are pretty WOW too. 1) Crush the GMAT/GRE ASAP. Taking the GMAT or the GRE exam is a prerequisite for business school. These standardized tests evaluate your quantitative and verbal abilities through a series of multiple-choice questions. Each test takes more than three hours to complete. To do well, test experts suggest three to six months of study. But the one thing that most MBA applicants do not have is time. Except for you — because you’re starting early! What score is a “good” score? The easy answer is that a “good” score is what will get you accepted into the program. The more complex answer involves “average test scores” which vary from business school to business school. Currently, they run from 650 to 720 for GMAT and 310 to 329 for GRE, and over the last few years those numbers have been rising. Therefore, your “good” score should be close to or above the average for your target business school. You’ll find the specific average you are aiming for by looking at the “class profile” on the business school’s website, which will show you what successful applicants to the program scored. Doing your test early has another advantage. Being fresh out of university means your test-taking skills are honed. You probably won’t have to revisit the rules of grammar or basic math. (What’s a prime number again?) And both tests have a validity of five years. But don’t worry if you don’t do well: You can retake the tests up to five times per year if needed, and schools normally consider only your highest score. 2) Dial up your intellect. MBA curriculums are heavy on quant and data analysis. Besides GMAT/GRE scores, schools will review your grades in classes like microeconomics, calculus, or statistics. If your BA degree was light on quant or you underperformed in these subjects, you have a few years to fix that. Take some online finance and quant courses or enroll in a comprehensive program that focuses on MBA competencies such as Harvard Business School’s CORe, Imperial College’s PreMBA Essentials for Professionals, or even an in-person experience such as CEIBS’ MBA Bootcamp, held in Shanghai each summer. Free alternatives to these pricey courses can be found at KhanAcademy.org, which offers training in basic math, finance, accounting, and statistics. At EdX and other online MOOCs, you can find free courses on critical skills such as using Microsoft Excel — probably the MBA student’s most powerful tool. Taking time for such courses will not only improve your application profile, but you’ll gain skills that will help you excel in the MBA and in your career. However, getting into an MBA requires more than the ability to analyze spreadsheets. Critical thinking, diversity of thought, new ideas, and unique perspectives are all essential to thriving in an MBA. So, feed your mind. Develop a reading habit, explore new topics, learn another language, listen to podcasts about philosophy, neurology, economics, geopolitics, or history — whatever draws your interest. Do this not just to be a better MBA student, but to be a better person. As a bonus, your new perspectives will help you stand out in your future application essays, which usually ask you to deep-dive into things such as values, beliefs, aspirations, and passions. 3) Curate quality work experiences. There is a myth that says if you don’t have a blue-chip firm on your resume, you won’t get into a good business school. To which I say, pfft. If you end up in a Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, or Google, great! Landing these jobs, and succeeding in them, demonstrate that you are smart, capable, and able to thrive in an elite firm — and by extension, an elite MBA. But if you decide to join a regional investment boutique, a data-analytics startup, or a family-owned cement factory, you still can build quality work experiences. These firms often have small staffs and big problems — a perfect storm to build your skills around driving change, leading teams, and having bigger impact than your peers in the blue chips. In the end, it is not where you work that matters, but the experiences that you have that will make the difference in your future MBA applications. Wherever you kick off your career, cultivate a growth mindset — which is the belief that your talents can be developed and nurtured by working hard, learning constantly, and seeking opportunities that put you out of your comfort zone. Volunteer for the project no one else wants, train interns, present the latest trends in your industry to your team. These types of experiences will not only give you rich stories for your future MBA application, but they will also enrich you personally, building your confidence, maturity, and expertise. 4) Nurture the leader in you. We tend to think of leadership as leading people or managing a project, but leadership can be many things, from producing a high school play to tutoring younger kids in math. Mine your past for times when you raised your hand, made something happen, or had an impact (a word as critical in the MBA world as leadership). You could create a “brag sheet,” either virtually or on paper, to remember these events when you need to reproduce evidence. Then when it’s time to apply, you’ll have plenty of leadership examples. Unless of course, you don’t. Maybe you were shy, introverted, or just too busy being a kid to run the student council. That’s fine, because with your long-term application plan, you have plenty of time to gain the type of leadership that will impress admissions. At work, look for ways to contribute beyond what is expected. Volunteer to take on new projects, create a tool that improves efficiency, teach your colleagues something new. Aim for impact, which could be as profound as launching a new business line for your firm to simply creating your office’s recycling program. A great way to get started is to follow your own interests. If FinTech is your passion, start an office newsletter sharing the latest trends and how they apply to your firm’s mission. If socializing is your thing, organize dinner parties or sports events that bring together not just your own team, but people from teams across the firm. 5) Build relationships with recommenders. It is never too early to start building good relationships with your supervisors — not just because it will enhance your letter of recommendation later on, but because having a mentoring relationship with your superiors will enhance you. Along the way in your new career, you’ll probably screw up once in a while, but if you have a good relationship with your supervisor, it will be an opportunity for growth. In fact, applications often ask about blunders and how you reacted to feedback surrounding them. Prepare for this. Regularly ask your supervisor for feedback so that you are aware of both your strengths and your weaknesses. Make plans for improvement to show that you have a learning mindset. Your supervisor will appreciate your effort and your candor, have something solid to write about later in your recommendation, and you just might build a close relationship that lasts long after you leave the firm. 6) Contribute to your community. One of the best ways to enhance your MBA profile is also one of the best ways to enhance your own life — giving back to your community. In the long lead-up to your MBA application, consider getting deeply involved in one or two organizations where you can achieve both leadership and impact (which, if you have read this far, you know are two pillars of building a powerful MBA profile). Volunteer in a soup kitchen, teach computer skills to refugees, or do any other work that is meaningful to you. This is a great way to hone skills you may not be developing in your day job. That said, don’t just volunteer for the sake of padding your application. Life is hard enough, why suffer doing something that makes you miserable? Instead, do what you love. Think about how you can apply your professional skills and interests to make an impact that makes you proud. For example, if you dream of working in finance, but are a mechanical engineer, offer to manage accounts for a charity. If you hope to be a consultant one day, volunteer to develop a growth strategy for a small business. If you’ve cracked the code on increasing your own Instagram followers, use that visibility to help a social enterprise. Big impact makes for great applications, and great personal experiences. 7) Be better by being yourself. Business schools want to build MBA classes full of smart, accomplished, community-focused future leaders who have impact, but who are also wildly diverse. Diversity encompasses ethnicity, gender, nationality, and sexual orientation, but in the MBA world, it’s also about your unique hobbies, passions, background, and experiences. Such diversity, across the spectrum, is what makes the MBA experience so exciting. Authenticity is another thing admissions crave, and the best way to be both diverse and authentic is by being yourself. This includes being upfront about your external hobbies and interests. So, over the next few years, dive deep into the things you enjoy or are have always been curious about. Running, baking, juggling, clam digging, Caribbean history, blockchain, whatever it might be, go for it. Being authentic also means embracing who you are and where you come from. You do this by being self-aware (another favorite admissions word). Look backwards over your life and make a list of the things that have impacted you the most — events, conversations, people. Work on discovering your values, your hopes, your fears, and definitely, your superpowers. Figure out what kind of person are you, what you want to achieve in your life, and what matters most to you (to paraphrase a famous MBA application essay question). All of this, your old memories and new discoveries, along with all the impact, leadership, and skills you’ve honed, will come together to form a powerful application that reveals just how WOW you really are. It will shine through on your resume, application essays, and future MBA interviews. Dr. Seuss said it best: “There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Being that you is what will open the doors to the MBA of your dreams.
