Getting rejected by a B-school is the last thing that any MBA applicant wants.
But rejections are a normal aspect of the admissions process. It’s understanding why you got rejected and what to do next that are important.
Minimal Interests Outside Of Work and School
One of the potential reasons that MBA applicants get a rejection letter is because they fail to show interest in activities outside of work and the classroom.
“Oftentimes, it is the personal story aspect that shows resilience or a unique hobby that shows a level of depth that can set a candidate apart. “For example, if you have two candidates from top investment banking firms with the same level of experience, the one who also practices and won awards in let’s say archery (this was from a past client), will have a better chance of acceptance because it is not only unexpected, but makes them stand out.”
Inauthentic Personality
When an applicant is too on brand with a B-school and its values, admissions officers will typically pass on their application. Experts say that applicants who tell authentic stories tend to catch the eye of admissions officers.
“No matter how qualified you may be on paper, authenticity counts,”
“The biggest mistake we see candidates make is when they tell us what they think we want to hear, rather than showing us who they actually are. The essays and interview are a great opportunity for you to present your true self.”
High Competition
Oftentimes, a rejection doesn’t mean you aren’t qualified. Rather, it may just mean that competition is at an all-time high.
“This is the top reason why qualified candidates are rejected – there are a limited number of spots open and hundreds of qualified candidates are vying for those spots,”
“Choosing a less popular school increases your chances of getting in, and many schools have excellent programs, not just the big name schools.”
No matter the reason for rejection, experts say, the best next step is to do some self-evaluation.
“Spend some time and evaluate your application strategy and submitted package,You want to determine whether you put together the best application package you’re capable of. If you feel there may have been some issues or there may be other opportunities to improve your profile, take action. “
How Not to Choose an MBA/MS Program
“Invert, always invert.”
Put simply, inversion is a principle commonly applied in mathematics, where you rearrange or reverse the order of something. We like to think of it as turning something inside out.
We believe we can apply that same thinking to MBA/MS admissions. We would reframe the question of “How do I get into the right program?” Instead, We’d tell how to get into the wrong one.
When it comes to choosing a business school, here are ten “inversions” that’ll ultimately lead to a decision that you’ll regret:
- Prioritize second-hand research over direct experience:
People are naturally biased, and one experience doesn’t tell you everything. Research schools’ facts and figures religiously. Look at outcomes, read the curriculum, and listen to testimonials. Make it rational, focused on numbers and aggregate data. A certain “feel” for a school may make you happy, but this is a professional decision. Do the great investors lead with their intuition?
- Use the rankings as your guide:
Pay special attention to the nuances of a ranking to prioritize your schools. A bump from four to three in the U.S. News rankings changes things. While you know the school’s quality hasn’t changed, people’s perception has. What matters most is what the average recruiter or colleague thinks of your school choice. They’ll be the ones hiring you.
- Emulate the success of others:
Study the people who have been accepted. Learn their style, their story, and their interests. Use their paths as a map to guide you through the twists and turns of the admissions process. If yours is too different, you’ll lose your audience. The school sees so many applicants that it rewards you to fit the molds they expect. They don’t have time to appreciate the difference.
- Write about yourself generally, don’t emphasize specifics:
Focus on sharing your complete backstory, and tie it all to what you want to do afterwards. A great essay is a smooth sequence of events inevitably leading to your school and program of choice. Focusing on one experience means that you’ll not show all of yourself.
- Come to interviews with the answers:
Prepare so you can address any question an admissions officer asks with a concise and confident response. Almost any answer is better than not knowing. If you don’t know what you’ll do in school or after, then you haven’t been thoughtful enough.
- Stick to conventional career goals:
Don’t be too ambitious or unusual with your goals. About half of most top MBA graduates go into management consulting or banking. If you’re like the average admitted student, then odds are you stand a better chance of being accepted. Being the odd duck out is too risky, and it’s going to invite a lot of skepticism.
- Sell an image:
Admissions is considering making an investment of a precious seat in their class for you. The key to closing any deal, whether in business or in life, is to create a winning image. Perception is everything. You and your career have to be something that admissions wants to have a part. It’s about learning what admissions wants you to say, and then squeezing yourself into a mold that tells them that.
- ROI and Cost:
Return on investment (ROI) goes beyond those coveted starting salaries and is inherently individual. Forbes rankings, for example, are based exclusively on ROI and drawn from pre- and post-MBA compensation, location and career choice. Forbes examines the five-year gain for MBAs across a host of key factors, while other media, like The Economist rankings, measure ROI in terms of one-year gain to determine early value from first-year salaries against tuition. If you’re tempted to pursue a lower ranked school because of tuition cost, consider that ROI may also be lower. Better programs have heftier price tags, but usually pay greater long-term dividends.
- Emotionally commit to this cycle:
Your passion won’t come through unless you’re all in. Commit to this admissions cycle. View it as your shot. If you aren’t accepted this year, what are the odds one or two years doing similar work will make you a better candidate? Pick your favorite school based on those you know will accept you.
- Treat admissions like a challenge to be overcome with more work:
You need to struggle and strive to gain acceptance. It’s a zero-sum game. Your acceptance means someone else’s rejection, and vice versa. This is a competitive system that requires focus. The curious, uncertain, and exploratory will not thrive. You must be definitive, whether you truly feel that way or not.
Inverting the traditional format of a “top ten list of things to do” to succeed may seem silly. Why would we shift from defining success to outlining failure? Rearranging our priorities to focus on what might go wrong makes things much more complicated and ambiguous, some might say. Still, We maintain that practicing inversion is critical because avoiding failure is just as important as chasing success.
We do little things every day to build a foundation for success. In admissions that can be taking time to reflect, checking our work consistently, or diligently researching our schools of interest. Those little decisions compound and have a major effect on outcomes. Just doing the basics can enable you to build an outstanding application.
Leap Quest has developed a comprehensive program to help you to formulate an inspiring career vision, career goals, and career action plan. If you define your career goals in the way we recommend, you will be prepared to convince admissions officers that you have the capabilities, passion, and purpose to achieve something significant in the future.
We’ve put that all together to create a statistical algorithm that accomplishes the above task to the point of categorization. Of course, it’s not an automated process. There is a greater deal of human involvement to judge the non-objective aspects of your profile too – your clarity of career goals, your ability to connect the dots and make an overall good impression on the Admissions Officer.
We’re placing our special interests on candidates who are planning to apply for the 2023 Intake (Fall and Spring) because in our experience an early start has always fetched us better results.
Get Help from Leap Quest for your MBA Applications!
Leap Quest MBA/MS Admission service includes all elements of applications that consist of:
- Shortlisting the list of target B-Schools
- Guidance in building MBA/MS application essay/SOP’s write-ups (how to draft essays for MBA application)
- MBA/MS essay editing and guidance in organizing any other aspect of MBA/MS application.
- Guidance in preparing CV/Resume
- MBA/MS Interview preparation service in the event an MBA/MS applicant gets an interview call from a shortlisted B-School
- Any other related part that is inside the scope of B-School application process
- Social Media Consulting
- LinkedIn Assistance
- Drafting Scholarship letters
- Application Form Guidance
First come, first serve policy will be adopted and to avail this fee waiver, you can either drop in a message on our number (9353256447) or revert back to the same mail with a “YES”.
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