Are you planning on applying to MBA programs in the upcoming admissions season? You may think there is nothing you can do to bolster your B-school candidacy in this short amount of time. Not true! You can take action in several areas right now that will pay dividends in the fall.
Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
Academic Enhancement
Once you have a test score, see how it compares to the average listed on each school’s class profile page. If you took the GMAT once or twice and didn’t get the score you wanted, consider a prep course for a refresh on solving those high school math logic problems.
Liberal arts majors or those with a GPA below 3.2 should also consider alternative ways to enhance their academic profile. Retake the GMAT or GRE until you’re satisfied, or prove you have the quantitative chops by taking a college-level statistics, microeconomics, or calculus course at the local community college.
“Most students take the GRE or GMAT test two or three times—and that’s fine,” says Anthony Ritz, SBC’s Director of Test Prep. “Schools will take your highest score, and you can even cancel a bad GMAT score without a trace if you want total reassurance that it won’t count against you.”
Fortunately, most MBA admissions teams take a holistic view of an individual’s candidacy. That means enthusiastic recommendation letters that also address the applicant’s quantitative skills will carry significant weight with the committee.
Partner with Stacy Blackman’s best-in-class GMAT and GRE experts and increase your score significantly. Check out our test prep services here. Request a free game plan chat with SBC’s lead test prep coach by emailing testprep@stacyblackman.com.
Extracurricular Involvement
A strong focus on work is great. However, it is important to showcase other personality traits and prove that you bring diverse skills to an MBA program. Community involvement demonstrates that you have a larger view of the world, see what’s happening outside of your office, and want to contribute in some way.
Perhaps you didn’t have time or energy for outside interests and passions due to your 80-hour pre-MBA work week. Nonetheless, you should find ways to increase your community engagement in the coming months. Note that this isn’t about gaming the process with some new-found volunteering involvement.
Listen to B-Schooled Podcast Episode #104: The Importance of Extracurriculars and Community Service
The best way to seamlessly incorporate extracurriculars is to think about longstanding passions and interests and build upon them. If you’ve volunteered for a group before, see what else you can do to help that’s more high profile. You could also see if there are any open leadership roles that would be a good fit.
Don’t focus exclusively on traditional volunteer work, though. There are many ways to show your diversity that can boost your B-school candidacy. So, think hard about what excites you and how you can leverage those interests for the greater good.
Don’t miss Evaluating Your MBA Candidacy from the AdCom’s Perspective
Leadership Development
Business schools want to see applicants with proven leadership skills that will develop further through an MBA program. A promotion between now and the fall would be the ideal scenario. But you don’t have to wait for your supervisor to enhance your overall leadership potential for business school applications.
Letting others at work know you want to develop your people skills may uncover more opportunities to go above and beyond and provide great material for your resume and essays.
- Volunteer for that cross-functional team or project,
- Offer to help your boss with a tough long-term goal or
- Get involved with employee groups at work, whether through volunteering in the community or promoting diversity in your company.
To show leadership without clear career progression, look to your extracurricular activities and think about taking on a leadership role. Can you find a way to lead with ideas and show success because of your influence, communication skills, or ability to motivate people? This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you can run a project and motivate a team.
The spring and summer months can be very fruitful for personal development and for improving and strengthening your B-school candidacy. With a little advanced planning and a commitment of just a few hours a week, applicants can greatly enhance their profile before the final rush of the fall and winter.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your needs, from our All-In Partnership to test prep to hourly help with targeted tasks. Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS.
During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).
During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions.
Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally.
Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).
In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years.
Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee.
In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB).
Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics.
Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.
Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise.
During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies.
In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team.
During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).
During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business.
At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director.
Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants.</sp ...
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