{"id":2591,"date":"2010-03-11T13:14:08","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T21:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=2591"},"modified":"2010-03-11T13:14:08","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T21:14:08","slug":"mba-program-selection-reaches-on-pars-and-safeties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/mba-program-selection-reaches-on-pars-and-safeties\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Program Selection: Reaches, On-Pars, and Safeties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>NOTE<\/em><\/strong><em>: This is #5 in a series of blog posts on the topic, \u201cHow to Select the Right MBA Programs.\u201d To see previous segments, link to the following: <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/acceptedcom_blog\/2010\/2\/22\/what-mba-programs-should-you-apply-to-next-season.html\">Post #1, Introducing the Series<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/acceptedcom_blog\/2010\/3\/9\/mba-program-selection-weighting-your-needs-and-wants.html\">Post #4, Weighting Your Needs and Wants<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s now time to determine what types and levels of MBA programs you\u2019re competitive and qualified for, and what if any are out of reasonable reach.\u00a0\u00a0 I use the following categories:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reasonable reach<\/strong>: acceptance is not <em>likely<\/em> but with a great application is within reach.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>On-par<\/strong>: with a great app you\u2019ll have a solid chance of acceptance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safety<\/strong>: you will likely be admitted if you present your case credibly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>There\u2019s a fourth category, out-of-reaches.\u00a0 Conceding the wisdom and validity of \u201cnever say never\u201d and \u201cnothing\u2019s impossible,\u201d there are still much, much better ways to expend your energy and time than applying to such schools.<\/p>\n<p>Several factors determine your qualification for various levels of programs.\u00a0 Keep in mind that they all work together holistically.<\/p>\n<p>First the basics \u2013 GPA and GMAT.\u00a0 How do yours stack up versus the mid 75-80% of students in a given program?\u00a0 To be fundamentally qualified you\u2019ll want to be in the higher two-thirds of that range at least.\u00a0 If you\u2019re above or in the upper one-third of this range, you\u2019re competitive in this area.\u00a0 If you\u2019re in the middle third you\u2019re qualified, and if you\u2019re in the lower third or below, you\u2019re reaching.<\/p>\n<p>Work experience is the next factor to consider, specifically, quality of experience.\u00a0 The more competitive the MBA program, the more important it is to have strong and demonstrable advancement, impact, and leadership <em>relative to accomplished peers<\/em>, regardless of your function, industry, or organization.\u00a0 Quality of work experience is a key factor in the level of program you would be competitive in; top tier programs turn down many applicants with near perfect stats who lack the requisite professional accomplishment.<\/p>\n<p>Being in an overrepresented or underrepresented industry, demographic group, or global region\/country will affect your competitiveness.\u00a0 Perhaps the largest overrepresented group is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/indianapp.aspx\">Indians<\/a> in technical fields, a group that also has relatively high average stats.\u00a0 Schools that might be reasonable reaches for others will be almost out of reach for many in this group.\u00a0 On the other hand, no matter how underrepresented you are, if the adcom doubts you can handle the program, you won\u2019t be admitted. As you can see, this factor\u00a0influences what programs would be reasonable reaches, on-pars, and safeties.<\/p>\n<p>A myriad of other factors will also affect your qualification and competitiveness.\u00a0 Having fewer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/younger.aspx\">than three<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/older.aspx\">more than eight years<\/a> of work experience or\u00a0already holding an MBA from another program makes you less competitive.<\/p>\n<p>If you have an unconventional background, such as teaching or airline pilot, you face extra burdens in making your case. However once you successfully make the case for your qualifications and need for an MBA, your non-traditional background may become a plus in this competitive process.<\/p>\n<p>Qualified means you meet the basic standards of a given program.\u00a0 You can be fully qualified but not competitive \u2013 this is exactly the problem that many excellent Indian IT applicants face.\u00a0 Competitive is more nuanced; it encompasses the preferences and character of the program, the commonality or distinctiveness of your background, and even sometimes political and\/or economic trends and events.\u00a0 When you happily conclude that you are qualified for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/Columbia.aspx\">Columbia<\/a>, don\u2019t forget to ask yourself whether you are also competitive there.<\/p>\n<p>As you research and visit MBA programs, determine how qualified and competitive you are for them.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/aboutus\/editors.aspx?editorid=3\">Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a>, co-author of <\/span><\/em><em><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/accepted.com\/ecommerce\/ebook2.aspx\">Finance Professional\u2019s Guide to MBA Success<\/a>, <\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: black\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/Ecommerce\/ConsultantsGuide\/ConsultantsGuide.aspx\">The Consultant's Guide to MBA Admission<\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\">, <em>T<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/Ecommerce\/mba\/EMBAEssay.aspx%20\"><em>he EMBA Edge<\/em><\/a><em>,\u00a0and author of several articles and the free, email mini-course,<\/em><em> <\/em><a title=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/embaadmissionscourse.aspx\" href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/embaadmissionscourse.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><em>\"Ace the EMBA.\"<\/em><\/a><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOTE: This is #5 in a series of blog posts on the topic, \u201cHow to Select the Right MBA Programs.\u201d To see previous segments, link to the following: Post #1,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-2591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","tag-mba-admissions","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2592,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions\/2592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}