by Rich Cohen \u00a0Rich.C@empowergmat.com \u00a0www.EMPOWERgmat.com<\/p>\n
The process of successfully getting an invitation to attend your first-choice Business School requires a variety of intermediate \u2018steps\u2019 along the way. As that process requires a significant investment of your time, money and energy, it\u2019s important to stay organized and plan a reasonable timeline so that you can accomplish all of the necessary tasks that are a part of crafting a strong Business School application. At this time of year, many applicants are planning for the upcoming Round 1 application deadlines. Thankfully, for those people, there\u2019s still plenty of time to study for the GMAT and work on their applications. However, as the deadlines near, some of those applicants will lose sight of their \u2018big picture\u2019 goals and rush a less-than-perfect application out to their first-choice Business Schools. As a result, they WON\u2019T get accepted to those Schools. Before you allow THAT situation to happen to you, you have to remember that your ultimate goals are MORE important than your immediate timeline and application deadlines.<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t have a first-choice Business School, then you SHOULD have one. You will end up putting so much effort into this overall process that if you\u2019re not applying to a Business School that is best-suited to YOUR goals and needs, then you\u2019re acting in an unprofessional fashion (and likely wasting what your MBA could mean for your future). Defining what you want to do with your career, and how an MBA would help, is an essential part of making sure that you\u2019re going after the proper degree (and from the proper School). Your process should include far more than just \u2018name recognition\u2019 though. If your first-choice School is Harvard because \u201cit\u2019s Harvard\u201d, then you have NOT put the necessary thought into this process (and it\u2019s likely that Harvard will figure that out about you and NOT choose you because of it). There IS a School (or perhaps several) that will be a perfect match for your needs \u2013 once you define what those specific needs are. Getting into THAT School is the ultimate goal. Whether that happens in Round 1, Round 2 or later on (even perhaps next year), you cannot allow yourself to lose sight of that goal.<\/p>\n
An applicant\u2019s GMAT score is arguably the first piece of the application that most Admissions Officers look at. The numbers are already defined, and have a \u2018meaning\u2019 that the Officers can quickly assess. Rushing to take the GMAT, with the goal of making an admissions deadline, is one of the WORST mistakes that you can make as part of the overall process. If you\u2019re not scoring near your goal score during your studies, then you\u2019re likely NOT going to \u201cluck out\u201d on Test Day and score much higher. In that same way, if you\u2019re not practicing in a realistic fashion (meaning that you\u2019re taking your practice CATs in a way that doesn\u2019t \u2018line up\u2019 with what you\u2019ll face on Test Day), then you shouldn\u2019t be surprised when you end up suddenly scoring lower on the Official Test. Remember that the real GMAT will always give you the score that you EARN. You CAN properly train to score at a high level, but if you didn\u2019t put in the necessary time, use the proper resources, learn the proper Tactics and put in the necessary effort , then you\u2019re likely to end up with an Official Score that keeps you from getting into your first-choice School. And WHY did you end up with a lower score than you needed? Because you were rushing to make an admissions deadline? That is a CRAZY reason for not achieving your big picture goals.<\/p>\n
Assuming that you have all of the necessary \u2018pieces\u2019 to your application (including a strong GMAT score, well-written essays, etc.), the final piece of the application puzzle could end up being one of the most important \u2013 and one that you have not even thought about. Admissions Experts can sometimes play a vital role in the application submissions process. While the services that they offer can be expensive, and (unfortunately) no Admissions Expert can guarantee you a positive result, those Experts can help you to craft an overall application that will properly impress Business School Admissions Officers. In that way, those Experts can help you to properly \u2018market yourself\u2019 AND avoid any potential errors or \u2018hiccups\u2019 in your application. Imagine if you made an avoidable error in an essay or during an interview\u2026 You wouldn\u2019t even necessarily know that you made the error; you just wouldn\u2019t end up receiving an invite (and you\u2019d be left to wonder WHY you were rejected). As smart as you might be, you\u2019re almost certainly NOT an expert when it comes to knowing what Admissions Committee Members think \u2013 and you probably will never become an expert in that subject. If you\u2019re planning to apply to a highly-competitive Program, then you have to give serious consideration to hiring an Admissions Expert to help you. Whether you actually make that investment or not, you should consider the alternative\u2026 Would spending that money to increase your chances at getting in be worth your ultimate goals? Would saving that money be as important to you in the long run as having that MBA from your first-choice Business School?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a great deal that goes into this overall process and it might be tough coming up with all of the answers on your own. To that end though, we\u2019re here to help.<\/p>\n
GMAT assassins aren\u2019t born, they\u2019re made,
\nRich<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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