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I haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey but know the storyline: intimidated college senior (Anastasia Steele) meets successful magnate (Christian Grey), and they have a wild romance.
To many candidates, applying to elite MBA programs can be as mysterious as Christian Grey, as unsettling a tryst.
Yeah yeah yeah, maybe the analogy falls short. But here are 50 reasons desired MBA programs will put you in the grey zone. The grey zone, in this case, would be the “maybe” or “no” piles.
Admissions Directors could never say these (there are always exceptions to the rules!), so I’ll do it for them (I used to be one). They can thank me later.
Remember no candidate – or application – is perfect. The goal here is minimize admissions alarm bells.
Avoid these grey zone signals to score with your target MBA.
Got questions? Objections? Hate the book?
Let’s hear them
Darren, Touch MBA
update 2/14/2015 - I just found out Matt Symonds of Fortuna Consulting wrote a similarly titled post on Forbes, check it out - 50 Shades of Admissions Grey. Evidence of poor ethics is definitely something I should have included on my list...
I haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey but know the storyline: intimidated college senior (Anastasia Steele) meets successful magnate (Christian Grey), and they have a wild romance.
To many candidates, applying to elite MBA programs can be as mysterious as Christian Grey, as unsettling a tryst.
Yeah yeah yeah, maybe the analogy falls short. But here are 50 reasons desired MBA programs will put you in the grey zone. The grey zone, in this case, would be the “maybe” or “no” piles.
Admissions Directors could never say these (there are always exceptions to the rules!), so I’ll do it for them (I used to be one). They can thank me later.
Remember no candidate – or application – is perfect. The goal here is minimize admissions alarm bells.
Avoid these grey zone signals to score with your target MBA.
- 1. GMAT score below average
2. Crappy grades in undergrad
3. Poor grades in quantitative business courses
4. Not meeting minimum TOEFL or IELTS score
5. Graduating from an unknown university
6. Poor English
7. Mentioning the wrong business school in your application
8. Vague career goals
9. Wildly unrealistic career goals
10. Career goals that have nothing to do with your past experience
11. Little or no progression in job responsibility
12. Zero international experience
13. CV longer than 1 page
14. CV looks like it’s going to take a long time to read (i.e. no white space)
15. Indian Male Engineers
16. No work experience
17. Little, if any, extracurricular impact during school or work
18. Being late to an interview
19. Dressing unprofessionally to an interview
20. Not having spoken to any students at target school
21. Taking more than 4 minutes to answer an interview question
22. Asking ridiculously obvious questions at end of interview
23. Treating any admissions officer (no matter what rank) rudely
24. Badgering the admissions office for an answer
25. Thinking you’re IN because you have a 760+ GMAT
26. Reciting the school brochure in your essays
27. Giving canned interview answers
28. Essays that exceed the word limit
29. Your essay writing and AWA writing don’t match up
30. You want to be a management consultant with a GMAT in the 600s
31. The adcom asks you to retake the GMAT… and you don’t
32. No concrete business results in your resume
33. You’ve worked 4 jobs in 4 years
34. You have unexplained gaps in your resume
35. Your application is nearly identical to someone else in your demographic
36. Short recommendations
37. Lukewarm recommendations
38. No recommendations from current or past supervisors
39. You treat the school (and application) like a backup option
40. You expectantly ask about scholarship funding before getting in
41. You ask the admissions office to connect you to alumni without a reason
42. You say “school x is the perfect fit for me” in your application or interview
43. You treat career services like a job placement service
44. You only have one post-MBA job in mind
45. There is no evidence of self-reflection in your application
46. You don’t answer the essay question asked
47. Your essays are all lecture, no scenes
48. Your essay sounds like a cut and paste from another essay
49. You use your optional essay to cut and paste another essay
50. You can’t name 3 industries or 3 companies that interest you
Got questions? Objections? Hate the book?
Let’s hear themDarren, Touch MBA
update 2/14/2015 - I just found out Matt Symonds of Fortuna Consulting wrote a similarly titled post on Forbes, check it out - 50 Shades of Admissions Grey. Evidence of poor ethics is definitely something I should have included on my list...
ShoeBunny
Joined: 05 Apr 2014
Last visit: 31 Mar 2017
Posts: 96
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 34
Schools: McDonough '17 (M) Smith '17 (A)
GMAT 1: 710 Q43 V45
GPA: 3.75
WE:Account Management (Advertising and PR)
14 Feb 2015, 19:14
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50 Shades was a terrible book series. It was not very well written, and after a while it became predictable and boring. The end of the series was also really lame. Hopefully Bschool won't fall short of all the hyped up expectations. I would have gone to see the movie, but I hear it's only got an R rating. I might as well watch real porn.
Anyway, all your points are good ones. #15 made me chuckle because it's probably the only one that really isn't in an applicant's control.
Anyway, all your points are good ones. #15 made me chuckle because it's probably the only one that really isn't in an applicant's control.
19 Feb 2015, 12:25
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Bookmarks
ShoeBunny
50 Shades was a terrible book series. It was not very well written, and after a while it became predictable and boring. The end of the series was also really lame. Hopefully Bschool won't fall short of all the hyped up expectations. I would have gone to see the movie, but I hear it's only got an R rating. I might as well watch real porn.
Anyway, all your points are good ones. #15 made me chuckle because it's probably the only one that really isn't in an applicant's control.
Anyway, all your points are good ones. #15 made me chuckle because it's probably the only one that really isn't in an applicant's control.
Ha ha, another reason not to read it!
