Welcome to MBA Podcaster—the only source for cutting-edge information and advice on the MBA application process. Your application can go from good to better to getting an acceptance letter by a little knowledge and some fine-tuning. It starts with a clear action plan—not a check list of things to do, but a strategy to maximize your chances. We’ll help you map out a plan from selecting the right schools to knowing when community service serves you. We’ll tackle the question of timing and we’ll hear from one student who didn’t get accepted one year, but he applied the next and got in.

Your action plan starts with a few questions to yourself, says Linda Abraham, founder of accepted.com, an admissions counseling and essay editing service. “The first one is their goal. What do they want to do after their MBA? The second thing they have to look at is their qualifications. Where can they qualify? Where can they get in? And the third element I think they have to look at is just personal preferences. Geographically, where do they want to be? Is there a significant other that they have to consider or for a family? Do they have educational preferences in terms of whether they want a case study school, or do they want a school that’s very experiential in its approach? Do they want a mix of pedagogical methods? What preferences do they have?”

After asking yourself those questions, you may have come up with maybe ten business schools. But you really want to narrow your choices down to about three to six. Scott Shrum and Omari Bouknight are co-authors of “Your MBA Game Plan,” a book about MBA application strategy. Bouknight says you can begin targeting those few schools by doing your due diligence. “I think in terms of identifying the schools that you should apply to, it all starts off with what your end-goal is in mind—if you’re a career-changer and you want to move into investment banking from marketing or if you want to take an entrepreneurial approach and explore business plans. So, essentially, what’s your end-goal in mind? And then, take some time to look at what the school’s strengths are. And a lot of schools will kind of say that they’re strong in every aspect of curriculum, but look at the school in terms of how it fits with the way you would like to learn and your learning objectives. And then, also take a close look at where a lot of the graduates end up in terms of companies, and in terms of how many end up actually going on to start their own businesses, if that’s what you’re interested in. So, matching up your interests with what the school actually produces; and then, start there and move down from there.”

“Come the fall, with each application season, a lot of these schools will go on tours around the country hosting information sessions. A lot of times local alumni are available, whether it’s somebody you know or somebody that the school put you in touch with to ask them questions. And this is another area where focusing on just a handful of schools really helps you. We absolutely recommend that you visit the school. It’s surprising how many people will apply to schools—never having visited them—and think this is where I want to go because I love the culture or I love the learning environment. But they don’t know because they’ve never actually been there. Schools are very good about hosting applicants—letting them come in, sit in on classes, talk to students. That’s a really powerful differentiator for a lot of applicants. Once they’ve visited a school, usually they know whether or not this is a place they want to go to.”

Your selection could look like this: One or two dream schools, two to three realistic schools and, perhaps, a safety school. And remember, says accepted.com’s Linda Abraham, “A safe school is not a school that you would not attend. So, it has to be a school that does support your goals. I do recommend a safe school, especially when there’s a little bit of a checkered past—maybe the GPA wasn’t so good, or maybe the GMAT wasn’t so good and the GPA was good. And I also recommend it; again, when you have multiple schools that will help you achieve your goal. As long as it helps you achieve your goals—try for it! You may end up getting a very good scholarship at the safety school.”

It’s never too soon to start studying for the GMAT, says Scott Shrum. Leaving yourself a sufficient amount of time is key, even if it means that you hold off applying to school for another year. And re-taking the exam isn’t a bad idea if you didn’t get the score you wanted. But on the other hand, you don’t want to be a relentless test re-taker, says Scott Shrum. “Our rule of thumb that we usually tell applicants is you don’t want to take it more than three times. Admissions committees are comfortable. They understand there’s no standardized test in one taking that’s going to perfectly measure your aptitude. And if you take it more than once, that’s absolutely fine. What they don’t want to see is somebody who’s just potentially treating it as a crap shoot and wants to keep going and taking it until I boost my score and get about 700 or whatever it may be. They want to see that you’re serious; that you’re focused, and also, that your priorities are in the right place. Let’s say you got a 660, and you took it again and you got a 690. Frankly, a 690 is good enough to get you into anywhere. And if you’re taking it again and again, trying to hit a 750 or something like that, you can certainly look like somebody who doesn’t quite get what the MBA is all about. It’s more than just a boosting of your quantitative numbers. I would say three is sort of our rule of thumb. But really the point is that you want to demonstrate that you put your best foot forward; you’re taking the process seriously.”

And if you’ve retaken the test, but still can’t seem to get the score you want, Linda Abraham says it’s time to take a different approach. “If, however, you are one of those people—and they do exist—who is quite bright, does well in school, does well professionally and can’t do well on the GMAT for whatever reason, I would suggest you apply to a range of schools. You can apply to some of the top schools, acknowledging that your GMAT is low and pointing to the other evidence of academic and professional ability. But also apply to some where your GMAT is competitive because you just can’t be sure if they’re going to bite or not.”

An admissions committee likes applicants who are actively involved in their community. Let’s say you work 14-hour days and can’t seem to get around to it, or maybe community service just isn’t your cup of tea. Should you find the nearest soup kitchen and start putting in that effort? Omari Bouknight says it’s likely the admissions committee will see right through your facade. “It definitely can be an asset if you have it. Definitely bring it out—don’t hide it. Definitely discuss it in your application if it’s important to who you are and important to your overall story. But in terms of just injecting it because you think it’s a good thing to put in there for the admissions committee; that’s definitely not the right move. And it’s not 100% required in order to get admitted.”

So, would it be a good idea, a year before you know you’re going to apply, to start doing some sort of community service? Scott Shrum: “It’s not a bad idea, but it’s not necessarily going to move the needle as much as you hope, like Omari said. Admissions officers can see through that fairly clearly. Kind of a good rule of thumb is: Is it something you’re passionate about or not? It might be Habitat for Humanity. It might be something related to your church. It might be something that’s really not community service at all. I remember one applicant who played volleyball at the YMCA for a few hours a week. It was something she was just passionate about. The whole point of the application is to show the admissions committee who you are. If that’s who you are, then run with it. Don’t hurry up and run out and sign up for a soup kitchen or Habitat Community strictly because you feel like you need to check the boxes. If you don’t have passion for it, it’ll absolutely come through in your essays. The admissions committee will see right through it. It’s not going to help you.”

Even if you’re consistent with your community service over a whole year and it’s just obvious, then you don’t want to do that? “I wouldn’t quite go that far. As Scott mentioned, if it’s something you’re passionate about, then it doesn’t matter if you started at six months before the application or a couple of weeks before the application. The question isn’t necessarily duration, it’s commitment and passion. The absolute last thing you want is for it to come across as something that you did to check a box—to say I’ve done community service, now I can talk about it. But if it’s something that you’re interested in and passionate about, then absolutely—go for it! It’ll give you one more opportunity to present yourself to the admissions committee—one more opportunity to show them what you’re all about, and what you’re interested in, and what you’re passionate about. From that standpoint, it can be a really great asset in the application.”

What can make or break your chances is really very simple. But, unfortunately, it’s what most applicants miss. The goal is to get the admissions committee to know who you are. And if that doesn’t come through in the application, then you’ve missed the whole point. Linda Abraham: “One of the complaints that the admissions committees complain about the most—and I think their complaint is very valid— that applicants tell them what they think admissions committees want to hear as opposed to telling them what the applicant thinks the admissions committee should know. That’s a big mistake. What do you want the admissions committee to know about you? What are you proud of? What have you done well? Why do you want to go to business school? Why are you willing to give up two years of income and spend $80,000 to get this degree? If you can’t explain that, I think your judgment would be called into question. The other thing that many schools are very explicit about is they want to know how you’re going to bring something to the class. So, if you write about being an engineer, and they have literally thousands of engineers applying, you’re completely failing to distinguish yourself from all the other engineers. But if you write that you’re an environmental engineer, then you’re already distinguishing yourself a little bit. If you write that you’re an investment banker, you’re just like all the other investment bankers. But if you write you’re an investment banker and you go into greater detail—investment banker who specializes in health care—and you go into greater detail, then you’re distinguishing yourself. And that’s just a little snippet of how you can distinguish yourself. Sometimes in talking to applicants they’ll say: ‘You have a question. What do they really want to know?’ They want to know the answer to the question. Or, ‘What’s the magic bullet to this question?’ Well, there’s no magic wand for every person. They’re trying to get to meet you. So, if you kind of blend in, you’re not telling them what they want to know. The biggest indication of what they want to know is in the question.”

And international students, especially, should consider the question of individuality. Omari Bouknight: “Probably, one of the weaknesses we’ve seen a lot of in international candidates is that it’s just a place to show every single achievement that they’ve ever had, and they focus very closely on the numbers. I have a really high GMAT score. I have a really high GPA. I graduated from a prestigious institution and I now work for a prestigious institution rather than really showing who they really are, and showing what their strengths are, and what their weaknesses are, and what their goals for the future are. What do they enjoy both in the classroom and outside of the classroom? How can they be an asset to the classroom?”

“I think Omari said it perfectly. I would call that the number one mistake that we see—people, basically, rehashing their resumes in their essays. And if I’m an admissions committee member and I read their essay; after their essay, if I feel like I don’t know them any better than I did before, then that’s an essay that’s just not working for the applicant.”

The final point to consider in your strategy is timing. Some schools have a rolling-admissions process. But most schools typically work with three rounds of deadlines—November, January and March for fall admission. And MBA Game Plan’s Omari Bouknight says it’s always a good idea to think about timing. “But in terms of the first, second and third round, we typically recommend that applicants try to shoot for the first round and the second round. It’s always nice to have your target set on the first round. That way, you start to get behind the ball, and you can still apply in the second round and there’s no real loss. But waiting until the third round is a pretty common mistake that happens—putting things off for too long. And most schools recommend against applying in the third round because, at that point, a majority of the students have already been taken.”

“Focus on making your application strong rather than trying to gain the system. You’re going to do far more to help your own chances by making your essays as strong as they can be and by making sure you maximize your GMAT score. All of those things are going to help you so much more than trying to gain the system and think, ‘Well, if I apply in the first round versus the second round or vice versa, I’m going to gain that little extra edge.’ That’s just kind of all around the fringes. Really it’s more important that you get your strongest application in during the first or second round. Whether it’s the first round or second round, you’re going to help yourself a lot more worrying about the specifics of your application.”

If you didn’t get accepted to the school you wanted, the upcoming year leaves you a good amount of time for reflection. Take a hard and honest look at your application. Where are you lacking? Scott Shrum says there are a number of things you can do to make your candidacy stronger the next time. “There is a myth that schools are hostile towards re-applicants. That’s absolutely not true. Schools are definitely, very interested in re-applicants. But really the question you have to answer if you’re reapplying is: You didn’t get in last year. Last year, we told you no. What’s different this year? Maybe it’s a new promotion at work, a new achievement on the job, something else significant maybe outside of work in terms of community involvement. Really make sure that you have something different to talk about—a new achievement, how you’ve matured or progressed in your career. And if you have that, you’re absolutely viable as a re-applicant.”

How would you suggest someone go about finding out what they need to do if they don’t get in and they do want to re-apply? “A lot of schools actually do allow you to interview with them afterwards, and they’ll tell you a little bit about your application and your candidacy and maybe why you didn’t get in. Some of the schools that receive more applicants don’t do that, just because of pure volume reasons and they can’t speak to all the applicants. And if that’s the case, then we’d highly recommend talking to somebody who is very familiar with the application process. Have them step through the application process step by step—someone who hasn’t really taken a look at it and maybe they can find out a lot of the weaknesses. Ideally, you would do that a lot more upfront before you submitted the application. But if you don’t get into the school, then that’s a good approach.”

Here’s a profile of a first-year student at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. He didn’t get in the first year he applied, but the second year was a charm. Listen and find out how he strengthened his application. “I first applied for the 2004 intake, and I applied to six schools. I kind of started my application process later. So, I applied to a couple of second round and third round schools and I didn’t get in anywhere. So, then I turned around and applied again for the 2005 intake. And this time, I only applied to four schools and I was accepted to the University of Chicago. One of the things that I did specifically was I sat down and looked at my past experiences, pulled out what I thought was the most relevant to translate into an MBA program and leading up to the future. And on the other hand, I actually looked at where I wanted to be and what it was that and I needed and sort of worked backwards from there to come up with why it is that I really need to go to an MBA program. So, those were the bigger things that I found were the most helpful in terms of preparing my application. And the second thing was, having had another eight months of work experience between the two applications, I also tailored to take a position at work that had more responsibility and that was more of a leadership role. I was a software engineer. So I thought maybe that was something that was not directly demonstrable as an applicant. I hadn’t led big teams and things like that. At Wharton, for example, you can sign up for a feedback season during the summer. So, I went about doing that and one of the things that I got out of it was that it was an issue of timing because I applied the third round. And third rounds are especially hard. You need to be an exceptional candidate to get accepted then. So, they encouraged me to apply in the first round the next time around. I had my career focus as entrepreneurship. Again, going back to the first essay being my weakest, they told me that I needed to talk more about why I wanted to do that and what it is that I really want to do. So, I think I incorporated elements of that when I reapplied for the second time. I actually feel that as long as your GMAT scores, for example, and your GPA’s are sort of in the ball park for your school, and you’re able to convey the fact that you’ve thought about why you want an MBA; you’ve thought about how it’s going to get you where you want to go and you can articulate that, I think that is the real key.”

For more information, advice, and to register for your weekly MBA Podcast, visit mbapodcaster.com. This is MBA Podcaster. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned next time when we explore the different ways to finance your MBA including getting that tax break.

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