Making the best application to a US school

Dear Miller,

The GMAT is just one of the many components that make up a MBA application. The nice thing about the business school application process is that there are no litmus tests for admission. Top programs like Harvard, Stanford and Wharton do not simply dismiss applications with below-average GMAT scores.

Typically, the schools look at your work experience, career goals, leadership abilities, teamwork experience, presentation, and academics (GMAT and transcripts). They assess these items by reading essays, recommendations, transcripts and interview reports. Of course, if you have any weakness in your file (like a below average test score) you will need to make up ground in the other elements of your application. In your case, you might dazzle the committee with a series of interesting essays that reveal unique career goals, challenging work experiences and dedicated community involvement and leadership. What are your outside interests? How will you enhance the student body if admitted? These are the sorts of questions to consider as a way to market yourself in a unique fashion.

One final point is that your GMAT ‘breakdown?is quite important. A low quantitative score (below the 80th percentile) can raise serious questions about a candidate’s ability to handle the rigorous quantitative coursework at a top MBA program. A lower verbal score is less important (assuming you are a native English speaker). There are two ways to combat a low quantitative score on the GMAT:

1) Study and retake the test (only if you are willing to enroll in a test prep course or pursue a rigorous self-study plan)
2) Take a couple of quantitative courses in your spare time and make sure you get “A’s? Typical courses are calculus, economics, statistics and accounting. It is fine to do these in the evenings at a local university ?you needn’t brush up on your quantitative skills at Cambridge or Oxford to make a positive impression.

Best of luck in the admissions process,

Graham Richmond
www.clearadmit.com
graham@clearadmit.com

Thanks - another quick question.

US schools seem to have a number of application deadlines for the one start date. Do they put any higher weight on the applications they receive by the first date?

Miller

The various deadlines are very important. Many of the top programs have 3 deadlines and associated acceptance rates of 15%, 13% and 10%. Clearly it is to your advantage to submit an application in the 1st or 2nd round.

The truth is that schools are trying desperately to construct a well balanced and diverse class. If you apply in the 3rd round and the program has seen dozens of European applications, you may be out of luck. In the first round, the schools are still 'feeling their way' in terms of assessing the applicant pool.

Best of luck,

Graham

graham@clearadmit.com
www.clearadmit.com

Hi!

My understanding is that Ad Com separates your application into 3 parts: Academics, Work, and Personal.

GMAT shows your academic abilities. So, to counter that you have to offset that by other academic parts of your application, i.e. GPA, extra courses on the Graduate level, Knowledge Competitions, etc.

As for the GMAT, I have applied with the GMAT (680) a bit lower than the average for the schools I want to be in, here is what I have done to offset that weakness.

1. State that I have graduated with honors from 2 Programs (BS and MA) - Shows that I am a good student and will be able to graduate from the program.
2. Lucky enough I also have BS from the US university with the good GPA - again shows the same.
3. I won some National and University Knowledge competition (in finance) and business project writing
4 I had low verbal score (35, which is 75%) - I decided to take TOEFL - scored 287 - I guess that might be enough to make up for low GMAT

To make you case further - you have to show that you are great at work :-) Leadership positions, Initiative, Promotions etc. That part of your application goes to CV and essays - try to recall intriguing situations - something that might be unique to you only.

Personal - these are your hobbies, social life, extras etc.

Reading all the forums for about 1,5 years I understood that to be admitted one should have something extraordinary at least in one category and be competitive in the others. So, as Alex Brawn says - try to make your case :-)

Best of luck,
AVM

Hi AVM,

Thanks for your advice. Very helpful. It looks like the whole application is very important - which is a good thing (though each school probably differs slightly too). Worth spending a lot of time getting it right.

Cheers,
Miller01