Filed under: General — admin @ 4:28 am

Getting a pink slip shouldn’t derail your admission plans. In fact, it can serve as a catalyst for moving forward with the application you may have been putting off for so long.

There are some practical things you can do immediately to mitigate any negative impact a pink slip can have on your MBA admission outcome.

Don’t stay home and mop around. It is important that you use the time wisely. You will not be able to get away with saying that you spent the last 6 months looking for a job. Vacationing for more than a few weeks also would be a poor example as far as the admissions board is concerned.

Develop a track record that shows your leadership initiative and potential. A practical use of the time in between getting a pink slip and securing another job is volunteering. It’s not enough to simply go to a soup kitchen once a month. The MBA Board will scrutinize what you have spent your time on. Select a nonprofit organization that you genuinely care about and arrange to work with them to solve some of the challenges they are facing. For example, if you have a technical background, you could help them transform their technology infrastructure to help them become more efficient. If your background is in business development, it would be useful to draw from your experience, even contacts, to help the organization form new partnerships. The key here is that you are able to demonstrate your leadership ability and produce real impact in an area that reinforces your brand.

Be Open to New Opportunities. Say you are a career changer and wish to pursue an MBA to move into a different industry or function, getting laid off could be an opportunity for you to get some preliminary experience in the new career area before business school. Don’t be afraid to take on an interesting job that is a one year commitment. I had a client leave banking to go to the Amazonian Jungles for a year. The experiences he gained in the first three months of his time there featured prominently in his application and he was able to gain admission to all his schools.  If entrepreneurship is appealing to you, this may be an opportunity for you to start an organization that you are truly passionate about. The key is to have a game plan, targeted goals and a realistic timeline to achieve them so you can ensure you have results you can point to that demonstrate your commitment and value to the MBA class should you be admitted.

Beef Up Your Academics. If your transcript is spotty with several C grades or lower, it may be worth taking some coursework and earning strong grades to show academic discipline. On the GMAT front, you can use this time to take a prep program to significantly improve your score. I’m often asked the magic score and while there isn’t one, a benchmark that I use is that if it is below 680, and it’s the first time you have taken it, you should definitely retake it if you have the time to prepare more thoroughly for it. If you have taken it 5 times, even after two prep courses, and still have 620 as your highest score, you may be better off focusing on other parts of your application. You may also want to try the GRE (Graduate Records Examination) since a few schools accept them (Stanford and MIT Sloan to name a few).   

Filed under: General — admin @ 7:15 am

So you poured your heart into the admission process and invested hundreds of hours into fine-tuning your application. And what do you have to show for all your efforts? Or maybe you dashed off an application at the last minute after learning that your group was being fired. Regardless of where you fall on the effort continuum, getting that email that says “sorry we are unable to admit you given an extraordinarily competitive pool and year…” still stings.

Here are Three things I encourage anyone considering reapplying to do:

Reassess

Examine what was weak in the application. And be objective. Have an expert assess your entire application to give you honest feedback. If cost is a factor, consider a friend/colleague you trust (especially someone who has an MBA from a top school as they can also provide insight gleaned from their own experience. Follow up with MBA programs that give feedback (eg. Wharton) but don’t count on them to spend a lot of time going over the old application. And try to read between the lines as sometimes schools are not going to explicitly tell you why your application didn’t meet their criteria. Finally, the reality may be simply one of timing (you left it too late and are now a better fit for an executive or part time MBA instead of a full time program).

Strategize

Once you have a clear sense of what you need to improve upon, you will need to devise an application strategy that will increase your odds of success the next time around. If the issue is a weak GMAT, you should absolutely invest in a course/private tutoring to make sure you make it a non-issue. I have a wonderful client who took the GMAT and applied with a score of under 600 to later retake the GMAT and score over 700. His very low GMAT contributed in keeping him out of several of his top schools. Fortunately, he was able to gain admission to a top program. If the issue is the reverse, great GMAT scores but weak GPA, in some instances, it is worth taking a couple of business courses and earning grades of As to show that you can sit through an academic course and have the discipline to do well. Weak leadership can also torpedo an application. Beef up your leadership in the interim (even if you have a 9 month track record). The quality of your impact can go a long way so start today to build leadership experiences if you are lacking in this area. Another common weakness in applications is a poor choice of Brand Champions (recommenders). You need to set a plan to reconnect with people you have worked for in the past who were brand champions. Seek out new brand champions who could write honest, detailed and compelling recommendation letters on your behalf. The reality is that you may need to put off the reapplication for over a year to address the weaknesses (depending on your age/where you are in your career).

Execute

Now that you are reapplying, it is critical to avoid having a chip on your shoulder. It is equally important not to be paranoid. The most important message a reapplicant has to convey is why he/she is reapplying. Success can’t be achieved without effectively addressing this point. So make sure that you convey to the admissions board what is new about your application and why your new application demonstrates that you are a fit for their program.

Having taken an objective view of your application, identified the gaps and proactively addressed them, you should approach the reapplication with calm and confidence. Pace yourself effectively and split your application (consider 3 applications in round 1 and 2 or 3 in round 2). Take advantage of open house events, visitation programs at the schools, network and get to know the admissions staff (this can be helpful at schools with an open door policy, for example, Tuck). Give your recommenders at least 4 weeks head start so that they have enough time to work on your application. With the applications submitted, you can take a deep breadth and relax, knowing you sent in the absolute best application you possibly could.

Filed under: Internationals — admin @ 6:31 am

The reality for international students seeking an MBA in the U.S. is grim. First, the banking industry, under scrutiny and having lost so much money, has tightened its belt. Unfortunately, international students are feeling the brunt with many of the banks cancelling their loan programs for international students. CitiAssist Loans, once very popular among international students for its flexibility of not requiring co-signers and the generosity of the loan size, is no more. Schools are scrambling to find an alternative solution for their students. This has left many international MBA candidates without access to funds for their education. Check out BusinessWeek.com’s article on that.

As if the funding issue wasn’t enough to deter any daring international candidate from applying, the weak economy and stringent immigration policies (restrictive visa guidelines and limited numbers of work permits for international students) are also doing their bit to create near insurmountable challenges for international candidates to achieve their dream of attending a U.S. MBA program. The recent BusinessWeek.com article adds more woeful prognosis. 

My two cents is that international candidates should not give up on their dream of attending an American MBA program. As a former international student who attended a U.S. graduate program many years ago, (especially given that the program offered little scholarship and no opportunity to secure loans), I know that it is possible to find ways to pay for your schooling. A lot of ingenuity and tenacity can go a long way. Engage the school’s admissions and financial aid professionals to seek opportunities that may not be immediately obvious. Don’t just throw in the towel.

International students will have to have a pragmatic view of the realities ahead and have back up options that may mean attending schools that are closer to home. However, I would encourage any international applicant to take a long term view of the current situation. Post September 11^th, graduates of the class of 2002 were in a panic about finding jobs. International students found it even harder. Same thing with the visa/work permit issues. The challenges are daunting, yes. But difficult times call for more imagination and perseverance.