Welcome to F1GMAT’s Ask Atul Jose series. I am Atul Jose.
In today’s episode, I have a question from a reader who asks:
Q) I have a GMAT 750 and applied to M7 schools last year, got dinged in 5 without an interview, waitlisted in 1, and rejected after an interview in one. How should I approach the M7 MBA reapplication process?
The rejection pattern reveals something about your application. Since you only got one interview invite from the 7, there is a definite weakness in your narrative, volunteering/extracurricular, or branding that influenced the outcome.
Before reapplying, follow these 4 Essential Strategies:
1) The Reapplication Essay: Not all schools look down on reapplicants. Even if most schools promote themselves by saying that from all the applications, close to 10% are reapplicants, the best place to find this is to see whether the school just has one question – for reapplicants. Or do they allow fresh applications with all the required and optional essays?
From the M7 schools, Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg, and MIT Sloan provide reapplicants the opportunity to apply as fresh applicants, while Wharton and Booth only have one question for reapplicants. Columbia also allows reapplication on a fresh slate, but the only criterion is that the gap between the applications should be greater than 12 months. This is because Columbia has two entering classes (January and August).
If it is just one question for reapplicants, it is an uphill task to persuade the admissions committee unless, in the past year, you have acquired significant and unique experiences – professionally, in volunteering, or through extracurricular.
2) Goals: The most common reason for rejection are goals that are not aligned with your experiences mentioned through your professional, volunteering, or extracurricular achievements. Schools evaluate your quantitative capabilities through GMAT/GRE Quant, your college transcripts, and even the corrective courses you might have taken to mitigate any weaknesses in statistics, calculus, or other quant-oriented topics. If you have a non-traditional degree or you graduated from a tier-2 school, then you should give extra emphasis on improving your GMAT/GRE score. The narratives that you used to demonstrate your personality traits or values in the essay also influence the feasibility of achieving the goals that you have mentioned in the application.
So everything is connected to your goals and motivations. Even if you create a great narrative and the goals are too ambitious or too easy, you will face a similar outcome as last year.
3)Age: If you have crossed 30 this year, you should understand that unless you are a top candidate from performing arts (Broadway, Standup comedy, Tik Tok/YouTube Videos), or you are from the military or the government or non-profit, there are certain expectations in terms of the milestones that you achieve professionally when you cross 30. Compared to last year, if you had a significant improvement in your contributions to the projects/clients or you gained a large audience because of your unique brand, then reapply.
If, after your non-traditional background, you pivoted to another function that is not what you have mentioned in the goals essay, then again, you will face rejection. Schools don’t like 3-4 time career switchers. If the narrative is about growth or scaling, schools are much more accepting of the goals. So again, everything is related to the goals that you are mentioning.
The admissions team looks at your age and your previous attempts at career switching and then makes a call on whether the goals are feasible or not with an MBA.
4) Recommenders: The narrative in your essay is half the job. The rest comes through the recommendation letters. We are not saying that you should write or edit the letters. But all schools expect some guidance from applicants on what to highlight for the recommendation letters. Our recommendation letter editing service at F1GMAT does just that. For supervisors who need guidance, we offer a detailed guideline document as a service. There are some supervisors whose first language might not be English. For such a supervisor, we can assist in translating the terms to common English and help with editing without the intervention of applicants. This maintains the integrity of the process. Also, pick supervisors who genuinely would like to see you succeed. That enthusiasm will show in the letter. They will also cooperate when a consultant helps with a guideline document.
Since most schools keep the file of the applicant for at least one year, you have to approach reapplication with fresh eyes. I can help you with that. You can reach out to me here. Or you can message me through Skype at F1GMAT. I am Atul Jose. See you in the next #askAtulJose series.
