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Finding the Right MBA Program for YOU
A new client asked me to help him with his MBA application essays to Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, and MIT Sloan. Although he has several years' work experience, including in the financial services industry, his GMAT scores (he took it three times) and lack of demonstrated leadership simply will not make him competitive for these schools.
Like most of our clients, this gentleman is smart and ambitious. But like too many of our clients, he did not at first consider many other outstanding MBA programs where he has a far better chance of gaining acceptance. While Accepted.com editors have helped countless applicants gain acceptance to the most fabled names in the MBA pantheon (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, etc.) even with less than average stats, we encourage our clients to look for the programs that are the best match for them. This isn’t just about scores and grades – it’s about matching an applicant with a school’s personality, academic strengths and flexibility, career placement opportunities, and other factors.
For example, the client I'm talking about wanted strong a general management program with entrepreneurship, but until I mentioned them he hadn't considered Darden, Michigan, Duke, University of Texas, and University of North Carolina – each of them excellent general management programs. Additionally, he didn't want to move to a cold climate, making most of these schools well suited to his personal preferences as well.
If an MBA is your goal, look beyond the "Hollywood" names and give careful consideration to the other top-25 schools that really might be a good fit for your strengths and career aspirations, and where you’ll have a better chance of getting in. Fortunately, it’s never been easier to do your homework. Here are a few of the many wonderful information tools to help you learn about various schools and what each one has to offer.
- Don't focus on a school's overall ranking as much as on its category ranking. Your dream school may be in the top 25 overall, but in the top 5 in entrepreneurship, so if entrepreneurship is your goal, that school is worth investigating.
- Look at where the graduating MBAs end up in the workplace. Are many of them flowing to the field of your choice?
- If your formal business educational background is skimpy, choose a school with a more structured core curriculum. Already a CPA? Look for a more flexible curriculum.
- Check out what student bloggers are saying about the schools and their programs at the Hella - MBA Student Blog site. This site will give you information that’s about as current as you can get for your target schools.
- Check the web sites of the MBA programs you are interested in to see if they have their own newspaper or blog. For a list of MBA program forums/blogs, go to this ever-growing resource page on Accepted.com (the MBA blogs are about halfway down the page).
You are investing considerable time, effort, and money into your MBA education, so take the time to learn as much as you can about each school’s strengths, curriculum, personality, environment, and even location. You may be surprised to discover there are more “dream schools” out there than you thought. By Judy Gruen, who would be delighted to help you find and get accepted to your dream school.
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Approaching short essays
“I want to explain how lacrosse involves determination, sacrifice, never giving up, never losing confidence, grit, unselfishness, quick thinking on the fly, looking out for others, etc.” These were my client’s initial wishes for his 250-word Columbia “greatest passion” essay. My response: “Sorry! That’s too much... And even if you could fit all these points in, the result would only be blur – not a clear or vibrant message.” As essay questions seem to trend shorter and shorter, I more and more often hear a client ask, on starting a given essay, “I have to figure out how to fit everything in.” By “everything” he usually means all the positive reflections arising from that experience. For example, if it’s a leadership essay, those reflections might include: vision, motivational skill, big-picture thinking, ability to tap others’ talents and interests, commitment to a cause, etc. Instead, I suggest making a note of all those points you could discuss, but then selecting one or two that (a) are backed up by engaging and revealing examples, (b) complement the messages conveyed by your other essays without being redundant, (c) don’t just make an obvious point (e.g., you have a strong work ethic), and (d) fill in an important point missing elsewhere (or perhaps only touched on elsewhere). For example, my client’s lacrosse essay could focus on quick thinking and responsiveness, or learning to sacrifice and push himself to the limit. The other relevant points were addressed (with vivid examples) in other essays. -- Cindy Tokumitsu, Senior Editor, Accepted.com
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Average 2007 GMAT: 696
Average 2007 Acceptance Rate: 30%
Average 2007 GPA: 3.32
Class Size: 182
2008 application deadlines: Oct. 29, 2007; Jan. 7, 2008; March 10, 2008; April 28, 2008
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) Admissions
CMU Tepper MBA Application Tips
The following editors have had clients accepted to this school:
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