In this blog, let’s briefly examine what Global top MBA programs look for in an applicant.
Good Scores: To begin with, you need a good GMAT (or GRE) score. Good academic grades are always a plus too.
Professional Experience: Most Top MBA programs require that applicants have an average of 3–5 years of work experience. While there are always exceptions where candidates with less than two years or no work experience have secured admissions to top MBA programs, the numbers are few and the applicant had some really significant achievement(s) to his/her credit.
Quality of Experience: Being employed at a good position and with a reputed brand helps, but what matters is your career growth, initiatives that you have taken at work (over and above your assigned responsibilities), and your accomplishments. International exposure of working in a foreign country counts as well.
Leadership Matters, and so do Team Skills: Admission committees of MBA program look for candidates who have demonstrated leadership traits, have taken independent initiatives, and are good ‘team players’. Examples of this could be say conceiving a new idea at work that you felt was beneficial to the company, convincing the management about it, and then leading a team towards executing the idea. Or say leading a team to solve a social problem. Or gathering like-minded individuals in your city/area and forming a cycling group that plans frequent cycling expeditions and so on. Anything that demonstrates your leadership, team, and to a certain extent your entrepreneurial skills.
It’s all about Diversity: MBA programs are looking for ‘smart’ candidates with diverse professional and personal experiences. Ask yourself this question: “What makes you unique ?”. If there are 10 other applicants with comparable GMAT scores and about the same years of professional experience, why should the admissions committee pick you over the others? Uniqueness need not necessarily be by virtue of any achievement. It could be by way of your upbringing and social background, your outlook towards life, adversities you have overcome, interests you have pursued, or just some skills you possess.
Clarity about Future goals: MBA programs prefer candidates who have realistic career aspirations. While it’s okay to use the MBA as a platform to explore opportunities, you still need to be realistic in terms of what options would you like to explore.
Your understanding of the MBA program: Each MBA program is unique (or at least the schools claim it that way). Hence MBA programs like applicants who have taken efforts to understand this uniqueness and culture of the MBA program.
Finally what matters is your clarity in communication. Your resume, application essays, and the personal interview, are means to communicate your profile to the admissions committee.
In 2005 Jay Rege, along with his wife Jothsna Rege, co-founded Academy One, a career guidance and study abroad counseling venture. Prior to co-founding Academy One, he worked as a software developer with HCL Technologies. He holds a computer engineering degree from Mumbai University and a MBA from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, USA. He has also been a visiting faculty at a few colleges where he teaches topics related to entrepreneurship.