“Business schools only want to accept candidates who are perfect, so I am going to make sure I show myself in the best possible light. Crickey. One of the essay questions is to tell them about a failure. What do I do now?” While this is a conversation you might conceivably have with yourself, fear…
The Increasingly Important Role of Social Media in the Application Process
On October 25th, Kaplan Test Prep released the results of a survey from over 150 business schools in the United States. While the survey only interviewed business schools, the implications are relevant to all college and graduate school applicants. With regard to social media, the results very clearly indicate that an applicant’s social media profile is becoming…
15 Reasons MBA Applicants are Rejected
If you are reading this, you are most likely considering applying or in the midst of applying to business school. Your goal is to be admitted, of course, and eliminate any obvious reasons to be rejected. What follows are several of the common reasons people are not offered admission: 1. Low Undergrad GPA The bad…
Why Do You Need an MBA? [MBA Interview Questions Series]
![Why Do You Need an MBA? [MBA Interview Questions Series]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MBA-IV-Question-Series-why-MBA.png)
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “Why do you need an MBA?“: Reason for asking the question: The interviewer wants to make sure your reasons for getting an MBA match up with…
Tell Me About Your Weaknesses [MBA Interview Questions Series]
![Tell Me About Your Weaknesses [MBA Interview Questions Series]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/MBA-IV-Question-Series-weakness.png)
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “What is your weakness?“: Reason for asking the question: To ensure the applicant is humble enough to recognize that nobody is perfect, and to see…
What Questions Do You Have? [MBA Interview Questions Series]
![What Questions Do You Have? [MBA Interview Questions Series]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/MBA-IV-Question-Series-have-questions.png)
This blog post is the first in a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “What Questions Do You Have?“ Reason for asking the question: To make sure the candidate has all pertinent information necessary about the school, as…
Why Do You Want to Attend This MBA Program? [MBA Interview Questions Series]
![Why Do You Want to Attend This MBA Program? [MBA Interview Questions Series]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/MBA-IV-Question-Series-why-this-school-1.png)
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “Why This MBA Program?“: Reason for asking the question: To gauge the sincerity with which the candidate is approaching the school. How to prepare:…
Walk Me Through Your Resume [MBA Interview Questions Series]
![Walk Me Through Your Resume [MBA Interview Questions Series]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/MBA-IV-Question-Series-walk-mw-through-your-resume.png)
This blog post is the first in a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “Walk Me Through Your Resume“: Reason for asking the question: 1. This question (or some version of it) is very often the first question…
Non-Traditional Work Experience in MBA Admissions
A common concern from prospective clients with non-traditional work experience is whether or not that experience will be considered relevant in an MBA classroom. I have heard this from doctors, lawyers, military officers, and more. Believe it or not, the less traditional one’s work experience, (often) the more an admissions committee is interested! When putting…
Self-Employed MBA Applicant? Here’s How to Present Your Work Experience
Creating a resume as a self-employed individual presents some challenges. If you already have an established business, some of this information is superfluous, but if you have been doing contract work, there are details to manage beyond the summary of the work you have been doing. Company Name If you own an established business, you…
Four Ways to Enhance Your Brand Name Work Experience for MBA Admission
In my last blog post I wrote that brand name company experience matters less than having substantive experience. I am not changing my tune on that in this post, but will let you know how brand name experience might be viewed by members of an admissions committee and potentially give you an edge, at least…
What Qualifies as “Good” Work Experience to an MBA Admissions Committee?
MBA Admissions Committees Care About More Than Brand Some of you may think that because you have worked in marketing but not at P&G, worked in banking but not at Goldman Sachs, or worked in technology but not at Google that your experience may not count as much to admissions committees when compared against applicants…
Cornell Executive MBA 2016 Essay Tips & Deadlines
The Cornell Executive MBA Program has three required essay questions and one optional question in its application. One of the most important things to keep in mind is brevity. While no one is going to be counting individual words, the short word count guideline is a clear indicator that you should work on clarity of…
Tips for Executive MBA Reapplicants
If you have been rejected from an Executive MBA program, it often comes down to one of three reasons (or combination thereof): 1. Your academic record was not strong enough to convince the admissions committee you could handle the rigor of an EMBA program, 2. Your work experience was not sufficient/relevant enough yet to be…
The GMAT and EMBA Programs
With full time MBA programs, it is fairly obvious why the GMAT is such an important component to one’s application – with less work experience, admissions committees need to find other measurements to gauge potential success in a program. Academic preparedness can clearly be evidenced with a strong undergraduate GPA coupled with a strong GMAT…
MBA Interviews: Tell Me About Your Weaknesses
Reason for asking the question: To ensure the applicant is humble enough to recognize that nobody is perfect, and to see how introspective he or she can be in an assessment of oneself. How to prepare: This question requires some real reflection. Nobody is perfect, yes, but one can always be striving to be his…
Cornell 2015 Executive MBA Essay Tips
The Cornell Executive MBA Program has three required essay questions and one optional question in its application. One of the most important things to keep in mind is brevity. While no one is going to be counting individual words, the guideline of short word count is a clear indicator to work on clarity of thought…
MBA Interview Questions: What Questions Do You Have?
Reason for asking the question: To make sure the candidate has all pertinent information necessary about the school, as well as to confirm that he or she has thoroughly researched the program and consequently has thoughtful questions. How to prepare: This will most likely be your last opportunity to ask questions of the program before…
MBA Interview Questions: Why This MBA Program?
Reason for asking the question: To gauge the sincerity with which the candidate is approaching the school. How to prepare: You need to make sure you show that your reasons for applying to the program go well beyond the obvious reputation, location, or network. Your job in answering this question is to convey your sincere…
MBA Interview Questions: Walk Me Through Your Resume
Reason for asking the question: 1. This question (or some version of it) is very often the first question asked in an MBA interview, since it should be a fairly easy question to answer and provides a foundation for the rest of the interview. Can the candidate remain focused on answering the question? Is he…
