MBA Reapplication Resources

MBA Reapplication Tips 

I am reprinting my tips for reapplicants along with a list of resources you can use as you ramp up for a successful MBA reapplication effort. 

1. Determine what you need to change. Your previous approach didn’t work. Don’t turn in the same essays.
2. Analyze your qualifications versus your target schools’ average stats and requirements.  Don’t rely on miracles. Be realistic.
3. Seek feedback. Fewer and fewer schools are providing feedback, but if yours does, grab it. If it doesn’t, consider obtaining an MBA Application Critique.
4. Evaluate your application. Do your essays and letters of rec (if you have access to them) add to the reader’s knowledge of you? What could you do to improve them? Again, consider using Accepted’s application evaluation service.
5. Work on weaknesses. For example, if you applied to business school with a low GMAT, study for and retake the test.
6. Prepare to highlight valuable recent experiences. When you reapply, you want to show that you are “new and improved.” Don’t recycle the essays that didn’t work the first time. You have no reason to believe they will work this time around.

To help you evaluate your preparedness for business school, especially the quantitative demands, MBA Math will be providing weekly problems on Accepted’s blog, so you can see if you are qualified and ready. Stay tuned.

MBA Reapplication Resources:

• Create a Better Sequel: How to Reapply Right to Business School, Accepted’s featured ebook, is 20% off this month. (It ends Thursday.) A reader wrote, “After a string of Dings, the information in Create a Better Sequel: How to Reapply Right to Business School gave me confidence to start my re-application process this fall! ” 
• MBA Admissions: Advice for Reapplicants
• Re-Applying to Business School After Being Rejected, a podcast from MBA Podcaster. The podcast highlights the somewhat different reactions of b-schools to reapplicants .  Note the emphasis on evaluation and growth.

Not sure you can objectively evaluate your past application? Demoralized by a stack of dings? Concerned about the economy? To deal with your morale issues, please see:

• Personal Statement Tip: Pick Yourself Up and Applaud.
• Admissions tip from Dr. Pausch’s Last Lecture
• Applying to Business School in Times of Crisis

To provide objective analysis and ensure the positive change you want to show, jump-start your reapplication effort by combining Accepted’s Application Evaluation with our Start Smart MBA Mentoring(TM) service.

Last updated on April 27, 2009.