Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

We've been getting a LOT of questions from folks looking to use b-school to make a career change. And it makes sense, of course. Why not go back to school to learn a few things and make the jump?

Except, career changers make adcoms nervous. And if you happen to be one of 'em, well, keep reading...

If you wanna have a better chance at getting in, don’t talk about career changes in your essays for the adcom.

I know that doesn’t seem to make sense but stick with your past background. Speak your mind…as though you were going to stay along the lines of your current job. That is your best bet for sure.

I'll say it again (because it's THAT important): career changes make adcoms nervous. Why? Well, here’s the deal. Adcoms like people who prove they will be wildly successful one day. (Wildly successful people make b-schools look good. They also make a lot of money….and then donate that money back to the school that helped them get there. Yes, even business school is a business.) And for adcoms, someone who has experience in a field are much more likely to be successful than someone who doesn’t.

Think about it. If you were reading two applications and both people wanted to own their own hedge fund one day, but one applicant has worked at a hedge fund for 5 years and other has spent the past 5 years in consulting ….who do YOU think would have a better chance at achieving that long-term goal?

The truth is, it doesn’t matter how badly to WANT to make that career change; the adcom is going to go for the sure thing. And that, my friend, is not the career switcher.

So…why bother? Why stick with the career-change story? Why take that risk? Just stick to what you know in your application and show those adcoms that you’re a sure thing.

Then, once you’ve got that MBA under your belt, you can switch careers as many times as you want.

Make sense? I hope so. The career change argument is a tough one, and a smart strategy is key.

If you're looking to take the plunge and want some more help coming up with a plan that will work, you should join me on Sunday, May 27th for our "Career Change and the MBA Application" webinar. It's gonna be an hour and I'm gonna share some specific strategies and answer aaaall your questions. It's gonna be good. Register here: http://admissionado.com/onlineclassbootcamp-sign-up-form/

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Jon Frank
Harvard MBA, 2005
Founder and CEO, Admissionado

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