Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

hi,
My name is Alok singh. I am yet to start my B-school application process. But before I start, i need to clear few queries. It would be great if consultants would respond.
a) What qualities does B-school look for in prospective applicants?
b) What are the minimum number of schools should an applicant target?
c) How do I shortlist b-schools?
d) My choice will also depend on availability of scholarship. How easy/tough it is for international students to get scholarship?
e) How important is GMAT score in whole application process?

Hi Alok,
Thanks for your queries. They are indeed very relevant and it is refreshing to see you get started early.
In terms of answering your questions, these are quite generic. However, having been in your shoes not that long ago and having worked with many students having similar doubts, I have answered below:
a. The most important qualities would be leadership potential (as demonstrated by extra curricular activities and involvement in social work), teamwork demonstration, academic performance, demonstration of career progression and probably the most important, your unique reasons for why MBA, why a certain college, post MBA career aspirations and how an MBA fits in your short, medium and long term career goals
b. Rule of thumb is 3 aspirational, 3 where you stand 50% chance of getting in and 2 sure shot. If you are at a stage in your career where you can wait (another year) till you improve your credentials or if you are on leadership track, then you could do 4-3-1 too. Remember, the more you do, the more $ it is going to cost you
c. Shortlist based on your individual style, preference and reasons - do you want to stay in a certain location, work in a certain industry, have family or work connections as well as how specialised your MBA is going to be, whether you want to work there or come back, what type of study environment suits you best - collaborative, egalitarian or competitive, how would you learn best - case study driven or lecture driven to name a few. In general, for most candidates, to make the ROI work, you should consider work arrangements, i.e. permanent residence, work visa. Weather also adds another complexity to this as does size of the school, university within which it sits if any and association with industry or companies
d. Scholarship options are definitely there if you are able to differentiate yourself sufficiently, give strong reasons, prove academic and professional experience (and others I have mentioned above) and demonstrate that all 3 parties involved will benefit from this decision of yours - you, your cohort and the school. Having said that, MBA is an expensive career option as you have to also consider opportunity cost, breakeven years and more strategic value add for the program
e. GMAT score is extremely important - particularly, as you go down in the rankings (ranked about 20 to 150). Universities higher in ranking, GMAT is easily a deal breaker than a determinant of admissions. However, GMAT is a single common element across diverse applications - scholarships depend really heavily on GMAT (among other factors but surely extremely important). I have also seen, as a matter of fact, GMAT scores relate strongly to scholarship to the point where a score of 750 has secured 50%, 740 a 40% and 710 a 10% scholarship. Of course, there is no proof of the same but empirically, I have seen this pattern among quite a few of my past students.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks,
Indradeep

a) What qualities does B-school look for in prospective applicants?

Every school have different standards in place to select perfect candidates for their MBA program. But these schools look for these basic criteria to look for suitable qualities.
1) Academic ability: Schools check for undergraduate study and record. This is the key factor to check intellectual ability of the candidate. Having impressive undergraduate record at a leading college/university goes a long way to help.
2) Work experience: Schools try to access the potential and determine professional as well as managerial success based on the quality of work experience.
3) Extracurricular activities: Schools like to see candidates involvement apart from his work and academics. It could be community service or working with NGO for social causes. It helps find leadership quality.

b) What are the minimum number of schools should an applicant target?
I believe serious applicants should apply to about minimum 6 schools. It depends on three range.
Likely schools are those where the chance of getting admit is very high. Possible schools are those which matches to the applicant credentials and stretches are where the applicants credentials are much lower than the requirement.

c) How do I shortlist b-schools?
It depends on the candidate or applicants choice, his work profile , his career goals, geographic location , and also the tenure of MBA program like 1 year or 2 years programs. If he is looking for 1 year , he should apply for the European B-schools.

d) My choice will also depend on availability of scholarship. How easy/tough it is for international students to get scholarship?
It depends upon the individual applicants complete profile. If he has done impressive work he could be considered for scholarship. But getting scholarship is competitive for international students.

e) How important is GMAT score in whole application process?
Top global B- schools take GMAT score to evaluate applicants analytical and quantitative ability and is a small part of whole application process. But if you are applying to the likes of Harvard and Stanford its better to be in 700s.

Thanks for posting.

In addition to what have been mentioned above, schools would want to see fit between the candidate and the program.

Demonstrating knowledge about the specifics of the program, and showing that you have spent time and effort in choosing the school helps prove your interest. Using previous activities do showcase how you can contribute to the experiences of your peers and to the school community would help show how you will be an asset. Showing how you will benefit from the program by identifying the specifics you will gain, and that you are ready for this in terms of your academic capability and maturity/openness to learn from others, is also important.

Wish you all the best!

Alok,

We've written detailed blogs on several of these areas which you can read up.

1. Qualities
2. Minimum number of schools
3. Target school selection
4. This is pretty tough to predict really. The lower you go, better the prospects in general.
5. GMAT score importance

Hope this helps.

Cheers,