Strategy to apply to the same college?

[kgkunalgupta]

Hi,

Last year I applied to 4 schools and didn't get accepted in any of them - Johnson (interview, WL and dinged), Kelley (interview and dinged), Ross (WL without interview and dinged) and Tepper (dinged without interview). After my interviews at Johnson and Kelley, I really thought I had a good chance. Anyways, now I am ready for MBA application season 2. Johnson, Tepper and Kelley are still on my list. So I am wondering how should I change/improvise my approach this time to ensure I get an acceptance- maybe ask for a feedback session with the adcom for my last year's application? I am planning to submit my applications in R1 this time.

I applied in R2 last year and it has been just 6 months ever since so not sure how to improve my application and what really to write in the re-applicant essay. I was on a business trip to US for about 3 months, learnt basic spanish and salsa in this time. Would this be enough? I am not even sure if the other essays would change as my post MBA goals, achievements etc etc are the same even now.

Also, I am wondering if I need to give my GMAT again. I took my GMAT way back in 2009 and scored 710. I am targetting 10- 30 rank schools.

WE: 4 yrs in IT as of July 2012, Part of 2 multi-national firms - one is a big US consulting firm and other is a big US bank.
Education: Engineering in Electrical

Best,
Kunal

[essaysnark]

Hi Kunal - getting apps rejected is always a blow, but you definitely were doing something right to make it that far - those are some very good schools with competitive admissions yet you made it all the way to the waitlist! And you got a lot of interview invites. This is really excellent as it shows you did a decent job on the essays and your probably presented career goals that were OK. (Very often, people's goals are not so great - so it's likely that there will be room for improvement for you in this area still.)

You're right that you need to show improvement in your profile as a reapplicant, and it's great that you're planning on going for Rd 1. Trying the GMAT again is a tough call. A score from 2009 is technically still valid, however the test-takers have all been getting better, and your score may not look as shiny today as it did way back then. However you also don't have much time left - it's tough to suggest that anyone try to tackle the GMAT *and* essays at this stage. It depends on your confidence level in preparing (including for that new IR section). If you want to share the breakdown of your test score then we can do a better job of assessing that.

The one thing to consider is, as a reapplicant, having an improved GMAT score is almost always to your benefit - it's one of the key areas where a reapplicant can prove that they're committed to this process. Of course, if your original score was already above 720 or so, then it's unlikely to make a huge difference. Focusing on the essays will probably have better ROI for you.

The time in the U.S. might help your profile quite a bit if you'd never been to America before, and certainly picking up some Spanish is also impressive. Those things can help. What matters most though is improvement on the job and/or advancement in some way towards your post-MBA goals (e.g. skills acquisition) - these are the things that adcoms tend to respond to the most.

All the schools on your list are reapplicant-friendly. Some of them might offer some feedback, particularly those where you were waitlisted -- but not all schools do this, and some only do it during certain times. We also have some reapplicant assessments available if you want more detailed insights on what went wrong for you, from an objective source.

In fact, we actually wrote a whole book in reapplying - sorry for shameless self-promotion but people in your boat are telling us that it's pretty useful for them, since it talks about everything you asked about - what to write in the reapp essay, how to position things, how to talk about goals this next time around, etc. You can find it in the EssaySnark Bookstore: https://www.essaysnark.com/bookstore/

We also have a whole bunch of posts on the EssaySnark blahg about reapplying: https://www.essaysnark.com

Another few schools that *might* be appropriate for you would be Georgetown or maybe UT-Austin - these are in the same category like Tepper and Johnson. We don't know your career goals so it's unclear if they're the best fit for you, but you might want to investigate them.

If you have other questions or if you want to float your original GMAT score past us, feel free.

It often takes two times at the merry-go-round before you land the winner - here's a couple inspiring stories from others who had to do the dance twice before getting in:

- https://www.essaysnark.com/2012/01/guest ... r-support/
- https://www.essaysnark.com/2012/01/guest ... ba-friend/

Hope all this helps - basically, you seem like you should have a good shot at things, it's just a matter of putting the pieces in the right places.

Let us know if we can help!
EssaySnark