4 Steps to a Smart MBA Admission Strategy

By Linda Abraham, founder and president of Accepted.com and co-author of the soon-to-be released book. MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business School.

After fifteen years of working in MBA admissions, I have been hard at work on a book about… you guessed it: MBA admissions. The first part of the book lays out the four key steps necessary to choose the programs that will maximize your chances of acceptance.

Here’s the very abridged version of those four steps, the “Accepted Positioning System" – to help you navigate the MBA admissions maze:

1. Determine your post-MBA goal. You won't be able to find an MBA program that supports your goals until you determine what your goals are. Think deeply about what you want to do, which industries interest you, and where you'd like to live. Once you have the answer to those three questions, let that answer guide you as you proceed through the application process. Yes, your goal can evolve later, but for now it will be a trusty guide. And having a clear goal will actually enhance your a attractiveness to most top MBA programs.

2. Research schools. Which schools will help you achieve your goals? Look at your target schools' recruiting trends, curriculum, and extracurricular activities. Those schools with recruiting strengths and a strong curriculum in the area you want to go into are the ones you should focus on. Then layer in personal preferences and you will know which schools you want to attend. However the decision is not entirely yours. You should also…

3. Evaluate your qualifications. Weigh your academic competitiveness, work experience, and community service against those of the students accepted at the schools you are interested in. Look at your academic stats, the quantity and quality of your work experience, your community service, and any diversity elements, which admittedly can be difficult to identify. Then assess your competitiveness as objectively as you can.

4. Target programs. After completing steps 1-3 above, you should have enough material to begin compiling a list of target MBA programs. You should apply to 4-8 programs that support your goals and that are likely to admit you. It’s that golden overlap between what you want and what you believe the schools want that you’re aiming for. The intersection of interests represents the solid foundation for a success MBA admissions process.

Follow these steps and you should arrive at your destination – the perfect MBA choices for YOU. Please Check out our cool infographic for the map to your perfect MBA choices. And good luck!

View the original Accepted.com blog post or others like it.

2011 Forté Forums: Inspiration, Opportunity and the MBA

The Forté Forums are open for registration! From professional success to personal fulfillment, don’t miss this opportunity to discover what an MBA can do for you. It’s an investment in your future that will yield dividends for a lifetime.

Are you ready to invest in yourself? Perhaps you’ve been thinking about your next career move, how you will get there, and what impact you want to have. If so, the Forté Forums are a critical next step. You’ll have the opportunity to ask candid questions of women who had similar questions, have lived and breathed the MBA experience, and are now pursuing their dream careers. You’ll meet admissions representatives from top B-schools who can enlighten you about the MBA application process and provide insight into their specific program subtleties, all within a smaller, more intimate atmosphere than other B-school events. And finally, there will be hundreds of women just like you in attendance—women searching for that next career move, trying to determine if the MBA is the right fit. What a great opportunity to start building your MBA network for the future!

The best thing about the Forté Forums is that they are 100% focused on helping women explore the MBA. The questions are different for women and so are the answers. That’s what why Forté created the Forums.

Are you convinced yet? Please join Forté at our 2011 Forté Forums: Inspiration, Opportunity and the MBA this September and October. Past attendees have said that the Forums are unique because of the “support” and “encouragement” received and the “abundance of valuable information provided.” Take advantage of this great opportunity and invest in yourself—you won’t regret it.

Elissa Sangster
Executive Director, Forté Foundation

Harvard Business School - Forte Sponsor Events

Come visit the campus of Harvard Business School to learn more about our MBA Program. We offer many different campus programs, including Friday lunches with members of the HBS Women’s Student Association, (WSA). You can find more information here or view the WSA calendar.

Please check our MBA calendar to see available dates/times for campus tours, Admissions information sessions, student lunch programs, and class visits.

Also, feel free to ‘Introduce Yourself’ on our website. We will keep you up to date with events that are of interest to you in or near your area. For now, check out our Event page.

Perspective

To say that business school is going to stretch you more ways you can imagine is an understatement. There are so many opportunities to be involved with organizations that are aligned with your career interests, talents, and mission in life that after you’ve wrapped up academics and extra-curriculars plus some social time and job searching, you aren’t left with much time to sleep. And that’s a reality in business school, but also part of the fun.
Two years will fly by – my 13 weeks already has. Therefore, my advice to those of you seriously considering business school is this: Get ready mentally and physically for the business school process. Starting from studying for the GMAT to your applications, and then to the actual two years in school. It will test you, grow you, and mold you into the person you want to be (or at least get you on that path).
Most importantly, it is a process that will involve some moments of introspection. Please remember to pause and really take a step back at various phases when you’re studying and writing your essays to even after you’ve started your program. I am constantly and realistically evaluating my goals and passions in life. Business school is all about having an endless amount of resources but very little time to refine and figure out what you want to do when you graduate. Dig deep to find out what makes you tick and pursue it diligently. People don’t tell you this enough before you come to business school, but I’ll say it over and over again: Have a plan BEFORE you start school. If you have a plan, you’ll get there!
With that, I want to leave you with two books worth reading prior to starting business school to provide some perspective and a worthwhile study break.

·A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton G. Malkiel
·Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity, Stuart L. Hart

That said, I’m curious… what are some things you’re most looking forward to in business school? Clubs? Social/Networking? Getting started on your new career? Finance courses? Comment back and let me know!
Jennie Wu, Forte Fellow
Class of 2012, USC Marshall School of Business

When Getting Your MBA - Considerations for Your Partner

Your life is about to be changed by the MBA experience: you are preparing to expand your knowledge base and your network, to embark on a program that will launch a new and exciting phase of your career. This experience will also change the lives of the people around you, most notably that of your partner. Last year, I started making my list of target programs two weeks after getting engaged. It became very clear that I wasn’t taking my MBA journey alone and that I needed to involve my fiancé in the decision making process. Here are a few of the issues we discussed as I put together my list of target schools:

-Location, Location, Location: After making a list of the programs that would best enable me to achieve my career goals, we discussed location. If we had to move, was the school located in a city that my fiancé would want to live in? Did we know anyone living in that city that could function as a support system? Was a long-distance relationship an option for us? Would we be willing to move again after graduation to pursue career opportunities?
- Partner’s Career: If you are moving with your partner, talk about how your partner’s career will be affected. Will he or she be able to grow in their career if they move with you? Will he or she have to change their career path, and are they ok with that?
-Debt: As you are thinking about financing your MBA, consider the amount of debt you’ll have to take on and what implications that will have on your lifestyle after school. It was helpful to discuss the timeframe for paying off student loans and how that would affect our future.
-During the MBA: During the MBA, you will be extremely busy with your academics, career search, and club opportunities. Talk about how your partner will be involved in the community you are entering. Do your target programs offer opportunities for partners? Is that something that is important to you?

Though it can be overwhelming to consider all of these issues as you are taking the GMAT, writing essays, and lining up recommendations, it is helpful to decide which of these factors are going to influence your decision about which school to attend. Hopefully, by considering them early in the process, you’ll be able to successfully embark on an MBA at a program that is fulfilling for both you and your partner.

Julia Suarez, Forté Fellow Class of 2012
Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University