After months of time spent carefully crafting applications, researching programs, and preparing for the GMAT or GRE, receiving a rejection from your target MBA is tough. Business school admissions are highly competitive, and securing a spot is challenging.
It might feel like hard work gone to waste or a door slammed shut—but a rejection from a business school is no such thing. An MBA rejection can be a valuable learning opportunity, if you choose to treat it as one. We’re here to guide you through the steps you can take to handle rejection from business school, and how to use the experience to improve your MBA application strategy for your next shot at success.
Common Reasons for an MBA Rejection
First, let’s consider the various factors that might influence a rejection from a business school. First, however, it’s important to remember that MBA applications are considered holistically; each part of your application will be evaluated in terms of how it all fits together. That said, these factors can be useful to reflect on in order to improve performance going forward.
Test Scores
Different schools have different expectations around the GMAT or GRE scores of incoming candidates. If this isn’t clear from business schools’ application information, then class profiles are a good place to look. While there will always be outliers with higher or lower scores and, since MBA applications are considered as a whole, a strong profile could compensate, a low score could well be the reason for an MBA rejection.
Lacking Work Experience
Business schools seek applicants with demonstrable professional experience. As with GMAT and GRE scores, schools often look for candidates who have completed a certain number of years in the workplace. Candidate profiles are once more a great place to find averages for each school, and to see if your number may have led to an MBA rejection.
There’s a crossover here with leadership experience; candidates who can display it may be less likely to be rejected than those who cannot.
What’s Your Story?
Business schools don’t just want to know where you’ve come from; they want to know where you’re going. Crafting a solid narrative on how your previous experiences funnel into your future plans is a vital aspect of MBA application strategy. If your application was light on the career goals and skipped out on a vision, it might have contributed to a rejection.
The Complete Picture
This one follows on from your narrative on vision, goals, and experience. Business schools are looking for incoming MBAs who have—and show—diverse perspectives, experiences, passions, and values. Adding detail to your application about your life outside of work and study can help here—without this, you may appear less well-rounded and your application could suffer.
High Competition
The final factor in this list, and perhaps the most strident one, is competition. Top business schools receive thousands of applications, many more than there are MBA spots for. Even highly qualified candidates sometimes face rejection from business schools, due simply to the number of applicants vying for the same spot.
How to Cope with Rejection
Receiving a rejection from an MBA program will never feel nice. But remember: it is just one part of the journey. Here are some ways you can handle the rejection to ensure that you feel ok and can move on healthily.
Look after Yourself
Rejection—from anything—can challenge our feelings of acceptance, success, and self-esteem. It can make us feel sad, frustrated, and doubtful. These are big feelings to tackle. So go easy on yourself!
You tried your best, and more opportunities will come. Let yourself feel all the feelings, and do things that make you feel good. Go for long walks, spend time with loved ones, get some rest.
Remember, Failure Is Part of Success
Every single person that you look up to will have experienced setbacks on their route to success. It’s simply not possible to move forward in life without risky, failure-prone moves. It’s only by trying your hand and taking a shot that you are able to learn and grow.
Cultivate a Growth Mindset
A “growth mindset” is the phrase used to describe a shift in perspective: one that disregards the concept of innate talent and, instead, correlates success with hard work and effort. A growth mindset teaches us that we can improve our own experiences and outcomes, and that failure is a crucial factor in forward progression. We need failure; it helps us learn, build resilience, and embrace growth.
Reflection
A rejection from business school is the perfect time to reflect on your MBA application strategy. Which parts are strongest, which are weakest, and how can you improve?
The common reasons for rejection, listed above, are a great place to start here. You can ask yourself questions about each of them, considering:
- Your test scores;
- Your work experience;
- Whether you have successfully crafted a narrative;
- What you bring to the table outside of academic and professional contexts;
- How you can stand out in a competitive environment.
In some cases, you may be offered feedback by the business school that you applied to; this is invaluable information for your reflection process.
What to Do Next
The most crucial thing to remember about rejection is that it by no means signals the end; it is just one step on a long road to success. This means that the next thing to consider after receiving a rejection from an MBA program is what you are going to do next.
Broadly, there are two options here: apply again, or redirect yourself towards a different career path.
If the latter, it might be worth reflecting on what you wanted out of the MBA—and what you could have brought to it—and considering where else you might find a combination of the two.
If the former, you’ll number amongst many others who are denied a place on an MBA program the first time around, and take another shot. You’ll need an action plan on how to up your game for a greater chance of success; the best thing that you can base this on is the results of the reflection you did on your MBA application strategy.
Use this to create a timeline for improving your application, setting achievable, measurable, and time-bound goals for improvement. And then trust the process, put in the hours, and give it another go.
Improving Your MBA Application Strategy
The general gist when improving your application is to fine tune the points in our “common issues” section, and to improve on any issues that you identified when reflecting on your application. Here, we have expanded on a select few of those issues, in order to give you a sense of how you might move forward.
Develop your “story”
As already explained, the narrative that underpins your application is crucial. Evaluate how clearly and consistently you laid it out.
Can you bring your vision more clearly to life? Can you connect the dots between past and present more effectively? Have you shown that you understand the skills you need to achieve your targets? Take the time to properly explain what you are doing right now to inch ever closer to your goals.
Work on your overall picture
Improving the overall picture you present will do two things to help your application. First, it will demonstrate better to business school admissions who you actually are. Second, it will help you stand out amongst a competitive crowd.
You can improve this part of your application by taking on more responsibility in your job, adding your extra-curricular passions to your resume, addressing weaknesses via courses, or taking on more leadership responsibility.
Boost your test score
If your GMAT or GRE is lower than averages for your target school, a retake could be a good idea. You might even consider switching tests to aid your MBA application strategy, in case your strengths shine through more on one than the other.
Tailor to the school
One way that you might be able to make your application stand out from the crowd is by more overtly tailoring your application to the business school of your choice. Show your commitment by visiting campuses, attending events, and reaching out to alumni and current students.
The school’s online mission statement will help you here, too, explaining who exactly they are looking to enroll in their MBA—excellent guidance to which you can strategically tailor your MBA application.
