Application Tips
Strategic advice on executing your MBA application, including tips on your résumé, data forms, and essays.
Published: October 30, 2024
Spooky Admissions Mistakes: Nightmares for AdCom Members
Let’s pumpkin spice things up! On this Halloween, we wanted to take a look at some of the most chilling nightmares that adcom members can face when evaluating MBA applicants. So, what are the scariest mistakes an MBA applicant can make? Clear Admit co-founder Graham Richmond shares his insights below so you can avoid admissions missteps like the houses that hand out raisins for Halloween treats. 1. Don’t Wear an Icarus Costume One of the scariest things for an admissions office is to encounter an applicant with a
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Published: September 19, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Letters of Support
While business schools require candidates to submit anywhere from one to three recommendations as part of the regular admissions process, we’re devoting this admissions tip to a lesser known relative of the formal MBA recommendation: the letter of support. The letter of support is very different from a typical letter of recommendation, in ways that we will detail below. In fact, we’ll use this admissions tip to share the following information: What is a letter of support? Who can author and submit such letters? When should a letter of support be submitted? What should a letter of support cover in
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Published: September 12, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting an Optional Essay
We realize that the questions of whether or not to answer an optional essay—and, if so, what to say—are ones that loom large for many MBA applicants. In addition to our school-specific Essay Topic Analysis, we wanted to suggest a few questions that applicants might want to consider when making this call. Is my MBA optional essay relevant? Perhaps this goes without saying, but the only information worth sharing in an optional essay is that which will make a material difference in your candidacy. Whether you wish to comment on an exciting leadership role you’ve just
Read more
Published: September 5, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Word Limits and Character Counts
MBA candidates naturally have a good deal of information they want – and need – to convey in their materials, and getting the important ideas down under restrictive essay word counts is a difficult task. While it might be tempting to run a bit beyond the guidelines to slip in that one extra thought, it’s important to keep the reasons for these limits in mind. In addition to being a forum for explaining your goals and sharing your story, the essays and short answers also serve as a test of the applicant’s ability to communicate clearly and concisely, not to
Read more
Published: September 3, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Essay Polishing
The deadline is looming and you’re making one final pass through your application before hitting submit–that’s why we’re sharing these MBA essay tips. This isn’t the time for drastic changes – but there might still be an opportunity for small improvements. Read on for three big picture, “crunch time” tips! Keep It Professional It’s true that many schools ask “fun” questions and most urge applicants to be themselves rather than submitting “overly polished” material. But it’s important to remember that this is a graduate school application, and you should approach your essays with a degree of formality. You do want
Read more
Published: August 29, 2024
A Guide to Test Waivers: Should You Request a Waiver for Submitting a GMAT or GRE Score?
It is no secret that standardized tests are not the part of the MBA application process that applicants most cherish. Some applicants simply aren’t good at standardized testing; others feel they do not have the time to invest in studying properly. Due to COVID-19 and the related impact on testing centers and availability, test waivers became a more prevalent option in b-school admissions. Whether you’re hesitant or excited about the GMAT or GRE, what are valid reasons to request a test waiver? Even if you have a valid reason, does it make sense to request a test waiver? In this
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Published: August 22, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Video Essays
It’s no secret that the use of video in the MBA application is becoming increasingly popular among top business schools. Typically you will be provided with a question, then a short amount of time to think about the question (30 seconds for example) and then a limited amount of time to provide your recorded answer, typically 60-90 seconds. In the tips that follow, we’ll explain the origins of video essays and provide a series of practical and strategic pointers to ensure that you ace this aspect of the admissions process. Why B-Schools Use Video Essays So why did some schools
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Published: August 20, 2024
Digging Deep with Your MBA Program Research: Anecdotes & Advocates
Communicating with insiders (current students, alumni, and faculty members) can be beneficial to your MBA applications for a number of reasons. In addition to learning about a given school and your potential fit, you’ll also generate material for your essays, demonstrate your interest in the program, and perhaps even make an ally or two. As you aim to go beyond the schools’ websites and promotional materials, we specifically recommend reaching out to individuals in a few key groups: Current MBA Students People who are currently enrolled in a given program can obviously provide the clearest picture of the present state
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Published: August 15, 2024
Inside the MBA Admissions Process Webinar Series Fall 2024
Join our exclusive webinar series designed specifically for prospective MBA applicants! Gain insider knowledge from admissions officers of 15 top MBA programs. This series of three virtual interactive events will provide invaluable insights and tips to navigate the MBA admissions process successfully. Dates: September 11th, September 18th & September 25th. Time: 12 pm-1 pm Panel & 1 pm-1:30 pm Breakout Q&A with Individual Schools (all times Eastern) Event Highlights: – Exclusive Access: Hear directly from admissions officers of 15 top MBA programs. – Expert Guidance: Clear Admit co-founder,
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Published: August 13, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Know Your Application Readers
Who is an MBA application reader? Knowing your audience is the first step to crafting a compelling application. As anyone who’s going through the process knows, applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT/GRE, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more. With the obvious incentive to save time wherever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing résumé and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally. However, in doing
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Admissions Tip: Writing Your MBA Application Résumé
Your résumé is a key component of your MBA application – and a great place to start when crafting your overall positioning strategy. The exercise of condensing your entire work and educational history forces you to distill your candidacy into a concise document, focusing on key strengths and themes. This document, combined with a summary of your post-MBA career goals, are cornerstone elements of your application that you’ll want to share with your recommendation writers early in your application process. With that in mind, here are a few simple tips to get you started: MBA Résumé Formatting First
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Ready, Set, Write!
The essay requirements of MBA applications are well documented as extremely time consuming and utterly crucial. With high effort and high stakes, it’s no wonder that many candidates spend swathes of time and effort attempting to simplify the application process, hunting for explanatory resources and poring over clarifying analysis. With some of the essay questions for the 2024-2025 season released and since analyzed, perhaps your mind has already been eased and preparation is already underway. Perhaps you feel as if you have a firm grip on what schools are likely to ask you,
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Published: April 25, 2024
Upcoming Virtual Event Series: MBA Application Overview
Calling all future MBA Applicants! You have the raw materials. So how do you put them together into a compelling MBA application? Join us for our MBA Application Overview Event Series to get answers to just that question! We’re hosting three events – on Wednesdays in May – May 8th, May 22nd, & May 29th, all @ 12pm ET – each with representatives from up to five top MBA Programs. The full series currently includes 15 Top MBA Programs. We’ll start with a 60-minute roundtable panel. MBA admissions professionals will share some insight into their programs and
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Published: February 13, 2024
Sweethearts & Success: Applying for an MBA as a Couple
For career-minded couples, it sometimes happens that applying for an MBA makes sense for both partners, often at the same time. And because attending the best business school in one’s field can often mean relocating, it’s natural to want to attend the same program as your love. But how do you navigate this in the admissions process? Applying for an MBA as a couple may come with its challenges – including compromising if you aren’t both admitted to your shared first choice school – but it’s definitely a realistic possibility. In fact, we previously featured a
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Published: January 2, 2024
MBA Admissions Tip: Data Forms
This Admissions Tip steers attention to an oft-overlooked element of the MBA application process: the data forms. These are the online forms that one fills out when applying to a business school. While the forms used to be straightforward and brief (essentially amounting to contact information, academic information, and work history), they have been expanding in some areas and have become an increasingly important part of the mix of application materials. In the wake of an industry-wide reduction in the number of essays required by each school, many programs have actually shifted questions away from the essays and into these forms (as
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Published: December 28, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Essay Polishing
With the deadlines looming, consider this MBA Admissions Tip as you make one final pass through your application and essays before hitting submit. This isn’t the time for drastic changes – but there might still be an opportunity for small improvements. Read on for three big picture, “crunch time” tips! Keep It Professional It’s true that many schools ask “fun” questions and most urge applicants to be themselves rather than submitting “overly polished” material. But it’s important to remember that this is a graduate school application, and you should approach your essays with a degree of formality. You do want
Read more
Published: December 26, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Essay Word Limits and Character Counts
MBA candidates naturally have a good deal of information they want – and need – to convey in their essays, and getting the important ideas down under restrictive word counts is a difficult task. While it might be tempting to run a bit beyond the guidelines to slip in that one extra thought, it’s important to keep the reasons for these limits in mind. In addition to being a forum for explaining your goals and sharing your story, the essays and short answers also serve as a test of the applicant’s ability to communicate clearly and concisely, not to mention
Read more
Published: December 21, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Avoid the Comparison Trap
In their desire to make their case to their target MBA programs, many applicants devote sentences and even paragraphs to explaining why the school in question is their “first choice” and arguing its superiority over other schools. Though certainly understandable, this is actually not a very productive exercise. Let’s consider a few reasons why from the schools’ point of view: Tell me something I don’t know. A popular strategy – and not always bad one – for applicants seeking to demonstrate their fit with one school above any other is to study its website to understand the program’s self-determined selling
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Published: November 28, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting an Optional Essay
We realize that the questions of whether or not to answer an optional essay—and, if so, what to say—are ones that loom large for many MBA applicants. In addition to our school-specific Essay Topic Analysis, we wanted to suggest a few questions that applicants might want to consider when making this call. Is my MBA optional essay relevant? Perhaps this goes without saying, but the only information worth sharing in an optional essay is that which will make a material difference in your candidacy. Whether you wish to comment on an exciting leadership role you’ve just
Read more
Published: November 23, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Video Essays
It’s no secret that the use of video in the MBA application is becoming increasingly popular among top business schools. Typically you will be provided with a question, then a short amount of time to think about the question (30 seconds for example) and then a limited amount of time to provide your recorded answer, typically 60-90 seconds. In the tips that follow, we’ll explain the origins of video essays and provide a series of practical and strategic pointers to ensure that you ace this aspect of the admissions process. Why B-Schools Use Video Essays So why did some schools
Read more
Published: November 21, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Data Forms
This MBA Admissions Tip steers attention to an oft-overlooked element of the MBA application process: the application data forms. These forms–typically referred to as ‘data forms’ for short–are the online forms that one fills out when applying to a business school. While the forms used to be straightforward and brief (essentially amounting to contact information, academic information, and work history), they have been expanding in some areas and have become an increasingly important part of the mix of application materials. In the wake of an industry-wide reduction in the number of essays required by each school, many programs have actually shifted
Read more
Published: November 16, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: 3 Ways to Show an MBA Program That You Mean Business
During the MBA application process, you’ll need to learn more about your target programs in the process of rounding out your “why are you pursuing an MBA/why [school name here]” essays. Keeping this important component of the MBA admissions process in mind, we wanted to offer some advice on how to polish this element of your file and get the most mileage out of this section. MBA Admissions is Personal Schools look for applicants who seem genuinely excited about their program, and the best way to bring this across in your essays is to come right out and
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Published: November 14, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Know Your Audience for Your Applications
Know your audience as you complete your MBA applications. As anyone who’s going through the process knows, applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT/GRE, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more. With the obvious incentive to save time wherever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing résumé and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally. However, in doing so, countless candidates each year assemble their materials without
Read more
Published: October 26, 2023
Spooky Admissions Mistakes: Nightmares for AdCom Members
Let’s pumpkin spice things up! As Halloween approaches, we wanted to take a look at some of the most chilling nightmares that adcom members can face when evaluating MBA applicants. So, what are the scariest mistakes an MBA applicant can make? Clear Admit co-founder Graham Richmond shares his insights below so you can avoid admissions missteps like the houses that hand out raisins for Halloween treats. 1. Don’t Wear an Icarus Costume One of the scariest things for an admissions office is to encounter an applicant with a
Read more
Published: October 17, 2023
MBA Admissions Tip: Defining Your Post-MBA Career Goals
Having clear and realistic post-MBA career goals is essential to the business school application process. Though essay prompts tend to vary year to year, the two things that nearly every prospective student can count on being asked are “What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals?” and “How will Business School X help you achieve these goals?” Even if this sort of question doesn’t appear in the essay portion of the application, rest assured that you’ll be asked this question in the data forms and/or during your interview. Identifying clear post-MBA career goals will help in everything from
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