I will teach you how to bring your life stories to essays faster with F1GMAT's essay guides. Download below or subscribe to F1GMAT's Service and work with me - Atul Jose, Author/Editor/Founding Consultant, F1GMAT(16 Years of helping applicants gain admissions to M7 and Top 30 schools) Welcome to F1GMAT’s Winning MBA Admission Tips. I am Atul Jose. Today I have a question from an applicant who wants to know.
How early should I start planning for MBA Admissions?
Atul Jose (Admissions Consultant, F1GMAT): As you might know, for, let us say, 2024 entering class or what schools call the 2026 class, typically applicants start by April, but there are a few scenarios where starting early has huge benefits.
1) Lack of Extracurricular and volunteering
If you lack extracurricular or volunteering experience, you should start early, at least by Jan/Feb if the Round 1 deadline is Sep and Round 2 is January of the next year. This is for those who are working in startups, where the hours are long, Investment Banking, where you are unlikely to get a lot of free time. Or if you are a management consultant constantly traveling. For such applicants who lack any meaningful volunteering experience in the past 1-3 years, joining a global or a branded non-profit would be ideal. In such non-profits, there is an elaborate onboarding process that takes 2-4 weeks. I have faced this problem while advising clients with low volunteering experience. They reach out to me by July/August – 1 or 2 months before the Round 1 deadline. And they want to target a few US schools by Round 1 itself. The number of short-term engagements is pretty low in branded non-profits. There are a few in content editing or hosting certain events, but these are far and few in between. When the entire onboarding and gaining on-field experience takes 1-2 months, you would barely get enough experience that could be converted into meaningful stories. And it becomes obvious in your writing. Although there are exceptions where applicants offered unique perspectives through their 1–2-month engagement, ideally start shortlisting non-profits and roles that would accentuate or complement your skillsets & experiences.
Volunteering is an excellent data point for schools to evaluate their leadership and communication skills outside their core functional expertise. This will come in handy, especially if your goal is to switch careers.
2) GMAT vs. GRE Performance
This experience has become so consistent for me that I now advise clients and readers to take the GMAT early. And don’t retake the GMAT more than 3 times. Because by the 2nd time, you are already trying to game the test rather than demonstrating your quant and verbal skills. In the first attempt, if you spent close to 2 months preparing and the score is in the 640 to 670 range, GMAT might not be a good fit for you. Schools might not discourage you from retaking the GMAT but let us say you took a 2-week off and came back, prepared for another three weeks, but still, your score is in the same 650 to 670 range, or finally, you reached 700 by the third attempt after postponing round 1 application, you are already on the wrong path. This is because the third attempt typically happens closer to Round 2 deadlines, and you are losing time to write the essays. Also, if you are applying to the top 10 schools, the median GMAT is in the 720 to 730 range which you fall short by 20-30 points. Now schools have another reason to reject you. This is a trend I have seen so many times every year. The problem is that applicants realize this too late.
By this time, it is already December. Round 2 deadlines are a few weeks away. Very few applicants can regroup, motivate themselves, and start preparing for GRE and simultaneously write their essays. These are roadblocks for very good applicants who otherwise would have been competitive for a top MBA program. So when you take the mock tests for the 2nd attempt, monitor the score improvements. If it is still in the 640 to 670 range, switch to GRE.
GRE is more academically aligned. If you had a good academic performance, GRE would be a good fit. So don’t get carried away by GMAT prep. GRE is now valued equally by top schools.
Work on your GMAT vs. GRE strategy early on, along with working on your non-profit engagement.
3) Fit with Schools
Most events and MBA tours are organized between Feb and July. It makes sense to start researching the school early. There is a big misconception that regardless of your goals, admission to a top school would guarantee reaching those goals. I have gained perspective with age and experience that after you reach a certain limit on what you could earn with an MBA or any Master’s degree, the life satisfaction score depends on the kind of network you have. The people around you will influence your career satisfaction for the next 10-20 years. Your alma mater has a huge impact as we tend to build friends from our school, college, and MBA program, in that order. If you are going to a network that is not aligned with your values, it will impact your life satisfaction score. You must really do the homework. And you can only do that through campus visits, meeting school representatives through MBA tours, and, most importantly, talking to current students & alumni. There will be some trends that will not be published in employment reports. You can only get that information by talking to people. There are nuances that a current student or a recently graduated MBA student can offer.
Post-MBA salary in itself is not everything. The Role you are getting after an MBA is not something that schools discuss. Because that role determines the feasibility of achieving your goals. Also, they determine the satisfaction score with an MBA. So you really have to do the homework about post-MBA roles. Once you understand the companies that are hiring, their position in the market, the disruptions in the market, and how they will impact your potential employers, you will get a realistic sense of your career in the next 5-10 years. If the ‘great’ post-MBA salary is with an employer that is on the verge of being disrupted, then even though the numbers are impressive, the role can lead you in the wrong direction. So it is very important that you start early and research the schools, the potential employers, and where the employers are heading. Will your post-MAB function be disrupted by AI or automation? How is the split between startups vs. established companies hiring in a business school? There are so many data points you must evaluate before making a $400,000 decision.
Do you really need an MBA?
And the Fourth most important factor, I know as an admission consultant, it will sound strange and not in my self-interest to say this, but do you really need an MBA?
There are so many interactions I had with applicants who, after taking the GMAT/GRE come back and ask me this question – consistently. Do I need an MBA?
The reality is that 5-10 years back, there was a huge difference in salary & exposure between someone who is working in technology or Investment Banking vs. someone who is an MBA. Now companies have started investing in short-term courses and executive education. So the question remains whether it is worth taking 2-years off and pursuing a $200,000+ MBA program.
I had a very interesting conversation with an applicant. She was self-aware of the value of an MBA. She openly told me that she knows those who have done an MBA from Wharton and who are her colleagues. I know their salary. I am kind of earning a similar pay range. So what is the value of an MBA? The person had no plans to switch countries or switch industries. For her, an MBA was not required at all.
Another conversation I had was with a person who got admitted to a Tier-2 school and was desperately trying to get his girlfriend into an Ivy League school. She was working with a Technology giant, and the boyfriend clearly stated that “I don’t care about the post-MBA Salary.” But I want her to be part of that select network. Perhaps too blunt, but if access to a valued network influences the feasibility of your post-MBA goals, then it makes sense to pursue an MBA.
So there are so many goals and motivations. You don’t have to follow anyone’s goals.
No matter what your process is – start early – ideally by February/March with your GMAT/GRE prep, shortlisting schools, and most importantly, joining a non-profit to build your volunteering experiences.
I am Atul Jose. If you need help with shortlisting schools and courses, and defining your career plan, Subscribe to F1GMAT’s Career Planning Service
