MBA Applications Explained

An MBA application is a package that you submit to business schools, which typically includes the following:

• A standardized test score (GMAT, GRE®, or EA)
• A resume
• Two or three short essays
• One or two letters of recommendation, depending on the school
• If you’re selected for an interview, that forms the last part of your application package.

MBA applications are used by business school admissions committees to decide who gets into their program. It’s a time-consuming process that spans several months for most applicants.

This guide covers every piece of the application: what each component does, when to apply, how admissions committees actually evaluate your materials, and the mistakes that sink otherwise strong candidates.

What Goes Into an MBA Application

Every MBA application has roughly the same pieces, though the details will vary by the school you’re applying to:

A standardized test score, GMAT, GRE®, or Executive Assessment, depending on the program and your profile. This is usually the first thing applicants tackle, because it usually takes the longest to prepare for. Anticipate at least two to three months of focused study for this. Please make sure to not over-optimize your test score.

A resume, but one that caters to admissions committees, not employers. Your MBA application resume should quantify your impact on organizations, cut the corporate jargon, and shouldn’t assume the reader knows your industry.

Two or three essays, short personal statements (usually 250 to 500 words each, though the range runs from 50 words to 650) covering your goals, your reasons for wanting an MBA, and what you’d bring to the program. Each school provides its own unique essay prompts that you’ll need to answer.

One or two letters of recommendation, depending on the school, ideally from people who know your professional work well and will write with genuine enthusiasm about you.

An interview, which happens after an admissions reader has reviewed the rest of your application and selected you for an interview.

Some programs add optional essays, video responses, or other bells and whistles, but the core package above is what nearly every top program asks for.

Your MBA Essays

You’d be surprised how many applicants underestimate the work involved in writing their application essays. Here’s a general overview of what’s involved in writing MBA Essays:

• They take far longer than the word counts suggest. Compressing your career, goals, and personality into roughly 550 words of readable, authentic prose that gets you into your target program is surprisingly quite time-consuming.
• They get skimmed. Admissions committees read thousands of applications in tight windows, so craft your essays well to hook the reader in.
• Authenticity beats polish. Over-managed, consultant-polished essays that sound like they could have been written by any applicant are a recipe for failure because they’re usually not very memorable. We’ve developed a quick test to make sure you haven’t written anything generic by accident.
• Start writing your essays early on in the process. Even five minutes a day keeps the essays alive in the back of your mind.

Our full MBA essay guide covers the process in far more depth.

MBA Letters of Recommendation

Recommendations carry less weight than almost any applicant expects. In our experience, the overwhelming majority are solid-but-forgettable, and that’s usually good enough. As long as your recommenders are recent supervisors or colleagues who know your work and will write with genuine enthusiasm, you’re fine.

Where recommendations can hurt you is at the extremes. We once worked with an applicant who was rejected from five first-round programs, then admitted with scholarship money to comparable schools in later rounds. The reason for the rejections? Probably her recommender. Read the full story here.

When it comes to letters of recommendation, choose people who know your professional work well, make sure they know your goals, and never ask someone who might quietly resent you. Don’t ask consultants, coaches, or friends, either – stick to professional context.

When to Apply: Rounds, Deadlines, and Timing

Most MBA programs run three application rounds, though HBS and MIT Sloan run only two, with first-round deadlines typically in September, second round in January, and third round in March or April.

One thing we want to clear up: the “first-round advantage” is mostly a myth. Unless you’re chasing scholarships or applying to binding early-action programs, there’s virtually no benefit to rushing a weak application into Round 1 when a polished application in Round 2 would serve you better. Less than half of most incoming classes are admitted in the first round, so there’s no reason to panic.

At the other extreme, last-minute applications aren’t always hopeless. Programs outside the top 10 regularly face unpredictable yield (the percentage of admitted students who actually enroll), and when yield comes in low, even strong programs start admitting qualified applicants they might have waitlisted earlier, sometimes even after posted deadlines.

The bottom line: submit the best application you can, in whatever round gives you time to make it an exceptional application. A strong second-round application beats a rushed first-round one every time.

Applying Over 30, Career Changes, and Unusual Profiles

Over the years, we’ve encountered all sorts of myths when it comes to MBA. Two common ones we want to dispel right away:

• MYTH: MBA programs “don’t like” older applicants. The average age at top programs is around 28, but that’s because few thirtysomethings apply, not because they’re rejected at higher rates. If a general-management degree still fits your career arc, your age alone won’t disqualify you.
• MYTH: MBA programs don’t want applicants with unusual backgrounds. Career changers and non-traditional applicants face the challenge of positioning, but programs aren’t predisposed to rejecting you because of your career background. The onus will be on you to make sure your story makes sense, including why you want the MBA, why it makes sense right now in your career, and why this program. That’s where a good admissions consultant is an absolutely invaluable resource. If you’d like a list of our favorite consultants, contact us here.