MBA Prestige May Not Matter That Much

How To Successfully Sell Yourself To MBA Admissions Committees

You want to apply to an MBA program. You tell yourself that an MBA degree is the ticket to opening more doors in your career and expanding your earning potential.

Earning an MBA can certainly provide more opportunities down the road. What many MBA applicants don’t know is that career service departments have a huge impact on whether or not they get an acceptance letter or rejection letter.

US News recently reported that MBA admission committees often work with career service staff to ensure that acceptances go to the right candidates—those who will more likely be employed post graduation and won’t bring down the school’s employment stats.

“How can I prove to the admissions committee that I am post-MBA employable if I haven’t even gotten that MBA degree?” you ask yourself.

Here are 3 things you should do when applying to business school in order to best sell your employability:

1.) Demonstrate your value and contributions to past workplaces: This is where your resume, essays, and references can all help to support your employability. Have past mentors or supervisors vouch for your contributions in recommendations. Highlight your career progressions and growths in your resume. Demonstrate and explain in your essay how you fit into an MBA program. In other words—sell yourself. MBA application committees want to see that you are valuable and will be continue to be valuable after you get that MBA degree.

2.) Research career options and understand your goals: Understand where you want your career to go and how an MBA education will help you to get there. Talk to experts in your field and research industries that interest you. By thoroughly researching, you can best explain your career goals to MBA admission officers.

The time you have before an MBA is crucial. David Simpson, admissions director at the London Business School, tells US News that MBA applicants should utilize their time before an MBA to explore career options and goals.

“The period before an MBA is a great time for reflection and mentally preparing yourself to potentially reinvent yourself,” he says.

3.) Be self aware in interviews

Once you’ve done the first two steps of demonstrating your value and understanding your career options and goals, you need to be able to best translate your thoughts in an interview. The applicants who stand out in MBA interviews are ones who demonstrate a thoughtful reflection about their career. Sell your work and experience, but more importantly, have perspective about how these things are so valuable.

“We have had cases where an interview evaluation tipped the scales one way or another,” Soojin Kwon, admissions director with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, tells US News.

Sources: US News, US News, US News