Tips for Deferred MBA Applicants

If you’re intent on attending B-school, a deferred MBA program may be right for you. Deferred MBA programs allow applicants to lock in a spot at a B-school before working.

“A deferred MBA program is for those applicants who know they want to attend business school but have yet to graduate from college,” according to Leland. “They’re forward-thinking, know they want to earn an MBA, and want to lock in their spot before they leave their undergraduate institution. Top universities admit a select cohort of deferred applicants, knowing that these individuals will enter the workforce, picking up somewhere between two and five years of full-time work experience before actually enrolling. Upon enrollment, these deferred admits are part of the same class as those candidates admitted through the traditional application process.”

Fortuna Admissions recently offered a few tips on how deferred MBA applicants can differentiate themselves from the competition.

SHOW CLEAR CAREER GOALS

Fortuna’s Malvina Miller Complainville, former Assistant Director of Career Services at Harvard Business School, says deferred MBA applicants should demonstrate a focused career vision and clear goals in their application.

“The admissions committee wants to understand the whys of your application, what drives you and what kind of impact you hope to have and where the MBA fits in,” Complainville says. “This is about being crystal clear with your motivations, goals, and ambitions – know why you need the MBA to achieve your dreams and communicate a clear understanding of your longer-term career vision.”

HIGHLIGHT COMMUNITY IMPACT

Having a fancy title is one thing, but showing your impact is another. Fortuna experts recommend highlighting how you’ve made a difference in your community—both within the classroom and beyond.

“Find experiences that you’ve had in college that are reflective of who you are as a person and what matters to you. You may not yet have a ‘title’ professionally, but you have been able to make an impact on your undergraduate community both academically and outside of the classroom,” says Judith Silverman Hodara, former head of Wharton MBA Admissions. “I always tell applicants to play to that strength and not to be intimidated by what they ‘think they should have.’”

LEADERSHIP IS A MUST

Since most applicants lack real-world career experience, it’s important to have a solid track record of leadership such as through extracurriculars.

“This is not about tallying one-off experiences like volunteering at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving or donating money to a nonprofit once a year,” Matt Symonds, Co-Founder and Director at Fortuna Admissions, says. “It’s about cultivating a solid track record of commitment to the causes, projects, issues, or affiliations you care deeply about. So if your resume is light on extracurriculars, now is the time to invest.”

Sources: Fortuna Admissions, Fortuna Admissions

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