Poets&Quants | Advice Column: What Business School Reapplicants Need to Know

Hello P&Q readers, and welcome to my advice column! My name is Karen Marks, and I am the Founder and President of North Star Admissions Consulting. I have been helping people get into their dream schools since 2012, and prior to that I was the Associate Director of Admissions at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Today, my goal is to give applicants the accurate, insider information that they need in order to succeed and make good decisions. Want your question answered in a future column? Ask away, no topic is off limits!

In 2024, I wrote about how to decide whether to accept an MBA offer, or to try again the following year. Today, I want to share insight from the first of two clients who decided to reapply this cycle – with amazing results. (I met both after they had gone through one application cycle without my support, and then we worked together on their reapplications.)

You were admitted to business school when you applied the first time, what made you decide to turn down that offer and reapply?

It really came down to the personal ‘return on investment’ calculation I did given the offer I had at the time. While I did receive a scholarship, attendance for that program was still cost prohibitive. Based on my current position in biopharmaceutical engineering and my short- and long-term goals, I was not confident that the program was the right fit for me.

How did your strategy change as a reapplicant, in the following areas:

1. School List

This was probably the most significant change – I went from 6 Schools and a mix of MS/MBA and MBA programs to four MBA programs. I reapplied to two schools and added two new schools for the second cycle.

2. Post-Graduate Goals

While my long-term goals were consistent between the two cycles, I did update my short-term goals. I currently work in Operations and originally had listed my short-term goal as Operations management. After some conversations with Karen and my mentors at work, I realized that a leadership development program was a short-term goal that better aligned the MBA with my long-term goals.

3. Essays

Overall, I thought my essays from the first application cycle were strong but definitely not perfect. I used this opportunity to polish any essays I would be resubmitting. I did write new essays for the schools that were added to the list.

4. Timeline

I switched to Round 1 which significantly decreased the time between applications. This was a goal that I gave myself because I really wanted to keep the momentum going. Applying to business school takes a lot of time and emotional effort so I knew that the best way to keep myself on target was to aim for that first round. Karen worked with me to ensure I was ready.

5. Interview Prep

This was an area where I definitely needed improvement and worked closely with Karen to help my interview process. The overall strategy did not change significantly but we worked on ensuring I could open up during the interviews and foster connections.

Karen’s Note: I really appreciated this applicant’s willingness to work with me on interview prep, which was really challenging. Shifting gears to a less corporate style is difficult, but really key for MBA interviews.

In addition, what else did you do differently?

I switched tests and found that to be really helpful. The tests play to different strengths and I was really struggling to get my target score during the first cycle. I saw improvements after switching and did supplement my own test prep with private tutoring to help me nail my target score.

What do you feel made the biggest difference?

I found that working with Karen really helped. She was able to provide tailored advice for my specific situation. The first cycle, I thought I ‘checked all the boxes’ but ended up getting rejected from most of the programs I applied to. Karen helped guide me through some much-needed introspection as I geared up for applying Round 1. This helped me find programs that would be a better fit for me as well as make improvements in key areas of my application.

Karen’s Note: It’s so common not to understand what the schools are really looking for, and it’s also easy to accidentally follow bad advice. (There’s a lot of it out there!) This client was extremely willing to reexamine their goals and school list – and to get more honest in their reapplications. This led to both acceptances and scholarships.

What advice do you have for future reapplicants?

Be very honest with yourself about what you are willing and not willing to do. I knew early on that I needed to switch tests because I did not want to put myself through another GMAT Focus but realistically still needed to improve my test scores if I wanted to be competitive. I switched over to the GRE and was able to achieve my target score.

Are you comfortable sharing where you got in?

The first time I applied, I applied to 6 schools with a mix of dual MS/MBA and MBA programs. I got admitted to 1 dual degree program (MBA/MS) and waitlisted at one MBA program. This time, I targeted four MBA programs that I loved and got accepted to Cornell and Carnegie Mellon, with scholarships at both! I am also waitlisted at the other two programs.

Karen’s Note: So exciting!! I’m thrilled that you have such great options!

Karen has more than 15 years of experience evaluating candidates for admission to Dartmouth College and to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Since founding North Star Admissions Consulting in 2012, she has helped applicants gain admission to the nation’s top schools, including Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Wharton, MIT, Tuck, Columbia, Kellogg, Booth, Haas, Duke, Johnson, Ross, NYU, UNC, UCLA, Georgetown and more. Clients have been awarded more than $70 million dollars in scholarships, and more than 98% have gotten into one of their top choice schools.