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After I completed undergrad, I was pretty confident I wouldn’t be back in class for awhile - but like many millennials, my day job left me yearning for more learning.

It took me awhile to decide what further education I was interested in. I tried photography, thought about organizational behavior, considered financial engineering, and soon realized I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. So I settled for business, which I’m still fairly convinced is one of the most useful and applicable subjects on the planet.

I never intended to go for a Top 10 MBA school, but when I started researching programs I fell in love with one that happened to be a Top 10. It didn’t take me long to realize there was a ton of competition and a huge online community of people talking about getting into Top 10 schools, plus a group of people who making millions of dollars on coaching and test prep services. This is likely the first of a few articles I will write about graduate school, so here are some do’s and don’ts I’ve observed that will help any Top 10 MBA wannabe navigate applicant season.

Save Your Money

Forgo test prep services and coaching. These services exist for two reasons:

1. to make perfectly capable people feel like they need to fork over thousands of dollars to make their dreams happen
2. to help people who don’t belong in a Top 10 MBA program fool the AdCom

If you really belong in a program, you don’t need them. Stop worrying you are not good enough and can’t get in by being yourself. You can. I know because I did, and so did my fellow students, at least the ones I informally surveyed. So please, don’t make yourself broke by hiring out these services. If there’s one thing you take away from this article, let it be that.

Reevaluate Your Goals

If your goal is to go to a Top 10 MBA school, you probably won’t get in to very many. Schools don’t want to hear that you’re interested in them because they are ranked arbitrarily on a list published by Business Week, so come up with a genuine better reason. Each school will want to know why you want to go to their school in particular, so you need to know what you want to do, why you want an MBA, and how their school is going to get you there.

It’s All About Choices

Only crazy, desperate people apply to more than three Top 10 MBA schools. With applications that take up to two months to complete, there is no way you can complete 7-8 applications in one season without doing a shitty job at all of them. You don’t need lots of applications to increase your chances. Instead, you need a few great applications to schools in which you would be a good fit for. So research your top choices and focus your efforts on 2 or 3 schools that best fit you.

Your GMAT/GPA Matters. Sort Of.

You need to hit the GMAT out of the park, which means at least a 680 or above. Other than that, a home run is a home run, whether it’s a 680 or a 780. Same goes for the GPA - 3.3 or above in undergrad is all you really need. I like to think of these two as a seesaw - if one is lacking (ie: your UGPA is a 3.0) bring the other one up a bit.

If these numbers seem unattainable for you, you should consider if a Top 10 MBA would realistically be a good fit for you. Sure, there are people who get in with lower scores, but they are few and far between and have some other huge advantage that you probably don’t have.

Once you get these two numbers situated, please stop thinking about them. Don’t waste your time trying to move from a 690 to a 720. It’s pointless. Instead, focus on your essays, which are arguably the single most important factor to getting in.

Here are two great books I used to study for the GMAT - Kaplan GMAT 800, 2007-2008 Edition (Kaplan Gmat 800), Kaplan GMAT 2008 Comprehensive Program (Kaplan Gmat)

Stop Talking About How Smart You Are, Where You Work, Who You Know, or Where you went To Undergrad

Nobody.  Cares.   Schools already have lots of students who are smart and good at math. They already have people from your Big 4 financial firm and people with parents, CEOs, bosses, and friends that also went to the school. They already have people from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Michigan, Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Brown, or wherever else you went. So stop talking about your credentials and start talking about what makes you interesting.

Forget About Talking Points and Make a Real Connection

People aren’t stupid, so unless you are a superb actor, forget about talking points in your interview. You just look like you are trying too hard, and when schools recognize this tactic they immediately think you have been coached by a professional to get into their school. This counts against you big time. The place to have talking points is the essays, so relax during the interview and focus instead on making your interviewer like you by establishing connection with them.

Get Comfy With the New York Times and Wall Street Journal

You will likely be asked a question about current events at your interview, so start reading these if you don’t already. If these two publications aren’t your cup of tea, reconsider your grad school options. You will be reading articles from them in almost every MBA class you take, so if it’s not for you, figure it out now rather than later. You can also subscribe by feed to either of these publications, which is a great way to keep up with headlines.

Know Who Your Audience Is

The AdCom committee is made up of people who love people.  Stop thinking your audience is a group of executives and start writing and talking for people who would work in your company’s human resources department. Appeal to people who like people. Write and talk about your career progress, but don’t leave out your hobbies, passions, and other things that that differentiate you.

Stop Focusing on the Numbers

Don’t leave me (or anyone else) comments about your GMAT score + Undergraduate GPA and ask me if you’re going to get in based on a 50% interview rate and a 30% acceptance rate. I don’t know. If it were that simple schools wouldn’t bother with essays, interviews, and recommendation letters. So stop focusing on the numbers, stop annoying the AdComs, stop annoying me, and spend that time instead on improving your… essays (notice the theme?).

You don’t have to trust me about any of this.  I’m not on the AdCom at my school and I don’t do alumni interviews to screen candidates (yet, at least.) But I was part of a cohort that worked closely with the AdCom at my school and one of the things they mentioned is that they are always trying to find ways to distinguish applicants from one another. To me, this confirmed just about everything I had already figured out on my own from going through the process, some of which I just now shared with you.

Feel free to ask questions, and good luck on your applications!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent those of my school.  Furthermore, I don’t know you or your situation and I can’t get you into grad school. Take these tips with a spoonful of salt and apply them as you see fit.

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Categories: Grad School Bound
Tags: Graduate School, MBA Programs

Monica O'Brien is the founder of Twenty Set, a website about personal and professional growth and development for the Millennial generation. She has been a blogger since 1998 when blogging was still in its “Dear Diary” form and in May 2007 began blogging for personal branding and profit.
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