If you are applying to business school in the fall, you might be wondering when you should begin preparing your MBA candidacy. The answer is now! Although applications will not open for a few more months, you can—and should—still do a lot in this pre-application stage to begin building your strongest possible profile. Our in-depth, on-demand MBA admissions course, onTrack by mbaMission, is a fantastic resource to support you on your MBA application long-term planning journey. Here is how onTrack can help you master some of the important things you need to be working on in the coming months.
Standardized Testing
If you have not yet taken the GMAT, GRE, or Executive Assessment, you should start creating your study plan now. Successful applicants typically spend months preparing for these exams, and taking a test more than once is very common. onTrack’s Testing 101 module explains everything you need to know about your exam options, helps you determine which test is the best one for you, and guides you in creating a personalized study plan and timeline. If you use this valuable time before applications open to prepare for and take your exam of choice, you will thank yourself later!
Profile Evaluation
If you are wondering how your test score, GPA, and professional experiences compare to those of other business school applicants, the MBA Stats module of onTrack evaluates each component of your applicant profile to help you determine your competitiveness. More than six months remain before the Round 1 deadlines, so you still have time to address any weaknesses in your candidacy, but only if you identify those weaknesses now! onTrack’s Mitigating Weaknesses module presents ways you can offset a suboptimal test score, a low GPA, or other potential red flag in your profile.
Professional and Community Impact
MBA admissions committees evaluate applications holistically. This means that in addition to evaluating your quantifiable stats (e.g., undergraduate GPA, GMAT/GRE score), they will look for evidence of your work ethic and leadership skills. onTrack’s Professional Background module breaks down the steps you can take at work over the next six (or more) months to optimize the professional impact element of your candidacy. If you give yourself enough lead time, you can strengthen this part of your profile in a truly substantial way. Similarly, your community involvement can be a fantastic way to showcase not just your interests and passions outside of work but also your leadership abilities. But again, to impress the admissions committees, you need to start enhancing your efforts in this area as soon as possible so you can show a track record of involvement and leadership by the time you submit your applications. Our Community and Personal Leadership module helps you determine which kinds of community activities to pursue and—just as importantly—how to demonstrate real engagement in those activities.
School Research
In your business school applications, you need to convince each school’s admissions committee that you are a good fit for their particular MBA program. And to be able to effectively communicate this fit in your essays, short answers, and interviews, you must truly understand the ins and outs of your target programs, after first making sure that the schools on your list are well suited to help you achieve your post-MBA career goals. In addition to a dedicated School Selection module (with over a dozen lessons), onTrack offers in-depth, standalone modules on more than 15 of the top MBA programs. These modules break down each school’s pros and cons, curriculum, pedagogy, career paths, and other key features. Using onTrack to research schools will save you an incredible amount of time and ensure that you are always able to craft a standout response when one of your chosen programs asks, “Why our school?”
The winter and spring months are an incredibly important time with respect to building your MBA applicant profile. This is your opportunity to make some valuable progress, but you need to start now! Fortunately, onTrack can guide you smoothly through every step of the pre-application stage, and when the time comes to craft your applications, you will have access to extensive content on essay writing, resumes, recommendations, interviews, and every other element of the application process. onTrack’s more than 80 modules include several hundred video lessons, along with templates, sample essays and resumes, workbooks, checklists, and even an interactive interview tool. To get started, complete a brief, two-minute questionnaire, and a personal onTrack learning path will be customized just for you, based on your background, goals, and target programs. Use the code MBAMBLOG to save 30% on any length onTrack subscription. We wish you the best of luck with your MBA application long-term planning and look forward to seeing you in onTrack!
