The MBA admissions process is unpredictable and highly subjective. Every year, the applicant pool is packed with highly qualified applicants—too many for the schools to admit, in fact—and as a result, incredible candidates are invariably rejected. Over the past 20 years, we have seen both the good and the bad of MBA admissions, and on a daily basis, applicants ask us, “What is the secret to getting accepted to a top MBA program?”
INSEAD candidates must respond to two career-focused queries and provide three motivation essays. In addition, applicants are tasked with completing a video component in which they answer four questions—the first three as separate video recordings and the fourth requiring a written answer. Given the total number of prompts, tasks, and questions involved, some candidates could find INSEAD’s essay gauntlet a bit intimidating and likely arduous as well. Read on for our full analysis, which we hope will make the process a little easier to manage.
What role do informal letters of recommendation or back-channel endorsements play in MBA admissions decisions? In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky is joined by mbaMission Senior Consultant Melissa Blakeslee, a former MBA admissions director, to unpack a topic that generates a lot of curiosity and quite a bit of confusion. Drawing on her firsthand experience evaluating MBA applications, Melissa provides crucial insight into when an informal recommendation can help on the margins—and when a well-meaning but misguided endorsement can instead damage a candidate’s chances.
As you craft and refine your narratives for your application essays, you will need to be thoughtful about how you are engaging the admissions reader. Keep in mind that admissions officers read thousands of essays each year, and the person who reads yours might have read several other candidates’ files already that day! So if the introduction to your essay is not immediately compelling, you might lose their interest right away. Your opening lines really need to count! Your goal with your essay opening is to quickly grab the admissions reader’s attention and then maintain it. You can accomplish this in a few different ways, using one of the following approaches: the launch, the anecdote, the inversion, or the quote.
Many MBA applicants believe that their professional past needs to have followed a perfect trajectory, with them having gone seamlessly from job to job, from promotion to promotion. The reality, however, can be quite different. Candidates sometimes get laid off and are unable to find a new job for several months. Sometimes, an illness or other personal reason forces them to take time off. The COVID-19 era certainly precipitated its share of workplace disruptions, as has recent upheaval in the tech industry.
So, if you have a gap on your MBA resume, is all hope for your future lost?
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