{"id":22977,"date":"2017-01-10T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=22977"},"modified":"2022-01-27T09:44:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T14:44:40","slug":"mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19767 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? - mbaMission\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We find that because the overall pool of MBA candidates is so anonymous, many applicants believe that even the tiniest negative difference that exists between them and other candidates could represent a huge disadvantage. For example, an applicant who has no alumni connection to his\/her target school may become anxious that he\/she is already \u201cbehind\u201d at the starting line. We can assure you that if you are a strong candidate, you will not be \u201cdinged\u201d by a program just because you do not have a relationship with any of the school\u2019s graduates. In fact, the vast majority of applicants do not have direct connections with alumni from their target business schools.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is that in some cases, if you know a powerful alumnus or alumna, he\/she may be able to help you in your candidacy. However, a standout candidate who does\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0have such a connection will generally still succeed, and a weak candidate\u00a0<em>with<\/em>\u00a0an alumni connection will likely still fail. So focus on crafting your best application possible, and do not worry about minor perceived weaknesses. You can succeed on your own,\u00a0regardless of who you know\u2014or do\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. We find that because the overall pool of MBA candidates is so anonymous, many applicants believe that even the tiniest negative difference that exists between them and other candidates could represent a huge disadvantage. For example, an applicant who &hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/\">Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;<i class=\"fal fa-sm fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mission-admission"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. We find that because the overall pool of MBA candidates is so anonymous, many applicants believe that even the tiniest negative difference that exists between them and other candidates could represent a huge disadvantage. For example, an applicant who &hellip; Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-10T15:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-27T14:44:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","og_description":"Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. We find that because the overall pool of MBA candidates is so anonymous, many applicants believe that even the tiniest negative difference that exists between them and other candidates could represent a huge disadvantage. For example, an applicant who &hellip; Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/","og_site_name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","article_published_time":"2017-01-10T15:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-27T14:44:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-300x200.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/"},"author":{"name":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8239bb74f0e5086e58417043b2ff94c6"},"headline":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni?","datePublished":"2017-01-10T15:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-27T14:44:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/"},"wordCount":223,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-300x200.jpg","articleSection":["Mission Admission"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/","name":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-10T15:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-27T14:44:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/square-academic-cap-999418_1280-1.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"caption":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni? - mbaMission"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mission-admission-do-i-need-to-know-alumni\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mission Admission: Do I Need to Know Alumni?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/","name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","description":"World&#039;s Leading MBA Admissions Consulting Firm","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"mbaMission","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-organization-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-organization-logo.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"mbaMission"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8239bb74f0e5086e58417043b2ff94c6","name":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","description":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen has been mbaMission\u2019s Writer\/Researcher since 2015. She is in charge of updating and revamping most of our publication materials, ranging from the extensive Insider\u2019s Guides series, the Interview Guides, and the International Program Guides to our shorter publications, including the HBS 2+2 and Deferred Admissions Guide and numerous blog posts.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/who-we-are\/team\/erika-vaatainen\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/erikavaatainen\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/author\/erika\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}