MBA in USA — 10 things you should have handy before applying
MBA in the United States of America is a highly sought after masters degree for a variety of reasons. Millions of MBA aspirants (domestic and international students) apply to their desired business schools and hassle their way through tough competition to get their dream admits. But before you start applying, it is necessary to know all the prerequisites.
In this article, I will walk you through the necessary requirements to have handy before you start applying to MBA programmes. Read till the end for a bonus nugget which I found out during my time at the MBA — too late for me but you can benefit from this info. So, let’s read on!
1. GMAT or GRE
GMAT exam is the first requirement in your MBA journey. GMAT checks your quantitative ability to follow through the rigorous curriculum in the MBA programme.
Total GMAT scores range from 200 to 800 and the score is valid for 5 years. A GMAT score of 600 is considered a minimum requirement for US schools.
All MBA aspirants need to take this exam and report their exam scores to their desired US schools. At the test center, just before you start writing the GMAT exam, you have the option to report your test scores to 5 schools. If you want to send scores to additional universities, you can do it later while applying. We will cover detailed analysis of GMAT score requirements and reporting in the next blog.
Today, most business schools also accept GRE General Test scores for MBA applicants. However, accepting GRE scores is a more recent phenomena and students who are confident about pursuing only an MBA still choose to write the GMAT.
2. TOEFL or IELTS (for International students)
TOEFL iBT tests the applicant’s proficiency in English language and is the most preferred language exam accepted at US universities.
TOEFL scores range from 0 to 120 points and the score is valid for 2 years. Many US schools set 100 as the minimum test score for applying.
IELTS is another popular exam to test an applicant’s English proficiency by scoring a student between 0 to 9.
3. Four years undergraduate or bachelor’s degree
Completion of a 4-year bachelor degree from an accredited US university or its international equivalent is an absolute necessity for applying to any MBA programme in the US. There is no specific bachelor’s degree major that the MBA Admissions Team prefers or recommends. You can have almost any undergrad major and still apply for an MBA in your chosen specialization.
You can be a current student in your final year of undergrad and apply for an upcoming batch with the required documents that you have a good standing in the current curriculum and will fulfill all requirements to complete the bachelor’s degree. However, as we will see in the next section, a minimum of 2 years work experience is usually preferred at top universities.
4. Work experience
Most MBA cohorts have an average work experience range of 5–8 years, this means that most students who are admitted to a business school in the US have some kind of work experience after under graduation.
MBA programmes are different from other graduate degrees in many ways I covered in my previous blog. To maintain the essence of an MBA, it is necessary to have working knowledge of how to apply management, strategy, operations, finance or technology concepts. Therefore, almost all b-schools prefer applicants with a minimum of 2 years of work experience. From my experience, 5 years of professional work is great to have while applying for top management schools.
5. Resume
Always have a 1-page resume if your work experience is less than 10 years while applying for MBA. Resume is a short description of your academic and professional career and needs to highlight the most relevant aspects of your application. Write your experiences in reverse chronological order.
Use bullets and at each bullet, ask yourself — “so what?”. This question will force you to write what was the business outcome. In your resume, stop mentioning your activities, rather mention the outcomes of your actions.
If you have more than 10 years of work-ex or applying for EMBA, then you can have a 2-page resume. Again, highlight only the most relevant points in your experience that you want the Admissions Team to focus on.
6. List of universities
Have a list of universities where you want to apply. This is a daunting task because there are many factors to consider — school rankings, recruitment prospects post-MBA, cohort size, geographical location, specializations available, your GMAT and TOEFL score and so on. Start researching using multiple avenues of internet blogs, university websites, ranking sites, networking with alumni, MBA international tours etc.
Create your list of Dream, Pragmatic and Definite schools!
- Dream schools are far-fetched MBA programmes where you think it’s not likely you’d get admitted but you want to try with all resources available.
- Pragmatic schools are those MBA programmes where you find a mutual fit from culture and profile perspective. You have found through different factors that you can get an admit with the right preparation.
- Definite schools are those MBA programmes that you identify as safe and last resort in case nothing else works out due to any unforeseen reason.
Having this list created well in advance will help you when you report test scores right before your GMAT exam, and also when you look up deadlines for admission rounds and scholarships.
7. Admission round deadlines
As discussed in the previous section, having a list of dream, pragmatic and definite schools is a must. This helps you save a lot of time, effort and money during the actual process of applying. Be sure to note down the deadlines for each school in each round.
About admission rounds — it is imperative to prepare yourself to apply in earlier rounds if possible. All schools have multiple rounds in which they accept applications and declare admits. Everyone is aware that most scholarships are exhausted in Round 2. It’s preferable to apply in early rounds for many more reasons, comment below if you’d like to know the advantages of applying in early rounds.
8. SOP and other application essays
We all know the importance of a SoP (Statement of Purpose) in MBA application. I have a detailed blog on why SOP for MBA holds so much importance. The blog details what topics to cover and some common mistakes to avoid. Refer the blog for more details on refining your SOP and stay tuned for more such blogs.
9. Letters of recommendation
Each MBA application requires you to provide attestation of your academic and professional work by your professors, supervisors, leads or colleagues in your undergrad college and organizations. Letters of recommendation (LoR) serve as a proof that the excellent work you highlight in your profile is indeed how the college and company also perceived it.
Most MBA programmes need 2 to 4 LoRs, preferably one from each university or organization listed on your resume. If you have many years of work experience, it is good to have LoRs from the more recent organizations. Getting LoRs may be time-consuming! Work with your contacts to get their agreement on providing LoR, explain to them your need and also provide a template of what you would like to highlight to the Admissions Team from your time at the company in terms of achievements, team work, strengths and areas of improvements.
10. Scholarship essays
Almost all MBA programmes allocate funds as scholarships to incoming students. Not all students are eligible, but to be eligible you have to apply in early rounds (most universities have scholarship deadlines in Round 2)! As discussed in the previous section on admission round deadlines, you also have to keep a note of scholarship deadlines as well (that is, if you are interested in getting scholarships)
There are different types of scholarships available in almost each university. Some universities allow you to choose which type of scholarship you want to be considered for, some ask you to just apply and submit an essay stating why you should be considered at all. Once you have that list of universities created, quickly track all the admission round deadlines along with scholarship round deadlines to save you money. In my case, I graduated from my MBA absolutely debt-free!
Bonus nugget
As promised, here is a bonus tip — Many MBA programmes provide an application fee waiver!!! Application fees are usually in the range of $75-$275, not a lot for a single application. But, remember you might be applying to multiple programmes and this might sum up to thousands of dollars. So, before you submit, find out from the MBA Admissions Team or from an alum on ways to get that waiver. Sometimes, all you need to do is Just Ask!
Thanks for reading my article. If you are looking for help to improve your MBA admission application (resume, SOP, optional essays, scholarship essay, interview prep), feel free to connect with me on letsdombanow@gmail.com
