Positioning Yourself to Succeed as a Re-applicant
Once the top schools release their Round 3 decisions in April and May, the 2007-2008 business school admissions season will for all practical purposes be over. Given the number and the quality of applicants seeking admission to the top b-schools these days, it's inevitable that there will be a lot of applicants who are disappointed with this year's outcomes.
If you were dinged this year, you need to decide what to do next. Assuming you still want to get an MBA, you have 3 basic choices:
You can submit late applications to U.S. schools that might still be accepting Fall 2008 applicants.
You can apply to the international b-schools that will continue taking Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 applications for several more months.
You can re-apply to the schools that dinged you for Fall 2009 admission.
For many people, re-applying to their first-choice schools will be the most attractive of these 3 options. It's hard to give up on the dream of an MBA from one of the country's top b-schools.
Technically, you can apply to the same b-school as many times as you want to, provided you submit only one application per year. Realistically, however, you have just one more shot at getting in at most schools. Besides, unless you really enjoy spending your time on b-school applications, you probably don't want to repeat the application experience more than once.
That means you'll want to get everything right this time around. That, in turn, means you need to understand the unique demands of applying to b-schools as a re-applicant.
Reapplying: The Basics
Every b-school application you fill out will ask you to indicate whether you've applied to the program in question before. If you answer 'yes,' some schools will ask you to complete re-applicant specific essays or to answer some additional questions. Other schools will ask you to complete the application just as if you were applying for the first time. Either way, the admissions committee that reads your application is going to know up front that you applied once before and were turned down.
That knowledge is what differentiates you from a first-time applicant. Even if the admissions committee makes no reference to your previous application or to the reasons for your denial, everyone reviewing your application will know that you were sized up once before and found lacking. You're starting off on the wrong foot. Your admissions success depends on how good a job you do at recovering from that.
The best way to go about that recovery depends on which school you are a re-applicant to and how it handles repeat applications.
As I mentioned before, some schools (including Wharton and Chicago) ask you to build on the application that you submitted the previous year. Other schools (including Harvard and Stanford) act as if your previous application no longer exists. Yet other schools take an in-between approach, asking you to write a special essay about your re-applicant status while completing the rest of the essays as if you were a first-time applicant. You need to understand which process your target school follows and to prepare your application accordingly.
Some people use the term 're-applicant friendly' to describe b-schools that ask re-applicants to build on their previous submissions. That's a misleading concept. Schools that ask re-applicants to complete everything from scratch aren't doing it to discourage repeat applicants. Stanford, for example, takes that approach because it feels that re-applicants are best served by taking fresh look at their reasons for wanting a Stanford MBA. And it's a mistake to think that it's easier to get in to Wharton or Chicago as a re-applicant because you won't have to answer the 'why an MBA?' question all over again. In fact, it can be even harder to make your case for admission to these schools as a re-applicant than it was as a first-time applicant – especially if you went down the wrong path with your first application.
Other people use the term 're-applicant-friendly' to denote schools that tend to admit a higher percentage of the re-applicant pool than they do of the first-time applicant pool. That's also misleading. There are reasons for those numbers that have nothing to do with how receptive a school is to re-applicants. Self-selection tends to clear re-applicant pools of less-motivated candidates. For example, the people who invest the time and money in reapplying to Wharton really want to go to Wharton – and many of them will be taking encouragement from the fact that they were previously waitlisted, not dinged.
Maximizing Your Chances for Re-applicant Success
You'll maximize your chances of re-applicant success if you follow these steps:
1) Review the application you submitted this year. Try to understand what it was that led to your waitlist or reject decision. Remember that it's often not one particular thing that makes or breaks an application. Admissions committees read applications holistically.
2) Sign up for a feedback session if the school that dinged you offers one. Take careful note of any areas of improvement the person you speak to mentions. Be realistic about how much you can expect from this kind of feedback, however. You can't assume that if you 'fix' x, y, and/or z, you'll be guaranteed admission the following year. Your application will still be judged in the context of a wider applicant pool. Even if your application is better than the one you submitted this year, it may not be strong enough to compete with the rest of next year's pack.
3) Think about what steps you can take over the next 6 to 8 months to strengthen the case that you're MBA material. Can you take on more responsibilities at work, or take on a leadership role in one of your volunteer activities? Would it help if you picked different recommenders, and worked with them ahead of time to get the most out of their recommendations? Would you benefit from retaking the GMAT?
4) Identify which approach your target school uses with re-applicants and tailor your application accordingly. (You can use this year's application instructions to get an idea of what to expect.)
5) Plan to apply in the first round. That will reinforce the impression that you're serious about your application, and organized.
The Bottom Line
There's never any denying that a ding hurts. But the top schools do welcome repeat applicants – and re-applicants can, and do, win admission to all of the top b-schools. If you follow the advice laid out above, you'll be well on your way to being successful the second time around.
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