Three Admissions Questions You'll Never Get an Answer To
If you've worked with b-school admissions as long as I have, you start to recognize a number of questions that people ask over and over again. It gets to the point where you pretty much know what the question will be just from reading the subject line of a message board post.
Many of these questions are about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of MBA admissions – "Do I need work experience to apply?," "Is financial aid available for MBA students?," "If I'm not accepted in Round 1, will I be re-considered in Round 2?"
It's understandable that 'newbies' to b-school admissions would have questions like these (although it would be more courteous to check a school's website for basic information like this before asking an admissions staffer to take the time to respond to your post).
Unanswerable Questions
There are other questions, though, that are pointless to ask, no matter how much you want to know the answer. That's because no responsible admissions officer or counselor would pretend that they have enough information to give you an honest reply.
Here are three questions that I hear over and over again:
1. "What are my admissions chances?"
Hardly a day goes by that I don't get a least one such question on the MBA Admissions thread on
AdmissionsBoards.com. The question is usually something like, "I'm a 27-year-old engineer with five years of work experience, a 3.2 undergrad GPA from a competitive university, and a 710 GMAT. What are my chances of being admitted to a top b-school?"
I'll answer a question like that by telling the person that applicants with similar profiles have been admitted to the top schools and that they should be competitive if they prepare a strong application. If I'm pressed for specifics, though, the only responsible answer I can give is, "I don't know."
That's because admissions decisions are not made on the basis of numbers alone. Things like your reasons for wanting an MBA, the insights you've gained from your past work and learning experiences, and your reasons for applying to a particular school – and how well you convey all of that through your essays – are also key elements in the admissions committees' decisions.
Two people with the exact same work experience, GPA, and GMAT scores can (and often do) have completely different application outcomes. No one can really tell you what your chances of b-school admission are until they've seen all of the information that a b-school admissions committee will see – i.e., until you've completed an application, or at least assembled all of the information you might include in an application (including essay ideas). That's why we always ask new clients to complete a detailed questionnaire about their background and b-school plans before their first session with one of our consultants.
2. "I've heard that application volume is up/down this year. How will that affect my admissions chances?"
There are actually two questions being asked here – one, "How many applications has School X received this year?" and two, "What are my admissions chances in light of that?"
You'll never get a clear answer from an admissions office about the current year's application volume. For one thing, no one knows what the year's application volume will be until the application season is over. Even if Round 1 app volume surges, it doesn't necessarily mean an overall increase for the year. Prospective applicants might be so discouraged by the increase in Round 1 applications that Round 2 and 3 volume tumbles, leaving the school with basically the same application volume that it had the year before.
As they say about opera, it's not over until the fat lady sings. In b-school admissions, the fat lady is the last application deadline for the season.
But even if you ask the 'application volume question' then, you're not likely to get a clear answer. Admissions offices don't like to discuss these numbers with applicants because it's not a productive discussion. No one can tell you what your admissions chances are given a pool of 1,000 candidates until they've seen all those applications.
As with the 'What are my admissions chances?" question, the only responsible answer anyone can give here is, "I don't know."
3. "Do I need to retake the GMAT?"
Here, too, the only responsible answer is, "I don't know."
You can figure out for yourself whether your GMAT score falls in the middle range of scores for previous admits to your targeted school by looking at the school's statistics. Beyond that, there are too many factors involved for anyone to say, "Yes,
you'll need at least a 710 to get in at that school."
Don't forget that the 25th-to-75th percentile GMAT score ranges only represent the scores of one-half of the students who matriculated at
the school in question in a particular year. The other half of the class had GMAT scores either above or below that range.
And don't forget that even people with perfect GMATs can – and do – get dinged. (And when they do, it's not because their test score was too high.)
And here, too, context matters. Two applicants with the same GMAT score might need completely different advice on whether to re-take the test. One person might be well-advised to re-take the test, if their applicant profile would benefit from a higher GMAT score (and if they're sure they'd do significantly better
on the test the second time around). Another person might be wasting their time
taking the GMAT a second time. They might be better off spending their time on other parts of their application, such as their essays or recommendations.
The Bottom Line
I can't blame b-school applicants for continuing to ask these three questions, and others like them, year after year. The competition for admission to the top b-schools is always intense.
Asking questions like these is one way to vent some of the stress that comes with that territory. Smart applicants, though, will accept that there's little to be gained from seeking answers to these unanswerable questions. You'll be much better off if you put your anxieties aside and focus on understanding your own unique applicant profile and how it will impact you, as an individual applicant, as you seek admission to b-school.
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