Three Tips to Improve Your MBA Application after Submission.
A great deal of time is spent completing MBA applications, and if you have targeted a top MBA college in India, you surely know that only a well-founded application and an outstanding B-school profile can take you to the next level. You may or may not have an excellent academic score, work experience, and the X-factor to get to the finish line. Despite knowing that you are completely filling the bill, you may be curious to know what more can be done to improve your chances of admission.
This is of course a huge milestone, and you deserve it, but don’t sit back and play the waiting game. There are many things to do while you wait during this time to add sheen to your application. Many believe that after the submission of the application, matters rest in the hands of the admissions authorities. Since the opportunity to grab your preferred MBA seat is a highly competitive process, the timeline that you get might actually be able to improve your strength of the application.
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Work on these three handfuls of tips for the benefit of your profile. Remember, that it does not matter what time of the year it is, there’s always something to work on to improve your chances.
Here are Three Tips to Improve Your MBA Application after Submission.
1) Prepare and Ace your Entrance Scores
- Entrances are an important selection tool. If there is a need, try to take retest and boost your scores if they are low. While CAT is conducted once a year, MAT entrances are taken 4 times. You can quickly try to improvise your scores by appearing in upcoming exams like MAT, XAT, IIFT, SNAP, CMAT and NMAT, and more.
- Some Business schools have their applications open and accept updated information about candidates which can be submitted even after the deadlines. This sometimes sends a strong message about how aggressively are you willing to put in your time to be better. So there are plenty of opportunities for you but you just need to find them.
2) Prepare for Interviews
- Utilize time to prepare for interview questions. Go through the resources to read out the common questions asked during the interviews. Prepare an essay about your strengths, distinctiveness, and career plans. B-schools may have different interview formats, so research a bit more to find out the kinds of questions most likely to be asked. Train to answer the questions confidently and accurately, while getting into the depth of the topic
- If you have a clear sense of the schools you want to attend, invest in new practice materials to gain that extra edge over the other candidates for admission into your school. The admissions committees are looking for those who have a strong desire to be associated with their B-School.
- You can request an interview and take that extra step to demonstrate how interested you are to associate with them. This may potentially improve your chances of getting a call. Once having got the opportunity, practice enough to nail it down at the interview.
- Try to connect with the alumni and have an insider view. This will help you with some interview pointers.
- Sign up for the information sessions conducted by the school. Make use of every opportunity to connect with the program of your choice. Find out more about the culture and community of the college to check your fit with the college.
- This would be a great time to visit those schools where you have placed applications. Take time off to know more and build a rapport with the school. You will be more comfortable and confident for the interview as you will build networking contacts and get some tips from the current batches.
- Keep checking your deadlines for application fees and submissions. Depending on the institute you applied for, keep a track of document submission deadlines and call declaration dates. Schools may ask for some aspects of your candidacy, which should be responded to immediately. The schools also measure your involvement levels and notice how fast you make a response.
3) Work on New Accomplishments.
- During this time, if you achieved some noteworthy accomplishments like a promotion, successfully completed some project, or received an award, it can be notified to the schools you’ve applied in. Try to contact the school’s admissions department to know how to forward that information. At the same time do not be pushy and respect the admission process. Being professional will help you download the information that you want to drive.
- Start working on your leadership skills. Leadership is the quality of being able to influence others. So, try to participate or take up a difficult project. You will learn some valuable lessons and the schools would be interested in the quality of your experiences. The B-schools look for career progression and commitment levels. Taking up a new project would exhibit your constructive traits.
- Start working on your negotiation skills. This is an asset not just for the success of your MBA admission, but for your career path also. Practicing this will get you the ability to communicate better and drive your point home. Learn to make your way by underlining how you are perfect for their school; also this ability may stand to be very valuable during the interview process.
- Make use of this time to fill in any gaps in the profile. Get involved in some community involvement and volunteering activities. Go back to your previous engagements and volunteer for the organization you have worked with before. This should be a meaningful community engagement that can be discussed in the essays and interviews
Despite of all the carefulness, days on your MBA essays, and ensuring all is just right, you may find some mistakes in submission. Such mistakes are less obvious, and you may instantly have the desire to write to the admissions office. Before you do that to fix the problem that just sneaked up on you, keeps a few things in mind. It may seem like just a matter of a few minutes for the admissions team, but they may have to leave some of their more important tasks to work for you.
At this time, check if it is critical for you. The bottom line is that even when the applicants come with some small mistakes like grammar, typos, etc., if their overall profiles are strong enough, the officers tend to ignore these minor issues. So, when you have already submitted the application, acknowledge the hard work that went into its submission and get engaged in the admissions process.
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