Long-time followers of MBA Crystal Ball would be aware of the lucrative post-MBA jobs in consulting, big tech, banking, PE/VC where the compensation can scale dizzying heights.
It may have prompted you to think about how you can get your hands on one of those lucrative roles that can touch $200,000 or even more.
The road to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow goes through elite business schools. And the MBA admissions race isn’t a cakewalk. Check out the statistics of the top business schools to understand how cut-throat it can get to secure an admit.
The class profile pages on the M7 business schools’ official websites provide a sneak peek into what admission officers look for in prospective applicants.
You’ll find students who
- studied at the premier undergrad universities (think ivy league, IIT, BITS, NIT)
- scored high grades (around 3.5+ GPA or a 4-point scale is common)
- worked for the most prestigious companies (like McKinsey, Google, Goldman Sachs)
- have impressive GMAT / GRE scores (705+ and 330+ respectively)
- have been involved in impactful extracurriculars
It’s a no brainer that weak applicants, who don’t have stellar credentials in one or more of these areas, will get weeded out. The options to fix these issues is relatively obvious (though the execution may still be challenging).
- If the GMAT/GRE score is low, retake it.
- If your work experience is low, wait for a year or two and use the time to build your profile.
- If your essays were generic and/or superficial, stop relying on AI and get help from a real human with emotions, experience and empathy.
What comes as a surprise is when applicants who would traditionally be considered as strong contenders with no obvious shortcomings get dinged (that’s the colloquial term for rejection) by some or all the schools they applied to.
In the recently concluded admission season, you’ll find many such candidates venting out their frustration & disappointment on MBA forums and trying to gain insights (from strangers on the internet, and also rivals!) into what they did wrong.
There are some unlikely and non-obvious reasons.
Let’s rule out the unlikely reason first
Many rejected applicants may feel their applications got the thumbs down from the admission officers because they had weak profiles. This belief affects their confidence level, and plants the seeds of self-doubt.
While it may be true for some applicants that they didn’t have what it takes to get an admit, this reason is not true for a majority of serious candidates who’ve done their homework.
That’s because of an interesting phenomenon we see commonly in elite MBA admissions – self filtering.
Applicants tend to apply to programs where they think they are competitive. MBA applications are expensive, and tiring.
Most candidates are in full-time jobs with limited time for even the most essentials MBA admissions tasks like test prep.
It just doesn’t make sense to apply to 20 programs hoping one of them will convert (though we’ve come across a few applicants doing that as well).
Why is it then that 4 out 5 applications to the elite MBA programs get rejected?
David White, founder of Menlo Coaching, shares 2 reasons that an experienced admissions consultant would point out, if they aren’t as obvious to the applicant.
2 Common rejection reasons to be aware of
by David White | Menlo Coaching
Beyond low test scores or low grades, applicants can be rejected for several other reasons:
1. Unsuitable career goals
The best post-MBA career goals combine ambition and realism.
Of course, your post-MBA career goal shouldn’t be something you would easily achieve without an MBA, e.g. “I am a product manager, and after the MBA, I hope to become a Sr. Product Manager.” MBA programs want to admit applicants who need the MBA to achieve their goals, and have long-term ambitions to lead organizations or companies.
On the other hand, post-MBA goals can also be too ambitious. For example, an applicant working in the finance function for a tech company might hope to become a technology investor. Although knowledge of finance and the tech industry are prerequisites for post-MBA roles in tech investing, they are not sufficient. In general, PE firms recruit MBA graduates who already have transaction experience, ideally from pre-MBA roles in PE, or otherwise from adjacent roles (such as investment banking, or management consulting with a focus on PE due diligence projects).
Read MBA reapplicant tips & ding analysis
2. Applying in Round 2 from a highly competitive cohort
MBA programs build classes that are diverse across pre-MBA regions, industries and functions, and some cohorts — such as men in India who work in engineering — are more competitive than others. If you are in a highly competitive cohort and apply in Round 2, you face the risk that programs like you, but cannot admit you because they already filled your cohort in the class during Round 1.
Like many large organizations, MBA programs are risk averse and are unlikely to decline outstanding candidates in Round 1 because they hope that marginally better applicants will arrive in Round 2.
Here’s the non-obvious reason why strong MBA applicants get rejected
Other than the basic filters – top grades, impactful work, well-articulated applications – there’s another factor that influences MBA admission decisions.
How your profile fits into the unique class profile they’re hoping to build for that year.
The answer to this can vary across the years based on the school’s priorities. Here’s an example to illustrate what we mean.
Kellogg launched the Advanced Private Equity Experience (APEX), a unique program offered to 20 one-year and two-year MBA students. It’s a highly specialised & personalised mentoring program preparing MBA grads for the high-paying PE industry. This in turn meant that their admission officers had an extra interest in selecting MBA applicants with a pre-PE background.
This reason would not be obvious to most applicants who haven’t dug deep enough to uncover lesser-known aspects of the business school before selecting programs that fit their profile and career goals.
Does that mean applicants without PE backgrounds would be at a disadvantage at this school?
Not at all. All good business schools are looking for diversity in the class. They try to ensure that no single demography dominates the mix. Along with PE/VC professionals, you’ll still find consultants, techies, bankers, non-profit professionals in the class.
And that brings us to the other not-so-obvious reason.
You may find others with a profile that’s exactly like yours (or even slightly less impressive) who got admits, while you got a rejection letter. The reason here is related.
They’ve already found enough profiles similar to yours, and they don’t have the same incentive now to admit another one just like those.
One in 5 MBA students, admitted by Harvard Business School to their current MBA class, worked for a top consulting firm (like McKinsey, Bain, BCG). After admitting close to 200 MBB consultants, HBS doesn’t see a strong enough reason to admit yet another consultant with ivy league undergrad + McKinsey + 755 GMAT credentials.
Again, there is nothing ‘wrong’ with this profile. On the contrary, many rival applicants would be in awe of candidates with such qualifications.
But you don’t need to be intimidated by such ‘ideal’ applicants. In fact, not having a cookie-cutter profile works to your advantage. It allows you to showcase unique nuances that can help you differentiate yourself.
While MBA forums like Reddit are flooded with strong applicants (including MBB consultants and bulge-bracket bankers) sharing the depressing news of rejections, MBA Crystal Ball has helped doctors, lawyers, musicians, models, non-profit professionals and even laid-off employees get into the top schools. You’ll find many of those stories on our blog.
Reach out if you’re looking to turbo-charge your applications: info@mbacrystalball.com
– Top reasons why you got an MBA rejection letter
– Indian MBA Applicants more likely to be rejected from top b-schools
– MBA application rejected without or after interview
