Winter is the ideal time to snuggle in and begin making progress towards a winning MBA application. Are you taking full advantage?
Unless you’re off skiing every weekend, the bleak midwinter is extremely useful for guarding against the avalanche of things you need to do before pushing the submit button. Not only are you able to find time for yourself to work through the seemingly endless list of to-dos, but also the others you will need to work with to get everything done will have more time too.
Finding a consultant you like is far easier to do in the off season.
Consultants are not very busy right now, so are more willing to take some extra time to answer your initial questions. Finding a good fit with a consultant is very important, since you will be working with them over a period of several months. Come summer, they will all be covered in work with new clients, so finding someone now and building rapport will position you well when things begin getting crazy later.
Tracking down old documentation takes more time than most people realize.
Did you know that b-schools require official copies of transcripts from every single undergraduate institution you attended? That’s right---even the little community college course you took when you were home for the summer several years ago will need to be properly documented if you used that course towards your ultimate degree. Often smaller schools will require that you show up in person to retrieve these official copies, although most have gotten better about providing them electronically. Still, with all the small college consolidation that has gone on in the past many years, it’s a good idea to get on these tasks earlier rather than later, especially if you are going to be applying to multiple schools, all of which may have different documentation requirements.
Reaching out to potential recommenders is best done sooner than later.
People are busy. Don’t expect it to be easy to get a well-written, thoughtful recommendation without putting in some time beforehand with some people you trust and who know your background intimately. Simply asking for a recommendation is not enough. You have to meet with or at least speak with potential recommenders to unpack you vision and plans---and to remind them of your achievements and positive qualities. If you take folks to lunch now, you will not only be ahead of the game when things get busy, but you will also appear to be well-organized and thoughtful to those whom will validate your MBA readiness through strong recommendations.
Self-reflection time is far under-rated.
Taking a few weekends to marinate in your past and really think about why you are undertaking the MBA journey at all will pay dividends by the time applications are released. You may think you have all these answers squared away already, but experience has demonstrated that most MBA applicants go through at least one major re-tooling of their story and approach by the time their applications are finished. Leverage the bleak midwinter to wring out the first iteration of your MBA strategy so you can move along to what’s really going to work for your admission.
For information on how we can guide your business school applications, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com or go to http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/contactProvide