Unlike the Indian MBAs, international MBA programs at the likes of Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, and other 20-30 top business schools in the world arguably have a more holistic assessment for admitting candidates.
Apart from scores, there are a lot more parameters. We have known some schools to use as many as 20+ parameters, both subjective and objective ones. As a candidate, your job should not be to try and game the system or know it all.
Manish Gupta
GMAT/GRE
Test scores are one parameter that is in an applicant’s immediate control. For all else, there are various interdependencies. It gives schools a sense of your language and analytical skills.
There are various sections to a GMAT score. Of these, many schools give a special weightage to quant percentile/score given that MBA programs are analytically rigorous. Most schools look for a balanced score across verbal and quantitative sections. For Indian candidates, the expectation is sky-high when it comes to GMAT/GRE scores.
Essays
The essays give you a chance to connect the dots between your past, present, and future. It is your way to show where and how an MBA fits in. This is also something that Indian candidates tend to struggle with most. Your essays have to be authentic but also represent you in a differentiated manner.
Many tend to think that you need to use flowery language and prose. That’s not true. Business communication is about being professional, crisp, and articulate. It helps to work with a mentor or a reputed MBA abroad admission consulting team, to create a compelling pitch.
Interviews
If your application is good, you may get to the next stage which is interviews. They help adcoms assess your communication skills and also act as a check on whether you are the person who comes across from the application. This is your chance and airtime. So, make sure you do extensive MBA mock interviews and are ready. Apart from adcoms, schools also frequently use alumni/second-year students for these.
GPA (or percentage marks)
While you can’t do much about it, there are ways to manage a low GPA.
The admissions committee also evaluates your relative position in the classroom to help them understand where you stood in the class.
Recommendations
This is yet another place where the international MBA differs from the Indian process. They ask for 1-2 professional recommendations as a check on what you say in your application. It also helps them understand how senior and important you are in your organisations. In many ways, this can break your chances if it’s not detailed and specific.
Employer’s Brand
Where you work matters. A Google/Amazon brand is likely to have a lot more weightage than if you are doing the same job at a local IT services firm. The brand helps schools understand the quality and scale of their work.
Undergraduate College
Similar to the previous point, the brand of your undergraduate school helps the adcoms get a sense of your academic readiness as well as how to evaluate your GPA.
Extracurriculars
Schools want to see if you have a life outside work/academics to know your personality and how you’ll integrate into a diverse, multinational MBA classroom. Do at least one thing outside the workplace – it could be volunteer work, a sport, or a hobby. But do it in a manner that you can ideally show a quantified impact.
Length of Work Experience
Typically, the average work experience is 4+ years at most top schools. It helps the adcoms understand your maturity level and ability to contribute in the classroom. Don’t rush in and take your time to work on the other parameters, so you don’t end up being an outlier candidate.
Industry of Employment
Your pre-MBA industry can determine your post-MBA employability. Given the long list of industries that MBA students can target, some (IT/Consulting) become easier for international candidates to break into compared to others (Marketing/Teaching).
International Experience
International experience shows that you are already comfortable in multicultural settings. Mind you, we are talking here about being physically outside your country.
European MBA programs such as INSEAD/LBS place special emphasis and value on this factor.
Languages
If you are going to a non-English-speaking country for your MBA, this can be a huge plus when it comes to your job prospects. Knowing multiple Indian languages, however, may not be as valuable.
Of the many parameters here, some are already done (e.g. GPA/Employer’s brand, etc) and some of them are partly under your control.
Several candidates who work with us are nervous that they don’t have anything on the extracurricular side. While it may not be a huge determinant, it can be a critical tie-breaker when the objective parameters are close, which is often the case at top schools.
The author is Chief Consulting Officer at MBA Crystal Ball, an MBA Admissions and Career Counselling service provider.
