Get admission in one of the best business schools in the world is not a simple task. It takes months and even years to prepare applications for admission. It is very important to know in advance and begin preparation as soon as possible. The ideal is to begin two years before the start of the MBA, although most people prepares for the past six months.
In most schools there are three or more periods in which can apply admission, admission called rounds. An applicant may choose which round request, though be aware that there are much more likely to be admitted if admission is requested in the first or second round because for Round 3 schools already have almost formed their class and only support candidates with very good profiles. In addition, for foreigners it is being admitted in round 3 because there is almost time to get visas if the school is in the United States or Europe to Latin America.
Although each school has its own specific dates, most generally follow a similar pattern and the application deadline (or deadline) of each round is usually as follows:
Reference example: the beginning of the MBA in September 2012
* Round 1: September-October 2011
* Round 2: from December to January, 2012
* Round 3: March-April 2012
The official dates are published during the preceding the beginning of MBA (in this example would be published in the summer of 2011) summer.
PHASES AND TASKS
Before explaining each phase, the following sample timeline provides an overview of the process should begin two years before the start of the MBA. If you have less time, you have to shorten each phase (there are candidates who prepare everything in less than three months):
(*) Note: To ask the Fulbright scholarships and La Caixa should be done before the GMAT / GRE and TOEFL
Below we explain each of the tasks you must perform in each phase. All this is a recommendation and an estimate.
DEFINE YOUR CAREER GOALS AND AREAS OF INTEREST. IS THIS WHAT YOU NEED AN MBA?
Think about your personal and professional goals.
Why do you want to do an MBA?
What you want to work in the future?
What jobs you want suck after MBA?
To this point in your career, worth the human and economic effort involved to pursue an MBA?
You want to live the experience of studying an MBA abroad or do you prefer one in your country?
How are you going to pay the MBA? Are you worth the cost?
OUTSIDE HELP DECIDE IF YOU NEED TO GET ADMISSION.
AIGAC According to a survey, more than 50% of students admitted to the best business schools have used consultants admission. Although a priori may seem like a large investment (consultants charge between $ 800 and $ 5000), many do not see it as an important cost compared to the total cost of the MBA. If you decide to hire a consultant for admission, the sooner you do, the better, but you're always hiring time later.
[Block]
You can try free services Admissionado (one of the leaders in this sector worldwide companies)
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
STUDYING BUSINESS SCHOOLS AND WHAT WILL YOU DECIDE TO REQUEST ADMISSION AND WHAT ROUNDS
Among other things:
Visit the website of each school, study their programs and clubs, attend presentations that schools make in your country or region, subscribe to their blogs, contact current students of the school. If you get chance, visit their campus and admission committee.
Question in forums like ours, where other users can help.
Study the different rankings of business schools MBA.
Make your own personal ranking according to your preferences and your goals. Each school has different strengths and weak points. There better schools in a sector and some in another. Schools can agree you more than others.
Answer the following questions: Are you interested in a school with "cohort" (share class throughout the first year with the same classmates and you watching the same classes whatever your background) or prefer a school with a more flexible program ?, Do you prefer a school that is based solely on the case method or prefer one that combines traditional case method teaching? You want to live in a big city or a small town?
Where do you want to work after MBA? There are schools that are recognized or have a large base of alumni in certain parts of the world where others are not, and vice versa.
Think coolly your chances of being admitted. Find out what typical profiles get into each school. Be realistic in your choice of schools to which you are applying for admission.
Choose the schools that will apply for each round:
A very typical strategy is to apply to between 3 and 5 schools in Round 1, including schools that you like but also including a "backup" (ie, a school that you think have more opportunities to be admitted). If all goes well, you will be admitted in December in some work and have time to requests for grants and live the previous year MBA much quieter / a.
Another strategy is to leave for round 2 schools that interest you but turn more difficult to enter, and in round 1 request schools "backup". Therefore, if you allowed in a school during round 1, round 2 you have to try to get the hardest, but with the comfort of knowing that you are already admitted to a school. In addition, errors committed during round 1 will serve to enhance applications of round 2. The problem with this method is that to ensure place in the schools in which you entered round 1 will have to pay a deposit (around $ 1000- $ 2000), you'll miss if you then decide to go to another school.
Finally, there are candidates who try to be admitted to the best international schools in the first two rounds, and if no luck, try to national schools in their final rounds, which often easier to get admission.
PREPARE AND SCHOLARSHIP REQUEST CAIXA and FULBRIGHT
If you are interested in these scholarships, you should know that these scholarships are requested two years before starting the MBA. If you want to order one of these scholarships (and have time) you should do before both the GMAT (or GRE) and TOEFL (or IELTS). In addition, usually they require a minimum GMAT and TOEFL 700 110 (recommended minimum check these if they have changed).
In the following you will find all the information about these grants and how to get them: Scholarships for postgraduate studies
TO PREPARE AND TOEFL or IELTS introduce
Plan one or two months to prepare. Each person will need more or less time to pull it off, but the sooner you do it better. If you do not get the desired note, you can always repeat after the GMAT. Some people prefer to take the GMAT first.
Recommended:
TOEFL guide
IELTS Guide
Experiences examination Forero Club-MBA
All about how to take the TOEFL / IELTS later in this subforum.
Store:
[Block]
Templates for TOEFL and Strictly Inglés offers great discounts to users of Club-MBA
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
PREPARE AND OR GMAT introduce you to GRE
This test is usually the major stumbling block in the process of admission to business schools. You must have between one and four months to prepare. Take an average mark is not complicated, but if your goal are the best schools in the world, then you have to take a good note. The examination at high levels is very difficult and requires much effort. The good news is that with good preparation and perseverance can achieve much higher than you can imagine at the beginning of the preparation notes. Do not be discouraged if at first your grades are bad, in general most people up 100-200 points from the first day until the day comes. On the other hand, the GMAT can be repeated, so if the first do not get the desired note you can try again. That is why it is important to start studying as soon as possible to allow time for possible repetitions.
Recommended:
GMAT Guide
GRE Guide
All about how to take forward the GMAT in this subforum.
Store:
[Block]
Best GMAT and GRE courses at your disposal
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
Letters of recommendation and "COACHING" YOUR recommenders
Each school requests between two and three letters of reference, one of the important points of your application.
You must decide who you're going to ask for recommendations and you have to think your choice. It is important to know if you prefer to get help from someone who does not know you well but you have a closer important position, or someone who can actually write about you. In general, the latter is always advised. Try to guess if people actually choose to write good, very good or great about you.
In general, schools require a benchmark is your direct supervisor, but if you can not get that recommendation (or do not want or can) you must give reasons why you have not done.
Once you have chosen your recommenders, it is essential to make them "coaching", or what is the same, that you guide them to the extent possible. Note that in non-Anglo-Saxon countries there is little culture of recommendations, so you probably do not know how to do them well. Let them share in your goal, explain why you want to do an MBA in this or that school and how important it is to do it yourself; Explain how important it will be your work and your success will also be yours.
Internet search for examples of letters of recommendation, write drafts or meet with them to explain what they look for business schools (eg leadership, team working ability, etc.); Remind examples of situations or projects that you did well. Influential to write well of you and to understand how crucial are your letters.
We must be careful not to exceed the limits in the "coaching". You can spend your recommender tell you that you write the letter and he or she sign it. If you do, you can be that you play your entire application at this time. Admissions committees have spent years reading thousands of essays every year, and are experts at finding letters that are written by the applicant. Note that they will read your essays and can read your GMAT AWA. Therefore they have much content to take your writing and find similarities with letters of recommendation. No two people write the same, and less if they are writing in a language that is not yours. If you get caught you can have the "ding" insured.
Store:
[Block]
Download sample letters of recommendation for students admitted
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
PREPARE THE DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED
Collect all the paperwork that asks each school is a slow process. It's something that does not depend on you completely, so our recommendation is that you do not leave it to the end to avoid possible trouble. Enter other things, you should contact your old universities where you have studied (including foreign if you have studied some time off) to send you copies and originals of your records. If your documentation is not in English, most likely you'll need a translator.
Recommended:
[Block]
academic degree sworn translation, records and other
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
WRITE THE TRIALS OF SCHOOLS
Tests or "essays" is probably the most important part of your application, which really make a difference. You must not make the mistake of spending five months repeating the GMAT to get a good grade, and writing essays on a weekend. You write some good tests could take weeks or even months.
The first thing to do is collect all the questions of the schools to which you apply for admission. Once the have all, analyze them and look for similarities. Many of them are similar and can reuse a lot of work.
At this time, spend a few days thinking about what stories would want to write, or what stories you think would help more to show your abilities or your successes. The key to everything is sold, marketing knowhow yourself. A technique that works is to write in a table all the stories, successes, failures, etc. relevant in your life. In each of them, you think keywords that you could sell to you if you wrote about it. For example, in a professional history in which you led the X project, you could show "leadership" or "responsibility" or "success", etc. You may have other story that you helped vernoa such association in your neighborhood, where you sell "altruism", "companionship", etc.
Once you choose the story for each question of trials, think of the overall of your application: you must not sell the same in every story, but you should cover as much as possible. The ideal candidate for an MBA is a balanced person.
Talk to your family, friends, girlfriend / boyfriend, etc. What think you? What are you good at? In that no?
Ponte writing essays, doing works versions, and once you have a stable version, do you read it the more people the better. When you take three weeks writing about a story, in the end you lose the sense of what is right or wrong. That is why when an outsider is read, can give you valuable advice. Once you have the final version, someone tries to make you a native English review. It is essential that you do not change entire paragraphs or you make big changes. Schools know that you're not native, and know your TOEFL score and the verbal portion of the GMAT, so you will not require write like Shakespeare.
Recommended
[Block]
Download examples of admission tests of students admitted
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
PREPARE YOUR RESUME
The curriculums of applications to business schools are very different from those made to find a job. In general, they should not be longer than one page. It is your cover letter and most likely be read the first page of your application, which will read the rest of your application with interest or not. It is important to work on the format and content.
Recommended
[Block]
An expert review your resume
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
[Block]
The typical MBA template to be used for applications
[/ Block] [block] [/ block]
DELIVER THE APPLICATION
Fill in the online application for each school takes around 3 hours, depending on the school. There are some who ask a lot of information, not only such short answers. Try not to leave it to the last day, because you may be surprised at the large amount of time it takes. If you can send a few days in advance, the better. Schools make no exceptions, will not accept your application if you do not send it within the deadline.
INTERVIEWS
Once you have applied for admission, each school follows its own process. Almost all schools take the order of one month to make the first big screen. It depends on each school, but generally between 25% and 50% of applicants are invited to the final stage, the interview. If you do not pass this screen, you will receive a "ding" email (email rejection) saying that "your request is fine, you are an extraordinary candidate but can not offer you a place in his class," and you start thinking about another school .
If you are invited to do the interview consider it as a great success. Normally you do with a former student of the school, or a member of the Admissions Committee who is visiting your country. Each school has its own way of doing interviews, but generally have to talk about why you want to pursue an MBA, why in your school, your career goals, etc. Some schools also make "behavioral questions" (behavioral) such as "Tell me about a situation where you had a coworker with which it dialed in", "tell me about a mistake you made," etc.
Whatever happens in the interview, it is advisable to send a thank you email to your interviewer the next day.
Recommended:
Interviews experiences admission to an MBA
FINAL DECISION
After the interviews will spend about a month until you get the final decision, which may be one of the following:
* Accepted: Congratulations! time to uncork the Champagne / Cava, call all your family and friends, update your Facebook status so that they know everywhere, and go to celebrate!
* Denied or (or popularly, "dinged"): If you reject before or after the interview, think about what could you fail, or what aspects of your application could be improved. You always get other rounds or try again next year.
* Waiting List (Waitlist): depends on each school, but usually means they are not sure what to do with you and study you again with applicants for the next round. You should not normally do anything, just cross your fingers and wait, but research of how it works in that school, because there are some who do not want to receive anything from you during the process, and others that if you can send additional material (another letter of recommendation or a new note GMAT, etc.). Think of a "plan B" since you admitted being on the waitlist is complicated.
REQUEST OTHER GRANTS
This is not over. If you are interested in ordering a scholarship and you have admitted to a school, it is now time to prepare applications for scholarships and apply those that are from those applying for the same year in which you start the MBA.
It is noteworthy that only a small percentage of students in Spanish top MBAs get scholarships. The vast majority is financed through loans / credit, savings, family support, etc.
Recommended:
Everything about this article scholarships: Scholarships for postgraduate studies.
BEFORE STARTING MBA
You'll have to take care of your visa (if you need it), pre-MBA read books, travel, etc. If you have not gotten a scholarship, you should think about how to pay the MBA.
Recommended:
List lending business schools to finance the MBA
All about credit and loans.
Total or partial reproduction of this publication by any means or process, without for it to have the prior express written permission of the author is prohibited.