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3 MBA Application Mistakes that Can Wreck Your Chances

January 22, 2020 :: Admissionado Team

You’ve spent weeks and weeks working on your MBA application. You’ve doubled the number of stress lines on your forehead, your local barista is genuinely concerned about your caffeine intake, and you might be developing carpal tunnel. But it all paid off because your essays are compelling and convincing, and your resume is formatted to perfection.

BUT WAIT.

Before you crack open that celebratory craft beer, let’s go over a few last-minute details for your MBA Application. You’ve already invested so much time (and sanity) in your application, it’d be a shame if the adcom flags your application for something small. Our MBA admissions consultants have worked with thousands of applications, and we see a lot of the same careless, obvious mistakes.

Before you submit your MBA application, check for these common (and avoidable) mistakes.

1. Careless Errors

First, run through the spelling, grammar, all the standard obvious mistakes. Then, check your SCHOOL NAMES. We see this aaaallll the time. Our guy submits his Wharton application, but all his essays talk about how Duke is the right fit for him. Nothing sparks a red flag faster than having the wrong school names in your essays. Spell check will not catch this, so you’ve got to go through your essays with a fine-toothed comb.

2. Letting Your Recommenders Run the Show

Have you checked in with your recommenders? Do you have an idea of what they’re writing about you? Simply asking them to help is not enough. When it comes to LORs, the adcom isn’t only looking to see what those people say – they know you’re smart enough to choose those recommenders wisely (right?) – they’re also looking to see how you manage a project and another person. This is your chance to prove to the adcom that you’re a good manager. If you can’t get them to submit their stuff on time, it reflects badly on you. So… get out there and manage them! Also, you’ll want to give them a little bit of guidance in terms of what they should focus on in your (RICH!) work experience. Make sure those recommendations support the claims you make elsewhere in your application. The content of your recommendation should confirm what you’ve featured elsewhere in your application, while also bringing some new stuff to the table.

3. Waiting For the Last Minute to Submit

This is the most devastating mistake of them all. Through pain, sweat, and tears, you’ve birthed this beautiful application and now you’re having trouble letting go. So you’re going to wait until the verrrrryyy last minute to submit. What could happen? Well, here are some things that have gone down*:

  • The website servers are overloaded and can’t process your MBA application. You end up submitting late.
  • You think the deadline is at 5PM but really it was at 12PM… five hours earlier.
  • You go to submit your MBA application and your Internet cuts out. Comcast is not sympathetic; neither are adcoms.

*Yes, these are real. And very possible for anyone who has been juggling work and essays and LORs and school research for months on end…

Alright folks, Round 1 deadlines are just around the corner. Watch out for those last-minute details for your MBA application!

Some more tips for hitting that deadline: