Non-Traditional Background: Applying To Business School
Finance and technology are typical backgrounds for many MBA applicants. For applicants with non-traditional backgrounds — such as acting or teaching — starting business school can appear intimidating.
Jennifer Jackson, a senior MBA admissions counselor at Stratus Admissions Counseling, recently discussed how applicants with non-traditional backgrounds should approach applying to MBA programs and how they might even have an advantage.
HIGHLIGHT APPLICABLE SKILLS
Even if you’re applying to an MBA program with a non-traditional background, Jackson says, you can still highlight a number of skills that translate into business school.
“Consider the skills you’ve gained in the roles you’ve held since college and figure out how to highlight them in the most compelling way,” Jackson writes. “There’s a high likelihood that even if those skills don’t seem directly applicable to an MBA program, they are still useful and necessary, such as collaboration and project management skills.”
ALIGN SKILLS WITH GOALS
MBA admissions essays will typically include prompts that ask applicants why they want to pursue an MBA. Jackson says it’s important to align applicable skills with your career goals when writing your essay.
“For example, let’s say you’re working at a governmental healthcare agency now but want to move to healthcare consulting or a biotech organization, and perhaps in the long term, be a leader in healthcare or start your own company,” Jackson writes. “You can demonstrate that you need the leadership skills, cross-functional business skills, and entrepreneurship skills that only an MBA can offer to make that pivot.”
VALUE OF A NON-TRADITIONAL BACKGROUND
Non-traditional applicants may often feel as if they’re at a disadvantage in admissions. However, experts say that applicants who do not fit the mold of a typical MBA student are exactly the type of applicants that b-schools are looking to attract.
“Business schools are actively looking to create dynamic classes made up of individuals who bring something different to the table,” Padya Paramita, a Graduate Coach at InGenius Prep, writes. “They seek people with diverse personal and professional backgrounds in order to keep class discussions engaging and interesting. Being a non-traditional candidate can really be a positive at a time when admissions officers are making a concerted effort to admit people with varied experiences.”
Sources: Stratus Admissions Counseling, InGenius Prep
Next Page: Tips for Kelley MBA Essays
Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Tips for Kelley MBA Essays
At Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, supportive career and leadership development are central to the MBA experience. Kelley students are given a variety of resources—from personalized coaching to leadership training—to support them in reaching their goals. There’s even a tradition called the “Kelley Clap,” a small, but symbolic practice that demonstrates the sense of support that the B-school instills in its culture.
For applicants intent on attending the Kelley School of Business, nailing the admissions essays is key. Stacy Blackman, founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting, recently discussed the 2021-2022 Kelley MBA essay prompts and what essential aspects applicants should focus on.
ESSAY 1
The first Kelley essay prompt asks applicants the following:
Discuss your immediate post-MBA professional goals. How will your professional experience, when combined with a Kelley MBA degree, allow you to achieve these goals? Should the short-term goals you have identified not materialize, what alternate career paths might you consider? (500 words)
When approaching the first essay, Blackman says, it’s best to focus on the most critical moments in your career.
“Consider the times when you had to stretch to accomplish the goals set out for you,” Blackman writes. “Maybe that happened when you stepped up to lead or became introspective about your career aspirations. These are the stories that will explain how your professional experience will help you achieve your goals.”
To answer the second part of the prompt, Blackman suggests brainstorming what goals are essential to you and how you can reach those goals with flexibility.
“For example, perhaps you are passionate about the food industry and want to update the world of packaged goods,” Blackman writes. “However, you could imagine pursuing either a strategy role or a finance role within consumer packaged goods. Or, you love marketing but could see yourself either marketing a film or a jewelry line. In this case, the most crucial factor is practicing the craft of marketing. Showing that you can pivot while staying true to your core values and interests will position you well in this set of Kelley School of Business essays.”
ESSAY 2
The second Kelley essay prompt asks applicants the following:
Please respond to one of the following short essay prompts. (300 words)
My greatest memory is…
I’m most afraid of…
My greatest challenge has been…
I’m most proud of…
The second essay is giving applicants a sense of who you are at the core of your personality.
“In this essay, the story you choose to tell will reveal your personality and values to the admissions committee,” Blackman writes. “Therefore, think about the moments in your life when you have changed or matured. Was there an experience that led you to learn more about yourself? Or, perhaps you interacted with someone who challenged or inspired you.”
Whichever moment you choose to write about, Blackman says, it’s important to highlight the ‘why’ aspect in your essay.
“Once you have a story to tell, make sure you explain why this moment is important to you,” Blackman writes. “To clarify, you can narrate your thoughts, reactions, and opinions as you retell the story. Another idea is to take time at the end of the essay to reflect upon what you learned and why it was important.”
ESSAY 3
The third Kelley essay prompt asks applicants the following:
Share a brief fact about yourself that your classmates would find interesting, surprising, or noteworthy. (25 words)
This essay, Blackman says, aims to highlight elements of your story that admissions officer can’t get from demographic or background data in your application.
“This is a great question to poll friends and family about,” Blackman writes. “Because your friends and family likely know the elements of your background and personality, this can be an effective way to develop a unique story. Those elements are more profound than your resume or application fact sheet.”
Sources: Stacy Blackman Consulting, P&Q
Next Page: Boosting GMAT Verbal Scores
3 Key Ways To Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score
If you want a chance at gaining admission into a top B-school, you should aim to get a GMAT score in the 700’s. For comparison, the average GMAT score for at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School is 733.
The GMAT is organized by two sections: a Quant section and a Verbal section. Performing well on both is critical to landing a top total score and B-schools often like to see a balance in performance across the two sections. Marty Murray, the Chief Curriculum and Content Architect for Target Test Prep, recently offered a few tips on how applicants can score high on the GMAT Verbal section in an article for Fortuna Admissions.
MASTER CONCEPTS, BUT ALSO LOGIC
The GMAT Verbal section focuses heavily on analyzation and critical thinking with questions on sentence correction and reading comprehension. The best approach to preparing for the Verbal section, Murray says, is to go topic-by-topic in order to master the concepts.
“So, for Sentence Correction, work on one concept at a time, starting with foundational concepts, such as types of clauses, and then moving on to more complex topics, such as modifiers and comparisons,” Murray writes. “For Critical Reasoning, it works best to work on one type of question at a time. Similarly, Reading Comprehension involves a number of concepts and question types that you can efficiently learn about and master one at a time.”
But concept knowledge is just one aspect to performing well on the Verbal section.
To score highly, Murray says, test takers need more than just an understanding of concepts.
“While concept knowledge is certainly an essential aspect of earning a good GMAT Verbal score, to master the Verbal section of the GMAT, you have to not only learn concepts but also develop skill in noticing what is going on in questions and using logic to arrive at correct answers,” Murray writes.
HAVE A STRATEGY
A solid strategy is key to improving your GMAT score. Experts say that having a game plan for common testing roadblocks can help ensure that you’re ready come exam day.
One of the best strategies, highlighted by The Princeton Review, is to limit the number of times you refer back to a passage on the Verbal section.
“Assuming that you’ve referred to the passage before looking at the answer choices—always a best practice—refer back only once more,” according to The Princeton Review. “If you find the information that helps you decide which answer is correct, you can pick an answer. If you didn’t, then switch gears. Try to find something that makes one of the answers wrong. Does one of the answers use extreme language? That could be a great reason to pick the other answer.”
Sources: Fortuna Admissions, P&Q, The Princeton Review
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