25 Red Flags — Common Weaknesses in MBA Applicants
By Avi Gordon
When you apply to a competitive business school, it stands to reason that your essays, interview, and recommendations should highlight your strengths and mitigate weaknesses. Everyone will tell you that. But it’s not always obvious to applicants what these weaknesses actually are – what factors cause admissions committees to raise their eyebrows and ultimately to waitlist or outright ding candidates.
Obviously there are many reasons applicants get sidelined, and often they will be specific to the candidate. However there are identifiable common weaknesses or red flags that push an applicant into ding territory.
Here are 25 common weaknesses to be aware of. You are in “red flag” zone if:
1. You intend changing your career direction or your primary industry
2. You have no hard evidence of leadership experience
3. You are under 24 or older than 30 at the time of application (for a full-time MBA);or under 30 or over 45 (for an executive MBA)
4. You are currently or have been previously self-employed; or there have been breaks in your career.
5. Your background is very common: e.g. banking, consulting
6. Your background is unusual, and/or low in business experience
7. You have no volunteer or community service experience
8. You are applying to a foreign country
9. You come from a high applicant country - US, India, China, etc.
10. You are or have been unemployed in the last three years
11. You have been with your present company for under a year, or you have been employed by 3 or more companies
12. Your undergraduate academic record, GPA or equivalent, is sketchy
13. You have not been promoted in your job (or your previous job)
14. You do not have referees who will praise you unconditionally
15. Your GMAT is below 680 (for a top-20 program)
16. You are underpaid considering your level of seniority and responsibility.
17. You are not sure what you want to do with your MBA
18. You have no clear team experience, or don’t know your team player profile
19. You have an arts or social studies background (hello, you’re a “poet”)
20. You were dinged last year from any business school
21. You have another Masters degree, or a PhD
22. You don’t have some math or stats in your background
23. You are short of international or intercultural contact experience
24. You don’t think you have any weaknesses (wake up and get one fast!)
25. You are short of active writing experience and the last time you wrote an essay was in college.
If any of these apply to you, it’s not the end of the world. In fact all candidates have stronger and weaker areas. The point is to be aware of the weakness and to directly deal with it. How to do this various from situation to situation. Sometimes it’s better to say nothing and not draw attention to a problem area. But more often the best policy is to create countering information. If you are underpaid for your level, explain how your compensation comes in other forms; if you don’t get team experience at work, explain how much you got at college, and so on.
