Work in Finance? Don’t Make These Common MBA Application Mistakes
As an MBA applicant with a finance background, you’re no doubt wondering how to stand out from your equally impressive peers. No matter how remarkable your pedigree is, the truth is that no business school wants an entire class filled with individuals of the same profile. While this information may have you wondering how in the world you can ever earn an acceptance letter, keep in mind that MBA programs welcome candidates with your background. Every year, the classes at top B-schools include multiple former finance professionals.
As we pointed out last week when we started this Top 10 list of common MBA application mistakes, there’s a right and wrong way to attract the admission committee’s attention. Let’s dive deeper into what an MBA applicant with a finance background should avoid and what makes for a successful application.
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Mistakes Every MBA Applicant with a Finance Background Should Avoid
Mistake #4: Failing to leverage your interests outside of work
While most of your peers will have similar work examples, you are the only one with your particular hobbies, interests, friends, and family. What are your passions outside of the office? If you don’t tap into your personal pursuits to add another dimension to your MBA application, you’re missing out on a critical opportunity to connect with the admissions committee.
When reflecting on your life, consider the differences that can help you stand out. It can be anything from education to family to activities and interests. What do you spend your free time and money on? What values have you inherited from your family? Take those differences and create a nugget of a story to include in relevant essays to reveal more about you than your GPA or work history.
Mistake #5: Overlooking work accomplishments that fall outside the norm
Everyone on the admissions committee knows what an investment banking, hedge fund, or private equity analyst does daily. Many of your peers are also working hard to gain admission, and thousands of applications later, your work experience may seem similar to all the others in the pile.
As you survey your peers, think about what you do at work that is outside your typical deal or investment-focused work (and theirs). Instead of discussing the analysis you conducted or the due diligence you performed, think about the time you trained the interns or organized a community service event for your colleagues. You may have created a new process or led recruiting efforts. These “extra-curricular” work activities can be an asset to your application and help you stand out.
How to Leverage Your Banking Resume to Get an MBA at Harvard, Wharton, or Stanford
Mistake #6: Not explaining the meaning behind your career goals
Whether staying on your current career path or switching to something completely different, it’s important not to assume that the MBA admissions committee will understand why you are pursuing your specific career goals. Your task is to explain that you have consciously selected your future career plans through research, evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, and other intangible factors.
In short, your career goals must have special meaning to you, and you’ll need to communicate that meaning through your application materials.
As an MBA applicant with a finance background, aim to demonstrate precisely how your career goals and personal history have come together into a path with real purpose. Obviously, not every candidate plans to save the world after pursuing an MBA. Still, even if your career goals are not inherently altruistic, it’s essential to show that they have deep meaning for you.
Mistake #7: Not showing your collaborative side
How do you demonstrate teamwork when sitting solo in front of a computer screen all day? What if you work primarily on your own projects for your associate and very little with other analysts? It’s sometimes challenging to feel like you are part of a team when you’re always performing tasks for senior-level meetings and pitches. That’s the dilemma facing many an MBA applicant with a finance background as they answer questions about their ability to work collaboratively on a team.
The most successful teams take each person’s strengths to counteract others’ weaknesses. As you enter your MBA program, you’ll bring specific skills that can be an asset to any project. Applying these critical strengths to your business school environment can be a great way to showcase how much you will contribute to your learning team, your cluster or cohort, and any club leadership position.
That’s all for today, but we’ll be back tomorrow with the final installment addressing the common mistakes finance applicants must avoid. So, stay tuned!
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs. From our All-In Partnership to interview prep, essay editing, resume review, and much more, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×