EP 96 | MBA Rejections Explained: Why You Got Dinged and How to Improve Your Business SchoolApplication

Getting rejected from business school can feel discouraging but it’s often a signal, not a setback.

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky is joined by Senior MBA Admissions Consultant Nisha Trivedi and MBA Admissions Managing Director Harshad Mali to break down the most common reasons applicants get rejected and what they can do differently next time.  

From unclear career goals and weak school fit to generic essays and ineffective recommendations, the team shares insights from real “ding reviews” and explains where strong candidates often fall short. They also discuss how to strengthen your profile, whether and when to reapply, and why rejection is not the end of your MBA journey.

If you’ve recently been rejected, or want to avoid common mistakes, this episode offers practical, actionable guidance to help you move forward with confidence.

00:00 Why MBA Applicants Get Rejected

01:54 Common MBA Application Mistakes (Goals, Essays, Fit)

05:18 The Role of Recommendations and Test Scores

08:42 Demonstrating School Fit and Doing Your Homework

11:21 Reapplying: When and How to Improve Your Business School Application

14:07 What Makes a Strong Essay and MBA Resume

18:02 Standing Out and Timing Your Business School Application

22:02 Final Thoughts: Turning Business School Rejection into Opportunity

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
‼️Use code MBAMPOD for 30% off any onTrack subscription‼️

Contact Us:
info@mbamission.com

Follow Us:
YouTube
LinkedIn
Instagram

Transcript

Why MBA Applicants Get Rejected

Harshad Mali 0:00

Getting rejected from business school does not mean getting rejected from life. Getting rejected from a business school is not a life sentence. Your recommendations should complement what you're saying in the applications. They should not contradict with what you are saying, and they should not repeat those things either.

Nisha Trivedi 0:16

When you do have a test score that's, you know, not quite at the average, it does put pressure on the other elements of your application. When you're called upon to make a case for why that program, be specific.

Harshad Mali 0:26

The people who are dinged have decent applications, but they have not really spent the time and effort to understand what the school is.

Harold Simansky 0:34

It is not that hard to get to know a school, and it's not that hard to get to know the specifics of the school.

Nisha Trivedi 0:40

And know that, you know, sometimes the best success stories come out of some initial setbacks.

Harold Simansky 0:59

And sometimes it almost doesn't matter. Because the issues around rejection, the feelings about rejection are somewhat evergreen. I don't care who you are, you've gone through it in one way or another. Uh, and for many of you watching this, you likely have gotten rejected recently from maybe a business school you were dying to go to. I think one thing that Harshad, Niche, and I do very frequently is ding reviews, where people will call us up, they'll sign up for a free 30-minute consult, and then they will start talking about why they were rejected. We'll frequently go through their material, and I think there are a few things that we regularly see that may explain some piece of why you're rejected, rarely is at all, but but at least have a general sense of what may have gone wrong for you. So, Nisha, as I say this to you, what comes to mind as far as why does somebody get rejected?

Nisha Trivedi 1:54

Sure. So I think the overall thing I'll say is that, you know, ultimately for these top business schools, there are many more applicants than there are spots, right? So ultimately, sometimes it can be a numbers game. Um, but I would say, in terms of some of the concrete reasons why somebody might not make it through the next stage of an application process or might not ultimately uh get accepted, you know, one example is, you know, not having clear enough career goals. Schools are particularly interested in the applicant's short-term goal. Um, what uh industry do they want to enter? What kind of role do they uh want to play? Um, I even encourage candidates to identify companies they're interested in, because business schools want to know that you have a path uh in mind that you'll pursue and that that path makes sense uh given your past experience uh and that you need an MBA for that. So I think that's one thing that I've seen if uh candidates don't present a clear enough career path, even knowing that that path might change.

Harold Simansky 2:50

No, no, definitely. And how about Harshad? What are some things that you regularly see?

Harshad Mali 2:54

Yeah, I I'll add to what Nisha just said about goals. Um for schools in the top league, let's say Harvard Stanford and Wharton, they want to see long-term goals also that are ambitious, uh, because they don't want ordinary leaders in their classes. They want leaders who are going to do really good things. So goals are uh very important. And oftentimes when I do doing reviews, I look at goals right at the get-go, see at least if they at least pass the master for these schools. Uh, and even for other schools, the short-term goals are important as well. Uh, the other thing that I have seen often is uh not necessarily the test score. You know, I've seen people with really good test scores uh get the ding. Uh it's just the lack of connection with the reader. It's plain and simple. You come up with something dull, dry, boring, uh not intriguing, interesting enough. You're talking about the essays. I'm talking about the essays mostly that uh fail to pass the muster. I mean, you have an adcom reader is that who's busy reading uh so many things, and you put that person to sleep uh with such you know awful content that uh then becomes uh you know a talking point in the ding review. Okay, what can you do uh that is better? Now, uh better can be on many fronts, you know, conveying your story, um, you know, merging your personal and professional life in a way that uh business schools can understand what your persona is because they don't know you, they haven't talked to you. So what you write is going to be very important. The other thing I have seen also is sometimes the recommendations, um, not sometimes, more often than not these days, because recommendations are written by people who are using a lot of AI in them. Um and what those recommendations are lacking now is that uh, you know, deep insight, uh specific insight on the applicants uh who are applying. And oftentimes, I don't often say this, your recommendations should complement what you're saying in the applications. They should not contradict what what you are saying, and they should not repeat those things either.

The Role of Recommendations and Test Scores

Jeremy Shinewald 5:18

If you want to be one of our success stories, sign up for a free consultation with a member of our full-time MBA admissions team. Since we've worked with tens of thousands of applicants over the past two decades, we can give you our honest opinion on your chances and help you put together your very best application. That is not a sales call, but rather your first session with one of us for free. We can give you a profile evaluation, answer specific questions about the process, review your resume, talk about your school choices, and so much more. Sign up at nbamission.com slash consult. We look forward to working with you.

Harold Simansky 5:50

And and we should have maybe in some way started here. At certain schools, let's we have to face reality. If your GPA is, I'll say, one standard deviation away from average, if your GMAT jury or even executive assessment is one standard deviation from average, uh you you simply haven't met sort of some basic criteria. Uh are there ways to overcome it? Sometimes people look at that spread. I think the spread in GMAT scores for Stanford is the broadest one. MIT is also very broad, 590 to whatever, 800. And I tell folks, yes, there is a spread there. But imagine who that person is who is on that far end of the uh of the um of the curve of the exactly.

Nisha Trivedi 6:31

You know, one thing that you know we've said in the past is that a high test score can't necessarily get you into business school, but it can keep you out if it's too low. And certainly we've all seen every year uh candidates with test scores that are below the average of the target school, get in. But when you do have a test score that's you know not quite at the average, it does put pressure on the other elements of your application. And that can be hard to overcome in some cases.

Harold Simansky 6:54

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I think Harshhod, what you also spoke to the fact is recommendations are important. And what I tell folks, particularly if they bring me a ding review and they don't have the recommendations there, I say to them, listen, you have to be very honest. Is this person, did they say that you were a one and only? Did it, did they say you were a superhero? And if the answer is hopefully, it's like, yeah, that's that's reasonable. If they haven't seen it, if at that point they're like, well, I'm not sure, uh, that's obviously a little bit more problematic. And then also say, quite honestly, even if you've given them a memo, even if you yourset have sort of said some great things about yourself, when that recommender gets in front of that page, in front of that computer page, anything can happen. So that's again something you can you can't control. But what are some of the things, Nisha, that you really can control that you maybe haven't controlled appropriately? And that maybe explains why you got the ding review.

Nisha Trivedi 7:51

Sure, absolutely. So I would say just kind of coming off of your last point, Harold, um, and Harsha, I think that um choosing recommenders who can really attest to your performance and your potential and your growth, and not only give you a strong endorsement, which is required, but also give detailed examples as to how you've stood out as a candidate. Um, I think when you're applying to a particular school, and of course the the particular opportunities and uh the essays vary, but when you're called upon to make a case for why that program, be specific. And this is something I tell candidates over and over. If you mention a class, why do you want to take it? What do you expect to learn? And how is it going to prepare you for your short-term or long-term goals? Um, that's the level of detail schools are looking for, so they can see you've done your homework and that you can, you're really um able to make a case for why that program makes sense for you and you're not just applying because let's say it has a good ranking.

Harold Simansky 8:42

Absolutely. And I want to pick up this word that you use, which is particular. Schools are different. So and if you start writing essays or other pieces of your application where if you changed out that school's name and it and any other school you can put their name in, it all sort of makes sense, then you haven't done your homework.

Harshad Mali 9:01

Yeah, I often use the office space example. You know, Joanna, come here, people come to Totskies for that and uh the atmosphere, you know, uh, because they can get a cheeseburger anywhere. Same thing with the MBA, really. I think you can get an MBA anywhere. Why do you want to attend that school? A lot of that has to do with the school's culture, the community, what is appealing to you. Um, and oftentimes what I've seen is uh in ding reviews, the people who are dinged have decent applications, but they have not really spent the time and effort to understand what the school is. And a lot of that can be mitigated by just simply attending school events. Yeah. You know, online, in person, you know, show your face. Um, you know, let the adcoms connect the dots. You know, they may or may not remember you, but many schools have lists of people who have attended their events. And if they take the time and effort to connect the dots, you know, you have a fair shot, uh, even with some mishaps in your application. So that's something that a lot of applicants uh should be doing.

Harold Simansky 10:06

Yeah, absolutely. I think it even gets down to almost what we'll call the creepy level, where business schools will sometimes make note of when you open the application. Clearly, clearly, if you're the person who opened the application the day that it went online, that's one thing. If you're the person who opened the application the day after you retracted from Harvard Business School, and again, business schools always know what else is happening with other business schools, then that means something else. But uh Harsh, I really want to emphasize that point. It is not that hard to get to know a school, and it's not that hard to get to know the specifics of the school. If you don't even do the basics in terms of I want to take accounting, uh then that that simply is will not cut it. It simply will not cut it at at this point. So if someone comes to you with a re I mean, it happens to all of us. If someone has gotten rejected, they do a ding review with you, at that point, maybe you see any number of things, poor essays, questionable recommendations, uh GMAT or GRE score, just just not there, GPA, whatever it is. What are some of the things you tell them to do? First of all, should they even consider reapplying?

Reapplying: When and How to Improve Your Business School Application

Nisha Trivedi 11:20

Yeah, I would say um, you know, schools are definitely open to reapplicants. You know, they're not in a disadvantage, right? If anything, they're showing interest. But what I tell them is, how can you reapply in a way that ensures that you're able to show growth since you're on application and you're able to address the areas that they might have been concerned about, right? Simply just, you know, throwing their hat in the ring again won't be effective. So really thinking about where they reapply, when they reapply to maximize their chances of success and really taking inventory, like you said, of their application to see, you know, what can I strengthen the next time around?

Harshad Mali 11:52

Absolutely. And to add to what Nisha just said, uh, everyone has an X factor in a way. So uh what we do in the Ding Review is we evaluate all the things that went bad. But then the thing is, beyond growth, what is something that you didn't bring up? That also shows an aspect of your persona that business schools like. And that's what I do. I think Misha does the same thing, but we try to bring out things that the applicant might not have realized about uh his or her application that can be brought out in ways schools like. Um, you know, and I'm not saying uh, you know, schools look at applicants the same way. As you're saying, you know, uh some applicants simply change the name of the schools and maybe the names of the courses and all that. But we go beyond that. We try to help our clients understand why they are so good for the school and why those schools are going to be so good for them. So it's a mutual relationship and we try to bring those things out.

What Makes a Strong Essay and MBA Resume

Harold Simansky 12:53

Yeah, and yeah, definitely. By the way, there is a podcast focused on reapplicants and reapplications and sort of how one approaches that. But listen, I think you're right. And there are things that you can control, there are things you cannot control. And now really think about did you do the best possible job on those things you can control? If you're sort of stewing in this notion of, okay, my GPA wasn't where it needs to be, it's like that may be true, but how are you gonna what are you gonna do about that? What are you gonna do about a poor test score? What are you gonna do about creating better essays, whatever it might be? The reality is, is every application can be improved. I tell folks there's there's a thousand different reasons why Harvard Business School can reject you as it does 90% of the people who apply. So think a little bit more deeply instead of what went wrong with my application, just what can I do better for my application? And that frequently means really fine-tuning those essays, I think is a is a frequent reason that people just don't go get as far as they do. Which again, Nisha then brings up the question. So, what do you like seeing in an essay? What don't you like seeing in an essay?

Nisha Trivedi 14:07

Sure. I like seeing, you know, authenticity, of course. It really sounds like the applicant. It's them in paper form. Those are some of the best uh essays I've seen. And specificity is something that I drill down all the time. You know, what class, why, how you contribute to the community, well, why are you interested in that particular involvement? What will you bring to it? You know, here's a hint. There's something similar you did in college. Let's let's uh create a bridge there. You know, that's really what I like to see. Um, and so, you know, and the other thing I like to see is a complete, you know, a well-rounded picture, right? So, you know, to the extent uh that it's possible across the essays for a particular school, you know, highlight professional and personal aspects of yourself so that you're, you know, portraying yourself as a multidimensional candidate that you are.

Harold Simansky 14:50

No, no, no, no, no, that makes sense.

Harshad Mali 14:52

Yeah. One thing I will say is this a lot of people use formulas to write their essays. Oh, here's a statement of purpose. I'm going to start with my background and my goals and why that's cool. I think that's a tried and tested method. Um, I think you need to do more than that. I think you need to bring in insights, bring your persona in. Uh, you need to really personalize that experience for the adcom so that the adcom learns more about you as a person as well. So this is just one example. But I think where you know applicants who get dinged get it wrong is they try to follow a formula uh by reading a lot of things online. There are a lot of examples, but they try to fit themselves in, and that does not work out. I think you need to be yourself and then deliver things the way you would say them because the outcomes are not going to uh ding you for being who you are. You know, that's the common misconception a lot of people have. And that's something that I always make sure that the clients who work with me uh don't do over and over again.

Harold Simansky 16:00

That's right. Listen, if you start sounding like somebody else, you lose because they'll sound like themselves better than you, than you, you know, than certainly you do. Are there other aspects to the application that maybe people just didn't optimize? What what do you see in that regard, Nisha?

Nisha Trivedi 16:17

Sure. So one piece of feedback I give very commonly during the free 30-minute consultation that we give to all applicants is that your resume for the MBA application, unlike let's say a job resume in some respects, um, you want to show not your duties or your responsibilities. There's actually a place in the application where you can talk about that, but rather your results and your achievements. You know, so you know, for each bullet, you really want to make sure you cover, you know, what a particular project or initiative was about, what were your key actions, and what was your impact, quantified or described more qualitatively, whatever's more appropriate. And so I think, you know, some of the um applications that aren't successful, maybe the resume focuses more on, you know, those descriptions of job responsibilities and doesn't, you know, take opportunity to really show you know what they've achieved, uh not only at work, but also outside of work as well, which is why I always encourage candidates to uh highlight their leadership involvement. Another issue I see is that, you know, going along with that, um, some candidates might use, you know, jargon, you know, language that's so industry specific that an adcom member who you know might have seen many resumes from that industry, but is still not, you know, completely fluent in that language, might have trouble discerning, well, what you know, what is important about what this candidate has worked on. Um, and so that's something that I work with uh my clients on as well.

Harold Simansky 17:37

Yeah, that's right. I have to agree with you. For me, one of the biggest places where a lot of value can be added is in the resume. I think too many people take their resume, their last resume may be updated, and here you go. And listen, I sometimes tell my clients it'll take me two to three hours to do a good review of a resume and really push it forward because a business school resume is a lot different from a professional resume. No question about it.

Harshad Mali 18:02

The other thing I've seen is traditional applicants are so many, and many of them are applying from the same company and maybe the same office. And clearly uh the business schools can only pick a few. Um, so in those cases, what I often tell applicants is first of all, understand why you're different from everyone else. Because the recommenders, first of all, cannot recommend everyone highly. Um, if everyone is so good, then you know clearly uh something is is wrong in what they recommend. So clearly there is a difference in how those people recommend. So look for recommenders who are not the same, who are not applying, who are not recommending the colleagues that you're applying with. See who's applying with you. Um you might not be able to understand what they're saying, but try to differentiate yourself. You know, bring out things in ways that the adcoms are not bored with. You know, things are never similar, so see how different you are. And that's one of the biggest things I've seen in traditional applicants, in that uh people uh from the same industry or you know, same employer, same office, um, some of them get dinged. And a way to prevent that is by uh, you know, coming up with something unique about you that is not a repetition, finding a different recommender and uh and going that way.

Harold Simansky 19:30

No, certainly. I want to sort of pick up that in a slightly different way is also recognize the landscape, which what was it, two years ago when something like half a million people were laid off from the world of the Metas, uh Google, whoever it is, then listen, suddenly that is a macro, uh macro event that you can't do a lot with. Uh it just, it just is an incredibly difficult year. And and what I also sometimes tell folks, particularly younger folks, maybe you're you're maybe you're your own worst enemy. And what I mean by that, and you'll see this frequently with consulting associates or investment mega analysts, whoever it is, you've been at it for two years. Business schools are also thinking about it's listen, I can either have Bob two years without a promotion, or I could have Bob next year, two years from now with a promotion, a couple more years. Maybe he's even spent time inside a company. So I think younger candidates in particular have to start really thinking, okay, maybe I'll give it a shot this year, but maybe it's gonna be a multi-year process for me when when all said and done.

Nisha Trivedi 20:31

Yeah, and that Bob, um, you know, a year later might have, you know, more conviction in their career goals, right? And that's something that schools want to see as well.

Harold Simansky 20:39

Yeah, let alone uh to pick up on Harshudd's point, if Bob is competing against Steve, who's the guy at the same company, two cubicles down, who has that extra year of experience, it it's very hard for Bob at that point.

Harshad Mali 20:52

Yeah, I mean, uh Bob and Steve don't always go to the same McDonald's. So uh that would be a great movie. But look, I mean, uh, when you're reapplying, it's not like you cannot wait. Uh uh, you know, if you feel uh there's a lack of growth in your application, just wait. Uh, you know, uh just skip a year and then apply the following year. And that's completely fine. Business schools actually like that as well. Uh and you don't need to think that, well, you're too old or you have too much experience. I don't think that is the case right now.

Harold Simansky 21:30

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not particularly concerned if someone is a little bit older, if they've had sort of this much richer experience they they can bring to the classroom. Yeah. Which which it's very rare when I look at a ding review and say, Oh, okay, you were rejected because of age. That's very rare.

Nisha Trivedi 21:47

Exactly. But on the flip side, I have seen, you know, I've done dig ding reviews or I've done consultations with candidates who have already applied and haven't succeeded. And I've thought to myself, I wish they'd waited a year. I wish they'd waited two years.

Harold Simansky 21:59

That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Final Thoughts: Turning Business School Rejection into Opportunity

Nisha Trivedi 22:01

You know, just know that there have, you know, it's a competitive and unpredictable process. You know, the main things you can control are the quality of your application, you know, the timing, and know that, you know, sometimes the best success stories come out of some initial setbacks.

Harold Simansky 22:15

That makes sense. And we recently had a podcast with our colleague Katie Lewis, who was an admissions reader over at Stanford. And she said, quite honestly, she'd get a stack of applications. You know, she got eight, I think it was. She narrowed it down to three, all of whom could be great members of the community, all of whom can be accepted. And then she had to choose one. And there's an element of randomness there. And as consultants, yeah, we hate to sort of admit it, but the reality is these are incredibly hard schools to get into. And sometimes things just don't break your way. Um, listen, I will finish with one thought that everyone has probably heard before, but it's always worth talking about, which is um getting rejected from business school does not mean getting rejected from life. Getting rejected from a business school is not a life sentence. You can certainly go back at it next year or the year after. And at the end of the day, business school is a wonderful experience, but it's an experience you can have many different places. So remember, being rejected is not the end of the world by any means, but it may be an opportunity to think a little bit more deeply about what you want to do, where you want to be, and what your future looks like.

Jeremy Shinewald 23:21

Exciting news! You can now access OnTrack by MBA Mission for free. Take our two-minute onboarding questionnaire to personalize your learning path. Choose the free plan, and you'll have unlimited access to our complete modules on MBA application timelines, standardized testing, your professional background, community leadership, school selection, and more. You'll also get access to select lessons from our brainstorming, personal statement, essay, resume, and recommendation modules. It's a great introduction to the on track platform and will help you jumpstart the MBA application process. Get started today at ontrack.mba mission.com.