Reapplying to Business School: MBA Admissions Strategies for Reapplicants | Ep. 102

Many successful MBA applicants were not accepted the first time they applied.

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky is joined by mbaMission Executive Director Jessica Shklar and Senior Admissions Consultant Melissa Blakeslee to discuss what MBA reapplicants can do to strengthen their candidacy and improve their chances of admission.

The conversation explores why admissions committees do not view reapplicants in a negative light, how applicants can identify weaknesses in their original applications, and what kinds of growth schools want to see from candidates before a second attempt. Harold, Jessica, and Melissa also share advice on improving one’s essays, recommendations, career goals, extracurricular involvement, and school research.

Whether you are considering reapplying to Harvard Business School, the Stanford GSB, UPenn Wharton, Northwestern Kellogg, or another top MBA program, this episode offers practical advice for moving forward strategically and confidently.

0:00 Why MBA Reapplicants Can Still Be Successful
1:53 How Admissions Committees View Reapplicants
5:46 The Biggest Reasons Strong Applicants Get Rejected
7:25 Improving Essays, Goals, and School Fit
13:01 How to Show Growth Before Reapplying
17:08 Reapplying Strategically and Expanding Your School List
19:17 Why MBA Rejection Does Not Define Your Future

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Transcript

Why MBA Reapplicants Can Still Be Successful

Jessica Shklar 0:00

I feel like a better recommendation can make a dramatic difference in the application.

Melissa Blakeslee 0:04

Sometimes there just isn't enough space, even if you're qualified. I think a lot of people don't know how to craft a compelling story. Really having those well-defined, ambitious, and achievable goals, I think often that's where people stumble.

Harold Simansky 0:17

If you're really committed to one school, then by all means reapply. There's a lot you must do though to be successful, but by all means reapply.

Jessica Shklar 0:24

Getting rejected from your dream school is horrible and it's painful, and it also doesn't determine whether you'll be successful.

Harold Simansky 0:43

Today on the MBA Mission Podcast, we're tackling a topic that many applicants face but do not always talk about openly: reapplying to business school. The reality is that rejection is common at top programs. These schools receive thousands of applications for a very limited number of seats, which means many qualified candidates do not get in on their first attempt. The good news is that a rejection does not have to be the end of the road. In fact, reapplying can demonstrate resilience, reflection, and a genuine commitment to a program. With the right strategy and meaningful improvements to your profile, success as a re-applicant is absolutely possible. In this episode with our guests, MBA mission consultants Jessica Schlaar and Melissa Blakesley, we will discuss how to decide whether reapplying makes sense, how to evaluate your previous application, and how, most importantly, how to really show growth before submitting again. We'll also talk about how to approach the re-applicant essay and the common mistakes candidates should avoid. If you're considering giving the MBA application process another shot, this conversation will help you think strategically about how to move things forward. You know what statistically I really can't believe is that about 20% of all Harvard Business School students applied at least twice before they started there.

Jessica Shklar 1:52

Which

How Admissions Committees View Reapplicants

Jessica Shklar 1:53

really sends the message that being a re-applicant is not a problem necessarily. And I try to, when people ask me if you know, is it gonna is it gonna be a black mark against me? I try to break it into really practical terms. Let's pretend you guys, you were an admissions officer for many years. You're reading an application, and the person is smart, and they've got great scores and great grades, and they clearly know about the school, and the essays are terrific, and the recommendations are amazing, and you're feeling really excited about this applicant, and then you find out they applied before. Your reaction isn't gonna be, oh, black mark. Your reaction is gonna be, wow, this person is really committed to us. They're trying again. Is that your experience?

Melissa Blakeslee 2:32

Absolutely, of course. And what you'd want to also see is growth, right? Right? What you'd have to see from a prior application is that something is different than when they applied the last time. And of course, it it was not a negative to have to be a re-applicant.

Jessica Shklar 2:48

And by something being different, do you mean it has to be like a test score, or can something else have changed?

Melissa Blakeslee 2:53

Absolutely, it could be something else, right? I mean, test score is what I always tell my clients that's the most dynamic piece of the application. And a lot of, you know, you can you can't change how many years of work experience you have, you can't change um your undergraduate GPA. Um, but testing is definitely something that if it's below a school average, that's a relatively simple way to at least try to improve your candidacy is you know, retaking, switch, toggle between the GRE and the GMAT, or vice versa, or you know, at least take it again and see if you can improve that. But that's certainly not the only way.

Jessica Shklar 3:27

Many years ago, uh, one of the consultants at MBA Mission did an analysis of schools' acceptance rates for first-time applicants and for reapplicants. Not statistics easy to find, and a lot of schools don't produce that. So I don't remember that we got every single school. But what I found fascinating is whenever we were able to find those numbers, the acceptance rate for the two were within a point of each other. Sometimes reapplication rate was higher, sometimes it was lower, but it was never statistically significant. And so that really says that it as long as there's a reason you're reapplying, something has changed, you have grown, you have improved on a potential weakness, then um being a reapplicant just reiterates commitment to the school.

Harold Simansky 4:10

That's right. And sometimes there are easy ways to really improve your application, sometimes harder ways. And we've seen it really both ways. Um we just talked about something that was easy. How about if you really have a black mark in your application? What are some things that you really have to think more about?

Jessica Shklar 4:27

I think one thing that's really hard about this is applicants often feel like they know the answer. They'll be like, oh well, I blew my interview. Right. Oh, well, I didn't write a good essay here. But it it's not always easy to tell that, and especially when it comes to recommendation letters, because you don't always have visibility into that. I feel like a better recommendation can make a dramatic difference in the application. Um, but I also think it's really a mistake for applicants to think this happened, therefore this happened. Because sometimes there's just no space in the class. You could be completely qualified. I heard someone from HBS once, Harvard Business School, say that they could accept the next thousand and the next thousand and applicants and it would make no difference in what the class looks like. Right. So sometimes there just isn't enough space, even if you're qualified.

Jeremy Shinewald 5:13

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 MBAmission.com/slash consult. We look forward to working with you.

Melissa Blakeslee 5:45

Yeah,

The Biggest Reasons Strong Applicants Get Rejected

Melissa Blakeslee 5:46

there's far too many interested and qualified students. And sometimes the issue is that you just didn't differentiate yourself, right? I mean, if there's that many interested and qualified students, you have to find a way to differentiate. Um, but sometimes there's things that are, you know, when we think about, well, why did somebody not get in? There's things that are in your control and things that are out of your control. And things like, what did the rest of the applicant pool look like? Well, you can't change that, right? There's school, every school has institutional priorities in a given year, and those change from year to year. You can't control those. You can't control that, okay, this year this school is looking for more women in STEM or they're looking for more students from a particular region of the world. I mean, you you can't change your background and you can't change what the school's looking for. Can you find out what the school, what the school's institutional priorities are in a given year? I would say no. I think that that's probably something that's just kind of internal strategy within admissions. And oftentimes it's coming from outside of admissions, right? It's coming from the dean, the board. Okay, these these are certain metrics that we need, or this is kind of the where the school is going in terms of our mission. And so this is going to be going to be the focus for the upcoming two admission cycles. And so you can't do anything about those pieces, but there are definitely a lot of other parts of the application that you do have control over and can improve immensely when you reapply.

Harold Simansky 7:12

Which is actually a reason to be encouraging. At the end of the day, you could have done a great application. There's no question about it. And I sometimes joke with my clients. Maybe they read your application before lunch instead of after lunch. And then at the end of the day.

Jessica Shklar 7:24

So

Improving Essays, Goals, and School Fit

Jessica Shklar 7:25

are the essays the biggest thing that you think people can change?

Melissa Blakeslee 7:28

I mean, I think essays, yes, right. I think a lot of people don't know how to craft a compelling story. Or they think too much about, oh, I'm I'm going to tell the adcom what I think it wants to hear. All these people on Reddit said that this is what they wrote about and they got in. So that must be what the admission committee wants to hear. That that's not the way to, you know, create a compelling story that's relevant to you. That's relevant to you specifically. And so I think taking that step backwards to really reflect on who am I? You know, how did I come to be this way? And where is it that I want to go? Um, and how does the school fit into that? So I think essays are a big part. And that not only, you know, that also encompasses goals, right? Which um are a huge part of this process. And we've talked about goals in other podcasts, but I think really having those well-defined, ambitious, and achievable goals, um, I think often that's where people stumble in this process. Um, and you can you can improve that in a reapplication.

Harold Simansky 8:27

I was gonna also ask, can your goals change? And what I mean that from if they saw your application last year and and now, and if suddenly your goals are different, how do they look at that and how does that impact things?

Jessica Shklar 8:37

I think there's a balance. I think something has to change, but everything can't change. So I would say your short-term goal can change, but the long-term. And then so the essay would sound like I am still committed to X. However, I've realized that Y is a more effective way to get it. That's right. Um, and I think that is the most logical way to change it. Uh, but I think there are some essays, like the goal essay and like Stanford's What Matters Most to You, that are really hard to change. Absolutely. Right. Because you don't want to look like you're just, as you said, just trying to guess what the admissions committee wants to hear.

Melissa Blakeslee 9:12

Right. I mean, you if it's a values-based essay, an essay that's getting at like the core of who you are, and you do a 180, like that, that that will alarm the admission committee. And they'll like, were you inauthentic last year or are you inauthentic this year? Um, and so I would say yes, be cautious when changing essays that are that deeply personal. Um, but you do have to find other other ways to improve or adjust. Um, and in a lot of ways, I think um when it comes to the goal, the goals essay, yes, maybe you don't do a left turn on your goals, right? But maybe in your first application, you didn't really get to know the school very well.

Harold Simansky 9:54

That I I think we see that a lot. It's very generic.

Melissa Blakeslee 9:57

Um, you know, I've I've done a lot of what we call ding reviews or work with a client that didn't work with us the prior year. And I'm amazed at how just completely generic their school-specific information is. That's right.

Jessica Shklar 10:11

Well, I was just reading something on Reddit um yesterday, which I do not recommend anyone do, but someone asked a very basic question is you know, I got into these two schools, which is better for recruiting in my field and which one is a better school for me? And the very first question answer was, how did you get accepted and get to this point and not know the answer to that question? And the original poster wrote, Well, you know, as you know, it's all a copy and paste job, and I didn't really get to know the schools. And I'm thinking, that's just okay, you got lucky that you got in, but that's just such a wrong way to approach it. I mean, yes, there's a lot of commonality. You don't have to have a different career goal for each school, but you have to be compelling about what makes that school the right one for you to avoid being a re-applicant.

Melissa Blakeslee 10:55

Exactly. You have to be able to find, okay, what are those school-specific resources that fit directly with, you know, I've just told you what I want to do and the gaps that are in my background for me to achieve those goals. Now let me explain how your school's specific resources fill those needs. And if you can't do that by being generic.

Harold Simansky 11:16

Right, right. And the reality is schools are looking for a commitment even before you apply. They're talking about demonstrated interest. Some schools, if you live in New York City and you haven't visited Columber NYU, that's problematic. Right.

Melissa Blakeslee 11:28

And if you even get to the interview phase, they will ask you why you haven't visited.

Jessica Shklar 11:32

Yeah, yeah. Well, I had an interesting experience many, many years ago. I worked with someone on an application for his dream school, and he had applied twice before and never gotten to the interview stage. And as we were brainstorming essays, we had some good developments in his career, and there was a lot of progress, but there was one topic we could find nothing recent to write about. And we brainstormed. And we all on the phone again and we brainstormed. And I finally said, We have to go back to something that happened 10 years ago because we'll bring it current, but there is literally nothing else that will answer this question. And we were both nervous about it, honestly, because the mentality is always reapplication should be about new stuff. I remember his email when he forwarded me his interview invitation. He said, I've been waiting three years for this. I've never seen this before. And then he gets to it, the his interview, and his interview is one of the schools that is not blind, whether the interview has read the whole application. First thing the interviewer says to him when he walks in the room is, gosh, your essays were so much better this year than they have been the last two years. And it was a relief for a couple of reasons. I think it really showed him and me that you don't have to have only more recent stories. You just should have different ones where possible. But also, and I think this is a really important point for re-applicants to know about, is that it is very likely that if you get to the admissions stage, to the interview stage, the admissions will read the entire application, your old application as well. Your interviewer might not, if it's a blind interview, just a resume based. But the you should always operate under the assumption that admissions will look at both essays, both applications.

How to Show Growth Before Reapplying

Harold Simansky 13:01

Right, right. So they're looking at everything, which of course gives you a lot of opportunity to improve everything. And what I really mean by that is okay, improve your score. Bad GPA, use the opportunity to take an online class. At that point, you have made a connection to the school, go visit, talk to people, look at one version.

Jessica Shklar 13:16

Extracurriculars, get involved in something, plan a new event.

Harold Simansky 13:19

Exactly. Yeah.

Melissa Blakeslee 13:20

I mean, oftentimes schools want to see people who get are involved in extracurriculars and take on leadership. It all comes back to impact, right? They want to see how you've made an impact at work. They want to see how you've made an impact outside of work through your extracurriculars, the things you're passionate about. And so if you have another year or two or however long it takes you to reapply, that's the time. And you don't want to wait, right? That's the thing people sometimes wait. The minute you get rejected and you've decided I'm reapplying, start preparing. Start preparing, start restudying, start take on leadership roles and get involved in an employee resource group at work where you can, like you said, plan, initiate something, take on a leadership role with your alumni organization. You know, find things that you're actually genuinely passionate about. And that's a lot simpler way to get into maybe a leadership position faster so that you do have that growth to share.

Jessica Shklar 14:12

You said one to two years to reapply. Is that the typical time frame? What do you think is the shortest? Like if someone applies in round three and gets dinged in rejected in applications due to March in May, can they apply in round one?

Harold Simansky 14:24

Yeah. I I would generally say no, except they had the opposite experience where someone was very successful. And the reason for that is they simply didn't have room for that. Yes. Yeah. And that it was as simple as that. Great person and they just didn't have room.

Jessica Shklar 14:38

And that is a real risk with round three, is often great kids. They just don't have room. So maybe a more realistic is round two to round one. Is that feasible?

Melissa Blakeslee 14:45

I think I think it can be if you can really show that change, right? It doesn't give you a lot of time, but then you you better be sure that you're doing that reflection to figure out, well, where what was my weakness? And and schools aren't going to give you that feedback. So um, you know, if it's testing, get that test done. Don't wait till August and then take it again. Um, so I think it's possible, but I think it can be a little more difficult. The the only time I've seen a situation like what Harold described, where someone was rejected in round three and then subsequently applied in round one with a a better or a more likely chance of admission, was if the school actually specifically told them we really liked your application. We just like to do that.

Harold Simansky 15:32

That happened to me with one client, actually, with Kellogg. Exactly.

Melissa Blakeslee 15:36

That I can say, okay, that makes sense then. Right. Because maybe you don't have to change too much too much. Um you still have to address the reapplicant essay, which right.

Jessica Shklar 15:46

Yeah. And the reapplicant essay is a tough one. I especially dislike that schools like HBS require a reapplicant essay, even if you applied as a two plus two deferred applicant three or four years ago, because everything has changed. You were in college when you applied, you're now in the working world three or four years, you're a completely different person. So, and we've covered that in the other essays. So I always struggle with that reapplicant essay of how do you carve out a separate set of achievements that aren't in the rest of the application for that one. It's just it's a challenge. You do a lot of planning too.

Melissa Blakeslee 16:18

And I think you have to do some to me for that one. And because you have covered so much of what you've actually done in the real essays, I'll say, in the reapplicant, maybe it's I I've done a had clients do a little more reflection on just you know what what they were like maybe when they applied coming out of undergrad, why that wasn't maybe the ideal time and how they're so much better or you know, more improved now. Because yeah, you're right, everything else is kind of covered. Those are hard ones. Right.

Harold Simansky 16:50

Or you engineer it the other way. And this is what I tell folks. Uh you can sure you can reapply, but something different has had to have happened, whatever that is. And when that's something different, maybe a promotion, maybe again involved in something outside of the office, um, by all means reapply, but don't go back in with the same with the same application.

Jessica Shklar 17:07

And remember

Reapplying Strategically and Expanding Your School List

Jessica Shklar 17:08

also you can apply to different schools in that. Exactly. Reapply doesn't mean you only have to reapply to mean there's a difference between reapplying, meaning it's your second or third time applying, and reapplying meaning it's the second or third time the that school will see you. So I think you feel it is probably a good idea to have one safer school when you are a reapplicant because you know it didn't work the first time.

Melissa Blakeslee 17:29

Well, and I think, yeah, that's to me, that's part of that reflection part, right? Is taking a good hard look and saying, okay, I, you know, I applied to these three schools, didn't get an interview at any of them. Before you just move forward and reapply to those three schools, maybe you need to balance your risk a little bit with your school selection. And not to say you can't apply to those schools. Exactly. But exactly, but expand your consideration set.

Harold Simansky 17:55

Exactly. Jack Ma applied to Harvard Business School 10 times. Yeah.

Melissa Blakeslee 17:58

Didn't get in.

Harold Simansky 17:59

He did not. He had to go do other things. And I th I think worked out. Lauren Buffett applied twice, didn't get in. And my point is not that you shouldn't reapply. My point is actually quite the opposite, which is this idea here. And Jessica, you actually use the term dream school. The reality is that if you're really committed to one school, then by all means reapply. There's a lot you must do though to be successful, but by all means reapply.

Jessica Shklar 18:25

And I think there are a couple of other factors with that. One is if if that is your dream school and you want to reapply, then yes, be very committed to that and go for that. But also think about is it really the only school that will help you achieve your goals? And I there's we have a blog post called What's Your Tipping Point, which essentially says, what is the best school that compared to your current job you wouldn't go to? And what's the worst school that is better than your current job? The dream schools are up here. Apply to those as many times as you can. That's fine. But if that doesn't work out, do you want to stay in your job? Or would you say, okay, this isn't my best, my dream. It's not really what I wanted, but it actually is better than not going to business school at all.

Harold Simansky 19:05

Right, right, right, right. Definitely. And then scholarships get thrown that in that as well as well. And just where you are at that particular moment. I tell folks the decision to apply and the decision to go are actually two separatism.

Jessica Shklar 19:16

Right.

Why MBA Rejection Does Not Define Your Future

Jessica Shklar 19:17

Right. Absolutely. And I think also, as you said with a Jack Ma and Warren Buffett example, going to business school is a wonderful experience, but it does not determine your success in life. And getting rejected from your dream school is horrible and it's painful. And it also doesn't determine whether you'll be successful. It's going to influence your trajectory, but it doesn't mean it's going to be better or worse. It's just a different path that you're taking. And I think that's the hardest lesson because you feel like you're being judged so much. And you are, I mean, it's an application. But it doesn't determine your success or who you are as a person.

Melissa Blakeslee 19:51

Not at all. And I think too, people people forget sometimes. I mean, I think B school has a huge impact on that first job that you have coming out of business school. After that, I mean, you have to prove yourself and you have to do, you know, so there isn't one or two or three schools that will make or break your career. Like that, that's just absolutely not true. So keeping an open mind as you go through the reapplication process, I think, and broadening your high horizons is a good way to find success as a reapplicant.

Jessica Shklar 20:22

One of the differentiators that we we talk a lot a lot about is the difference between your profile and your application. And the profile is what we see initially when we talk to people. And often when you see someone post on Reddit, here are my stats, right? Scores, grades, how many years of work experience, ethnicity, and leadership in clubs. That's basically it. That's not what the admission sees. Admission sees that as a story. And so I think when you assess your candidacy, you can have a great profile and not have told the story. You can have a great story and not have the profile. And it's important to balance both and not stop with, well, these are my stats. Shouldn't I have gotten in? Because as you also said, it's compared to the whole pool. Right.

Harold Simansky 21:04

You know, it just reasons that we feel very knowledgeable about this particular subject is here at MBA Admission we do a lot of ding reviews. We take a look at people's earlier applications and we see what maybe went right and what went wrong. And we'd love to do it for you. If that can be helpful, certainly start off with a 30-minute free consultation with Melissa, me, Jessica, or one of the other consultants here at MBA Admission.

Jeremy Shinewald 21:29

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 information. Introduction to the OnTrack platform and will help you jumpstart the MBA application process. Get started today at ontrack.mba mission.com.