Advice for MBA reapplicants

I work with clients every year who didn’t get the result they wanted last year, and are now going to reapply for the upcoming year. I love reapplications. When I worked on the admissions committee, we accepted people every year who reapplied to the school. It’s great. It shows that you have commitment to the program and here is where you want to be. But it’s not wise to reapply unless something substantial has changed in your application, and more than one thing. So, what’s substantial? It’s not that you’ve tweaked your career goals. It’s not that you visited the campus and took a tour. It’s that something real has happened over the last year. Think about your application in three parts. Academic, professional, and interpersonal. Academic: I want you to have retaken the GMAT or the GRE. If you had a poor GPA or a less than average GPA, I want you to retake a course. I want you to do something that shows, ‘hey, I can keep up in the classroom. I’m really a top performer in that area.’ Professional: I want you to look back at the year you’ve had. What’s changed professionally? Do you need to tweak your career goals if they seemed a little inflexible? Can you be promoted at work? Can you take on increasing responsibility? Real responsibility, like a global client or junior staff. Then, think about yourself interpersonally. Not just volunteering for a short period of time, but can you take on a mentorship role? Can you take on a leadership role? Can you show that you are someone who contributes to your community outside of work? I don’t recommend reapplying until you’ve changed something in all three of these areas, because otherwise it’s sort like you’re just throwing free money at the school for that application fee, and you’re likely going to get the same result.