Are B-Schools giving importance to the MBA Applications?

A recent research says that MBA Applications are negotiated. Yes, you read it right, the MBA applications applied by the aspirants are being compromised. Aspirants seeking admissions in top b-schools, need to write essays for admissions, but the research reveals that the essays were written by outsiders. In other words, these essays are paid texts.

In India, most of the MBA Aspirants do not consider going to the consultants for admissions where as they have direct contact with the B-Schools where they undergo Personal Interviews, Group discussions and marks/ ranks scored in Entrance exams.

Also, most of the B-schools across India considers only scores of entrance exam for admission purposes.

Including top b-schools like Harvard business school, have started reducing the essays they required.

Another survey says more than 350 b-schools applications are consulted by the schools officials. Around 43% of applications did not use consultants for MBA programmes admissions.

Consultants are a valued source of information for many, and those who work with them are more likely to engage with current students and alumni.

Around 74% aspirants have not used resource from the websites or blogs meant for admissions.

The aspirants will consider the b-schools ranking through the survey conducted by the magazines in which 'Business Week' is the most referred one. It is said that around 69% of aspirants believes rankings provided by this magazine.

Social media are also playing an important role in the MBA admissions. Prospects are increasingly likely to follow schools on Twitter & Facebook and to watch videos as part of their search. Around 31% aspirants go through B-school Twitter and Facebook links.

On average, prospects spend most time on GMAT, essay, and interview preparation and on selecting schools. Assistance with essays is by far the most valued service; GMAT and career counseling also rank high. Aside from an essay for help, prospects highly value the perspective and structure that is offered by the consultants.

Consultants are most commonly engaged for help with essays, resume evaluation, and interview preparation.

One of the MBA aspirants said, "Being able to discuss my career goals and my ‘story' with a consultant really brought my application together."

"Most importantly, the admission counselor helped me realize what could be my most desirable future career objectives," says another aspirant.

The majority of the aspirants would strongly recommend using admissions consultants. Prospects values on faculty quality and course curriculum among academic factors. The quality of the student experience ranks high for many prospects, and location is crucial for some.

Of all factors, impact on career and school reputation are most significant. Prospects are most likely, by far, to desire future employment in the consulting industry. A quarter of prospects expect their salary to be more than or double after earning an MBA degree.

B-Schools Need to be discuss more about the following:

• What are the opportunities and limitations for the use of social media in the business school search?
• How do you best advice prospects to use rankings?
• How do you best advice prospects to use alumni or current students as information sources? What are the key differences in the admissions processes at different schools that leave students with the sense of being known by the school or not?