Digging Deep with Your MBA Program Research: Anecdotes & Advocates
Communicating with insiders (current students, alumni, and faculty members) can be beneficial to your MBA applications for a number of reasons. In addition to learning about a given school and your potential fit, you’ll also generate material for your essays, demonstrate your interest in the program, and perhaps even make an ally or two.
As you aim to go beyond the schools’ websites and promotional materials, we specifically recommend reaching out to individuals in a few key groups:
Current Students
People who are currently enrolled in a given program can obviously provide the clearest picture of the present state of the school community. They are often able to describe their school’s overall culture more vividly than brochures put out by the admissions offices. Current students can also help you understand the ins and outs of academic and extracurricular options.
So how do you get in touch with MBA students at your target schools? One strategy is to reach out to friends and acquaintances who are studying at a given school (or who know someone who is). It’s also helpful to get in touch with the leaders of clubs and programs in which you are interested; their contact information is generally available through the club website. This will help you to understand the club’s needs and priorities, as well as the impact you could make while on campus. Students can also provide a sounding board on this topic as you work to demonstrate your potential contribution during the admissions process.
Alumni
While students offer a great view of the program itself, a school’s graduates can often provide the best perspective on just how far an MBA from a given program can get you in a certain field. Meeting with alumni working in your target post-MBA industry (tracking them down either through your own network or school-sponsored events) may help you anticipate the program’s strengths and weaknesses in setting you on the right professional course. You might also gain some valuable insight that will help you to refine your career goals and better understand what short-term position would best prepare you for your long-term plan.
Faculty
Professors at business school tend to be a bit less accessible than students and alumni, but if you’ve identified someone whose research interests match yours or if you’ve sat in on a class that you found particularly intriguing, there’s no harm in sending a note to let the faculty member know and to ask them for a brief call or meeting. The individuals responsible for designing and delivering the MBA curriculum can offer great insight into the specific skills and lessons you would learn from one class to the next, and improve your understanding of the ways that an MBA would bridge the gap between your current skills and those you will need to achieve your goals.
So if you’re working on a business school application, consider reaching out! These folks are often happy to discuss their experiences with prospective students, and admissions committees also like thoroughly informed applicants (of course in all cases, patience and manners are of great importance). You might also gain advocates from your target b-schools, who you can later tap for unofficial ‘letters of support’ after you have submitted an application.
MBA Admissions Academy
Episode 1: How to choose target schools for application
MBA Applywire
Hi All,
Location: India YOE:2.8 yrs Industry: Software Role: Senior software developer
I have been working in a software Mnc and recently got fired. I had initially planned to apply for MBA programs for 2027 intake. But given the recent layoff I'm not sure what to do next. I didn't yet take the gmat. And confused if I should do a job hunt now or prepare for gmat, since I wanted to apply for round 1s by sep.
I definitely want to go for a good International MBA for 2027 intake.
What should I do next, follow are the choices I can think of-
1. Prepare for a good gmat score, finish it in next 2-3 months, I also have a small startup idea that I would like to in parallel experiment/try out, not sure how far it will succeed.
2. Prepare for gmat, complete in next 2-3 months then do job hunt(might or might not be able to get a job by the time I apply for round 1s)
Please suggest what is better for my mba applications.
’m applying for deferred mba. Here’s my app:
Ethnicity: Middle eastern female (international student)
University: T3 Canada with full-tuition scholarship
GPA: 3.75 (will graduate with distinction in CS/Math)
GMAT Focus: 675, all parts above 85 percentile
Work experience: 2 FAANGS, 2 Hedge funds, 1 AI lab, 1 unicorn.
Research: 2 papers under review; 2 years of TAship for math and cs courses; received a grant
Extracurricular: 2 VC-based fellowships in Silicon Valley; I also won a funding for developing my non-profit project in the college which we tested in multiple orgs across our province; some little women in cs things; top Canada in trading competition
Post-grad plan: got return offer from all my internships and currently planning on a startup (very early stage)
* Background: 28M, CEE Region (Underrepresented)
* Education: Bachelor of Economics (GPA: 8.3/10) from the top university in my home country.
* Education (Grad): Master in Finance (GPA: 4.7/5.0) from the top university in a second country (Poland).
* GMAT: 675.
* Work Experience: 5 years total.
* 2 years in Big 4 Transactions.
* 3 years in a local M&A Boutique.
* Note: Big 4 experience was gained concurrently with my studies. My Master’s schedule (3-4 days a week, 17:00-21:00) allowed for full-time professional engagement.
* Extracurriculars: Founder of a finance community for the CEE region (70+ members). We focus on mentoring and networking.
* Post-MBA Goal: Pivot into a Private Equity Mega Fund.
* The Pitch: Leveraging a unique CEE expertise. Poland is a booming market; as the economy matures, I expect increased MF activity (CVC is already active here). I also plan to scale my finance community into a primary regional hub.
I'm a GCC national at MBB in the region. Mostly worked on large-scale government projects, and hoping to continue in government after graduation (also a woman, not sure if that makes a difference but I see fewer women from my country applying to MBAs).
322 GRE (162V 160Q)
3.0 GPA from US T30 school (this one is painful but I had a strong upward trend after switching majors)
5 years experience (boutique + currently MBB)
Hey everyone,
I’d really appreciate an honest profile review and advice on how to best position myself over the next 4–5 years before applying to MBA programs (targeting M7 / T15, ideally with strong scholarship outcomes).
Background:
• 23M, URM (Latino, immigrant background)
• Graduated December 2025 from a non-target state school (Honors College)
• Major: Finance
• GPA: \~3.7–3.8
Work Experience:
Incoming: Management Rotation Program (Audit track) at a large U.S. financial institution (starting mid-2026)
• Rotational program with exposure to risk, capital markets, and enterprise functions
Current: Financial Analyst (Controls / Risk) at a large global tech company (co-op + full-time transition before MRP) not FAANG but similar
Prior internships:
A) 6 months internship Internal Audit – Housing Finance / Mortgage-related institution (Fannie/freddie)
B) 1 year internship and 1 year contract Risk & Compliance – Fixed Income / Debt Issuance organization (~$800B issuance exposure)
Exposure to MBS, capital markets, and financial risk frameworks
C) Summer experience for a regulatory agency (Pcaob, SEC, GAO)
Leadership & Extracurriculars:
• Director of Data Analytics – professional Latino association (2-5K members)
• Committee Member – State CPA Society (content + events)
Certifications / Plans:
Sitting for CFA Level I (May) → plan to complete CFA within ~3–4 years
Planning to complete CPA (150 credits + exams) within ~4–5 years
Short-Term Goal (pre-MBA):
Move from audit → capital markets / risk / transaction-related roles internally
Potentially pivot into roles closer to banking, valuation, or strategy
Long-Term Goal (post-MBA):
Investment Banking (M&A / Capital Markets) or potentially strategy consulting as backup
⸻
Questions:
1. How competitive is this profile today for M7 / T15 (assuming a strong GMAT, targeting 740+)?
2. What matters more in my case over the next few years:
• Internal mobility into capital markets–related roles?
• External jump (e.g., consulting, transaction advisory)?
3. Will CPA + CFA actually help for MBA admissions + IB recruiting, or is that overkill?
4. How can I best differentiate coming from a non-target + audit background?
5. What would you prioritize if you were me for the next 4–5 years?
MBA LiveWire
Received phone call around 1pm and portal updated around 2pm. Received 75% scholarship.
Received phone call around 3:40PM today, still waiting for portal to update to find out scholarship info if any.