3 Emotions That Prevent You From Reapplying to Business School Successfully
After going through the MBA application process, getting a rejection at the end can be a shock. Like any kind of bad news, different people have different reactions, but there are a few common emotions that tend to surface.
The first is anger. It can be incredibly frustrating to go through all the the work of applying and then get rejected in the end. “How could this happen after I put so much into my application?” you might wonder.
Anger can cloud your judgment and make you lose patience, both of which will work against you if you decide to reapply to business school.
To get a better result next time you apply, you need to work through your anger and move on. Remember that even if you didn’t get in, your application wasn’t a waste of time – you learned about the admissions process and about yourself as an applicant, which will make reapplying easier the next time around.
Another emotion that can get in the way of reapplying to MBA programs successfully is insecurity. It’s natural for rejection to shake your confidence, but you need to regain that confidence for your next round of B-school applications.
The most important truth to keep in mind that will help you not take business school rejections to heart too much is that when you get turned down by a school, it’s not a reflection on you. Your application is something you created as part of a process where the odds are against you; it’s not you.
Even if you get rejected from every school you apply to – an outcome many applicants experience – part of getting the acceptance you want in the long run is not letting yourself get too down. If you reapply to business schools thinking “I’m not going to get in,” you’re not doing yourself any favors!
The final emotion that can interfere with your ability to reapply to business school is arrogance. When you get rejected, your reaction might be to think that your application was perfect and the adcom just made a mistake.
However, the truth is that no one’s application is perfect. Every year there are applicants with very strong profiles who get rejected, but these people still have weaknesses in their applications.
It’s essential not to get into the mindset that your application is already as good as it can be because when you reapply to business schools, the number one thing you can do to increase your chances of getting a positive result next time is finding improvements to make to your application.
Maybe you know people who didn’t have as much work experience or didn’t do as well in college or who were less qualified than you in other ways who got in.
It doesn’t matter. Applying to B-schools isn’t about you, it’s about a very competitive process where sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don’t – and reapplying to B-schools is about figuring out what you can do to improve your chances of getting what you want next time.
The good news is that many applicants reapply successfully after being rejected their first time around. For a complete review of your application, feedback on what might have gone wrong and advice on how to up your odds next time around, sign up for our Comeback Kid assessment!