I want to debunk a few common GMAT myths about timing and scoring on the test. I’m going to try to do it in the best way that I, as a graduate of an MBA program, know how: with the help of Microsoft Excel!* Read more

Today’s post will be short and sweet, but it will be useful. It has come to my attention lately that words ending with ‘ing’ can be a point of confusion for students. What are these [verb]ing words? How do they [verb]ing work? Why the [verb] do I need to understand this [female relative] [verb]ing subject for the GMAT?

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How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With this thorough Cornell Johnson essay analysis, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.

We can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from many of this year’s applicants to the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University as they realize that the program’s well-known (and often dreaded) Table of Contents essay prompt is gone. The “impact” essay question first added two years ago, which asks candidates to envision how they will contribute to the MBA experience, is still in place, as is the school’s straightforward approach to the standard goals statement, though a mini essay has been tacked on to that one. In place of the Table of Contents essay is one Cornell Johnson is calling its “Back of Resume” essay, for which applicants may submit a traditional written composition or a multimedia file/link. Despite the changes, the school’s suite of prompts still covers where candidates want to go and what they want to do after they graduate, their anticipated student experience, and what they feel are the most important facets of their lives, thereby allowing applicants to create a nicely rounded impression of themselves for the admissions committee to evaluate. Our more detailed Cornell Johnson essay analysis follows… Read more

Ah, fall. The days are still pretty long, the snow is a distant memory (for a couple more months at least), and I get to work through the new problems in the GMAT Official Guide 2019 edition!

That’s right, the Official Guide for GMAT® Review 2019, aka the OG, has landed. Let’s dive right in! Read more

Welcome to the latest installment of the Big GMAT Skills series, which I am hoping to use to lay out some of the biggest GMAT skills you can start using to get that score you want. Check out the other parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), and keep them in mind as you read, as those GMAT skills are still going to be applicable here, just as what’s here is applicable in those articles as well. Read more

What have you been told about applying to business school? With the advent of chat rooms, blogs, and forums, armchair “experts” often unintentionally propagate MBA admissions myths, which can linger and undermine an applicant’s confidence. Some applicants are led to believe that schools want a specific “type” of candidate and expect certain GMAT scores and GPAs, for example. Others are led to believe that they need to know alumni from their target schools and/or get a letter of reference from the CEO of their firm in order to get in. In this series, mbaMission debunks these and other myths and strives to take the anxiety out of the admissions process.

The GMAT is the sole piece of data that is truly consistent from one candidate to another. Therefore, many MBA applicants get carried away and place undue emphasis on it, when the test is only one of several important aspects of an application. In extreme cases, some applicants consider quitting their jobs to focus on the GMAT full time—not a great idea! Read more

Welcome to our fourth and final installment on how to get the most out of your GMAT practice tests! In the first three installments of this series, we talked about: Read more

In the first article in this series, we started looking at the big picture of GMAT Verbal. Is there any point to studying Verbal? Is there any way to know which answers are really right, given that language is so much more subjective than math? Read more

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With this thorough Yale School of Management essay analysis, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.

We hosted a question-and-answer session with several leading admissions officers earlier this year that featured Yale School of Management (SOM) Assistant Dean for Admissions Bruce DelMonico. Ever the straight shooter, Bruce told us that the SOM would not be changing its application essay prompt for this season. We likely should have just taken him at his word, but just to be sure, we waited to see whether Yale would indeed officially recommit to its single essay, and… it did! The school has made no modifications to its prompt. So, you have one 500-word essay with which to make an impression on the admissions committee. Our Yale School of Management essay analysis follows… Read more

Some Critical Reasoning question types are pretty straightforward about what you’re being asked to do. On a Strengthen the Argument question, for example, many students naturally have a good sense of what they’re supposed to do even if they’ve never specifically studied the question type before. Read more