I have already written about it, thought of expanding a little more on this. Its never easy to deal with rejections. When others know you're applying, there are eyes on you. Some are hopeful and more confident than you are - you should've applied to better school, Wharton Booth Kellogg are better options. Some are waiting for you to fail - She can't get through, let her touch reality in some time. Others - She would've never made it to these schools, remember how she was in school this was so out of reach for her; She has no skills (analytical, comm, etc etc)wasn't deserving enough; If she can get through this school then I can get through Harvard and Wharton with all the scholarship I want.
Other things that run through mind are answering your recommenders, specially if you asked for too many from same person. Answering bosses when you put your promotion at stake and kept telling your boss that I'm only staying until I get R1 results - R2 and so on.
Then comes the money factor. At the beginning of application it is GMAT and Application fee for 2 schools. This grows to 5 schools, then TOEFL, then mail costs of sending transcripts, transcript evaluation, essay review, consultant fee etc etc. This varies from person to person. In my case it has extended only to TOEFL. No plans to use consultant yet.
The first step is that if you researched and prepared well, you would know that MBA is not I have to get through this year or its gone. MBA is not the plan, its a means to achieve a plan. If that plan is as short as 2-3 years, then well look at your plan B.
I have heard many people say I have to go for MBA this year, I will complete it by the time I turn 26, work for two years, get married by the time I'm 28 and then first baby by 30. Or the story is I got married last year, will do MBA by the time I turn 29 and then first baby by 30. Or I have a child who is two years old, will do my MBA by the time he/she is 3-4 and then need to think of his/her school, savings etc etc.
There are many such stories I've heard. In fact one such story was why I let of Asian Institute of Management in 2007. I'll never know how that would've turned out for me, I do know that I will never regret not trying for other schools even if I failed at most of them.
If you don't get admmitted in the first year of application, first off, don't lose heart. Second, take a short break to rejuvenate. Spend time with family, go travel, get pampered, sit at home and get drunk. Whatever it may be take a break from regular MBA plans and preps. This break can last anything between a week to a month or two.
Now ask some more questions -
- Why did you apply for MBA in the first place
- What is your long term goal
- What is your short term goal
- What are your essentials for the schools you go to (gmat, age, placements, location etc)
- What is changing this year for you (at work, extracurriculars, personal life etc)
- Do you still need MBA
If you still want to do MBA then you should now get into analysing your apps -
- If you have feedback from schools, take a look at that
- Look at your essays
- Who recommended you and do you know what they wrote (specially weakness, are you working on it already)
- Who reviewed your application
- Did you spend sufficient time on your applications and with recommenders
- Who can recommend you next year, have you built more bonds with people
- Which schools you thought are good but never got around applying to them
There are more questions that will offset from the above. Write them down, even if its in a word or two so that you can refer back.
Now -
- Evaluate if you need to retake GMAT (this is the easiest to do)
- Do you want to reapply to some schools
- Do you want to explore other programs besides MBA
- Which schools and which round do you want to apply to
- Do you want to use any previous recommenders
- Restart the application process
Now these are the starting points. I'm sure you'll find many articles on reapplications. To me MBA was just a means and my goals haven't changed. As I explore options, I will post if there are some I feel might be helpful to others.
