Team players and solid leaders also make for strong business school candidates.
Tell the b-schools about all the great things you've accomplished working with and leading others!
Admissions officers look at the quality, quantity, and continuity of pre-MBA work experience. There are some traditional farm systems for business schools: accounting, banking, consulting. If you are self-employed or come from a less traditional field, you will need to work harder to represent your work experience in a way such that your work is properly appreciated.
Something that all candidates need to keep in mind is the importance of continuity. Does your work history include more than two employers? Are there gaps between jobs? Did you have a pattern of increasing responsibility and promotion? These are questions that admissions officers ask themselves when reading your application.
Team players and solid leaders also make for strong business school candidates.
Tell the b-schools about
all the great things you've accomplished working with and leading others!
Extracurriculars/Leadership
Many admissions officers are sensitive to the nature of an applicant's extracurricular involvement. Ideally, you have a diversity of interests in your portfolio. Admissions officers like it when you are not only involved ethnic organizations in your community, but also take time to do new, out-of-the-box kinds of activities. It's great to be a tutor for your church and a member of a fraternity; however, it's even more impressive if you made time to master a martial art. Most impressive is when you pursue an interest to an expert level, investing quality time over several years.
Yet, strong extracurriculars are no substitute for a strong GPA and GMAT score. It's also preferable to find people who have interests/hobbies during college and after college. That means, you can't just be a workaholic. Save time for you. Successful business people are successful people first. They take time out for personal interests.
Finally, it's not enough to sign up for activities just to be a member and stay in the background. Admissions officers favor leaders. As with work experience, quantity of time is a factor too. Admissions officers can tell when an applicant has just signed up for the sake of business school admissions.