A typical MBA candidate has several years of full-time, post-undergraduate work experience.
The strongest candidates are dedicated, disciplined and focused on their intended career paths; they know what is required of them to achieve success and are clear about the particular area of interest they plan to pursue after obtaining an MBA degree. A good MBA student demonstrates evidence of leadership potential and consistent academic achievement. Other abilities include creativity, dedication, commitment and professionalism.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you possess entrepreneurship and leadership capabilities?
- Are you competent at language and communication skills?
- Do you possess a non-judgmental attitude, humanistic values, decision-making and analytical skills, interpersonal skills, and collaborative focus?
- Do you have a strong personal sense of direction, self-discipline and ethics?
- Are you able to define who you are in terms of what is important to you?
- Are you able to describe what kind of lifestyle you desire and what level of financial security you aspire to?
- Can you define what job satisfaction means to you?
It is also important to identify how your aspirations - within your capabilities - will match up with your priorities, which includes the question whether you are ready to be a student again for two or more years. Many first year students - having been out of school for many years - find it hard to adjust to the routine of being a student again i.e. attending lectures, doing schoolwork and turning in homework. Also, while few people are satisfied with just a career, how else will your education contribute to you leading a fulfilling life?
The most important work accomplished by organisations today is through the combined efforts of groups of people sharing their ideas and expertise. However, to function effectively on such teams, MBA students need to develop their interpersonal skills to bring out the best in each team member, to foster creativity and co-operation, and to channel conflict constructively. Effective team members do better at analytical and critical decision-making; they also discover how their input affects the behaviour of fellow team members, direct access to diverse information is improved, and they can more easily keep track of progress updates and tasks.