What is MBA Coaching?

MBA coaching is a method of guiding candidates hoping to be accepted into one of the more prestigious MBA programs. The competition for gaining admission in elite schools is fierce, and motivated individuals can benefit from admission coaching. Enlisting the help of a professional  can help you structure the application process and maximize your chances of success.

Because of the high number of applicants and complexities of the admissions process across various elite programs, having an experienced MBA coach by your side can be immensely beneficial. They can help set realistic goals, determine your strengths and weaknesses, come up with solutions to the biggest obstacles you need to overcome, and identify the key steps that will need to be taken in order to set yourself up for success.

For instance, MBA coaches can work with individuals to help them discover their strengths through a “self-searching” process. Why is this important? Utilizing one’s strengths makes an application much more authentic. Building on the candidate's unique strengths, personality, experiences, and aspirations is the best way to help them stand out. Still, this process takes time and requires someone with experience and insight to guide you in the right direction. When you work with Fortuna, you get a team of former MBA admissions professionals from 18 of the top 20 business schools.

Additionally, because there are so many things that a student needs to prepare for, professionals coaching MBA candidates can help prioritize the most critical aspects of the process and waste less time on things that may not have that much of an impact on the outcome. When going through the application process for yourself, you feel like everything has to be perfect. An MBA coach can help prioritize where you need to focus your attention, and ensure the sum is always greater than the individual parts.

When preparing for something as complex and competitive as an MBA application, things can quickly get overwhelming. But with real-time MBA coaching, the guidance you receive every step of the way will provide structure, simplify complex actions, and help you identify precisely what you need to be working on at every stage of the application process.

In essence, the process of MBA coaching is simply a way for candidates to leverage the expertise of someone who has been there before and has seen the reasons why thousands of others have either succeeded or failed. And that knowledge is an invaluable resource. If you want the best outcomes, you need to set yourself up for success in the application process.

What Are the Benefits of MBA Coaching?

In order to better understand why it makes sense to seek coaching for MBA, it's essential to see the range of benefits that it can offer. After all, MBA coaching is an investment, so you need to be sure that you will actually reap benefits from going through the process.

Let's look at a few of the main benefits you can expect.

Determine If You Need an MBA

While it may seem surprising, the first benefit of MBA coaching might actually clarify how business school stands to help you achieve your highest aspirations. MBA coaches will help you perform in-depth guidance regarding your career goals and motivations for pursuing an MBA. They can help you capture and convey a clarity of purpose that makes for a standout application in a sea of excellence.

When you begin the MBA coaching process, you and your coach will analyze your current situation, professional background, former education, achievements, and goals. This can often be an illuminating process that sheds new light on your current situation and helps answer the fundamental question of whether an MBA - in this moment in time - will actually help you achieve the goals you are striving towards.

Sometimes, you will discover that your goals align with pursuing an MBA and will have newfound clarity about why all the effort is worth it. But other times, you may gain critical clarity about key steps in your professional journey and where pursuing an MBA - and in which program - will best serve your goals. A professional MBA coach will offer invaluable perspective to help you determine what’s right for you, so work with an expert and find out if you’re on the right path for your career trajectory.

Find the Right School

If you decide to pursue an MBA, the next step will be to discover the right program that matches your situation, needs, and goals. An MBA coach can provide you with a complete picture of every program you are considering, evaluating each in various aspects relevant to you.

An MBA is a transformative experience for achieving business or career goals, and that's how it should be evaluated. An MBA coach will work with you to look into the curriculum, teaching methods, networking potential, career services, and a variety of other factors to help you see how a specific school could benefit you. You may discover that your initial preferences weren't an optimal choice at all and that you should prioritize an entirely different MBA, and the issue typically comes down to fit.  Your unique motivations and vision for your post-MBA future are effectively the lens and filter for discerning what’s most useful, relevant and meaningful to you, and an MBA coach can guide you in discerning the best possible fit.

Build a Bulletproof Application

Once you know the school you want to apply to, the next step in the admission coaching process will be to help you create the strongest application possible to maximize your chances of getting accepted. Building a bulletproof application includes targeting specific areas to match the program you’re applying for.

The process involves:

• Preparing your resume.
• Writing the essays.
• Getting the right recommendations.
• Practicing for the interview.
• And much more! There are countless other steps that all impact how likely you are to be part of the small percentage of applications that are accepted.

So while this can take time, the good news is that this in-depth process (outlined in the infographic above) will uncover the fundamental elements of your application. They will help discover how your unique background and experiences can help you stand out and gain admission.

Despite what many believe, the GMAT score is not an end-all guarantee of getting accepted to the desired school. In fact, having the right profile can often be the deciding factor, especially in schools that receive plenty of applicants with high GMAT scores. While most schools prefer high GMAT scores, the numbers aren’t all that matters. There are many other factors that need to be considered as well. The school you’re applying for wants to get to know you, not just your test scores.

Help You Follow Through

When you hire an MBA coach, you can rely on them to help you best prioritize your time and effort to fit the application process within your schedule. They will help you prioritize what needs to be done at various times of the process, allowing you to schedule your application time accordingly and ensure that you don't miss any crucial details.

Having that structure and support can be incredibly helpful for ensuring that you not only follow through on the process, but that you put the effort in (as opposed to rushing through it because you have pressing duties at work). An MBA coach will help you put yourself in the best position to succeed by the time your application is submitted.

However, for that to happen, you need to come with a commitment to find the time, do the work, and trust the MBA coaching process to help you achieve your goals.

How MBA Coaching Can Help You Navigate the Stresses of an MBA

As most people who decide to apply to an MBA quickly find out, the amount of work that goes into it can be much more stressful than anticipated. The high stakes of getting accepted into your desired school can quickly become overwhelming, and it’s hard not to put pressure on yourself.

People decide to apply for an MBA for various reasons, and each situation can require a different approach to maximize the chances of success. Many people have demanding full-time jobs, families, or other pressing commitments to tend to during the application process. Without MBA coaching, learning how to manage stress and prioritize your time can be very difficult, leading many to underachieve despite having the potential to get accepted.

Luckily, MBA coaching is becoming more accessible and affordable. More people are discovering how the help of a coach can remove a big part of the stress involved with the application, helping them maintain clarity, structure, and organization throughout the process.

Another reason applying for an MBA can be stressful is that it can cause a lot of confusion and uncertainty. You know you want an MBA, but what will it look like in action? How much time will be spent in classes, and will you be able to keep working? Prior to actually going through with the education, most people only have a vague understanding of what getting an MBA will look like in their daily lives. An MBA coach can help you manage your expectations and help you feel more prepared for the experience.

Another common experience while applying for an MBA is the loss of motivation due to stress or feeling overworked. An MBA coach will also help you realize the value that you could derive from completing the MBA, keeping you motivated and reminding you of why you’re applying in the first place. You can expect the coach to shed new light on your situation, providing their perspective on how your circumstances and goals align with pursuing an MBA. What's more, they can help you figure out which path will give you the most value and how you should combine what you are already doing with a specific MBA program that will complement your ambitions.

Finally, a coach will help ensure that you maintain a balanced approach to your career, academic pursuits, and personal life. They can share both personal and professional advice as someone who has faced similar challenges themselves or helped guide others. That type of relationship can completely transform your MBA application process, removing a lot of stress and creating more clarity.

Is Working with an MBA Coach Right for You?

At this point, we've covered quite a few reasons why an MBA coach can be an invaluable investment for those applying (or considering applying) for an MBA. But you may be wondering whether hiring a coach is right in your situation.

You may feel that you already have a pretty good understanding of what you want to get out of an MBA, what schools you want to apply to, and even how to best position yourself to maximize your chances of success.

And while it is possible to be accepted into the school you want without MBA coaching, your chances are significantly higher with the help of a seasoned professional. Each little benefit that an MBA coach offers may not seem like something you can't get by without, but they add up.

For one thing, you can look at an MBA consultant as a personal guide, who will be there for you with any issue, question, or challenge you need to resolve. While that may not seem like such a big deal before the process, when you're in the middle of the application process and facing a roadblock you need to overcome right now, having someone by your side (who has been through it before) who can offer an effective solution is invaluable.

At the same time, they will provide you with a structured process that has helped thousands of students excel and become accepted before. That means much less time struggling to figure everything out on your own and more time spent perfecting your application. Not to mention, this gives you a significant advantage over other applicants.

As we mentioned before, the coach might even help you discover that the schools you considered your primary targets aren't even the best fit. Knowing this at the beginning instead of learning it after you have already enrolled in the wrong school is worth hiring a coach in itself.

When you're applying to one of the elite MBA programs like Harvard Business School, Chicago Booth, MIT Sloan, Columbia Business Schools, or others of similar stature, you need all the help you can get. The competition for the spots in these programs is fierce, so any slight advantage you can get will make a massive difference in your chances and can end up being the deciding factor.

Another example of when MBA coaching is especially useful is if you want to get into a spot that's already well represented. If your background is relatively common, you are already at a disadvantage, and that means you need a coach who can help identify the unique qualities and experiences that will get your application noticed. Sometimes all we need is a pair of fresh eyes on our application.

Finally, if you have significant gaps that will hinder your application, such as a low GMAT score or a gap in employment/schooling, a coach can offer guidance on how to overcome those challenges and become a strong candidate despite them.

The best part about working with a coach is that they have seen all types of situations and circumstances. Your case won't be unfamiliar to them, and that means they will know what path to take to maximize your chances of success. Getting into the right MBA can have a deciding impact on your career, and MBA coaching is one of the simplest and most effective ways to increase your chances.

Admission Coaching: How to Choose the Right Coach

If you decide that MBA coaching is right for you, that's a big step towards realizing your goals and getting into the best school for you (and your career). But for that to happen, you also need to choose a coach who is right for you.

Let's look at a few key considerations you should think about when looking at MBA coaching candidates.

Experience

The biggest advantage of hiring an MBA coach is gaining access to their wealth of experience in helping applicants get into the school they want. Therefore, the coach you end up working for must have extensive experience in the field, with solid credentials and success stories to back their promises.

Even though MBA coaching isn't an exact science, experienced coaches will usually have dealt with a diverse range of application processes, which means they will recognize the unique opportunities and strengths of your background.

Ideally, you want the MBA coach to have worked in MBA admissions committees themselves. Working with someone who has spent time on the other side of the process can make a coach especially equipped to help your application stand out.

Specific Program or Background

If you have your sights on a specific program and are sure you want to enroll there, it might make sense to look for a coach who specializes in getting students accepted into that school. Often, that means that they are graduates there themselves, which adds to their credentials and makes them an ideal fit for your goals.

At the same time, you may want a coach who understands your background and is from the same field. That can help them understand the unique challenges and circumstances you’re facing and offer helpful tips for positioning your application for maximum impact.

Cost

While important, cost shouldn't be the first thing you consider when looking for an MBA coach. If you know that a coach can put you in a position to succeed, the return on your investment is more than worth it. However, budget restrictions are a reality for most, so you will need to figure out how much you are willing to pay.

Compare your budget with different experience levels, backgrounds, and past results. You can usually find suitable candidates on multiple price points, especially if you look for someone aligned with your goals and who is familiar with your situation.

So while the price does play a role, having a coach you trust and believe in will increase your chances of achieving the outcomes you want. And when you work with a reliable company like Fortuna Admissions, you can choose from pricing tiers which can be paid in installments if you don't want to pay the entire amount upfront.