MBA Admissions Ep 1: How to start your MBA application

[@nileshmishra4602]

Hi charles .Nilesh here from India. With gods' and GODDESSES's grace i scored 760 ( Q 50 V 44..99%ile) on my gmat exam 2 days ago in my first attempt. I want to thank you for the 24 hr gmat marathon videos . I watched them thoroughly and they helped me a lot . You covered everything in them and the wise advice in between questions proved to be invaluable ..Thank you again .Also the marathon videos were for Ukraine and that shows you are a good person who cares about pain of others ....I will now closely follow this application series because I know your advice in this will be priceless

[@dailydoseofgaming3593]

Can you guide about the materials and process you followed to get this awesome score.

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Oh wow, this is absolutely amazing, on so many levels. The most important one: CONGRATULATIONS! That's an incredible score, and I hope that you celebrated like a crazy person -- you definitely earned it. :) And thank you so much for all of the kind words. I'm so glad that we could help a bit. Thank you so much for making my day with this comment. Keep us posted on your admissions adventures, and congratulations again, Nilesh!

[@nileshmishra4602]

​@@dailydoseofgaming3593 I watched the whole 24 hrs of gmat marathon for Ukraine videos in which Charles covered everything. I also solved the og questions of medium and high difficulty. I Gave the 2 official mocks and analyzed them . I also purchased gmat club tests and gave around 15 sectional tests and analyzed them judiciously. Hope this helps

[@nileshmishra4602]

​@@GMATNinjaTutoring Thank you so much charles . Yes I was very happy when I saw the score .It would have been very difficult to get this score without your help . Your kind comment made my day ...I will surely keep you updated about my admission journey

[@nas7555]

Your videos are so therapeutic Charles 😭😭. Are you sure you aren’t a therapist on the side? Many thanks to you and your team for helping me during my prep!

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Haha, thank you, Nas! You're not the first to suggest that I'm more of a therapist than a tutor. Maybe I should have done that psychology PhD after all...? :) Keep us posted on your progress with the GMAT and your applications!

[@ok8778]

Hi Charles! I'm grateful for your stuff on youtube. Got a 770 Q50 V46 through it. I've been seeing since last year and it's amazing!

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Holy smokes, that's an amazing score. Congratulations! I'm honored that we could help a little bit. Good luck with your applications, and congratulations again on beating the snot out of this silly test! - Charles

[@keshabpoudel3126]

greatly helpful Charles.Thank you for sharing.

[@sims_ran]

Hi Charles, thank you for another great video! Super helpful advice for someone juggling a bunch of things, all at once. Though, I'll admit you almost lost me at no spaghetti! :) Looking forward to the next couple of videos in this series. To the GMAT Ninja Team as a whole - love from India! ♥

[@suyashjain09]

Hi Charles, waiting eagerly... Do you plan to add more application related videos soon? Asking coz I'm planning to apply in the first round for next year's fall intake

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

You're awesome, thank you for taking the time to write this before the video has even premiered! That puts a smile on my face. We have two other admissions-related videos in production right now, but I'm not exactly sure when we'll finish them up -- possibly not until September or October. The first few MBA admissions videos we'll release will also be fairly general -- they'll be good food for thought, but they may or may not help you with the specifics of your application. In other words: if you're applying in R1 2023, we might not have a ton on our channel that will give you much of a boost in the next few months. But we plan to keep adding admissions-related content, and if you (or anybody else reading this) have specific requests, please let us know, and we'll do our best to accommodate. Thank you again, Suyash! Have fun with your applications.

[@suyashjain09]

@@GMATNinjaTutoring thank you for such an eloborate reply 🙏 I'm glad that put a smile on your face :) Your channel helped me a lot with my prep - I took my first GMAT yesterday and scored a 740 (would've loved a 750 or 760 esp coz I had scored a 760 in one of the mocks, but I'm taking my score with both hands) and your videos were what I started my prep with, esp for verbal and esp for SC, so ALL of you at GMAT Ninja Tutoring deserve to smile (including your meditation and physical exercise coach - yep i watched all of those videos too xD). Almost feel bad that your SC playlist, which is amazing and super helpful will be made redundant with the advent of GMAT Focus. Anyways, thanks for clarifying the timeline - will surely add doubts and thoughts in the comments that you can consider to incorporate in future videos. Thanks!

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

@@suyashjain09 Whoa, congratulations on the amazing score! That puts a smile on my face, too. Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this, and please keep us posted on your admissions adventures when the time comes!

[@mattpat4417]

@@suyashjain09 Congratulations Suyash on achieving a fantastic score! I am just starting my prep. I plan to take the test in September end. My goal is to score 750+ and not retake the test multiple times. I will first be going through all of GMAT ninja videos religiously. Would you have any study plan, prep tips, strategies, material, etc, that could help with my preparation considering that I have about 2 months time? Also, which schools are you targeting?

[@suyashjain09]

@@mattpat4417 hey Matt, I'm mostly targeting T15s but I've got only 2 years of work ex rn, so don't know whether it's the best time to apply now. Regarding a prep strategy, I just kept it simple. I didn't touch quant as far as reading new materials is concerned. Only took ~12 GMAT club sectionals which were pretty helpful. Also I found OG useless for quant, even the hard ones. The only thing worth doing would be the Adv Official Question book for quant. For verbal, i started with GMAT ninja's SC and CR playlists and then proceeded to OG questions. I also went through some of the concepts in the Manhattan SC book. It's pretty handy and should be glanced over at least once. 60% of my overall prep was prepping for SC. I thought watching GMAT Ninja videos was definitely great but you should start with a Manhattan like book first for SC. GMAT Ninja's SC playlist often talks about the fact that a lot of rules are not universal and shouldn't be worried about. However, to understand the context better, I thought it's better to have a basic understanding of what the rules touted to be universal are (coz even if they don't apply universally, they can be applied in 80-85% cases, which is helpful to know). If you're going to do only GMAT Ninja playlist for SC then don't read answers (to questions you get stuck on in the OG) on GMAT Club from other users like Daagh, TTP, etc (who're good but will use different principles and rules, which will confuse you). After completing OG for SC, I went through the Adv Official Questions (mind you they're not easy, and can mess up with some rules you've thought in your mind to be almost universal, since a lot of them from the 5% exceptions). In CR, I was naturally good (not exceptional), did OG hard and medium questions with a relatively good accuracy (90%) and then moved to Advanced Official Questions in the last week which was not a particularly good idea since they're pretty difficult as well and my accuracy dropped to 60%. Additionally, it used to take a lot of time searching for a satisfactory answer on GMAT Club, sometimes upto 30 mins per question. So if you're going to do Adv Official ques, don't do them close to the exam. All the best!

[@guninchhabra7043]

Can you also start making videos related to GMAT Focus and it's data insights section, that will be really helpful.

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Thank you, Gunin! Data Insights videos are in production now, and we're planning to premiere the first one in September -- hopefully early in the month if all goes well. Have fun studying!

[@sjtkumar978]

Thank you sir

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Thank you so much for watching, Sujeet!

[@GrantBreneman-yi5yo]

Will there be a Data-Insights focused video coming out soon for the GMAT focus addition? Obviously there is plenty of material on data sufficiency, but I haven’t found much of integrated reasoning. I’d also be curious as for time management tips in this section.

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Yup, we're working on a complete Data Insights video series right now. We're still hammering out the details, but it's looking like we'll do about a dozen videos that cover the full range of Data Insights question types, along with general tips on things like time management. It looks like we'll start releasing those sometime in September -- exact premiere date TBD. If you have specific questions, feel free to let us know, and we'll do our best to incorporate the answers into the videos when the time comes.

[@shivamsinghal4848]

Also I want to know about possible GMAT Focus exam dates if it will be available in early October 2023. Some coaching institutes are speculating 26 October as exam date.

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

GMAC hasn't announced the launch date of the new GMAT Focus Edition yet, unfortunately. Registration starts on August 29, but as I write this on July 29, all we know is that testing will begin in Q4. There's not much point in speculating beyond that -- GMAC will let us know whenever they're ready. :)

[@joyetam]

@Charles...I am self studying for old GMAT edition for about an year...haven't taken any test so far...i understand that old edition of edition will be over on 31.01.2024. Right now I am in a lot of stress wat to do ...whether to continue focus on studying gmat old edition since i started off your 13 week study plan which i came across recently or change my plan completely and start afresh for gmat focus edition...please help...i am in such a mental agony

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Sorry that the decision is causing you so much mental agony! In all honesty, it isn't worth all of that pain -- and in a way, that's one of the main punchlines of this video (and its predecessor, available here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6nFlpR3jKiahbc). Frankly, the difference in content isn't all that huge between the two versions of the test. So think of it this way: if you're ready to take the test within the next two months, take it. If you don't think you'll be ready by January, then switch to the GMAT Focus. If you make that switch, you won't have to worry about SC or geometry anymore. The only new thing you'll need to "study" is Data Insights -- and I'd argue that there isn't much new stuff that's worth studying on Data Insights. Yes, you need to practice DI and develop a really strong feel for how to approach questions, but you don't really need to learn a whole bunch of new things, or develop new skills. So make your decision based on the timeline, and don't let it stress you out too much. I hope that helps a bit!

[@joyetam]

@@GMATNinjaTutoring Thank you so much....really grateful

[@shanicesegolenemaatchideku770]

Hi Charles, thanks for this video. Quick question, I initially wanted to apply for MBA for 2024-2025 academic year but I don't think I can make it because I have not really had time to prepare well for my GMAT and I am still dealing with anxiety when I am practicing. However I was wandering if I need to take the test this year if I am finally going to apply for admission for the 2025_2026 academic year. Thanks

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

Nope, there's absolutely no reason to take the GMAT now if you're not planning to apply until the 2025-26 admissions cycle. You can take the GMAT anytime, so there's no reason to hurry. I hope that helps a bit, and have fun studying!

[@shanicesegolenemaatchideku770]

@@GMATNinjaTutoring Hi Charles, thank you for you really helpful replies. I have another question. Just I saw on some other website that the GMAT structure from Q4 23 is going to change in terms of number of questions per section, time of each section, structure of the quant section (no data sufficiency questions again), no AWA section, etc. I was wondering how true this is and how do you think we should adjust our practices to match the new structure ? Thanks

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

@@shanicesegolenemaatchideku770 This video should tell you everything you need to know about the new GMAT, at least for now: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6nFlpR3jKiahbc. Enjoy!

[@shivamsinghal4848]

Hi, how much time it takes to submit a duly filled application form for MBA ?? Like it I take GMAT on 22nd October then will I be able to fill and submit it before 31st October R2 Deadline?? I have heard it takes 2-3 weeks to fill the application form

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

It depends on what you mean. You can "fill out" the application form in a couple of hours easily enough; you could probably go through the entire process of writing essays, crafting your resume, and filling out the form itself in a day. But if you try to do everything that quickly, the result will be absolute garbage. Part of the point of this video is that you want to do everything in this process methodically and thoughtfully, over a longer period of time. That's how you'll maximize the clarity and quality of your messaging to business schools. The application form itself (in which they ask about all sorts of little things like extracurriculars and awards and length of time in various jobs, depending on the exact program you're applying to) is no exception. Yes, it's usually an easier task than writing essays, but it's still a task that you'll want to do thoughtfully, without racing through to hit a deadline. I'd recommend spending some time looking through the application sooner rather than later, just so you know what you're facing. Every application form is a little bit different, and it'll make sense to familiarize yourself with them sooner rather than later, even if you're a long way from completing the GMAT. And if you don't have time to write your best application, it's often wiser to wait for a later application round than to submit something that isn't well thought-out. I hope that helps a bit, and have fun with your applications!

[@kanishkakarpe]

Hi, trying to allot appropriate time here- can I allot 2 weeks for a proper application & decent + iterated essays, if I'm applying to only one school?

[@GMATNinjaTutoring]

This is a pretty big point of emphasis in the video: sure, you can complete an application in two weeks. But truly GREAT applications require tons of thought, research, and introspection -- and you can't rush those things, which is why I say in the video that if you want to create your very best possible applications, you'll want to be prepared to work steadily and thoughtfully for several months. Of course, plenty of people write applications in a couple of weeks -- or even a couple of days -- and get admitted. You can probably write a decent application in two weeks if you're really focused on it, and get some well-timed feedback during those two weeks. But your very best work will likely take a bit more time than that. If your profile is strong enough for the schools you're applying to, the difference between "decent" and "your very best" might not matter at all, though. I hope that helps a bit, and have fun writing!