Ever wondered what your odds are of being accepted into your dream business school? Now you can find out! We spoke to Angela Guido, MBA Admissions Consultant and founder of Career Protocol, to learn about MBAmo: the MBA admissions calculator that judges your odds of success in minutes.
Angela Guido was asked the same question for 13 years. As an MBA Admissions Consultant and founder of Career Protocol, she would regularly do so-called “consultation calls” with MBA applicants – an introductory phone call with somebody who is just starting the MBA application process. And the call would inevitably end with the same question: What are my odds of being accepted into a school?
“I have all of the information about their profile, and then they ask me: ‘What are my odds? What are my chances? Where can I get into [business] school?’ That’s the big question people have when they’re starting to do their research,” she tells us. (00:26)
Although there are more elements to an MBA application than GMAT scores and grades, Angela realized it was possible to estimate your initial odds based on this information.
“After years and years of doing these calls, it became really clear to me that the fundamental answer to the question (what are my odds?)…hinges on the quantitative elements of your profile: your GMAT or GRE score, the school you went to and the grades you got, your work experience, number of promotions you’ve gotten,” she explains. “I decided, look, I can build a robot that does this.” 00:52)
Enter MBAmo. MBAmo is an MBA admissions calculator that estimates your chances of getting accepted into business school. Angela is proud of the fact that MBAmo can perform the same job as a human with industry knowledge. In that sense, it is opening up the MBA application process to people who don’t have access to expert help.
She says, “We’re incredibly proud of this robot because it really achieves what, up until now, you needed to talk to a human being to achieve. And importantly, you needed to talk to a really experienced and savvy human being.” (00:02)
“It’ll take you 60 seconds to fill out the form, and what you get is a 20-page readout,” she explains. “You can download it, it’s customized. The robot will tell you your odds of getting into a given school and which parts of your statistics are strong or weak. We’ll also dig into other elements of your candidacy like [your] fit with that program and your passion.” (03:33)
Although Angela has put a lot of work into creating her MBA admissions calculator, she says your admissions odds are actually “the most meaningless part of the application process.” (02:17) She created MBAmo so she could speak with candidates about the things that really matter.
“We could really get to work talking about their career vision, their goals, their stories, their character, the elements of who they are. They’re ultimately much more decisive in the outcome [of your application] than your GMAT score, your grades, and your career progression,” she reveals. (02:32)
Angela’s years of experience in the industry have given her an insight into business school admissions. While GMAT scores, grades, and work experience can give you an idea of which schools you should be targeting, in the end your personal characteristics will decide the outcome.
“Schools are really trying to get to know you as a complete person. They’re trying to make a decision on a human being, not a pile of statistics,” she says. (03:11)
Angela has already said that the most meaningless part of the application process is your odds of being accepted. So, how can you get the most out of an MBA admissions calculator like MBAmo? Angela says it should be used as a kind of filter to create a portfolio of your top schools.
“I want to encourage users to think of it this way: You can get into business school – everyone can get into business school. Not everyone can get into every business school, though, so you want to use the robot to choose a portfolio of schools to apply to,” she says. (05:37)
However, don’t be put off if MBAmo tells you there is little chance of being accepted into a certain school. If anything, it will give you the direction you need to improve your application – and improve your odds of acceptance.
Angela advises, “Most people really should be applying to three to six schools, and so if your favorite school is a moonshot: go for it! People get into schools that the robot says is a moonshot because odds and outcomes are two different things.” (05:52)
If you think your GMAT score is too low, or you don’t have enough work experience, or you’re too young, that shouldn’t put you off applying. Thanks to MBAmo, you might realize that you’re more in control of your MBA application than you think.
