Not Your First Graduate Degree?

For many business school applicants, the MBA will not be their first graduate degree. They may have previously earned a master’s degree, such as a master’s in engineering or in accounting, or earned other professional degrees such as an MD (medicine) or JD (law). An MBA applicant asked me recently how Admissions Committees weigh advanced degrees and whether he could use examples from his time in graduate school.

In my opinion, the short answer is “it depends”!

Advanced degrees are not created equal. Your advanced degree may strengthen your candidacy, add no substantive value or in rare cases, may hurt your candidacy for admission to business school. Everyone’s situation will be different so it’s hard to make overarching statements that hold true for all MBA candidates, but I’ve seen advanced degrees:

• Give the Admissions Committee more confidence in a candidate’s academic ability (grad school grades and courses don’t trump crappy undergrad grades, but can be evidence to mitigate them)
• Give a candidate more credibility within a field (for example, in the healthcare industry, there is a huge premium for professionals that have experience or education in the field so holding a master’s in nursing may give an Admissions Committee confidence about your commitment and access to opportunities in the field)
• Cause the Admissions Committee to question the candidate’s career goals, wondering if the candidate is a “degree collector” and really knows what they want professionally
• Neither add nor detract any discernible value to the MBA candidate’s application. It was just data point that went largely unnoticed.

In you hold an advanced degree, you should connect the dots for the Admissions Committee, explaining your career and educational twists and turns. In telling your story, tie your professional work to your future goals – what did you experience that led you to want an MBA? What is our rationale for going back to school? Plainly, you need to address the “why” of your decision to go back to school.

Ideally, you used your previous advanced degree in the marketplace, so it’s not just theoretical knowledge. While there may be exceptions, in your essays, I would focus less on the advanced degree itself (and your time in school) and more on the practical application of your previous advanced degree (using examples from your job).

There are likely other things in your application that require more attention than you obtaining an advanced degree; with that said, don’t assume that the Admissions Committee will understand your rationale for getting that first graduate degree and why you now want another one. You must make clear to them why your story and your journey make sense.