Networking is crucial during an MBA, and in fact throughout your professional life. Personal contacts are the #1 platform to change jobs in nowadays market. That’s why a top MBA will always include networking opportunities in its program. For bright yet shy professionals, however, the term is somewhat scary. This blog post intends to demonstrate how networking is an easy and enjoyable task – even for introverts – as long as you accept your personality and go about it in your own terms. So, what can you do to increase the visibility of your personal brand and develop relationships with others if you’re shy?

If you’re thinking about taking an MBA, you’re probably worried about choosing where to take it, submitting your application on time, getting the right supporting documents from previous higher education institutions and from referees, etc. It’s all really important, but you mustn’t lose sight of what you’re signing up for. An MBA is a major investment financially, as well as emotionally. You’ll be asked to form groups with people you barely know within days of the beginning of lectures; to process huge amounts of theoretical information; to develop practical, soft skills; and to manage your personal life in the meantime.

Education professionals must deal with ranking-related questions and doubts all the time. Millennials’ parents, unlike their own parents, tend to be significantly involved in their children’s choices – and put a lot of faith in rankings. Applicants also look at rankings, sometimes going through dozens of different MBA rankings.

Writing an essay is in many ways similar to writing any other text: you’ll have to compete for the reader’s attention against normal day-to-day interruptions (a phone that rings, a colleague in need of assistance, etc.) and against the reader’s own boredom or worries. No matter how much time you’ve put into it, bearing in mind the life span your essay will have once it leaves your hands and becomes part of one application file among many others, will help you structure and elaborate it in a way that ensures it will be read attentively and, even more important, become memorable.

Face-to-face interviews are often the final stage of an MBA admission process. That fact alone is enough to unsettle most applicants. So you ask your acquaintances for advice and they’ll usually say something along the lines of “Just be yourself”. This blog post will explain why that’s the wrong approach. A successful admissions interview relies on the applicants’ ability to present to interviewers the best version of himself / herself, and that requires research, practice and interview etiquette.

Rankings are an indispensable tool in the process of choosing your MBA. They are just one of the resources you should use in your decision-making process, as we wrote about in previous blogposts. Look at rankings as means to obtain information about the schools you’re considering and compare them.

With average GMAT scores for MBA applicants going steadily up, you’ll need to prepare well for the test. While it doesn’t measure your intelligence, and not even your future success as a business manager, the GMAT is one of the most important documents in your application file. Indeed, many business schools attribute merit-based scholarships to applicants with the highest GMAT scores.

Effective communication, in writing as in person, relies on a balanced usage of the teachings of the ancient art of rhetoric and the relatively new science of neurolinguistics. If you comply with the 10 tips below, your chances of being admitted into a top-ranked MBA increase significantly.

If you are thinking about applying for an MBA, the first thing you have to check is application deadlines and admission requirements. You’ll need to submit several documents, so make sure you have enough time to gather and prepare them.

Don’t despair: just present a flawless application. There are many valid reasons for someone to apply late for an MBA. Maybe there’ve been changes in your workplace that made you reconsider promotion prospects; maybe you’ve finally found that investor to finance the business venture you’ve been planning for so long.

Whatever the reason, many institutions now have “fast track” application processes to ensure that late applicants are still considered for their programs. Regardless, it’s always worth to try and get in a top MBA program – even if you’re a late applicant. To help you along that path, this blogpost addresses the must-dos for the early stages of a successful late application.