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Quick Answer
Non-traditional MBA candidates can stand out by highlighting transferable skills, unique perspectives, and leadership experience. Strong application strategies include framing career transitions clearly, connecting past achievements to future goals, and using essays, recommendations, and interviews to showcase adaptability and impact.
Keep reading for detailed strategies on how non-traditional candidates can craft compelling MBA applications.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- Who Are Non-Traditional MBA Candidates?
- Common Challenges Non-Traditional Applicants Face
- How to Highlight Transferable Skills
- Crafting a Strong MBA Resume
- Writing Powerful Essays as a Non-Traditional Candidate
- Leveraging Recommendations Effectively
- Acing the MBA Interview with a Unique Background
- Success Stories of Non-Traditional MBA Applicants
- Key Takeaways
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What’s Next?
Who Are Non-Traditional MBA Candidates?
Many top MBA programs seek out and accept non-traditional candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds. The “non-traditional” category includes candidates who don’t come from typical business roles. For example, this includes artists and creatives, non-profit leaders, engineers and scientists, entrepreneurs, and MBA for military candidates, among others.
Therefore, if you’ve built a career outside of “traditional” business roles and want to pursue MBA pathways, this guide is for you.
KEY FACT:
Non-traditional MBA candidates are those who haven’t followed a traditional business career path.
Common Challenges Non-Traditional Applicants Face
Non-traditional candidates sometimes face a unique set of challenges in the MBA application process. Specifically, these include:
- Communicating their achievements — These may look different in non-traditional careers than typical business careers. However, they aren’t less valuable on an MBA resume.
- Articulating clear career goals — Career goals are a critical part of the MBA application process. As a non-traditional candidate, many non-traditional candidates seek an MBA to pivot in their careers. Therefore, they must articulate how the MBA will help them achieve their post-MBA goals.
- Signaling strengths in quant subjects — Some non-traditional candidates have limited exposure to business coursework or quantitative concepts. As a result, they must demonstrate competency in other ways.
- Crafting a cohesive story — Occasionally, non-traditional candidates have had multiple jobs, without a clear throughline. When applying, they must communicate which of their skills and experiences will facilitate their post-MBA careers.
While these are common challenges, they can be overcome. So, read on to turn perceived weaknesses into your competitive advantage.
TTP PRO TIP:
Non-traditional candidates must create a strong case for pursuing the degree and clearly articulate their post-MBA role.
How to Highlight Transferable Skills
Even if your pre-MBA career is uncommon, you can showcase transferable skills for MBA applications.
Here are some of the core competencies to consider:
- Leadership and People — Emphasize your formal and informal leadership experiences, team-building capabilities, and mentorship examples, if applicable.
- Operations and Execution — Communicate your experiences with project management, logistics, and process improvement, among others.
- Decision-making and Analytics — Emphasize when you made data-driven choices, when you experimented, and how you assess risk, for example.
- Communication and Influence — Accentuate your ability to present, align stakeholders, collaborate cross-functionally, and more.
- Innovation and Problem-solving — Identify when you’ve leveraged your creativity, design thinking, and systems thinking capabilities, as relevant.
These are just a few of the transferable skills you might emphasize in your MBA application.
TTP PRO TIP:
Highlight core, transferable skills to show how your “non-traditional” career prepares you for an MBA.
Crafting a Strong MBA Resume
Your MBA resume provides a detailed history of your achievements across your past roles. In fact, for many programs, your interviewer will have access to your resume only, so it’s important to make it count! Therefore, you should follow these application strategies for MBA candidates, which include:
- Ensure that each bullet communicates an achievement. Your resume should not itemize your day-to-day tasks. Instead, each bullet point should lead to a result – measurable or otherwise.
- Showcase when you took extra initiative. If you assumed a formal or even informal role in creating a new process or mentoring a team member, share it on your resume.
- Demonstrate your quant capabilities. If you’ve undertaken any type of analysis that involves numbers, worked with analytical tools, or taken finance, accounting, or economics courses, include these points on your resume.
- Include your leadership and community roles. If you’ve assumed leadership roles in employee resource groups or volunteered in your community, showcase these experiences on your MBA resume.
- Align your strengths and achievements to your target roles. Ensure that your achievements and capabilities will transfer to your post-MBA career. For example, if you’re pivoting from a creative career into product marketing, emphasize your achievements in communication, cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder management, and more.
KEY FACT:
For many programs, your interviewer will have access to your resume only.
Writing Powerful Essays as a Non-Traditional Candidate
MBA application essays are where non-traditional candidates can really shine. Further, here’s how you can structure your essays:
- Create a strong hook. Open your narrative with a powerful introduction. For example, take the reader to the scene of a conflict or your skills in action.
- Articulate your impact. In addition to discussing what you did, share the challenges you’ve overcome and what you learned.
- Discuss your “why MBA and why now.” Tie your past experiences and skills to your future goals. Then, identify how an MBA will fill the gaps.
- Communicate your career vision. Identify your target role, industry, companies, and geography. Depending on the prompt, you should aim to discuss 1–2 post-MBA roles.
- Demonstrate your fit with the program. Share specific courses, programs, and extracurriculars that will help you achieve your goals.
- Share your values and connection to your community. Discuss how you’ll uniquely contribute to the program’s community.
Your approach will depend on the specific essay prompt you’re given. So, if the above points aren’t asked about, do not include them in your essay response.
TTP PRO TIP:
MBA essays offer non-traditional applicants an opportunity to showcase what sets them apart.
Leveraging Recommendations Effectively
A strong MBA recommendations strategy can help strengthen your application. So, here are our tips to leverage recommendations effectively:
- Choose direct supervisors who have seen you lead, problem-solve, and drive impact.
- Consider cross-functional partners who can attest to your ability to influence.
- Think about community or military leaders you’ve worked with who can attest to your character and resilience — in addition to a professional recommender.
We think it’s smart to prepare your MBA recommenders ahead of time. Specifically, you could provide them with the following:
- an overview of why you’re pursuing an MBA, why now, and what you hope to do post-MBA
- a few (3–5) examples that illustrate your impact on the job
- additional examples that demonstrate your soft skills, such as leadership, teamwork, and integrity
- your school deadlines, recommendation forms, and best practices
Candidates often worry about the recommendation process, but you have more influence than you may think! If you help prep your recommender, he or she will be in a much better position to write a strong endorsement.
TTP PRO TIP:
Prioritize recommenders who have directly seen you lead, solve problems, and deliver results.
Acing the MBA Interview with a Unique Background
Top MBA programs interview all candidates to assess their suitability for the program and to understand their career goals. If you’re interviewing, use these MBA interview tips for non-traditional candidates:
- Develop a 60-second elevator pitch covering “Why MBA, why now, why this school.”
- Articulate your pivot by providing 2–3 examples of how you’ll succeed in your target role.
- Develop a bank of 8–10 stories about your leadership, impact, conflict management, failure, ethics, innovation, and community contributions.
- Prepare questions to ask the interviewer about his or her experiences with the program, career trajectory, academic perspective, and more.
- Practice and develop your professional presence to make a great impression.
Keep in mind that it helps to practice mock interviews with a peer or MBA admissions consultant.
TTP PRO TIP:
Come prepared with thoughtful questions about your interviewer’s experience with the program, career path, and academic perspective.
Success Stories of Non-Traditional MBA Applicants
Here are just a few examples of non-traditional MBA applicants from the past few years:
- International relations degree → White House staff career → entrepreneurship post-MBA
- Business degree → entrepreneurship career → consulting post-MBA
- Media and communications degree → retail career → tech post-MBA
- Biology and engineering degrees → military career → sports post-MBA
As you can see, careers of all types can lead to an MBA and an exciting post-MBA career.
TTP PRO TIP:
From the White House to retail floors to military service, candidates with very different beginnings have transitioned successfully into post-MBA roles.
Key Takeaways
If you’re wondering how to apply to an MBA from a non-traditional background, your experience is your edge. So, translate your achievements into business language, demonstrate that you can handle the coursework, and communicate a realistic career goal. With the right application strategies for non-traditional candidates, your strategy can set you apart.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who is considered a non-traditional MBA candidate?
A non-traditional candidate is anyone whose primary career to date has been outside of the “typical” business roles. Specifically, non-traditional candidates include careers in the military, arts, education, non-profit, healthcare, engineering, public sector, and entrepreneurial paths.
What are the biggest challenges for non-traditional applicants?
Some of the biggest challenges include translating achievements into business impact, demonstrating quant skills, and presenting clear and achievable career goals.
Do business schools value non-traditional backgrounds?
Yes! MBA admissions committees compose diverse classes of candidates from a range of backgrounds and experiences. So, your job is to communicate how your unique experience will make you a valuable contributor to the cohort.
How can non-traditional candidates write strong MBA essays?
Check out our tips in this article. Then, get feedback from a trusted friend or an experienced MBA admissions consultant to help guide your process.
What skills should non-traditional MBA candidates emphasize?
Non-traditional candidates should emphasize leadership, analytical, execution, communication, and operational skills, among others. However, these should be tailored to your target post-MBA roles.
What’s Next?
Non-traditional candidates add fresh perspectives to MBA cohorts and classrooms. However, the application process may be more challenging than it is for more traditional candidates.
If you’re a non-traditional candidate and would like MBA admissions advice from one of our experienced admissions consultants, book a free consultation today.
