What Are MBA Adcoms Looking for in Resumes
Join Coach Fiona T. as she provides valuable insights into the mindset of AdComs and shares how to create a compelling resume that stands out.
By Fiona T.
Expert admission coach for those with consulting and tech backgrounds
Posted March 6, 2025
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Your resume isn't just a collection of dates and job titles; it's the canvas on which your professional journey comes to life. In the realm of MBA applications, your resume plays a crucial role in introducing you to admissions committees (Adcoms), giving them a glimpse of your accomplishments and aspirations. This article is your guide to creating an impactful MBA application resume. From providing context behind your career decisions to spotlighting your individual contributions, we'll explore essential elements that can elevate your application. Let's delve into the strategies that will help your resume capture Adcoms' attention and tell your story effectively.
Provide Context: Illuminate Your Path
The journey your resume undertakes should be illuminated with context. Recognize that Adcoms may lack an in-depth understanding of your career decisions. Take, for instance, the transition between roles within a company; such shifts can be remarkably competitive. Employ a succinct one-liner to underscore and illuminate these achievements:
"Successfully transitioned roles within the company, only the top 5% of the analysts are able to do so."
Highlight Your Impact: Unveil Your Distinctive Mark
Direct attention towards your personal contributions and accomplishments. Rather than an exhaustive enumeration of activities, prioritize experiences that hold significance. While team accomplishments bear weight, your unique role and influence warrant emphasis. For demonstrable outcomes, incorporate specific figures that underscore your impact:
"Championed a cross-functional initiative resulting in a 25% reduction in project turnaround time."
Summarize with Themes for Clarity: Weave a Cohesive Narrative
Leverage the power of thematic organization to distill the essence of your experiences. Group akin encounters to spotlight recurring themes. In doing so, you craft a seamless narrative that highlights your strengths and proficiencies across diverse roles. For example:
Leadership:
- Elected as social lead for the office and organized bi-annual analyst offsite with 100+ people.
Use Strong Action Words: Energize Your Achievements
Energize your resume with vibrant action verbs, instilling vitality into your achievements. These words invigorate your accomplishments, captivating Adcoms with a sense of dynamism:
“Led initiative of designing new customer onboarding program, which increased engagement of new customers by 30%. Managed cross-functional teams to implement onboarding program across email, direct mail, and web channels.”
Be Consistent in Structure and Language: A Unified Presentation
Forge a consistent path within your resume's structure and language. Employ parallel structure in headings, subheadings, and sentences. This coherence ensures an organized and comprehensible presentation.
Your Journey to Excellence Begins Here
In the fiercely competitive realm of MBA admissions, your resume wields immense influence as your envoy to Adcoms. It serves as a conduit for communicating your evolution, leadership, and promise. By embedding context into your career chronology, amplifying your unique impact, weaving thematic threads for coherence, infusing action with potent verbs, and maintaining unwavering consistency in both structure and language, your resume emerges as a vivid canvas portraying your professional odyssey. Each word, each detail, bears the potential to resonate with your ambitions and accomplishments. Approach this task with precision, for your journey towards an enriching MBA experience commences with this very document. Make each fragment count!
Ready to enhance your MBA application? Schedule a free consultation with Fiona T. today!
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Written by Fiona
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I am a seasoned MBA and career coach with many years of background in strategy and management. I received my MBA from Wharton, and have spent six years at McKinsey and later joined internal strategy team at Capital One, Meta, NetApp and most recently fintech startup FalconX. I am also the founder of Rittenhouse MBA, a leading MBA and career coaching service specializing in helping individuals secure admissions to top MBA programs, prestigious management consulting firms like MBB (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) and leading tech companies. About MBA As an MBA coach, my approach is centered around helping you craft a compelling narrative and select the most impactful stories that will set you apart in your application essays. I understand that many students feel the urge to include everything they've accomplished, resulting in essays that lack focus and depth. My role is to guide you to dig deeper and uncover the essence of your experiences, allowing you to showcase your true self and unique qualities. Drawing from my experiences in assisting numerous students, I recognize the significance of a well-crafted narrative in making a lasting impression on admissions committees. Together, we'll identify the key themes and strengths that define your journey, ensuring that every aspect of your essay aligns with your overall story. By streamlining your content and focusing on the most relevant details, we'll create essays that leave a lasting impact and effectively communicate who you are and what you can bring to the MBA program. About Career Coach During my time at McKinsey and Meta, I have spent hundreds of hours interviewing candidates. Knowing the recruiting process end to end let me help my students better prepare for personal, product and case interviews. For personal interviews, my coaching style revolves around helping students craft authentic and impactful narratives that effectively communicate their unique strengths and experiences. In case interviews, I provide framework and practice cases, equipping students with the analytical and problem-solving skills necessary to excel. My ultimate goal is to empower you with long term skillsets to achieve your dreams. Let's work together to unlock your full potential and pave the way for your successful career journey.
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Wharton School (UPenn)
Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern)
Columbia Business School
Chicago Booth
