Submitted Your MBA Applications? Stop Worrying About Outcomes. Do These Four Mission Critical Things Instead

Congratulations! You did it.

I know there were moments when it felt like you might never cross the finish line with all the school research, drafts and re-drafts of essays, tests, gently nudging recommenders, all while juggling your work and personal life.

And now?

Crickets. Ugh.

The flurry of activity has passed, and here you are in that strange post-submission vacuum.

It’s tempting to read and reread your applications or dive into Reddit to see whether you can somehow divine your admissions fate. But there are much better things you can do right now that will yield far happier and more fruitful outcomes.

1. Thank the people who helped get you here

Buy someone dinner. Take your best friend for drinks. Send your recommender a really good bottle of whiskey. Write an actual handwritten, snail-mailed thank-you card. I recently told one of my clients to send her mom flowers.

However it feels right to express your gratitude, do it.

While your applications have your name on them, it takes a village to get one submitted.

Your friends listened to essay ideas. Partners became application widows or widowers. Managers wrote recommendations. Parents cheered you on. Colleagues covered for you. Someone probably talked you off a ledge at least once.

Take a moment to acknowledge your people.

You have just finished something hard, and chances are someone else wrapped themselves around you while you did it. Use this moment to really see them, strengthen those relationships, and love them up.

2. Strengthen the network you built along the way

One thing I adamantly coach my clients to do is leverage the MBA application process as an extraordinary opportunity to build a meaningful network.

Think about all the alumni, current students, club leaders, professors and other members of the community who took the time to speak with you while you researched schools.

Use this as an opportunity to strenghten those budding new professional (and maybe a new friendly) relationships.

It can be as simple as:

“I wanted to let you know that I submitted my application to Wharton last week. Our conversation about the healthcare pathway really stayed with me and became an important part of how I thought about the program and my application. Thank you again for being so generous with your time. I really look forward to staying in touch.”

That’s it!

There’s no ask. No call to action. It’s simply a good old-fashioned expression of gratitude and a way of continuing a relationship that may last far beyond the admissions process.

And if you connected meaningfully with someone from the admissions team at an event, you can do the same thing. A brief, thoughtful thank-you explaining how something they shared influenced your thinking is entirely appropriate.

Of course there can be practical side benefits to nurturing these relationships. If you’re waitlisted, someone in the community may one day speak for you. If you’re looking for an internship or job later, that network may matter. And a robust, active network is increasingly important in almost every career.

But those are side benefits only and this is not a transactional exercise.

You’re doing it to foster real connection. It shows that you’re gracious, that you have impeccable etiquette, and that you have the capacity for goodwill and gratitude.

Let’s lay the ground to keep these relationships going long after you press Submit.

Hopefully, this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

3. Do. Not. Reread. Your. Application.

Please, for your own sanity, step away from the PDF.

There is almost nothing good waiting for you there.

Because here’s what happens: you reread an essay you revised approximately 412 times and suddenly discover a comma you don't like. Then you notice a sentence you could have phrased differently. Then you wonder whether one bullet on your resume aligns perfectly with something you wrote elsewhere.

(It does. Your brain is just doing that ruminating thing.)

Three hours later, you’ve convinced yourself that the admissions committee will reject you because you used “which” instead of “that.”

They won’t. Seriously.

As an AdCom member for top universities and an Ivy League business school, I’ve read thousands (and thousands) of applications over the years. And even the most exacting schools aren’t going to get their knickers in twist over minor details - and a lot of things are chalked up as minor details.

AdComs have a million plates spinning right now, and it is highly unlikely that the tiny error keeping you awake at 2 a.m. would even blip their radar. And if something does spark genuine curiosity or needs clarification, there may be an opportunity to address it later in the process.

Your application is now in the hands of the admissions gods.

Leave it with them.

Unless a school specifically requests an update or something substantive in your circumstances changes, resist the urge to keep mentally editing something you can no longer edit.

4. Take care of yourself

You’ve just completed a major milestone.

Long workdays. Late nights. Tests. Retests. Essays. Recommenders. And perhaps making peace with some much bigger things that surfaced along the way: fear of failure, fear of success, the prospect of change, imposter syndrome, and dreams of an entirely different future.

It’s a lot.

You’ve crossed an enormous hurdle, and there is still a way to go. But this is a basecamp moment.

Take a beat.

Rest. Get back into your health routine. See your friends. Sleep. Do the things that make you feel deeply nourished and like yourself again - you’re going to need to get your game on again really soon.

You’ve still got some climbing ahead. Interview prep is around the corner (I’ll be talking much more about that next) so use this moment to recenter and refuel.

And, importantly, reflect on how far you’ve come.

High achievers have an unfortunate tendency to scale a mountain and immediately start looking for the next one.

Don’t skip the part where you turn around and look at the view. And do your happiest happy dance.

Recognizing what you’ve accomplished is part of cultivating confident humility — one of the cornerstone characteristics of the kind of leader you’re becoming.

I’ll be back soon with much more on how to prepare for MBA interviews and what you should be doing before those invitations start arriving.

And if you want exceptional, highly personalized interview prep for Harvard, Wharton, INSEAD, or any of the great and the good, come talk to me. EduVentura clients walk into MBA interviews prepped, ready and brimming with confidence to share their stories.

We’ll get you there too.

See you soon.

Interview invites are next. Let’s get you ready.