5 Steps to Strengthen Your Quant Profile for MBA Applications

In your business school classroom, the majority of people you’ll meet will be consultants, techies, and finance professionals. But you’ll also meet a variety of nontraditional students, like those in sales and marketing, healthcare, law, family business backgrounds, and from the nonprofit sector. As MBA programs seek to bring together a range of unique perspectives and backgrounds, nontraditional students add a lot of value to the diverse business school ecosystem. 

But when it comes to MBA applications, the playing field isn’t entirely even. Nontraditional applicants typically have limited exposure to analytical and data-based work, which is a crucial part of the MBA curriculum. During your MBA, you’ll be required to take core electives in corporate finance, business analytics, and statistics. For example, INSEAD’s core curriculum includes courses like Financial Accounting and Financial Markets & Valuation, while Wharton’s fixed core electives include a mandatory statistics course like Regression Analysis for Business or Accelerated Regression Analysis for Business. Through these courses, students build their quantitative skills to succeed in an increasingly data-driven world. While quant skills are a must in traditional careers like consulting or finance, post-MBA career tracks like business development and strategic management also prefer professionals who can use quantitative tools like statistical modeling, simulations, and surveys. 

That’s why it’s important to demonstrate your quant readiness in your MBA application. But if you haven’t had the opportunity to build your quant skills in your undergrad or in your career, here are 5 things you can do before applying to MBA programs. 

1. Take the GRE/GMAT

First, identify the right test for you. The GMAT tends to be more suitable for applicants who are skilled at interpreting and analyzing data and complex problems, while the GRE is more suitable for those with a strong English vocabulary and writing skills. All MBA programs accept both tests, while some programs like NYU Stern, Duke Fuqua, and Columbia also accept the Executive Assessment, which is more suitable for senior-level professionals. To identify the test that best suits your strengths, take a mock test for each and/or speak to a tutor like Rowan Hand. 

So if your undergraduate degree didn’t include a quantitative module or component, you can still demonstrate your quant skills by preparing for the Quantitative sections of your GRE/GMAT test.   Benchmark your performance by checking your target school’s range of scores. A math score that is in the upper end of their range or above their range will show your academic readiness for business school. At the same time, don’t forget to prepare well for the Verbal section! This shows that you are a well-rounded candidate. 

1. Enroll in online or in-person courses

You can also take supplemental courses to learn the quant fundamentals that you will need in business school. 

Explore online courses on Coursera and Udemy, where you will also be able to receive course completion certificates. Universities also offer pre-MBA quant courses like Michigan Ross’s “Quantitative Readiness Course”, Rice Jones’s “Pre-MBA Data Analytics” course in collaboration with Coursera, and Harvard Business School’s “Quantitative Methods Online Course”. HBS also offers “Credential of Readiness” or CORe courses to incoming MBA students to prime them on the fundamentals of business education. This is an intensive, self-paced course over 12 weeks. You could also enroll in your local college and take supplementary quant classes in statistics, finance, accounting, etc.

You could take this even further by attending a data science bootcamp such as UpGrad's Data Science and AI Bootcamp or Data Science Dojo. These are fairly advanced courses that will give the admissions officers greater confidence that you can handle the quantitative aspects of the MBA program.

Additionally, check out MBA Math, which is similar to HBS’s CORe. This is a self-paced online course that teaches the essentials of Finance, Accounting, Economics, Statistics, and Spreadsheets over 15-30 hours.

1. Take on more analytical tasks at work

At work, volunteer for stretch assignments that involve a quantitative component or require you to incorporate analytics into your tasks. Work with data in different formats and learn how to interpret and analyze it, develop your statistical skills, explore analytics-based decision making, and consider projects that use visualization software like Tableau, R, or Excel to demonstrate your quantitative skills or the willingness to develop these. 

Additionally, reach out to colleagues in quant roles and observe how they work. Having a trusted coworker as a mentor will help you learn and grow faster in your role. 

1. Take on more analytical tasks in your extracurriculars

Similarly, in your extracurriculars, look for ways to develop your quant skills through additional assignments. You could take on a treasurer or fundraising role, work in digital marketing for the organization and learn Google Analytics (the Google Analytics Academy is a good place to start), or incorporate statistical tools in your work. The goal is to demonstrate that you are growing in your leadership ability and are actively taking on responsibilities to diversify your skill set.

1. Through your resume and recommendations

Your MBA resume is different from your job resume, which means that it should focus on the results or impact you achieved rather than a laundry list of your technical skills and projects. Structure your bullet points using the A-C-E structure, which stands for Action, Context, and End Result. Start your bullet point with a strong action verb, followed by the specific organizational/project goal you worked on, and the end result of this task. In these bullet points, you'll want to reference the quantitative work you have done, such as managing budgets, analyzing survey data, or building financial models. In your end result, remember to quantify the impact of your work (even if it wasn't quant-y!). Also, quantify the impact of your efforts whenever possible, even if your work was not quantitative in nature. This shows that you know how to communicate impact through data and tangible metrics. 

Read our MBA resume guide to adapt your job resume to the MBA format and use the A-C-E structure wisely.

Additionally, you can also demonstrate your quant readiness through your recommenders. Select at least one recommender who can provide examples of your quantitative work or related skills. These skills might include an analytical problem-solving mindset, data-driven decision making, ability to learn and adapt quickly to quant tools, and communicating complex data in understandable terms. Ask them to specifically identify and comment on these areas. Your recommender's seal of approval reassures the AdCom of your ability to thrive in the MBA classroom and manage its quantitative curriculum.

Need help to highlight your quant skills in your MBA application? We can help. Book a free chat with our team of experienced consultants here.