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Your standardized test (GMAT / GRE) is only part of the admissions criteria when applying to graduate or business school. But what about the rest of your application? In this episode, we invited expert admissions consultant Linda Abraham, founder and CEO of Accepted, to share her 5-part framework for a successful MBA / grad school application. She breaks down each of the five key components and explains exactly what you need to do in your application to showcase yourself in such a way that schools will want to admit you.

In the second half of the episode, we've excerpted participant questions and Linda's answers from a live Q&A where she goes even deeper into best-practices for crafting a winning application. These are common questions that you may have yourself, such as:

• If you’re filling out a general application that will be submitted to multiple schools, how do you connect with the values of each school?
• What advice do you have for video essays when they're requested as part of your application?
• What qualities should recommenders highlight in their letters of recommendation?
• How can you show "fit" if your background is different from the focus of the grad program you’re applying to?
• How can you make up for a low GMAT / GRE score?
• If you don’t have a track record of community service, should you volunteer for something right before applying?
• And more!

So be sure to listen all the way to the end.

Also, here are the two Admissions Straight Talk episodes that Linda references, in case you want to go deeper:

1. Tips for overcoming a low GPA: https://blog.accepted.com/what-to-do-about-a-low-gpa/
2. Interview with Ida Valentine, HBS 2021: https://blog.accepted.com/ida-valentine-investment-banker-inspirational-speaker-hbs-2021-episode-311/

Finally, here's the quote we opened the show with:

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." -- Henry Ford