Admissions Criteria
Admission to SMU Cox is highly selective. Just as you invest in your future by attending the School, we invest in ours by admitting only the top applicants to become members of the SMU Cox community.
The SMU Cox MBA Program seeks candidates who show:
- A strong potential for success in today's global business environment
- Demonstrated analytical capabilities, leadership experience, interpersonal and communication skills, and personal commitment and motivation to the field of business
- Outstanding academic achievement and potential — individuals holding a baccalaureate from an accredited college or university around the world are eligible to apply to the SMU Cox MBA Program
Tips for Completing the Application Process
Read the following tips under each application element below. The best MBA applicants pay careful attention to detail. Be sure to do simple things such as spell-checking your work, filling out forms completely, and answering correctly. While some of these may sound like "no-brainers," it is easy to forget the little things in the rush of completing materials.
If you are applying online (the preferred method), take time to review your work. Once an application has been submitted it cannot be changed. If you are applying with a hard copy, be sure you type your application carefully or print your answers clearly. Illegible applications receive little consideration.
You also want to visit our Frequently Asked Questions site for additional information about the Application Process.
Resume
Essays
Educational Experience
Work Experience
Recommendations
GMAT
Interviews
Resume
Your resume outlines your career progression and highlights significant accomplishments. It demonstrates that you can communicate with brevity in another business-oriented format. You will be creating resumes to use in marketing yourself throughout your MBA experience. We want to see your ability to master this tool.
Take some time with your resume and use it to reveal your personality and, especially, your strengths. Where possible, quantify your achievements rather than letting your resume simply be a regurgitation of your job description. We strongly recommend that you have at least one other pair of eyes look at this document before you submit it as part of your MBA application. Spelling mistakes on resumes often send a message that you cannot focus on details. And, spell-check does not catch everything!
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Essays
The Admissions Committee uses your essays to evaluate several aspects of your candidacy. First, your essays tell us a great deal about your career aspirations and what has shaped your life to this point. Second, your essays often reveal your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Finally, your essays demonstrate your written communication skills. Be sure to take time to think about and carefully craft your essay responses.
The first required essay topic should give a clear idea of why you are looking to pursue an MBA, what your short-term (immediately after MBA graduation) and longer-term goals are, and why specifically you are interested in the Cox MBA program. The second required essay is designed to give us insight into a specific professional situation in which you have excelled or learned from obstacles faced.
As always, be sure to proofread your work for both spelling and grammar. If you are applying to more than one school, be sure to double-check places where you mention a specific school. Every year, we receive at least one application that discusses the merits of another MBA program! Essays with these mistakes reflect a lack of attention to detail.
Candidates often ask if they should utilize the optional essay. If you have a unique experience to share with us that is not reflected elsewhere in your application, or if you have work gaps, academic problems or other issues that you would like to address, you should take advantage of submitting an optional essay. We strongly suggest you identify any issues upfront and address them here rather than wait and disclose them in person. Otherwise, please do not feel pressured to submit the third essay simply to fill space.
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Educational Experience
We require an undergraduate degree from all MBA applicants and find our students come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. If your degree was not obtained in the United States, you should apply with the equivalent type of degree; if you are unsure if your degree qualifies please work with an evaluation service for an assessment. For Indian students - please note that we do accept just the 3-year undergraduate degree as equivalent, but students with further education may be more competitive candidates for admission. Generally, about 50% of our incoming students have a business undergraduate degree; the rest of students studied everything from engineering to math to history to psychology.
We will thoroughly assess your undergraduate transcripts (and, if applicable, transcripts from any graduate degrees earned) to obtain an understanding of your educational credentials. We will look to see what types of classes you took and how well you did in them. We do not require any particular classes as prerequisites, but like to see students with some quantitative coursework. If you did not take any quant-focused classes as an undergraduate student, taking some at a local community college prior to applying or entering the program can be a further indicator to the admissions committee of your experience in this area. We will also look at grade trends throughout your degree, preferring to see strong performance throughout or an upward trend as you moved through your degree program.
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Work Experience
The average Cox MBA candidate has an average of 4.3 years of full-time post-undergraduate work experience. The quality of your work experience is very important. We strongly recommend you accurately highlight your key accomplishments in your resume, discuss your career progression in your essays, and provide excellent and meaningful professional recommendations. We expect your work experience to demonstrate your ability to work in teams; solve problems; resolve conflict; and manage people, projects, and budgets. Please note your progression within a company as well as the responsibilities you have on a daily basis.
Prospective MBA candidates often question the widespread practice of only evaluating full-time post-undergraduate work experience. Most top MBA programs, including Cox, believe the skills and competencies you develop as a full-time employee, with your undergraduate career under your belt, are quite different from those you experience as an intern or a part-time worker. While internships and part-time jobs during college are valuable, MBA recruiters will only focus on your accomplishments after college.
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Recommendations
Take the time to carefully think about whom to choose to write your MBA school recommendation and ask each BEFORE you submit his/her name. Can this person evaluate you professionally? Has he/she observed your work or had direct contact with you in the workplace recently? If the answer to either of these questions is "no," choose someone else.
Be sure to make things easy for your recommendation providers. The Cox MBA Online Application System makes it simple for your providers to send their recommendations via confidential email. If you are using a hard copy application, give each recommendation provider the appropriate forms and envelopes.
Regardless of your application method, you will want to give each recommendation provider a copy of your resume and/or a one-sheet summary of your most recent projects and accomplishments. This will make it easy for them to evaluate your strengths and provide insight into the kind of MBA candidate you will be.
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GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test)
SMU offers structured graduate test preparation classes that focus on reviewing test content and test-taking strategies. Classes are designed to improve scores and reduce anxiety for students. These review courses provide intensive classroom sessions that include all sections of each exam as well as access to practice materials and software.
Practice tests are also available through the Graduate Management Admissions Council. If you seek additional preparation, several independent vendors also offer GMAT preparation courses; check out Kaplan or Princeton Review for test centers in your area.
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Interviews
Once your application is completed, submitted, and reviewed, the Admissions Committee will issue you an invitation if you have satisfied all the requirements so that we can learn more about you before we issue a final decision. The interview is an important part of assessing candidates for admission. Personal interaction gives you the opportunity to present key aspects of your background, personality, and career aspirations not easily communicated in writing.
Interviews may be completed on campus (STRONGLY encouraged), off campus, or via telephone with a designated admissions representative. For on-campus interviews, candidates are invited to meet with an Cox Ambassador, attend a class and tour the School's facilities. Off-campus interviews are conducted when our admissions team travels to recruiting fairs and forums. Interviews generally last about 30 minutes. You can expect the interviewer to ask you to clarify points in your application, discuss your desire to be an SMU Cox MBA, and to talk about your post-MBA interests.
You can also expect our interviewers to ask the "tough questions.” Be prepared to address why a particular class was difficult for you or why there is a time gap in your work experience. Our Admissions officers not only look at your "stats," but also want to know why something happened the way it did. There are many examples of world-class business leaders who, once upon a time, were unemployed for six months or had a poor showing in an undergraduate class. Address any shortcomings head-on in the interview. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by giving the Admissions officers "reasons to admit" rather than "reasons to deny!"
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