Requirements & Deadlines

You’ll start by providing some basic personal information, including your contact information, citizenship, areas of interest and affiliations.

You’ll respond to two required essay questions and one optional question. Your responses should be concise, clear, and introspective as we’ll use them to learn more about you, your motivations, and your aspirations.

Essay 1 is required. Your response should be no longer than 500 words and should address the following questions:

• What are your immediate career goals?
• How will you benefit personally and professionally from earning an MBA at UNC Kenan-Flagler?
• As the business world continues to evolve, circumstances can change that can guide you in a different direction. Should your goals that you provided above not transpire, what other opportunities would you explore?

Essay 2 is required. Your response should be no longer than 300 words and should address the following question:

2020 brought many defining experiences, including: a global pandemic, changes to learning and working environments, and calls for social justice and racial equity. At UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, these experiences propel us to strengthen efforts to increase the diversity in our community, to create a more equitable and inclusive learning environment and to teach our students to manage diversity, equity and inclusion. What have you learned about diversity, equity and inclusion in 2020? Please share your experience and what you learned about yourself as a leader. Tell us how you changed or would like to change your leadership style? If you were not leading a team, tell us what you learned at your level about diversity, equity and inclusion. How do you expect to continue that growth in the MBA program?

The optional essay (for all applicants) provides an opportunity to share additional information not presented elsewhere in your application with the admissions committee. In 150 words or less, consider addressing any of the questions below:

• If you have not completed coursework in the core business subjects (calculus, microeconomics, statistics, financial accounting), how will you prepare yourself?
• What conditions caused you to experience inconsistent academics, gaps in work, or low standardized test scores?
• How have you chosen your recommenders?

If you are re-applying to the program, we appreciate your continued interest in UNC Kenan-Flagler. We require a complete application in addition to a brief essay (100 words or less) that describes how your application differs from your previous submission and that alerts us to new test scores, a recent promotion, or other areas that demonstrate how you have strengthened your candidacy.

As part of your application, your need two professional recommendations, preferably from supervisors. In your application, you will designate your recommenders. An e-mail will be sent automatically to the recommender with specific instructions and a link to the recommendation form. We use the Common Letter of Recommendation developed by GMAC to save your recommenders time and effort.

Recommendations are due on the same date as your application; however, we do offer a 10-business-day grace period after the application deadline to receive your recommendations. It’s your responsibility to notify your recommenders of this deadline. We encourage you to start early as delayed recommendations will also delay the processing of your application.

A brief professional overview of your educational, employment, and achievement history, most often condensed to a single page (and two pages at the most). Please include titles and dates, and provide the information in reverse chronological order.

You will need to supply transcripts of all academic work you’ve completed at the baccalaureate/undergraduate and graduate levels. This includes:

• The institution(s) at which you were conferred a degree
• Institutions that are noted as transfer credit on any transcript
• Summer sessions or extension programs
• Any other institutions at which you took one or more courses

If you studied outside of the United States, you must have a college-level education equivalent to an American undergraduate or baccalaureate degree – the same as a first-university degree and, typically, is a four-year degree. If the original language of the academic record and diploma is not English, please submit a certified literal (not interpretive) English translation with the original document.

If you received a bachelor’s degree upon completion of a three-year undergraduate program, you are eligible to apply to our Full-Time MBA program. You will need to supply copies of your academic record and the diploma, degree certificate, or other documentation indicating the conferral date of your degree.

Our school codes are:
GMAT: D40-HL-72
GRE: 5046
TOEFL, IELTS or PTE Academic: 5816

You can self-report unofficial test scores on your application and your official scores are not required until after you’re admitted to the program. As you complete your application, you can disregard the “awaiting score report” warnings that appear on your application Checklist. If admitted and enrolled, you must submit official test results before the first day study at UNC Kenan-Flagler.

We do not have a preference for which exam you take (GRE, GMAT, IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic), but we consider each exam score as a whole and do not super score the highest section result of one exam with another taken on a different date. GMAT/GRE waivers are available for new applicants to the Full-Time MBA class of 2023. Should you choose to take the GMAT or GRE exam and your waiver request is accepted, we highly encourage you to submit your test score along with your application for review.

English Language Exam
You’ll need to provide an English-language test score from TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE Academic if English is not your native language, unless: (1) you’ve earned an undergraduate or graduate degree at a U.S. college or university, (2) your education was completed exclusively in English in an English-speaking country, or (3) you received an undergraduate or graduate degree from a university in Hong Kong or India. (In some cases, we may request test scores from Indian candidates.)

Minimum TOEFL/ IELTS/PTE Academic Score Requirement

GMAT/GRE waivers are available for new applicants to the UNC Kenan-Flagler Full-Time MBA class of 2023. You can access the GMAT/GRE waiver request form from within your application, and we encourage you to submit your waiver request early to allow for processing time. Creating an account takes only a few minutes, and you can continue to work on your application as we process your request.

Our holistic application process is built to ensure that you’re prepared for our rigorous Full-Time MBA program. While scores from standardized tests such as the GMAT or GRE are a beneficial way for our Admissions Committee to evaluate the likelihood of academic success in our Full-Time MBA program, we recognize that some candidates can build a strong case for admission based on but not limited to the following criteria:

• Applicants who graduated within the past 10 years (2011 – 2021) with 3.2 GPA or above and coursework in STEM, business, economics or analytical fields from a U.S. institution
• Earned an advanced or terminal degree from a U.S. institution in JD, MD or a PhD or MS degree within a STEM, business or economics academic field
• 5+ years of professional experience in a quantitative or analytical field
• Hold a U.S. CPA or CFA professional certificate
• Strong test results from the Executive Assessment, LSAT, PCAT or MCAT

Candidates applying through The Consortium are eligible to request a GMAT/GRE waiver, and should submit the approval email to The Consortium to include with their application.

Important points to consider before requesting a GMAT/GRE waiver:

• Be objective about your strengths and weaknesses in order to put together the strongest application! Consider whether a test score may help supplement your academic achievements.
• Test scores are often a beneficial data point (but not required) for the Fellowship Committee when evaluating an admitted student for a fellowship award.
• Some employers use (or require) test scores during initial screenings, particularly in finance and consulting.
• Receiving a GMAT/GRE waiver does not guarantee admission to the program, and for some applicants, formal offers of admission may be based on the successful completion of Analytical Skills Workshop (ASW) prior to the start of the program.

Visit our FAQ page or email us at mba_info@unc.edu for more information about the GMAT/GRE waiver process.

Select candidates will be invited to interview by the admissions committee after submitting a complete MBA application. Due to COVID-19, we have temporarily cancelled, open interview season and all in-person interviews. Applicants who are invited to interview will be able to do so virtually.

If you qualify for in-state residency for tuition purposes, you’ll answer some preliminary questions within your application. If residency classification cannot be confirmed based on the information you provide within your application, you’ll be prompted to submit an additional residency form. The application process for in-state residency is separate from the application for admission and all residency decisions, and appeals, are determined by the North Carolina Residency Determination Services (RDS), a government agency. Learn more about the residency application process.

The $150 nonrefundable application fee can be paid by credit card. You may qualify for an application fee waiver if you are currently serving in the U.S. military or are a military veteran, or an active participant in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, or Teach for America. Indicating your military experience or your participation in one of the qualifying programs within your application will activate the fee waiver, which will be applied after you submit your application. You may also qualify for an application fee waiver if you are a Forte Launcher. In some cases, supporting documentation may be requested. Unfortunately, refunds cannot be issued for application fees already paid.