Historical note: thread is from the 2022 backlog era (~2.4M pending files), which members felt worsened odds for borderline profiles.A 2018 BBA graduate showing family-business involvement since graduation was refused twice (Jan and Jul 2022) for an MBA at a BC university.
- Get GCMS notes before reapplying - the first and most repeated advice; two refusals for the same program without knowing the officer's reasoning means a third identical attempt will likely fail too.
- The 4-year 'family business' period is the weak point. Undocumented family-business years read as a gap; the SOP and evidence need to substantiate that work and explain why an MBA now.
- Revise the SOP substantively - a member whose spouse had a nearly identical profile (2018 BBA, same refusal) was reworking specific SOP points rather than resubmitting.
- Timing matters: some members felt a heavy-backlog period was simply a bad time for discretionary profiles and suggested waiting for conditions to improve.