MBA - Who's Going Where?

Congrats DirtyZ and numi for making it to the Top-5 programs!
Do share your profile, work ex and other community services… etc and what else it took to make it to “that” elite group (I know numi’s story), if you guys don’t mind.
 
swaptiongamma Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Congrats DirtyZ and numi for making it to the
> Top-5 programs!
>
> Do share your profile, work ex and other community
> services… etc and what else it took to make it
> to “that” elite group (I know numi’s story), if
> you guys don’t mind.
But I don’t remember numi’s story! Hope he can post it again from the very beginning.
 
Part-time Crook Wrote:
——————————————————-
> But I don’t remember numi’s story! Hope he can
> post it again from the very beginning.
Un-abridged version please.
 
My profile: W/M. Top 3 U.S. undergrad, CFA, mid 700s GMAT. 5 years in financial services, including the last 2+ for an international bank in NYC in typical IB Associate (post-MBA) role. Extras: lots of mentoring the past few years, athlete, unique upbringing. I spent a lot of time on the essays and I think that was the key…although after looking at the resumes of current students at the schools I was admitted to, I think my background is pretty solid. I also had two very well done recs that probably helped. Lastly, I did well in my interviews because I was well prepared.
My takeaways from this admissions cycle: There is a ton of competition this year. R1 apps were up across the board by double digits at the top schools. Especially as a white/male/finance candidate, it was an uphill battle. It’s important to: 1) have clear goals; 2) understand how you fit at the school; 3) articulate how you will add value to the school; 4) make each school think they are your first, your only, your everything 5) network, network, network…have current students or alums put in a word for you; 6) differentiate yourself from your “bucket” any way you can - do not be the stereotype; 7) spend the time to produce excellent essays; 8) don’t take the proces for granted…it requires a lot of work for 95% of candidates
I thought the CFA was a pain, but getting into a top school was even more work (GMAT, essays, networking, school visits, etc). Be prepared to put in a lot of work. Good luck to those applying in R2.
 
DirtyZ Wrote:
——————————————————-
> My profile: W/M. Top 3 U.S. undergrad, CFA, mid
> 700s GMAT. 5 years in financial services,
> including the last 2+ for an international bank in
> NYC in typical IB Associate (post-MBA) role.
> Extras: lots of mentoring the past few years,
> athlete, unique upbringing. I spent a lot of time
> on the essays and I think that was the
> key…although after looking at the resumes of
> current students at the schools I was admitted to,
> I think my background is pretty solid. I also had
> two very well done recs that probably helped.
> Lastly, I did well in my interviews because I was
> well prepared.
>
> My takeaways from this admissions cycle: There is
> a ton of competition this year. R1 apps were up
> across the board by double digits at the top
> schools. Especially as a white/male/finance
> candidate, it was an uphill battle. It’s
> important to: 1) have clear goals; 2) understand
> how you fit at the school; 3) articulate how you
> will add value to the school; 4) make each school
> think they are your first, your only, your
> everything 5) network, network, network…have
> current students or alums put in a word for you;
> 6) differentiate yourself from your “bucket” any
> way you can - do not be the stereotype; 7) spend
> the time to produce excellent essays; 8) don’t
> take the proces for granted…it requires a lot of
> work for 95% of candidates
>
> I thought the CFA was a pain, but getting into a
> top school was even more work (GMAT, essays,
> networking, school visits, etc). Be prepared to
> put in a lot of work. Good luck to those applying
> in R2.
Where are you going?
 
DirtyZ Wrote:
——————————————————-
> My profile: W/M. Top 3 U.S. undergrad, CFA, mid
> 700s GMAT. 5 years in financial services,
> including the last 2+ for an international bank in
> NYC in typical IB Associate (post-MBA) role.
> Extras: lots of mentoring the past few years,
> athlete, unique upbringing. I spent a lot of time
> on the essays and I think that was the
> key…although after looking at the resumes of
> current students at the schools I was admitted to,
> I think my background is pretty solid. I also had
> two very well done recs that probably helped.
> Lastly, I did well in my interviews because I was
> well prepared.
>
> My takeaways from this admissions cycle: There is
> a ton of competition this year. R1 apps were up
> across the board by double digits at the top
> schools. Especially as a white/male/finance
> candidate, it was an uphill battle. It’s
> important to: 1) have clear goals; 2) understand
> how you fit at the school; 3) articulate how you
> will add value to the school; 4) make each school
> think they are your first, your only, your
> everything 5) network, network, network…have
> current students or alums put in a word for you;
> 6) differentiate yourself from your “bucket” any
> way you can - do not be the stereotype; 7) spend
> the time to produce excellent essays; 8) don’t
> take the proces for granted…it requires a lot of
> work for 95% of candidates
>
> I thought the CFA was a pain, but getting into a
> top school was even more work (GMAT, essays,
> networking, school visits, etc). Be prepared to
> put in a lot of work. Good luck to those applying
> in R2.
Thanks for the advice. I’m still 4 years out from starting the application process, but do you feel schools placed more importance on certain areas than others? (i.e. GMAT, work experience, extracurriculars, etc.)
 
Yeah, not to re-hash anything that was discussed in my earlier thread, but my application process is over as well. I’m now considering two schools among Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, and Kellogg, and will decide after the prospective student days. Did not get into the other two.
Agreed with DirtyZ that this is a pretty horrendous year to be applying to business school. I didn’t have any expectations one way or the other about getting into a certain school or whatever. I think this is just a year where the top schools are getting so many quality applicants, that a lot of it becomes a total crapshoot and you just have to hope you end up on the right side of things.
My goal was to get into at least one of the schools I applied to, and when I heard back from the first school, I knew I could just kick back and relax and then think of interesting ways to spend my time between now and b-school. Now, I am thinking of ways to spend my time NOT working so I want to find volunteer and internship programs abroad, for example. If anyone knows of any that are 1-3 months in duration, please let me know.
As for advice, I’d recommend to anyone else just to have some idea of the schools they really want to go to, but don’t convince yourself ahead of time that you have a “top choice” - otherwise you’ll only be sorely disappointed when/if you don’t get in. Don’t psych yourself out too badly because the process alone doesn’t do any mental favors for you…getting too amped up about anything will just make matters worse.
DirtyZ also gave some other good advice. Your life story has written itself so there’s nothing you can do in terms of changing your undergrad or work experience for example, but do take your time on your essays and also work closely with your recommenders to make sure your point gets across. I wish I had spent more time helping my superiors with the recommenders, but in the end, I don’t know if that would have made a huge difference. Other than that, I guess you should just keep your fingers crossed, pray, and hope for the best.
Anyway, I hope this helps, sorry if it rambles a bit as I’m still on French time (like 2:15AM) even though now back in NYC. Good luck to all and Merry Christmas!
 
One more thing I added is that I thought I was preparing furiously when I was doing essays, interview prep, and things like that…till I realized that every other serious candidate was doing pretty much the same thing. So…don’t underestimate the process and don’t take anything for granted!
 
Congrats numi! It’s gonna be a difficult choice, but you can’t really go wrong, except for not applying to Booth! :( j/k
 
Hi VOBA, thanks so much for your well wishes and Merry Christmas to you and your family. Chicago-Booth is a terrific school, and everyone I know there really enjoys it. I was very impressed when I visited Booth in the fall, but didn’t end up applying for round 1 because I couldn’t finish the application in time – at least not to a level where I thought would be competitive.
Anyway, I’ll probably be in Chicago sometime in February and will definitely let you know next time I’m around, and hopefully we can meet up then!
 
It’s a difficult choice numi, but I would rather be in this position than otherwise. Congrats! For me its a no-brainer. Let’s see what you decide.
 
bpdulog - I don’t think that schools place more emphasis on any particular part of the application. Most of the adcoms will say that they look at applications holistically, and I tend to believe that they are telling the truth. Basically, when you are applying to a top 5 school, you need to be strong across the board. E.G. strong undergrad record (high gpa, solid major, quality institution), excellent work experience (demonstrated excellence through promotions at a firm they have heard), strong GMAT (the bar has been raised the past 2 years - I’d aim for a 720 to be safe assuming the rest of your application is strong), passionate recommendations (from people who you work directly for and who ideally have a strong background themselves), commitment to community (volunteer work, involvement in things you are interested in outside of work). Assuming that you have checked these boxes, the most important aspect of the application is the essays because it allows you to tie everything together, and clearly explain how your background is unique, how it relates to your (clearly defined) career goals, and how school X is the perfect school for you.
There really is no “magic bullet” to getting in. Schools want someone who, ideally, is strong across the board. At worst, they might settle for someone who has a few weaknesses that are more than offset by greatness in other areas. E.G. average work exp offset by tremendous leadership in volunteer initiatives, or 3.0 GPA offset by 780 GMAT, or 660 GMAT offset by 3.9 from Ivy undergrad and 4 years at Goldman, etc…you get the idea.
My advice is to start early and nail the GMAT and get involved in some interesting extracurricular actitivities (particularly volunteer work) that you can talk about in the essays. It is a big help if you can point to some recent leadership activities that benefitted society and shows you are more than a money seeking robot.
Best of luck.
 
DirtyZ Wrote:
——————————————————-
> bpdulog - I don’t think that schools place more
> emphasis on any particular part of the
> application. Most of the adcoms will say that
> they look at applications holistically, and I tend
> to believe that they are telling the truth.
> Basically, when you are applying to a top 5
> school, you need to be strong across the board.
> E.G. strong undergrad record (high gpa, solid
> major, quality institution), excellent work
> experience (demonstrated excellence through
> promotions at a firm they have heard), strong GMAT
> (the bar has been raised the past 2 years - I’d
> aim for a 720 to be safe assuming the rest of your
> application is strong), passionate recommendations
> (from people who you work directly for and who
> ideally have a strong background themselves),
> commitment to community (volunteer work,
> involvement in things you are interested in
> outside of work). Assuming that you have checked
> these boxes, the most important aspect of the
> application is the essays because it allows you to
> tie everything together, and clearly explain how
> your background is unique, how it relates to your
> (clearly defined) career goals, and how school X
> is the perfect school for you.
>
> There really is no “magic bullet” to getting in.
> Schools want someone who, ideally, is strong
> across the board. At worst, they might settle for
> someone who has a few weaknesses that are more
> than offset by greatness in other areas. E.G.
> average work exp offset by tremendous leadership
> in volunteer initiatives, or 3.0 GPA offset by 780
> GMAT, or 660 GMAT offset by 3.9 from Ivy undergrad
> and 4 years at Goldman, etc…you get the idea.
>
> My advice is to start early and nail the GMAT and
> get involved in some interesting extracurricular
> actitivities (particularly volunteer work) that
> you can talk about in the essays. It is a big
> help if you can point to some recent leadership
> activities that benefitted society and shows you
> are more than a money seeking robot.
>
> Best of luck.
Thanks for the advice!
 
Thanks for sharing you profile peeps and good luck with whatever school you decide to attend.
 
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