MBA Admissions Advice

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping this is the correct place to post, and if not, please feel free to redirect me. I'm in my late twenties, considering getting an MBA, and don't entirely feel like I know what I'm doing. I've practiced for the GMAT Focus (new edition of the GMAT) and expect to get a high score and have an undergrad GPA of 3.7 from an Ivy in economics. My extracurriculars show leadership and in my opinion, are interesting, varied, and demonstrate volunteerism. I currently work in a niche area of business that I think is okay but I'd like to pivot away from to corporate strategy, if possible.

I have a list of schools that I'm considering that range from the tippy top programs to ones ranked closer to ~50 that I hope will offer generous merit aid. Is there anything major that I'm missing? My list of schools is concentrated in the geographic area I'd like to settle in (the northeast) and I hope that by applying broadly I'll potentially get in somewhere worth the exorbitant tuition or receive a meaningful scholarship at a less competitive school. I have classmates from college who have attended or are currently attending top MBA programs and could reach out to them, but none of my close friends or family members have taken that route (and in some cases, have given me indisputably bad advice due to not knowing any better).

Does my strategy seem sound? I don't think I'd tell my current employer that I plan on leaving until I'm actually accepted to a program that I see myself attending and would likely use former supervisors for letters of recommendation. Does anyone have any other tips or pointers for the admissions process if they've gone through it? Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Maybe not the answer you are looking for, but have you considered Executive MBA programs and checked out if your employer will pay for all or part of it?

[Anonymous]

Read Peter Robinson’s “Snapshots from Hell: the Making of an MBA”. It’s somewhat dated now but that parts about quant focus confirmed what I already knew: it was a good thing I went to law school because my math abilities are nil and I would have crashed and burned. I’m a Poet, as is Peter.

[Anonymous]

^^ read also Richard Montauk’s “Hot to get into a top MBA program”

[Anonymous]

I’d recommend reaching out to everyone you can to get more of a feel for each school and if you can, recommendations. The school will have very different cultures and areas of expertise/strength. Doing your research and talking to people should help you narrow down on the list. I’d highly recommend applying to a smaller list of schools would love to go to, with a commitment to reapply next year if you end up waitlisted.

[Anonymous]

I have an MBA from a top 20 program (depends on the ranking service used).

It might help to know:

1) your gender (if you are F, I may have diff't advice)
2) your post-MBA career aspirations (the real ones + what you will say on your apps if you think your dream job doesn't make sense)
3) a few of the schools you are considering

You would be better served asking questions on a board with many MBA applicants and recent grads. Your peers are not on here. Also, DC is not an MBA-heavy town compared to NYC, Chicago, LA, etc. (I left DC to get an MBA and never went back because of the HCOL ratrace.)

Here are a few starter thoughts.

1) Sorry to be cynical but Corporate Strategy is b.s. After sitting through 2 years of MBA school, I figured out that Advanced Cost Accounting was actually more rigorous and meaningful as a subject matter area than Corporate Strategy. I got my MBA before "Analytics" and "Data Science" became trendy but I bet those are also useful. Corporate Strategy classes often review case studies with no right answers where people just debate points in class (kind of like poetry interpretation). My concentrations were technically in Marketing and Corporate Strategy but in reality, my choice of electives by department mimicked the core pretty well. That's partly because I lost respect for Corporate Strategy and took other things like higher-level Operations Management, Cost Accounting, and a Europe-based research project class where we traveled over spring break. I also have worked in Corporate Strategy type roles. There is no magic there. They mainly integrate data from other corporate functions and fight about the true nature of strategy.

2) If you have an Ivy econ degree and you go to a good MBA program, odds are you're headed for consulting (if only to help pay off your loans). I thought I was until I got to school and learned about how much of consulting is about selling and spinning vs. adding real value. And elite consulting is up or out. That means in 5 or so years you'll need to burrow in with a client or specific industry anyway. Why not skip the extra steps? That's my opinion. I went directly to a client industry. I have yet to run across any strategy consultants whose projects were worth the money my company paid them. It's actually kind of disconcerting.

3) if you plan to have a family, how does your MBA and career path fit around that?

I do think it's a plus that you say you are in a niche business. That may help your app. The schools get tons of cookie cutter applicants (Wall Street, IT, and consulting analysts, etc.).

Have you made good use of the site below? This is the only one that I have read recently that I believe is highly popular. It has an MBA ranking that combines several popular and flawed rankings into its own popular and flawed meta-ranking. Still worth looking at.

https://poetsandquants.com/

Before you go any further, I suggest that you get very clear on what your post-MBA job objectives are, and whether you need an MBA to reach them. That will help you make effective decisions and craft your app.

Good luck! Ask any follow-ups...

[Anonymous]

I suggest you schedule a couple consultations with admissions firms that work with MBA applicants. The best ones have former admissions officers for top MBA programs who will give you a realistic assessment of what to expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suggest you schedule a couple consultations with admissions firms that work with MBA applicants. The best ones have former admissions officers for top MBA programs who will give you a realistic assessment of what to expect.

"The best ones have" ... "consultants" who will over-promise on what you're burying and under-deliver. Just like college admissions consultants, no consultant is going to be able to overcome poor grades, lack of experience, or low scores. The ones that have a 97% Stanford placement rate only take clients who don't need consultants to get in or are lying.

[Anonymous]

I have an MBA from a top 10 school. I was fortunate to graduate at the top of my class. I am female. Do not underestimate how quantitative these programs have become. You need to be brutally honest with yourself about your aptitude and skill set when it comes to quantitative reasoning. Many of the strongest programs require calculus through multi and that it was taken within the last 5 years. You may have to take some math courses again to meet the requirement or as a pre-condition to attend even if accepted. Top MBA programs also have a hyper-competitive vibe that borders on Darwinian and you need to be up for that, too. Having said that, I got a lot out of my 2 years earning an MBA and it helped to launch a rewarding and lucrative career.

[Anonymous]

Being honest here. Given that you are going to pay out of your own pocket for this degree... If you cannot get into a T15 MBA program, you should rethink the approach. I do not think the ROI is there for anything less. And by that I mean an MBA from Ohio State or the University of Kentucky (or whatever your in-state flagship is) which has relatively lower in-state tuition, coupled with tuition reimbursement from your employer, is going to have similar outcomes as an MBA from BC which is $$$.

[Anonymous]

Unless you make a “lower” income now (defined as below $120K), you won’t get any merit aid from the top MBA programs (harvard, wharton, stanford).

That said, i know lots of people who got large merit packages from booth, columbia, nyu, darden because they want to attract “better” candidates. If lowering price tag is all you care about, i think you can easily find that but it’ll come as a trade off with network

[Anonymous]

2023-2024 US News MBA rankings:

1) Chicago-Booth
2) Northwestern_Kellogg
3) U Penn-Wharton
4) MIT-Sloan
5) Harvard
6) Dartmouth-Tuck
6) Stanford GSB

8) Michigan-Ross
8) Yale-SOM
10) NYU-Stern
11) Columbia Business School
11) Duke-Fuqua
11) UCal-Berkeley
14) Virginia-Darden

Your age and your desire to switch industries would be best served by focusing on the above 14 MBA programs. In order to be competitive for merit scholarship money, you will need a high GMAT or GRE score.

The M-7 Group of MBA programs (Harvard, Stanford, Penn-Wharton, Northwestern-Kellogg, MIT-Sloan, Chicago-Booth, and Columbia) tend to produce the most opportunities, but Dartmouth-Tuck and UCal-Berkeley are also strong in this respect.

Of course, the most likely scenario is that you will face high costs of attendance for the listed 14 MBA programs versus generous scholarship offers from programs like BU-Questrom and others ranked in the range of #22 to #52. If you currently have student loan debt, then your realistic options will probably be limited to non-top 20 ranked programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you make a “lower” income now (defined as below $120K), you won’t get any merit aid from the top MBA programs (harvard, wharton, stanford).

That said, i know lots of people who got large merit packages from booth, columbia, nyu, darden because they want to attract “better” candidates. If lowering price tag is all you care about, i think you can easily find that but it’ll come as a trade off with network

The bolded portion above is incorrect if the poster is suggesting that Chicago-Booth, Columbia Business School, NYU-Stern, and Virginia-Darden lack meaningful alumni networks. All 4 are among the best MBA programs in the world and all 4 programs have substantial alumni networks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an MBA from a top 10 school. I was fortunate to graduate at the top of my class. I am female. Do not underestimate how quantitative these programs have become. You need to be brutally honest with yourself about your aptitude and skill set when it comes to quantitative reasoning. Many of the strongest programs require calculus through multi and that it was taken within the last 5 years. You may have to take some math courses again to meet the requirement or as a pre-condition to attend even if accepted. Top MBA programs also have a hyper-competitive vibe that borders on Darwinian and you need to be up for that, too. Having said that, I got a lot out of my 2 years earning an MBA and it helped to launch a rewarding and lucrative career.

Please name which MBA programs require "calculus through multi".

Because you graduated at the top of your MBA class, your hyper-competitive vibe that borders on Darwinian may have been among a small group of individual rather than program wide.

To be blunt, I am skeptical of the accuracy of your description of MBA program vibe/culture. If you respond with the name of your MBA program, I think that I can disprove your assertion with one 3 letter acronym.

[Anonymous]

OP posted last night, and hasn't come back to answer any follow-up questions. Makes you wonder how dedicated the OP is.