anyone ever used admissions consultants for business school (MBA program) application?

[Anonymous]

Apparently such consultants are regularly used in cities like NYC and Chicago. I'm considering applying to business school and had never heard of such services. Anyone used such a service, or know someone who did? Wondering if it helped or ended up being a waste of money? My college GPA (granted, earned 10 years ago) and practice GMAT scores would indicate that I'd be a competitive candidate for some upper tier schools, but I'm looking for any advantage available! Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

I have an MBA from a top 5 school.

If you have 10+ years experience with strong scores / GPA, you will be a highly competitive candidate and I think using a consultant would be a waste of money. Your experience will differentiate your application. A top tier program should be very interested in adding your experiences to the mix of the generally less experienced student body.

[Anonymous]

I also have an MBA from a top 5 school. I didn't even know consultants existed for MBA applications. I got in everywhere I applied with high GMATs (750 maybe, can't remember the exact score), decent but not stellar GPA and pretty limited prior work experience. If you are looking at top schools being a woman is actually a plus as they tend to be gender imbalanced and look for qualified women. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thought classes at top B-schools were made up of mostly mid-twenties women and men, roughly 50/50, these days.

[Anonymous]

I have an MBA from one of the best schools in the DC area (hint: it wasn't Maryland and I don't consider UVA in the DC area).

With 10 years of experience, you are kind of in between a traditional MBA program and an executive MBA program. I think you could do either one. You might feel old in the traditional program though! FYI--Most people aren't married and definitely do not have children in the traditional programs. I was 29 when I started my traditional program and I felt old because I was married. (I think the average age was 28).

Where are you looking to apply? If you are a woman, (esp. a minority) with a GMAT score over 700, you are probably fine, esp. if you say that you want to stay in the same career path that you are in now, you probably don't need a consultant. In this economy, there may be more applicants, but they usually want women, esp. those with a technical or math background. They also really like it if they think you will be employable after graduation, which is harder for them if you say you are trying to move from Marketing to Finance or vice versa.

Better than spending money on a consultant you don't need, spend the time talking to current MBAs and those who have graduated from the schools that interest you. Ask to speak with students with similar careers or backgrounds to yours, and ask where they are interning or working now and what their job search has been like with the MBA. I wish I had done more of that before school!

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thought classes at top B-schools were made up of mostly mid-twenties women and men, roughly 50/50, these days.

Not at all. More like 35% women. I went with 2 years of work experience and was among the youngest in my class. They much prefer more experience. I think the second and third tier schools may have the profile you indicate. But all that data is available in the various rankings.

[Anonymous]

law school and med school are 50/50, but b-school is about 30-35% still, esp. for the top programs. PP is correct.

It's even worse if you wanted to be an engineer or a physicist.