How the F sid you get rejected by NYU and Columbia? Did you write some mofo sh* in your essays or what…
^Lol. No. I don’t think it was “blow you away” material, but was heavily peer and mentor reviewed and showed I did all the research (spoke with alumni, professors, students, went to mock classes, etc…).
An 18% acceptance rate still is only a ~1/5 chance of getting in and the vast majority of people applying to CBS and NYU meet their criteria according to a few consultants I spoke with. You also have to consider how you stack up with your peer group (e.g. do they have enough Indian IT, white finance guy from NYC, etc…). As such, the consultants always stressed to apply to at least 3 schools because you will likely get rejected by some even if you meet or exceed their bar. Additionally, don’t assume a fallback school is a fallback; the admins can often sniff that out and will ding you b/c you don’t come off that interested.
I agree that many mediocre people get in and it can leave you scratching your head, but what I said pretty much explains how that can happen. There is still an element of chance so you need to make sure you increase your odds. Also, those with stellar scores and such who get rejected might be too embarrassed to disclose that info (nothing a few drinks in them can’t fix).
@krazykanuck: Manhattan GMAT all the way.
Did you hire a consultant? If you did, did you get your money back since you didn’t get in? I found consultants to be way too expensive and completely overrated. I applied to 5 schools, interviewed at 3, accepted at 2.
^what race/ethnicity did you put on your app?
I did because I was working like 80-100hrs a week at the time and dueling with my boss so really didn’t need the added stress. I recently found out he tried to get me fired, but thankfully others on my team to backed me up. That’s another story.
I agree though that it was pretty much a waste of $$$ except for a few tidbits here and there. My consultant wasn’t very helpful, especially with essays. We just didn’t click and I think she was a bit disgruntled because she went to an M7 and used to work in banking, but now just doing grad school entrance consulting. Funny, I never actually told her I was applying to LBS so didn’t seek her help, but got accepted there… not saying she caused rejections from NYU or CBS, but she more often than not created additional stress and work.
Owell, I got 1/3 (you beat me Ramos at 2/5!) and decided not to go anyway because a FT MBA no longer made sense to me despite having worked so hard to get there (my first practice GMAT was like a 500 and I took twice the alloted time… yikes!).
I may shoot for an E-MBA next year before my GMAT score runs out as I think it could still be helpful for me in the PE world.
where are you these days? family doing alright now?
Word I hear you. The decision to go was actually the hardest. While I was applying I still wasn’t sure I actually wanted/needed to go. I think half of the reason I’m going though is to just have a good time and take a break from work…in addition to it improving my career blah blah blah. My colleague did the EMBA at MIT…he’s doing quite well for himself.
White for race. Hispanic/Latino for ethnicity.
Taking time off is definitely a valid reason and if you’ve never had time to “think” then I’d highly recommend it for that reason alone. One mentor at a PE fund I know told me you need at least 6mo off from any job to get some real perspective on what direction you want to go in life. The MBA is a great platform for that. For me, I got that perspective, time off for fun, and entrepreneurial education elsewhere (working and selling the family biz).
Which program are you going to you don’t mind me asking?
Nice, yea hoping to “think” during this time. Going to Wharton.
From northwestern mongolia - none of my family members finished grade school. Related to temujin and i used to hunt wolves with eagles to protect our livestock. been captured by chinese to pressure mogngolian govt to pay tribute to the chinese (politics…and tensions). Escaped death and torture. Made it out to NYC in my early teens during Mongolia-US Youth Connect Conference. Decided to live in the US, leaving all my family behind. Lived in the slums…sometimes in the streets. Worked illegally here and there and got my HS diploma. Got my green card in the late teens and got housing money and finished college with the help of socialistic govt run by errrrbama…low gpa (english was my weak point and also worked 16 hours a day 6 days week to support myself and send some money to my family). currently director of finance at a hedge fund in nyc and scored 650 on gmat with Q50. Now can i get into harvard?
Well done sir. Not sure what line of work you want to try, but you definitely hit a good one for buyside roles (~20% of grads go on into PE/VC or AM/HFs). H/S are the only other two in that 20-25% range. After that, it’s really only CBS, Booth and LBS (12-15%). Everyone else is a dismal sub-10%. I have a graph on this forum somewhere that shows the 5-yr avg. data.
ramos and blackbelt. how old are you guys? just curious
I work in PE right now. I would like to explore transitioning into earlier stage investing. Seems there is more placement into PE than VC at Wharton but hopefully I can make some good VC contacts.
I’m old…27 to be exact.
how does the networking/placement work in grad school…always wanted to know
oh same, interviewing wharton, best luck!
the only way this bad hombre got in is affirmative action
You said you were black in another post…
congrats!!!
I want an MBA