Ask Accepted: What are my chances?
(Monkey, 40
Points)
on 2/15/12 at 4:12pm
Hello Wall Street Oasis Members,
I'm the founder of Accepted.com and have been advising applicants to top business schools since 1994. Accepted.com has been on the web since 1996. Patrick Curtis invited me to respond to questions here. So if you have any for me or for my colleague Cindy Tokumitsu, please ask away. We are happy to respond to questions about your chances at specific schools, about mitigating weaknesses, or other MBA application questions.
If you want to ask about your chances, please provide answers to the following seven questions:
- 1) Brief description of your full-time work experience.
- 2) Your test score.
- 3) College info: The name of the college, your grade average, your major, year of graduation. For any graduate degrees, please provide the same info. If you grades are low, please indicate if there were extenuating circumstances.
- 4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience.
- 5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA.
- 6) Your target programs.
- 7) Your post-MBA goal.
Best,
Linda Abraham
So this is more of a general
So this is more of a general question if you don't mind.
I'm someone who would like to get an MBA eventually but don't necessarily want to stop working for two years to get the MBA---for this reason Executive MBA's seem extremely enticing--the thing is I always see that they have 7+ years of average work experience, and I was hoping to look into the MBA in the 3-5 year range...is it at all common for younger people to apply to/get into EMBA programs if they don't have an enormous amount of work experience? Or is my only real option for something like this a part-time MBA.
In particular, I was looking at Columbia's EMBA if it makes any difference.
Thanks.
how does a fat kid end up at
how does a fat kid end up at a mil academy?
As for this MBA chances, the standard error of prediction being what it is, I'd give this woman more credibility if she tied her compensation/fees to successful applications of customers to b-schools. Of course, she would never do that.
1) Brief description of your
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience.
Management Consultant at Accenture (promoted from Analyst as quickly as possible, participated in recruiting, social committees, etc.)
- Financial Services Transformation Strategy
- Biotechnology Project Management
- Pharmaceuticals Change Management
2) Your GMAT.
Expecting 720+
3) College info: The name of the college, your GPA or grade average, your major, year of graduation. For any graduate degrees, please provide the same info. If you grades are low, please indicate if there were extenuating circumstances.
Name: top 15-ish state university
Major: Biomedical Engineering (honors program)
Major GPA: 3.9
Cumulative GPA: 3.6
Graduation: 2010
- Multiple academic scholarships (top 5% of engineering class, top 10% of school class, top 15% of Biomedical Engineering)
4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience.
- Will be joining Accenture Development Partnerships, the Accenture non-profit dedicated to bringing consulting services to emerging nations and non-profits
- Published 3 research abstracts as the first author while a research intern at a big name medical school; focused on anesthesiology and behavioral neurology - invited to present this undergraduate research at an annual post-graduate industry conference 4 times
- Volunteered as an investment adviser for a cultural non-profit - have had a volunteer relationship with them since 2002
- Honors thesis and lab work focused on stem cell therapeutics
5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA.
None (not relevant)
6) Your target programs.
Top 10 schools
7) Your post-MBA goal.
To continue to work in non-profit consulting (post-Accenture Development Partnerships), potentially making good enough connections to create my own firm. Ideally, the non-profit consulting work coming after the MBA would be mostly strategy based (MBB or similar).
Thanks for taking the time to do this!
1) Five years at an equity
1) Five years at an equity prop trading arm of a family office, was Rookie of the Year and help out extensively with recruiting on the side out of my own free will. Help train and mentor other trades
2) 700 48Q 38V 6AWA
3) College info: UConn BA Economics minor in biz, 2.71 cumulative 3.34 biz school gpa, was on my own since i was 17 due to chaotic life at home , neither of my parents had graduated high school since they had me while they were in HS and I was first to graduate high school and college as well, worked near full time while in college to provide for myself completely... grew up largely on my own since dad was working overtime to provide for us and mom was in rehab for alcoholism and anorexia from the time i was 5 til 11 when she died (to paint background) ... completed 10 classes at NYU SCPS to earn certificates in portfolio management and risk management and earned a 3.76 total this past year
4) VP of student governmet for a semester in college, treasurer of international relations association (very large student group that did political/humanitarian/cultural events on campus and off), treasurer of tenants association where i lived in harlem post-bacc that took landlord to court (3 buildings of tenants, 150 or so) due to landlord being negligent and not giving repairs to force out rent stabilized tenants in favor of market rate tenants (illegal!) and we won around 300k in damages, do a lot of mentoring at my alma mater and revitalized a dead mentoring program at the school of business, was invited to join a subcomittee of the alumni association on the board of trustees where we are working to implement new programs to get more alumni involved in mentoring and to make undergrads take advantage of the networking resources to improve their internship and job prospects... also in undergrad petitioned the finance faculty to create more courses on investment finance and succeeded in getting an MBA level class on hedge funds created, tried to set up a cfa institute parternship but efforts fell short unfortunately due to budget constraints and bureaucracy
5) Was series 7 and 55 but expired
6) Chicago, Columbia, Tuck, Fuqua, Cornell, NYU
7) Investment management, buy side equity research
I need a crib, a big estate, I need a boat and that need a lake, I need some salmon that need a plate, that need a chef so I feed my safe
From trading equities to slanging wine in Latin America
A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what a ship i
leveRAGE, Thanks for your
leveRAGE,
Thanks for your question.
Wharton's EMBA program tends a little younger than most. As you suggest, part-time programs, like the Langone program or Chicago's part-time MBA program, may be a good option for you.
You probably would have a tough time getting into the CBS EMBA progam with only 3 years of work experience. You start to become more competitive at 4-5. The average is 8.
Best,
Linda
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
At time of matriculation 1.
At time of matriculation
1. 2.5 years in Portfolio Management at 400-500 BN assest management firm (current position)
1.5 years at small Canadian bank doing S&T (NY branch)
1/2 a year at small mangement consulting firm doing geared towards financial services
2. 730 GMAT (80%Q, 95%V)
3. NYU, 3.76 GPA Econ Major
4. College- charities, sports, economics club, dormitory hall council...Post college- Active board member of pediatric cancer foundaion
5. Series 7,63
6. HBS, Columbia, Booth, Wharton
7. Portfolio management or sales and trading
Pissingintowind wrote: 1)
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience.
Management Consultant at Accenture (promoted from Analyst as quickly as possible, participated in recruiting, social committees, etc.)
- Financial Services Transformation Strategy
- Biotechnology Project Management
- Pharmaceuticals Change Management
2) Your GMAT.
Expecting 720+
3) College info: The name of the college, your GPA or grade average, your major, year of graduation. For any graduate degrees, please provide the same info. If you grades are low, please indicate if there were extenuating circumstances.
Name: top 15-ish state university
Major: Biomedical Engineering (honors program)
Major GPA: 3.9
Cumulative GPA: 3.6
Graduation: 2010
- Multiple academic scholarships (top 5% of engineering class, top 10% of school class, top 15% of Biomedical Engineering)
4) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service, especially leadership experience.
- Will be joining Accenture Development Partnerships, the Accenture non-profit dedicated to bringing consulting services to emerging nations and non-profits
- Published 3 research abstracts as the first author while a research intern at a big name medical school; focused on anesthesiology and behavioral neurology - invited to present this undergraduate research at an annual post-graduate industry conference 4 times
- Volunteered as an investment adviser for a cultural non-profit - have had a volunteer relationship with them since 2002
- Honors thesis and lab work focused on stem cell therapeutics
5) Important certifications like CFA, CPA, FSA, or CA.
None (not relevant)
6) Your target programs.
Top 10 schools
7) Your post-MBA goal.
To continue to work in non-profit consulting (post-Accenture Development Partnerships), potentially making good enough connections to create my own firm. Ideally, the non-profit consulting work coming after the MBA would be mostly strategy based (MBB or similar).
Thanks for taking the time to do this!
You're welcome! You have a competitive profile for the top 10. And I would just advise you to continue doing what you're doing at work and in community service. Prepare for and take the GMAT this spring. You might be interested in our MBA application timeline, but you are well on your way.
Best,
Linda
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
1) 4 years (at matriculation)
1) 4 years (at matriculation) at a large foundation. Focus on private equity portfolio of funds, co-investments, and direct deals
2) 720
3) 3.9 in economics from "hidden ivy" in 2009
4) Played sport in college (non-scholarship), volunteer and raise money for local schools with low income / ethnically diverse backgrounds
5) Passed level 3 of CFA
6) HBS, Booth, Tuck
7) Private equity
shorttheworld wrote: 1) Five
1) Five years at an equity prop trading arm of a family office, was Rookie of the Year and help out extensively with recruiting on the side out of my own free will. Help train and mentor other trades
2) 700 48Q 38V 6AWA
3) College info: UConn BA Economics minor in biz, 2.71 cumulative 3.34 biz school gpa, was on my own since i was 17 due to chaotic life at home , neither of my parents had graduated high school since they had me while they were in HS and I was first to graduate high school and college as well, worked near full time while in college to provide for myself completely... grew up largely on my own since dad was working overtime to provide for us and mom was in rehab for alcoholism and anorexia from the time i was 5 til 11 when she died (to paint background) ... completed 10 classes at NYU SCPS to earn certificates in portfolio management and risk management and earned a 3.76 total this past year
4) VP of student governmet for a semester in college, treasurer of international relations association (very large student group that did political/humanitarian/cultural events on campus and off), treasurer of tenants association where i lived in harlem post-bacc that took landlord to court (3 buildings of tenants, 150 or so) due to landlord being negligent and not giving repairs to force out rent stabilized tenants in favor of market rate tenants (illegal!) and we won around 300k in damages, do a lot of mentoring at my alma mater and revitalized a dead mentoring program at the school of business, was invited to join a subcomittee of the alumni association on the board of trustees where we are working to implement new programs to get more alumni involved in mentoring and to make undergrads take advantage of the networking resources to improve their internship and job prospects... also in undergrad petitioned the finance faculty to create more courses on investment finance and succeeded in getting an MBA level class on hedge funds created, tried to set up a cfa institute parternship but efforts fell short unfortunately due to budget constraints and bureaucracy
5) Was series 7 and 55 but expired
6) Chicago, Columbia, Tuck, Fuqua, Cornell, NYU
7) Investment management, buy side equity research
shorttheworld,
Quite a story. Obviously your academics are your Achilles heel. Your GMAT is OK, but not helping you much at your target programs. (Do you think you could raise it? Or is this pretty much what you anticipated?) The 3.75 at NYU SCPS is excellent and will really help your cause. You didn't mention any diversity factor, but if you are from an underrepresented group, that would help you too.
Basically, I think you should apply to your target programs, but also strongly add a lower ranked school or two to your list. Alternatively, apply R1 to these programs only and see how you do. Then prepare to apply R2, if you are not accepted R1, to less competitive programs.
Best,
Linda
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
Tradin wrote: At time of
At time of matriculation
1. 2.5 years in Portfolio Management at 400-500 BN assest management firm (current position)
1.5 years at small Canadian bank doing S&T (NY branch)
1/2 a year at small mangement consulting firm doing geared towards financial services
2. 730 GMAT (80%Q, 95%V)
3. NYU, 3.76 GPA Econ Major
4. College- charities, sports, economics club, dormitory hall council...Post college- Active board member of pediatric cancer foundaion
5. Series 7,63
6. HBS, Columbia, Booth, Wharton
7. Portfolio management or sales and trading
Tradin,
You have a competitive profile for your target schools and are well on your way. Keep doing what you're doing. You too may be interested in the MBA application timeline.
Best,
Linda
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
neocid wrote: 1) 4 years (at
1) 4 years (at matriculation) at a large foundation. Focus on private equity portfolio of funds, co-investments, and direct deals
2) 720
3) 3.9 in economics from "hidden ivy" in 2009
4) Played sport in college (non-scholarship), volunteer and raise money for local schools with low income / ethnically diverse backgrounds
5) Passed level 3 of CFA
6) HBS, Booth, Tuck
7) Private equity
All three programs, but particularly HBS, wants to see leadership skills. Your brief comments above don't really reflect it, but I realize that doesn't mean you don't have it. If you do, then you are competitive at all three programs.
Best,
Linda
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
This is a bit of a ways off
This is a bit of a ways off for me so some of these are estimates.
1) 2 years investment banking analyst with no name boutique OR 1 year with no name boutique, 1 year with reputable middle market bank
1.5+ years corporate finance (financial control) with a large, well known financial services/asset management company
2) Expecting 700-720
3) Wake Forest University 2010 BS in Mathematical Business, 3.65 GPA
did a semester abroad in Sydney
4) In college: President of Division 1 rugby club (still involved with the team through non profit organization that provides scholarships to players), fraternity member, Beta Gamma Sigma, couple of fundraisers
Post-grad: not much to speak of except still play rugby for a local Men's club
5) Hope to have all 3 levels of CFA completed by then (2 chances to pass Lvl 3), Series 7, 63, 79
6) Tuck, Stern, Fuqua, Darden, Yale SOM, UNC
7) MM IB or PE
Bonus: White male, middle class background
"Social cohesion and puritanical morality place roughly on my list of concerns between whether I'll pick up jock itch at the gym this week (not likely, since I don't go the gym) and whether it'll rain in Christchurch, New Zealand next Tuesday."
-Eddie
1) Have worked 3.5 years in
1) Have worked 3.5 years in Independent Research, no modeling experience but industry experience in Tech, Media, Telecom and account management experience
2) 760
3) College info: Duke University, 3.5, Graduated with a B.A. in Public Policy studies in 2008
4) College: Investment Club, Fraternity, Business Mentorship Society
Since: Not a ton, CFA has taken up much of my free time
5) Important certifications: CFA, passed all three levels
6) Your target programs: Top schools, particularly: Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Northwestern, Virginia, Michigan
7) Your post-MBA goal. Would like to work in either Institutional Sales or as a Hedge fund analyst
Thank you so much for your input.
1) Worked 5 years at US
1) Worked 5 years at US Regulatory Firm (i.e SEC, Fed, FINRA), promoted 3 times
2) 680
3) TX State School, 3.4, Finance, 2007.
4) Active in Bay Area non-profit student mentorship program, Kiva microfinance volunteer
5) None
6) Top 20, but ideally Haas, UCLA, or USC, would consider PT at Haas as well
7) Consulting, Corp Strat, or compliance at somewhere like BlackRock
Thanks!
By the time of application
By the time of application will have
1) 4 years of risk management in various roles in a BB bank OR 2 yrs risk management + 2 yrs MM/boutique Investment Banking
2) Shooting for 750
3) Large state university (below top 50 for my program), 3.8, Finance
4) Active in leadership roles within professional fraternity, college's mentoring program, and college newspaper 5) Passed level I & II CFA
6) Top 20 - would like to apply through the Consortium - and independently for long-shot at HBS
7) Private Equity, Venture Capital, or Corporate Development
Thanks!
1) 2.5 years doing PWC M&A
1.) 3 years at Big 4 economic
1) Expected strategy
1) 2 Years at analyst level
Free Resources, Hong Kong Financial News, and more at http://hkhedge.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!
1) 2 years at mid/large sized
Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points
1) Global Real Estate
relinquis... Killing the GMAT this December; Over/Under set at: 725 GMATs.
Thank you so much for doing
duffmt6 wrote: This is a bit
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
This is mostly hypothetical,
Bigtime44 wrote: 1) Have
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
Linda and the Accepted.com
Linda Abraham wrote: duffmt6
"Social cohesion and puritanical morality place roughly on my list of concerns between whether I'll pick up jock itch at the gym this week (not likely, since I don't go the gym) and whether it'll rain in Christchurch, New Zealand next Tuesday."
-Eddie
You're most welcome. It seems
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
1) Worked 5 years at US
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
1) Worked 5 years at US
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
By the time of application
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
jwalsh16 wrote: 1) 2.5 years
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
Thanks appreciate the
let_me_in wrote: 1.) 3 years
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
thanks for the feedback
algorithm wrote: 1) Expected
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
algorithm wrote: 1) Expected
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
1) 3-4 years at time of
Inception wrote: Linda and
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
hkhedge wrote: 1) 2 Years at
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
petergibbons wrote: 1) 2
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
Relinquis wrote: 1) Global
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
tds2006 wrote: Thank you so
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
obscenity wrote: This is
Linda Abraham
Accepted
Founder of Accepted and author of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools
Linda Abraham wrote: While
relinquis... Killing the GMAT this December; Over/Under set at: 725 GMATs.
CaliHopeful wrote: 1) 3-4
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
CaliHopeful wrote: 1) 3-4
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
Hi, curious question. I have
1) Brief description of your
took a pre GMAT and got a 650
The Four E's of investment
"The greatest Enemies of the Equity investor are Expenses and Emotions."- Warren Buffet