Effect of Economy on Fall '08 Application?
CF
(Chimp, 11
Points)
on 1/27/08 at 5:20pm
How much do you guys think the recent downturn of the economy will have on my chances of getting into a top 15 B-School, given that I plan to apply in the fall of 2008? My stats are top 10 undergrad business school, Accounting major, 710 GMAT, 3.6 GPA, CPA with Big-4 and currently working in Corp Finance (will have 4 years work experience when I start B-School). Starting to get stressed that the crap economy will create much more competition than I had thought...





if you have a good story for
if you have a good story for why, you should have no trouble getting into a top 10 program with your stats.
Can't stress about what you can't control
In truth, yes the applicant volumes tend to go up when the economy is in a downturn. Applications spiked in the early 90s, 2002 (before hitting a 10-year low in 2004).
However, you're stressing about something you can't control. All you can control is what you do with your applications - just make sure you do the best you can on the written applications, and hope for the best. Not much else you can do.
Alex Chu
Alex Chu
www.mbaapply.com
Better position to go INTO school now than come OUT of school
I would agree that the competition for a top business school is going to be much tighter in the next few years. But still, it is not comparable to the effects of a possible recession resulting in people in finance getting laid off, and fewer job opportunities period. There is always a demand for competitive applicants (and think about it too, the tuition is incentive to have larger class sizes... It is going to be a much worse situation for all of the junior & seniors in college about to graduate and trying to get into the industry in the first place...
Agreed that there is not much you can do about it though... unless you want to take the GMATs again? Otherwise, i'd start focusing on where you want to apply & who you want to write letters of recommendation... Best of luck