MBA: How well you do vs. where you go

I was just talking about this the other night with an HBS alumnus and a current HBS student. Basically, it has absolutely no influence on where you go. In fact, at HBS if someone is contributing too much they are deemed to be "gunning for Baker Scholar," which is actually viewed as a huge negative by the student body. Given the importance of networking, you're actually better off making friends with the other students and sharing your knowledge with them, rather than competing to get the best grades yourself.

Want to know the best indicator of how well you will do in job placement out of an MBA? Your job prior to the MBA.

are you saying that target mba's with little to no prior experience will have shitty post mba placement? does the fact they got into the program play no role in their employability?

If you're talking strictly for investment banking / private equity, then yes, placement could be not-so-great, even from a target MBA program. Mostly because you are competing with the rest of a very motivated class (and a lot of whom went to b-school to change careers).

Just a side anecdote: I had a good friend who went to HBS and did banking/PE before. The summer after her first year, she decided she wanted to mess around and ended up interning at a media company in LA. She had a great summer but mostly called it a "fluff job". She ultimately decided to return to banking. Even not having interned the summer between her first and second year of b-school, she had a bunch of FT offers from various different banks.

I guess my point is, your pre-MBA experience is definitely considered heavily.

Monument Man,

I'm going to have to disagree with your logic here. Most top programs have grade non-disclosure, meaning that even if you were one of the better students in your class, you couldn't prove it. Students at HBS receive a 1, 2, or a 3 in their classes. Unless you are in the top or bottom 10% of your class (you receive some notification if this is the case), you and your future employer have absolutely no way of telling where you stand.

It's less about official grades and more about having a strong repuation at school.

people in your class are going to know who is smart and who is not. they will know who are the leaders and who are the followers. and the banks will also know. It's not exactly the same as grades, but your rep is very real.

btw grade non-disclosure doesn't mean anything off campus. when morgan stanley asks you about your grades, i'd not recommend citing the "grade non-disclosure" clause or you will look like a jerk.

It's a very different story on-campus. the career centers have strict rules about grades and they will punish companies who pursue grade info outside of permitted avenues. in my experience, about 50% of the BB asked me about grades - and this always happened when I met them in NYC.

my school didnt disclose grades, but a) the official policy says that companies can ask about grades on 2nd round interview b) off campus recruiting is not bound to grade non-disclosure. some schools will try to enforce this policy off campus. it's very hard to enforce.

so bottom line: grade disclosure or not, the big banks and MBB types perform tons of due diligence to figure out who are the talented students. perhaps it is different at hsw. perhaps it is different because of the meltdown on wall street. jobs are incredibly competitive, and the banks had their pick of the litter. the class before me enjoyed multiple offers per each student. my class barely got squat!