Need Help Picking the 4th School
Hi all,
I am planning to apply for full time MBA this fall for 2015 matriculation. Would love to get some help on picking the 4th school for round 1 and general advice for my profile.
Current school selection:
Round 1
-Columbia Early Decision
-Dartmouth Early Action
-Booth
- (Another school)
Round 2
-Yale
-UCLA
-Cornell
-Duke
Profile:
Asian-male (born in Asia; bi-lingual)
Big state school majored in finance (think UVA, UT , Indiana)
GPA: 3.4
GMAT: 720 (Both above 80%)
Work experience: 4 years (at matriculation)
Analyst/ Sr. Analyst (1 promotion) at 2nd tier bank (think Capital One, PNC, BNY) doing credit portfolio/strategy work in commercial banking division
EC: Have been involve in some semi-leadership role (VP, event committee, etc.) during school. After graduation I was involved with some interest group within the company but nothing major. Recently, end of 2013/Jan 2014, I started taking a leadership role at a non-profit.
Post MBA goal:
I plan to go into IB/MC in the immediate term and will like to transition to a VP+ role in a F500 doing strategy or business development in the long run. Location is not a major concern at the moment. I may consider living in Asia in the future so Asian brand-recognition is in the consideration.
Questions and concerns:
I don't think I have anything that really differentiates myself so story-crafting is going to be a big deal. Therefore, I am planning to hire a admission consultant. Is it worth the ~$5000 price tag?
What is a logical 4th school to apply in first round?
What are my odds on the list that I provided?
Really appreciate the help in advance!
How about Northwestern? They place very well into MC
I would suggest moving one of your R2 schools into your R1 pool. It appears your R1 schools are higher ranked/your preferred destinations, but it will be worthwhile for you to do an application/get an interview at potentially a lower ranked school for the experience of completing an application/interviewing.
Kellogg would be a good roundout school. I'd also do Wharton. GPA might be a little low though.
I only know one person who used an admission consultant and it didn't work for him. Although i think he only did it for the essays. Anyone else have any positive/negative stories?
Tbh you should move two R1 to R2s and move two R2s to R1. Your GPA is below average for pretty much all the schools listed (I think they are 3.5ish?), GMAT is average at best even for the R2 schools for your demographics and work experience isn't that fancy. And lot of people come with the want to do consulting story. Basically its a crapshoot with your profile and don't be surprised if you see lot of WL actions. R2 ones will also want you to show commitment, so do your legwork (e.g. visit, talk with students).
Kellogg. But honestly 4 schools per round is kind of pushing it. If I were you I'd do 3 per round and ensure my applications were polished. The essays take much longer than you expect.
What you should do, is submit the Columbia ED EARLY. They do rolling admissions. If you don't get an interview, you know your application is weak, and to apply to easier schools (There's almost no chance you'll get into Booth if you don't even get an interview from Columbia). If you get an interview, you'll probably get into a top 10 somewhere, so you can not apply to UCLA or such.
Also, not to stress you out, but you're going to have a lot trouble in the top 5, so I wouldn't apply to Wharton (even Booth is a bit of a stretch). You have below average GPA from a non-top school, below average GMAT, from an over represented race, from a 2nd tier firm in finance - which is the most competitive cohort.
It will help you a lot to pick consulting versus IB for your career goal. They’re pretty different, and once you get outside the top ~9, schools tend to do better in one or the other.
After that, personally, I would simply move two of your R2 schools into R1, and apply to five R1. Despite what someone said, I applied to five in R1 this year and didn’t find it all that bad. I obviously started very early, but I finished each application with a couple weeks to spare. Plus, I’d much prefer to continue to be swamped on my five apps in R1 and then have much less of a chance to need to gear up for R2. Even thinking about sitting down to do the two R2 apps I was going to do was painful before I got in.
I recommend this because you have three solid reach schools for you in that group now. If you go 0/3 at those schools, I just don’t see you getting a bite at Kellogg or Haas or wherever else. Because of that, I think I’d pick your two favorites from that second bucket and do them in R1. That way, you will likely (hopefully) have an admit (I do think you’d have a good shot at everywhere in your second group), and if you really want to, can throw your name in the hat at one of the top-10 schools that you skipped in R1, without any pressure. It will be much easier to pick Fuqua over Cornell, for example, if you decide that MBB is your goal.
As to your chances, I mentioned above that you have a very good shot at all of your second group. You have good grades (a 3.4 from a decent school is not an issue, despite standard WSO beliefs), a 720 is above average at all of them, and you have decent work experience. I would do as much as possible for that non-profit you’re now involved with – that could be a huge differentiating factor and solid essay/interview material. Columbia and Tuck take plenty of 3.4/720s with decent work experience, as long as you execute well.
As for an admissions consultant, I am a huge advocate of them. I think the application process can absolutely be done right or wrong, and there is a lot of room in the middle. A good consultant will help you get as close to right as possible. I have written elsewhere about my experience and why I would use one – I would look around for one of those posts (there are a ton of consultant posts on here).
Just going to chime in on the admissions consultant front - I was talked into using one, and I wholeheartedly agree with @"BGP2587" - my overall application ended up in a much better, more polished, better crafted place. As a result, I am happy with where I got in and feel like the money was well spent.
I didn't use one, and don't think admissions consultant is necessary. All the advice they'll give out is readily available on the internet, just have friends read your essays to refine them.
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