After having seen a lot of questions on getting into a top MBA from corpfin, I decided to do a little research. I came across some info on Poets & Quants and put it into a spreadsheet. To answer the main question:
Big 4 vs F500 CorpFin
Big 4 wins hands-down, at least according to the incomplete information from the P&Q posts. A couple thing sto keep in mind here, and this is very important. This only covers 2/3 of the accepted applicants to these schools. That's a big hole.
There's no way to tell which came from CorpFin vs marketing, strategy, engineers, etc. At the Big 4, it's impossible to tell which came from a consulting function vs accounting. I am also confident this under-represents F500s based on one of the schools in particular. Anyways, here are the stats, spreadsheet with specific companies is attached (it's not pretty, just a quick work-up):
Schools: Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell
Admits w/Work History Verified/Total Admits: 2528/3826
Big 4: 117
Tech/Telecom: 54
O&G: 10
Aero.Def: 9
Consumer Goods: 8
Food Products: 2
Insurance; 2
Auto: 3
Pharma: 2
Conglomerate: 2
Entertainment: 2
Financial Services: 325
Consulting: 362
Military: 33
Other: 13
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| MBA Acceptance by co.xls 45.5 KB | 45.5 KB |
DM you Da Man. Thanks for compiling this data, extremely helpful!
Military, Mormon, McKinsey.
thanks so much DM. That was a huge help.
Top Feeder Schools for Top MBAs (Originally Posted: 12/06/2011)
http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/31/top-feeder-colleges-to-cornells-jo…
And links to Harvard Wharton and booth and tuck can be found as well. Interesting things I saw were that tuck loves northeastern schools but more so the private colleges but Cornell has a strong state school showing -- uconn and upenn have the same amount of people represented.
Why would you post the link for Cornell and not Harvard...
http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/15/top-feeder-colleges-to-harvard-bus…
because i was on my phone and you can go ahead and click ahead to harvard if u really want to circlejerk over how sexy harvard is. we should form a group for htat on here, 'prestige circlejerkers of HBS'
This isn't surprising. Cornell is a good school but at the bottom end of the top 15, so they're going to draw more people from state schools than a place like wharton.
Government/Military/Politics "feeder jobs" into Elite MBA program? (For Betsy & ClearAdmit) (Originally Posted: 02/15/2015)
Say someone can't get a job at a feeder firm. What if they could get a job at one of those I mentioned? What areas should they look at that would improve odds of going from the job to an elite MBA program? Surely not everyone at a top 3 b-school came from MBB or a BB.
The answer, according to everyone I've asked, is a "no" in most instances. Commercial business programs tend to look unfavorably on career government bureaucrats. A "rarely" exception is military. If you have a strong undergraduate performance and a high-glamour military career (pilot, special forces, etc. helps a lot) then the military can benefit with the application process for some programs but you will still need outstanding recommendations and extremely strong undergraduate performance.
Key word is "some". I've been told by both consultants and some folks in my network that your mileage may vary. Some business schools have a reputation for loving military officer applicants whereas others look down on them. Without being too specific(which would potentially identify some of my sources), I can say that the schools in question are in states or regions with a high military population.
So what are the easiest "feeder companies" to get into? Do you have the list of these companies that P&Q published? It used to be on the site but its not there.
http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/15/top-feeder-companies-to-harvard-bu…
try this
Hi @"newyork" -- didn't see this posting; if you mention my name with the @ before it, I may get some notice, somehow that you were calling for me.
So, feeder companies. I actually avoid such conversations. My great friend (and neighbor!) at Poets & Quants loves to talk about feeders into business school and into PE, and all that, and yeah, it's easy to do a correlation, but I just don't know if on the entry side there's enough causation. OK, there are some feeders like KKR and Carlyle, but the reality is that the candidates in those PE programs (and in some cases the Goldmans and the McKinseys) have a lot of the same personal characteristics that the business schools are looking for. So, that might mean that even if they DIDN'T work for a "feeder" school, they would have stood out. Also, not to rain on your parade, but If you cannot "get into" a feeder program. then you will have a hard time getting into the business school of your dreams.
Furthermore, the reality is that those in feeders are competing with each other too, so you have to be one of the top performers at the firm to get noticed. I can give examples, but I'm tired and you've probably already read enough on this subject.
No, not everyone who goes to business school worked in investment banking or consulting. A bunch do, but not all, not all. If you are incredibly smart and interesting, and have a challenging job, you will do well in the business school process. As Dee Leopold often says, "We know you are smart, but are you interesting?"
I came from politics and got into HBS and Stanford, so hey. But that was a million years ago. I see students when I coach at the Stanford GSB who come from the government (think White House policy advisors), and of course the military (all branches). It can be done. BUT..if you have a boring job and are doing boring things, the readers of your application will say, "so what" and move on
Target companies for MBA admittance (Originally Posted: 07/15/2014)
So I will be working in corporate finance, and am looking at potential companies that I would like to work for. I know down the road I want to go to a (hopefully) top MBA program, so I want to position myself in the best way to get accepted to these programs. What are some of the best non banking and consulting companies that MBA programs look for? Thanks!
Big 4 accounting firms actually place quite well at top b-schools as well as general management rotational programs at major F500 corporations. Some big feeders in the latter category include Procter&Gamble and General Mills.
Big 4 accounting does not place well at Top 10 schools. Their consulting arms place pretty decent though.
This is actually a little backwards. You shouldn't pick a job/career based on getting into an MBA program. You should use school as a way to get the job you want. Just do something you enjoy and that you're good at, and work your story around that when/if you do end up applying to MBA programs.
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