Hi,
I'm considering applying to Columbia in the Early Decision round for the 2021 - 2023 class. This will be a back up choice if I don't land anything decent by then...
My question is... should I use a MBA consultant and whom would people recommend if all I'm trying to apply is CBS (via early decision)?
FYI, I've applied to CBS, Booth and Wharton back in 2017 for the 2018 - 2020 class. Using accepted.com... wasn't able to make the cut (only Booth interview)... This came as a shock to my consultant who was sure that I had a good shot... (I later realized that my resume was badly written and reaalllly undersold me... the essays didn't get high revaluations either from other mba consultants after my rejections.... none of these had occured to my consultant at the time.... needless to say.. I was dissappointed with using consultant and will definitely not go back to accepted again)...
You’ve already used a consultant and had a negative experience. I personally think the consultant value add is pretty limited — much more value if you’re an international student and very unfamiliar with US application processes and need help with essays. Wharton, Booth, CBS and Sloan all have pretty cut and dry essay topics (or at least they have in the past), so the value there is also marginal at best. HBS and Stanford have more abstract essay topics so a consultant can be helpful in narrowing the focus down for those.
Thanks for the input MBA@PE. I was going to PM you regarding some additional questions but figured that writing it here would probably be more beneficial since other can read it as well.
I see that you are about to enter MBA in the fall this year, wondering what your rationale for B-school is considering you were already at GS/MS (the type of place I hoped to end up).
Secondly, I like the industry (public market / equities investment management / trading) I'm in and plan to progress in this field... but I moved to the states a couple of years ago and given how pedigree conscious firms are, I'm finding it hard to break into top tier bulge-brackets / buy-sides (citadel / P72 / Balyasny / etc) with my Canadian background. This is why I'm considering getting a CBS MBA to leverage on campus recruiting to break into top firms... Wondering if the rationale make sense from your perspective given that I presume you are American / have worked in the places that I'd like to be at... I've had split opinions on the MBA choice... some say go for the rebranding... some say it's not worth it and that firms / buy-sides even actively disdain it... so is getting a CBS MBA purely for the pursuit of getting into better firms in the same industry a worthy cause... or is the campus recruiting a small part of the experience / would the firms that I'm aiming for look pass my CBS degree and still pass on me because my previous experience in the industry were from non-top tier companies...
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Sure, happy to share my thoughts.
I personally decided to pursue an MBA for a few reasons
1) A bit of education rebranding, as my undergrad is fairly unknown in the market I work in
2) A chance to figure out which sector / part of the capital structure I'd like to focus on long term, as I've been a complete generalist the last 4-5 years
3) Geographic personal reasons, which became more important with the pandemic
From the time I submitted applications in January until I committed, I also recruited for roles simultaneously (seems like you're looking to do something similar) figuring I would see what my options were come April/May, but unfortunately most of that time was in the first few months of the pandemic, and a lot of processes had been put on hold. So it ended up being a decision between staying in my current role, which I was pretty unhappy in / extremely unlikely to complete another transaction in the next 12-18 months or go for the MBA.
In your case, it sounds like you are happy in the industry and just not happy with the caliber of firms you're getting looks from. The CBS MBA, particularly with its value investing program has a great reputation and should be very helpful from a branding perspective. I would think pre-MBA HF experience + CBS should be enough to get you looks from the types of places you're interested in, or at least a foot in the door. You can go down the IB route, my concern is that being already in a HF role, 2 years MBA + 1-2 years IB is a rather large time to commit to getting into better funds. You could always go through OCR and intern at a bank, and then re-recruit in the fall with your offer in hand (CBS probably allows you 3-4 months before accepting an offer). From CBS as a Canadian with pre-MBA finance experience, I'd think you'd have as good a chance as anyone to break into a GS/MS type firm, and end up landing a handful of offers. As far as recruiting for the types of roles you're talking about from an IB Associate position, I can't add too much. An associate in my group a number of years back went to Citadel, so it definitely can be done, but that's just a single data point.
My knowledge of lateral HF recruiting / post MBA HF recruiting is pretty limited, so take the above with a grain of salt.
Will emphasize again (as I did below) that CBS really wants to see interest in the school, so definitely attend as many sessions as possible, speak with people, etc etc etc.
I've found Applicant Lab to be very useful (got a CBS admit). Like the poster above said, the CBS questions are pretty straightforward. CBS likes you showing them the love so definitely do virtual events and talk to current students.
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