B-School Outside of the Top 10

Giving the increased applications and competitiveness to get into bschool in this market and my limited experience (little over a yr at a BB in S&T), i think my chances of getting into a top 10 bschool for c/o 2012 will be slim.

is it worth to aim for schools outside of the top 10 such as NYU, UCLA, Michigan, UVA, Duke if my goal is to get into a HF or is it better to wait it out for a few yrs and try to get into h/s/w/c

7 Comments
 

I'm not really qualified to respond, but the way I see it, you can only go to B-School once. Transitioning from one of the schools you mention to a HF was tough before things blew up. I doubt it'll be any easier in 2012.

I remember you talking about distressed debt HFs. A few years at a restructuring shop (banking, consulting, whatever..) would be a huge boost to both your B-school application and your resume when recruiting time comes. Hope that helps.

 

Slightly unrelated - how do business schools view applications from people in S&T? My understanding is that you only need Bschool as a career change if in S&T, and therefore your argument must be that much more compelling when applying (I took this from a director in admissions at Chicago who said career changers need to have a stronger argument in their applications). This, of course, is different for someone in IBD who wants to move up the ladder.

 
youngmoneySlightly unrelated - how do business schools view applications from people in S&T? My understanding is that you only need Bschool as a career change if in S&T, and therefore your argument must be that much more compelling when applying (I took this from a director in admissions at Chicago who said career changers need to have a stronger argument in their applications). This, of course, is different for someone in IBD who wants to move up the ladder.

In terms of caliber, they recognize that if you worked in S&T as a young guy a few years out of college, your smarts are a given.

What can be a concern are two things that you'd need to address: why you need an MBA (hint: you want out of S&T, otherwise why bother with an MBA to go back to S&T if you're already in it?), and showing them that you're not a finance dweeb (i.e. that you have a personality and outside interests that have nothing to do with finance or business; in other words, that "S&T" or finance is your job, not your personality). So S&T isn't a "career" but simply an experience or first foray into the working world for you post-college, and that you're going back to do an MBA so you can establish the career you actually want (assuming you're just a few years out of college and not some 30+ year old).

Alex Chu

Alex Chu www.mbaapply.com
 

interesting question, for what its worth, i was in research, so im not necessarily a career changer per say

generally speaking though, nobody from IBD goes to bschool with the hopes of becoming an IBD associate after graduating

 
iambatemanGiving the increased applications and competitiveness to get into bschool in this market and my limited experience (little over a yr at a BB in S&T), i think my chances of getting into a top 10 bschool for c/o 2012 will be slim.

is it worth to aim for schools outside of the top 10 such as NYU, UCLA, Michigan, UVA, Duke if my goal is to get into a HF or is it better to wait it out for a few yrs and try to get into h/s/w/c

You're not going to like my answer....

The trend right now in the industry is consolidation towards the larger firms (names I'm sure you know). Frankly for those firms, NYU/UCLA/Mich/UVA/Duke type schools have little to no shot. Even W/C is pushing it. For a large fund I have in mind specifically, they take HBS as a target with Stanford as a "non-target but we'll look at your resume if you have a great resume". Wharton is an after thought and Columbia/Chicago is not even a contender.

There are a few weird relationships like Julian Robertson and a few of the Cubs having a hard on for UNC grads but beyond those few, you will have to go to H/S/W to stand a chance. Of course, with networking all bets are off but you knew that already.

interesting, thanks for the reply ideating, doesnt really surprise me. i guess my question is though assuming the mkt is materially improved by 2012, how will these schools fare (howd they far back in 2004-2006)

 
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Alex Chu www.mbaapply.com

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