Hey guys,
I am looking for a little advice. It seems like I might be a little late to the business school application process as I haven't started yet but am curious about a few things...
1) Having not started the process yet, am I at a serious detriment when applying to schools at this point?
2) I am trying to figure my competitiveness for a top 15 MBA program (most likely Duke, UNC, UVA, NYU, etc).
I graduated this past spring from a small private school with a BS in Finance and a 3.3 gpa. I didn't do much as far as ECs were concerned because of my schedule but was the VP of my the school's student investment fund (about 100k AUM, lol). I have a semester experience in a commercial real estate brokerage office, 2 semesters at a small middle market focus PE firm, and 2 semesters at a similar sized VC firm that focuses on late stage companies. I worked full time as a college freshman and then part time the rest of my time in school, while incorporating the aforementioned internships.
I also spent 4 years in the US Army after high school (before college) as a Military Intelligence Analyst and had pretty good leadership opportunities and left the military as a Sergeant (E5), which would be about the equivalent of a supervisor in civilian business world.
Now I realize there are many factors involved with getting into a good program but my main questions revolve around my "work experience" in the military and how that may, or may not, make me competitive.
My stats (gpa, age, years of work experience) seem to falling the the 80% for most of the universities listed above but how will the military experience be perceived given some programs look at post undergrad experience? Is this not so much the case for military candidates?
Also, are there any good quality programs that really like military experience as compared to others?
Thanks for any help, assistance, advice you can provide. Note, I have NOT taken my GMAT, which will obviously help determine my competitiveness as well, but I am trying to gauge my chances at this point and if it is worth my time and expense to even study and take the GMAT.
Regards
Well, I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that you should have a strong chance at these programs, provided you score well on the GMAT and are able to articulate a persuasive story in your essays and at the interviews. The hardest part for you may be to weave everything you've done, including the military work, into a cohesive story, because you've done a lot of different things. Also, it's hard to say because I'm not sure what you've done since college, and how many years it's been.
The lack of extracurriculars in college is made up for by you working part-time, and your experience managing the investment fund. To me, it's much better to have one good extracurricular than a ton of useless "filler" activities. I don't even put alot of what I did for ECs in college on my resume anymore.
The 3.3 GPA is less than ideal, but it can be explained by the fact that you worked full or part time throughout college. From what I've heard, most schools accept this as a valid reason for a lower GPA. Your GPA is certainly not going to be a dealbreaker. Scoring high on the GMAT could compensate for this almost completely - you would show that you're smart, but simply didn't have the time to maximize your grades while in college.
You seem hung up on the military thing for some reason. I don't think it'll have any negative impact. But in order for it to have a positive impact, you need to be able to weave it into your general story.
Basically, I think the answer to your question of "how it will be perceived" will be determined almost entirely by how you pitch it. Explain how it has made you better as a professional, more disciplined, better at working with people, etc.
dude u have no work experience and horrible gpa.. NEXT
What school do you attend? Stern? If so they are definetely getting an application from me. Given the caliber of your response I should be at the top of the class. If you don't have anything constructive to say please go away.
More importantly, thanks for all of the responses thus far. As many know it is a big decision to make and I certainly appreciate all of the constructive advice.
I am a fairly recent graduate and have only been working part time since leaving school. I am participating in the fall investment banking analyst recruiting but feel that it might be likely that it will not result in a full time offer.
Any additional advice is greatly appreciated.
Regards
You definitely have a chance but as MeatProduct said you need to tell a good tale for the essays and interviews. Explain why you went to the military, why you left, what you learned from your co-ops, and most importantly what you want to do with your MBA. Stress how your diverse experiences would make you a good addition to their class. As an undergrad I took classes at a well-ranked business school and there were plenty of people outside the Ivy League --> banking --> MBA mold. Make sure you ace your GMATs! Good luck.
You really need to get some work experience, at the very minimum 2+ yrs. Keep in mind getting an MBA (even a top one) doesn't erase all that you've done before. So if you want to work for Blackstone and you previously where hiking the Andes for 4 yrs it wont make much difference that you have an MBA from Harvard or wherever. And your GPA is definitely not to low with good work experience. One of my class mates in engineering had a 2.7 and got into UCLA's program 2 yrs out of school.
I assume by enlisting in the military, they then paid for your college? It's not uncommon for that to be a driving factor to enlist, and adcoms get that.
And no, military experience from an adcom perspective is NEVER a negative. Although they do tend to favor officers over enlisted - fair or not, they do have more of a hard on for academy/ROTC + officer experience. However, they will still value your military experience nonetheless.
The fact that you have strong internships will also help you - yes, it's no substitute for full-time experience, but in your case if you're ready to go to b-school this year, by all means apply. Virtually all b-school programs love military folks because of the history of success the military/MBA folks have in the business word -- however, Duke and UVA in particular really love military applicants.
Another valuable way of gauging your fit for a school is to contact the various Veterans Clubs at the schools -- the military folks are one of the more tight knit subcultures within b-school and they are generally quite helpful in providing guidance to people like yourself.
You've got a decent shot. MBA programs like for applicants to have several years of full-time work experience under their belt. Your years of military experience are great, but they were 4 years ago. You've got a lot of relevant internship experience which is good, but still not full-time work.
As I said before, I think you've got a decent shot, but my bigger concern for you is that you'd be rushing the process. You haven't begun studying for the gmat, and you need to write applications, get recommendations, get smart on the schools you want to apply to. All of this takes time, and the more rushed you are, the tougher it is to do well on your gmat, write good essays, and work (not sure you're working right now). This is a lot to get done in a short period of time.
If you decide to move forward, here's some advice
Business School Essays That Get You In - http://bit.ly/Xw4LR Taking The GMAT - http://bit.ly/3tU2bW
Gotta Mentor www.GottaMentor.com Connect to the Advice & People You Need to Achieve Your Career Goals
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