Freshman at a US target here, and getting into H/S for MBA looks virtually impossible for a non-URM going into the typical IB/PE route. What is the secret sauce? I'm sure everyone in this bucket has high test scores/gpa/solid work experience, so what do I have to do to get in?
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Donate a couple million.
If not, get connected with non profits, join a couple boards, and see if you can get connected in elite circles.
How does one "join a board"?
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There is no secret really. Everyone is trying to do it so it’s just very hard plain and simple. Without being a minority, you need:
Simply put, the bar is just higher for Asian and white men because they are overwhelmingly represented. Those are the top two business destinations in the country and for many it is less of a credentialing opportunity and more of a victory lap. From my experience, those that go aren’t a higher caliber of person then accomplished people in a business at large, they are just generally older candidates with several blue chip names on their resume. Adcoms are risk averse, so the finance bucket candidates picked are ones with stellar test scores, grades, and the most established backgrounds possible—they aren’t looking for leaders or taking chances, they are maintaining a premium brand. I think you might be able to separate yourself with a more premium brand and more qualified recommenders. If you talk to admissions consultants or look online you can find videos on consultants giving advice and the advice is basically it’s a crap shoot where they want people as blue chip as possible for that bucket. Without Goldman->BX and a rec from a major head, it’s a dice roll.
Separately I would comment—those places definitely pump out some smart good thinkers and they have great brand and networking opportunities, but the top of the top usually don’t go to business school and there are tons of individuals who find alternate paths that just make more sense for their career. A few examples:
Lots of ways to spin a career. I find the argument for hbs/gsb similar to working at large PE firms. It’s certainly a great position to be in, but the reason most people don’t work at blackstone isn’t because they can’t, it’s that the economics and personal trade offs eventually don’t make sense for a hard-worker in an alternate arena. If hbs/ gsb really was the end all be all, tons of people would be applying at 37 for the benefit it provides. Also, every PE worker would be trying to lateral to a higher firm at every level if those firms really were so superior. The reality is life is more complex than brands and there are many ways to spin things and personal and professional paths.
Thanks a lot of the write up. Curious what your background is and did you personally decide to go for an mba?
I like everything you say except this. I feel like leadership in other areas is how you differentiate
Leadership in the eyes of adcoms and genuine leadership are pretty different in my experience. In my opinion real leadership often involves unideal situations or things in their infancy. Adcom leadership seems to be the type of stuff that gets written about that has some political bend and I usually am pretty skeptical about it.
Give me a person who tried to run a startup and flamed out due to trying at the wrong time and they will dance leadership circles around the PE professional who leads some bs non-profit started to get into bschool.
Also, yeah military is a legit way to stick out, but like is it really worth doing it if you don’t want to serve? Goes to my original point of there being better ways to spin your life than optimizing for hbs acceptance. To be clear, not discouraging people serving and think it’s honorable and impressive, but I think it’s pretty stupid to commit to years of military service for the reason alone of going to harvard business school.
All that said, at a point I think people need to be honest with themselves and ask what their goal of the degree is. I think for some the degree is the goal in it of itself. Going to HBS allows them to finally reach the top of society and the rest of their life they can prove to everyone they were one of the smartest people in the country. It’s kinda obvious when you meet this person in business because they tend to be impressed with themselves, the hbs name, and they lack substance despite being very over confident. Then there are people who view the degree as a way of reaching other goals. I’ve always been in the second camp and felt the goal of an MBA is to:
I feel like there are a ton of ways to accomplish all 3 by not going to hbs/gsb.
Go join the military. Inknow a ton of my fellow vets that got into both with good but not amazing gmats.
if you're from US target working in IB/PE, you don't need H/S MBA
y does it matter if ur from a nontarget but in IB/PE lol
cause you may want to cover your non-prestigious school with something with strong name so you can make better impression on potential clients when selling projects as a senior or have a chance to move to a mega fund.
Top MBAs are diluted in this day and age.
I disagree with this. If anything I think the standards are so high now the only people going are people who don’t need one, which almost makes the decision indicative of a certain type of person.
I think experience is heavily overweighted by adcoms. Drone IB analyst PE associates add no value to society. You can identify leaders earlier in their career and actually educate and prepare them for the workforce and you would have a stronger student body because less people would opt to not go.
If you ask me stats like GPA are highly overvalued by MBA adcoms. No one should ever be rewarded more for having a 3.8 in banana studies vs a 3.3 in applied math
You gotta be best of the best:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-duarte-329b7288?trk=public_profile_brow…
Something like this ivy undergrad then work up the corporate ladder hard
More likely that person claimed URM status. Also females in male dominated industries also favored ie. a female in the mining or chemicals business
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