Post your MBA application status in the comment section so we can hear where everyone is going next year!
Feel free to use our sample template below.
Undergraduate School:
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA:
Major/Minor:
Grad GPA:
GMAT (score split) & Date Taken:
Work Experience Summary:
Interests/Hobbies or Other Notable Leadership:
Letters of Recommendation:
Applied Schools:
Status: Accepted | Rejected | Waitlisted |Attending
Thanks and let's hear it!
Patrick
I'll just post about the process from years ago when I applied in 2013. I got into Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. I assume this will still be relevant today
Undergraduate School: Baruch College (CUNY)
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: Overall GPA: 3.75 Major GPA: Not sure, it was close to a 4.0, but not quite.
Major/Minor: Marketing/Psychology
Grad GPA: No grad school before the application, but my MBA GPA was 3.74.
GMAT (score split) & Date Taken: 690 44 Q 41 V
Work Experience Summary: Media Research
Interests/Hobbies or Other Notable Leadership: Improv
Letters of Recommendation: My current boss at the time, and the boss from my previous employer
Applied Schools: UT Austin (waitlisted), Georgetown (waitlisted), Emory (dinged), Tepper (waitlisted then accepted)
Status: Accepted | Rejected | Waitlisted |Attending See above
Undergraduate School: Lower-tier Ivy / Duke / Northwestern
Undergrad GPA: Overall GPA: 3.9+
Major: Economics / business-related major
GMAT: 760
Work Experience Summary: 2 years investment banking (EVR/PJT/CVP/LAZ/MOE/PWP) / 2 years private equity (UMM fund)
Interests/Hobbies or Other Notable Leadership: President / executive board roles for multiple student organizations, teaching assistant for various courses
Letters of Recommendation: My current boss (MD who has worked closely with me, HBS alum) and staffer from my previous employer (had worked with me on three announced deals). I received top bucket in both years of banking (including to highlight that I did not slack off after on cycle recruiting and think that the banking recommendation letter would have been quite strong). All associates at my PE firm get the same bonus in their first year but it has been hinted that I will receive top bucket for my second year.
Applied Schools: HBS
Status: Accepted | Rejected | Waitlisted | Attending Rejected by HBS, no interview (Round 2 this year). Received offer to stay at current firm.
I am Asian; as you can imagine, I don't think that exactly helped. I did have some volunteer service over the last year but it was rather limited. The college extracurriculars were pretty good according to the admissions consultant that our firm uses.
Based on limited data that I have, it was a tougher year overall for PE. Our firm did much worse than usual although we had many more people apply in R2 this year. R1 stats were okay but still maybe a bit worse. I'd definitely recommend R1 if you're interested in applying. Work sort of exploded during the pandemic and I didn't take the GMAT before starting. Happy to provide any advice if you'd like.
And thank you! All in all, it's a good outcome.
Kind of depressing. Your stats are incredible, had you been a woman or african american you would have probably gotten in with full scholarship.
No doubt you will accomplish great things regardless
Undergraduate School: Unranked liberal arts school (I started out as a music major)
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.7
Major/Minor: Accounting/Finance
Grad GPA: 3.8 (Masters in Accounting)
GMAT (score split) & Date Taken: 760 (47V 49Q) April 2018
Work Experience Summary: CPA in audit. 3 years work experience. Mid sized firm (top 20 in US by revenue). Public accounting puts you in a supervisor position pretty quickly as you have new staff below you as early as 12 months into the job, especially for top performers at smaller firms. Experience managing people was something I made sure to highlight on my resume and in my essays.
Interests/Hobbies or Other Notable Leadership: Active with a local charity, fraternity president in undergrad. (Nothing that was a huge selling point)
Letters of Recommendation: Two different supervisors. Outside the big 4, it's very common to work for a number of partners/managers at different times. These two quickly became great mentors for me and requested me for many of their jobs. My strong relationships with them were critical. They were extremely supportive of my decision even though it meant losing me.
Post-MBA Goals: (I added this as it's an important component of essays at most schools) Short-term: IB Associate, maybe PE or VC if I get lucky and a good opportunity comes along. Long-term: starting my own fund is the dream (lofty goals, I know) Longer-term: hoping to teach part time once I (sorta) retire
Applied Schools: CBS for Fall 2021 full-time. I also applied for HBS 2+2 before I started working back in 2018.
Status: Accepted at CBS. Rejected for HBS 2+2 (again, back in 2018)
Undergraduate School: Mid-tier state school (ACC)
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.95
Major/Minor: Economics, Sociology, Business Admin
GMAT (score split) & Date Taken: 750 (Q49 V44) - December 2018
Work Experience Summary:
All at major regional bank:
Interests/Hobbies or Other Notable Leadership:
Applied Schools:
Status: Accepted | Rejected | Waitlisted |Attending
Particularly busy so wish I could give a more fulsome response, but the school (and every MBA) is as fun as you make it. Booth students are constantly taking trips (Vegas, Kentucky Derby, Mexico, Int’t, etc.) both structured through the school and ad-hoc amongst friends. There are 100+ clubs ranging from athletics (the rugby club competed in Europe when I was a student), intellectual, career, social (I believe there was a club for whiskey drinkers), etc. People form bands. The Indian students celebrate Diwali with a huge boat cruise. Students organize parties (around the world parties in Millennium Park Plaza), barbecues, volleyball on the beach, and other misc. activities on a weekly basis. And, unique to Booth, Thursday Night Drinking Club picks a different bar every Thursday, negotiates discounted drinks, and hundreds of Booth students all flood the bar for a night out. There is a reason the term FOMO exists — there is so much going on that you cannot possibly participate in all of it.
This is not unique to Booth (other than Thursday Night Drinking Club). All of the top schools have this same exact dynamic. People get drunk, people hook up, there is love, there is heartbreak, people become best friends, people find their life partner.
Any of the top businesses, including Booth, have so much social opportunity that it is up to YOU to take advantage of it. Some people like clubs, some like dinners with friends, some like renting 30+ RVs with 150 classmates, driving to Louisville KY and parking them side by side for a weekend-long horse-racing boozefest. Nothing is forced and you are definitely not ostracized for participating in none / some / all of the activities. You craft your own business school experience!