So - I just got all my R1 decisions back and found out I got into MIT Sloan and Berkeley Haas! I was a low GPA candidate - ended up with 2.96 from a T30 "semi target" school. Major in Econ, Minor in Math. A caveat about my grades - my lower grades were in upper level math courses such as abstract algebra, differential equations, etc. I had A's and A-'s in Microeconomics, calc I, Calc II, etc. I also worked 20-30 hours a week during school and had some family issues - so had a "mitigating" story. I addressed it in my optional essay. My GMAT was high - 750 (50Q / 42V) with a 6 on the AWA and a 5 on the IR (my only weak point). I took it once. My WE was 2 years at a NYC Leveraged Finance group (middle market, covered financial sponsors), 8 months at a MM IB (Think: William Blair/Houlihan Lokey/Harris Williams) in LA, and then 2.5 years to date a top tier corporate VC. Had an early promotion from "associate" to "senior associate" after a year. I ran a diversity initative at work, and my ECs include involvement with a microfinance nonprofit (I sit on the board), and belong to a couple professional groups - nothing major. I also do some rec sports and ran a couple half marathons. I'm a 27 year old white woman and first generation college student. I also applied to H/S/W. I got dinged without interview at H/S, and dinged with interview at Q&A!
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Serious question do you consider yourself attractive or well above? That can make a pretty big difference when talking in a highly male industry.
More so for the first job than the latter positions. Easier to get a guy to make exceptions for a pretty face.
Difficult question to answer on yourself - but I'd say I'm cute but not a perfect 10
Congrats, but TBH, I'm a little surprised you got into two top 10s, especially MIT, given your GPA, as this in no way was happening for your male equivalent (unless ex military spec ops or having some super special hook). Being introspective, what was the #1 thing you think pushed the scales for you? Amazing interviews or connecting on the basis of your ECs?
Edit: also, how did you make the jump into corporate VC? In what industry if you don't want to name the firm? What were typical day to day activities and exit opps besides bschool (assuming someone would want to leave)?
Look - I respect your opinion, but you have no idea what a male candidate in similar shoes would have done. I've heard from multiple consultants that white woman do not have much of an advantage over white men anymore, especially in certain fields (consulting is a big one, but finance is catching up). That said, you also don't know what it's like or how you would have performed as the only woman on your team in 3 different positions. (BTW - I'm not one of the ones who gave you monkey shit). The reason I'm doing this AMA is because I did a lot of work to offset my low GPA and I was hoping to help others in the same situation.
Basically, I checked every box they look for to mitigate the low GPA and show its a fluke and it won't happen again. 1.) I was working almost full time when I got it (I did my 20 hours a week work study on campus, demonstrating financial need, and I worked as a waitress on weekends. i wrote my optional essay explaining this, 2.) I had a high GMAT, 3.) I took 2 extension school classes and got A+'s in them, and 4.) I had an upward trajectory both in my career and within positions (early promotion).
I think my special hook was a lot of the extras I did in VC, more like work extras than formal ECs (though I did do a lot on the EC front). I really went above and beyond my role and I think it showed through in my leadership related stuff, my examples of working with entrepreneurs (my favorite part of my job!). I was constantly volunteering at accelerators and speaking at conferences, which my bosses loved and raved about in my recs. I had a lot of meat to pull from in my essays when I was talking about accomplishments.
People ask me all the time how I made the VC jump and I wish i had a better story but I don't. So, I was pretty fed up with banking and ready to move, and I thought a good move would be to a financial analyst type role (thinking maybe FP&A but also corp strategy or whatever) at a tech company. I had basically given up on buyside dreams at this point (even though that, specifically VC, was originally my dream job). I just didn't work at strong enough banks to recruit on the buyside. Anyway, I'm poking around tech companies job postings and see one for the Corp VC arm of a F100 tech company. I applied, and like a week later someone emailed me to set up a phone interview. Obviously, I got the job. I had two phone interviews (first with the current associate who was leaving, second was with the hiring manager), and then they brought me in for a superday style interview where I met with most of the partner-level investors individually, as well as HR, and I had lunch with all the current associates.
Typical exit ops (besides b-school) include switching into another finance group in tech (the guys who did this made manager almost instantly and are now rising the ranks), or working for a portfolio company. Other guys have also stayed a really long and toiled away for a promotion, which some have gotten and some haven't. Typically people stay like 3 years. Day-to-day I'm sourcing companies, working on diligence and approval stuff for investments in process, and then managing portfolio company status. Unlike a traditional VC, I don't do LP and fund materials, but I do a lot of work with corporate accounting, tax, and treasury to get everything executed.
I wasn't hating, but rather stating a pretty well informed opinion, as I actually do have an idea of what male and female candidates go through in this obscene MBA rat race. I was admitted to three MBA business schools">M7 schools, interviewed at four, and I'm currently a 2nd year at one of them who helps on the admissions reading teams.
I said what I said because I've seen firsthand how crazy the admissions game is. For every one little-monkey getting in, there are another two women with a 3.3 engineering major GPA from a top 10 or 15 university, a 740 GMAT, and with "women in STEM outreach" ECs who didn't get in (although they were likely interviewed). They also did two half marathons and one full (this is legit on like every other female application).
As for men, the only guys I've seen even seen considered with a sub 3.0 GPA are ex-military who went to West Point or the naval academy, and did some pretty interesting things leading younger men in war or flying aircraft or helicopter missions. I think it disingenuous to say that women still don't have a leg up, especially on the borderline cases, which you are. Obvious admits are always obvious regardless of gender, but borderline women are always given second looks because of the push to get more women in bschool. I've read some rough data that shows women are still only around 35% of elite bschool apps, but they are getting admitted at 40%+ clips. Unless they far far outshine their male counterparts then that alone tells you that they get a slight bump (but to your point likely not as much as say a decade ago).
I do think the VC work was unique and interesting for pre-MBA experience, and as you stated above you think you interview well, which can be a big help at that stage. Anyways, again congrats, I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything.
I got into MIT, CBS, and UVA w/$$$ with a NYC in B4 advisory. I'm not any of the "special cases" you mentioned. I did the exact same things she did and it worked out.
Got any more ways to trivialize this woman's hard work?
Well no, as a URM with sub 660 GMAT that got in to multiple top b schools including HBS and Wharton, I can guarantee you that my race had something to do with it. It's pretty much commonly accepted among the URM community that its an advantage in b schools admissions, just like being female. (probably disadvantage many other areas, but just not in b school admissions)
But hey, feel free to play the white knight and defend someone on the internet you don't know if that makes you feel better, but it doesn't change the fact the whole female in finance thing when applying to b schools gives you a leg up.
Well, I think ECs matter. Another poster (I think it was BreakingoutofPWM) broke down the tiers and I thought it was really accurate.
1.) Top tier - this stuff can be game changing, but it's like - founding a nonprofit, starting a major international initiative to help those in need, competing in the olympics - that kind of thing. This is not casual community involvement, and it truly can move the needle.
2.) Mid-tier - check-the-box type community service, won't get you in, but shows that you are generally the kind of candidate who gets involved, cares (or at least pretends to care) about others, and can juggle multiple long term commitments. I think the last thing matters, because obviously you have your job - but they pay you to be there. Having a long term commitment to something you're not paid to do is a good indicator to b-schools. To be fair, I think most of my ECs were in this tier, but it did help me personally that my ECs fit really well into my overall narrative. Like, even though I didn't reinvent the wheel or solve poverty, I did most of my ECs around involvement in microfinance, which really played into my whole "I love working with founders" story I was pitching around my career. I think this can help otherwise average ECs have a bigger impact on your profile. I could be wrong, but even though the time commitment is similar, I felt having something I could craft a story around had higher value than, say, volunteering once a week at a soup kitchen.
3.) No ECs at all - could be a red flag, won't keep out a perfect candidate, but could be the decider between two similar candidates.