Questions about Harvard/Stanford/Wharton

What's up,

I'm interesting in applying to these b-schools. Does anyone here have a good resource for information on the application process and strategies for getting accepted?

Also, from a personal experience, can anyone here comment on the workload / lifestyle and time commitment of these top MBA programs? I'm an investment banking analyst so I'm not afraid of a little hard work, but I've heard some consider it a vacation compared to what we do.

Thanks in advance.

3 Comments
 

Workload? Business school is a joke. If you're really an investment banking analyst, you should know that by now.

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Best Response

Clear Admit, an admissions consulting company, has a great blog with general strategies and school-specific info for all of the top programs: blog.clearadmit.com

MBA Podcaster has some decent content, if you'd rather listen than read.

Then of course there are things like the vault and businessweek forums, but, like any message board they can be unreliable (uh, present company excluded...)

To give you the short version of how to get in, do this: work really hard, get promoted/raises/top bonuses, and make strong connections with your superiors so you can get outstanding recommendations; in the process demonstrate leadership, teamwork, and strong ethics so you can write outstanding essays (you will also need clearly defined short- and long-term career goals, plus school-specific reasons for wanting an MBA), blow out the GMAT, have a strong GPA from a target school, have interesting hobbies, ECs, etc. including things like community service. In short, be a superstar in every way, and then do a proper job of conveying your superstardom to the adcom, while remaining humble. And then do well in the interview, too.

For what it's worth, from what I've heard, business school is more work than a normal job, less work than an IB job.

 

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