Round 2 HBS dings
Expected it after not getting an interview two weeks ago, although it does grind my gears a little bit that someone from an old case team that I ran circles around got an interview and I didn't.
Any other monkeys want to commiserate?
Sorry to hear that, bro. B-school admissions is not entirely "merit" based, so inevitably people who are less qualified will get in for a plethora of reasons. Hopefully you will get into at least one of your top choices.
Good luck.
MBA admissions to any specific school = crap shoot. If you're good, you'll get into a good school though. Also, HBS tends to like kids who do everything right early on with high undergrad GPA rather than late bloomers that take chances and pulled it together with job performance/GMAT One of the smartest kids I know in finance with a stellar resume (gs -> PE megafund) got rejected from HBS this year so you're in good company.
770 GMAT and MBB experience... that sucks
Did you apply to Stanford?
Reading this post and the post below it makes me smile. Potential full ride to Cornell with a non-target sub 3 gpa, and 700 GMAT, while the 770 MBB guy is getting dinged. I'm assuming OP didn't apply to Cornell, but I'd be curious what the results were if he did.
got into cornell with an invite to their scholarship weekend, lets go full ride!!! wiating on duke and yale
congrats STW
Congrats Short. You've got a great story, and the fact you are where you are shows schools you won't fail.
No, I didn't apply to Cornell. Yes to Stanford.
Petergibbons - I'm at MBB too, with some insanely cool case experience and a promotion under my belt. Got dinged from HBS flat out in R2 as well - stings to not get an interview, huh? Now I'm waiting on Stanford for an interview invite, and I've interviewed at Wharton... That's why I applied to multiple schools I guess, but I'm still pretty surprised that most people (90+% anecdotally) at my shop got interviews and I got a flat ding.
Now I'm trying to figure out whether (assuming I get in) I should go to Wharton. Great school, but it worries me that there's a lot of poison around about W being H/S' safety school. I have a top 3 undergrad, I don't really need the HBS/Stanford "glow", but I don't want to be seen as having an inferiority complex for the rest of my life - I've dealt with not being at Harvard before and I managed just fine!
Is this for real?
As for W, that is definitely a HBS/GSB reject school. Though still a great school of course, but when you're at the top of everything else (e.g. top ugrad to top BB job to top buyside fund etc), W definitely seems like a step down.
i dont think theres any external inferiority complex with wharton, only if you create one in your mind ;P
i dont think theres any external inferiority complex with wharton, only if you create one in your mind ;P
I've definitely met people at my firm from Wharton with an HBS inferiority complex. People who are 5+ years out, absolute rockstars (i.e. top 10% of their class, early promotions) who still talk about their HBS ding with bitterness.
duffmt6 - not sure which part of my post you're responding to. To be clear, I think Wharton's a great school - I have friends there who love it who came from PE, MBB, etc., and colleagues here who attended and enjoyed themselves. From an education and reputation standpoint, I'd be thrilled to go there and I really hope I get in.
HOWEVER - I think it's fairly undeniable that Wharton gets the "Princeton" treatment. That is to say, people talk about silly shit like how there's Harvard and Yale, then Princeton, then everyone else. Is it true? No. Is it possible that there's some influence in public perception of Princeton, the #1 school in USN that still comes in third when the public discusses the Ivy trio? Yeah, probably.
My point is just that - if I'm lucky enough to get into Wharton - I just want to do my due diligence to know that I'm not going to get sandbagged because some tool recruiter at Awesome VC, Inc is all over HBS and Stanford grads and can't stand those "3rd best HBS reject" Wharton kids.
I'm sure this comes off as exceptionally douchey, but for the people on this board who share a similar background I'm sure you get what I'm saying... my opinion of Wharton is really high, but that's not what matters when I'm spending $200K, losing out on $300K+ of income and my next promotion where I am.
This doesn't make sense to me. Princeton as the neglected of HYP? If anything, Princeton always seemed above H/Y from an undergrad perspective given that its been ranked #1 the most and has such an emphasis on undergrad education.
Also, who do you know who says there's H/Y and then Princeton?
You will never get into HBS using sentance structure like "I myself . . ."
Come again? Stylin' on you from the top of my pedestal son. Come at me bro.
I understand bleedblue's perspective.
I'm an associate at a large PE fund, and the associates here definitely consider Wharton to be their back-up school. Not that they wouldn't go there if it is the only place they were admitted, but they definitely consider there to be a substantial gap between H/S and Wharton.
The reason is that all the top PE shops primarily recruit at H and S (although some certainly do at W as well). Also, nearly all the partners went to H or S. So the perception is that if you want to get a VP job at a large fund, you need to get into H or S.
I came to PE from MBB, where this attitude was definitely not present. I worked at MBB in Chicago, so lots of people would go to Kellogg or Booth. Some people even chose Kellogg or Booth over Harvard because of location and better experience (Kellogg is easily the most fun program, even if Harvard wins on other metrics, including prestige, alumni network, recruiting, etc.). Anyway, I was shocked when I started at my current fund and realized that most associates felt that it was H/S or bust.
However, I reject the notion that W is a "back-up school", even if some people at my fund (and other large funds) consider it as such. I think such an attitude reveals arrogance and obsession with prestige, two character traits I hope I don't develop. I plan to apply to H/S, but will also be applying to Wharton, Kellogg, and Booth. Would be happy to go to any of those schools. The experience, recruiting, and alumni at any of those schools are fantastic, and being admitted to any of them is a major accomplishment.
All that said, I would estimate that a large % of Wharton students were rejected by HBS. I'm sure there is significant overlap between the two schools' applicant pools. I'm sure some students choose Wharton over HBS each year (perhaps for the Lauder program, or for scholarship money, or location), but my guess is most Wharton students would go to HBS if they were admitted. Just a hunch. But that doesn't make Wharton a sub-par program in any way.
Marrying the third-hottest supermodel in the world should certainly not be considered a failure, even if the first and second hottest turned you down.
Hmm, good call New Guy on "I myself" - I always thought this was wrong. Whatever it still annoys me.
On H/S/W - I think Dagwood's supermodel analogy is awesome. Either way, I often hear H/S/W spoken in the same breath these days, especially by young people. I don't think there is any illusion that someone who went to Wharton can't do the work that someone who went to Harvard or Stanford can. If anything there may be slightly different networks at each school, with Harvard having the network edge.
Can there be a seperate website for B-school convos and prestige?
I'm generalising, but there tend to be more Wharton guys at the senior levels in REPE than Harvard & Stanford. Maybe its because of the programme/school or the fact that RE is heavily skewed to finance as opposed to general business.
Another factor is that a lot of the senior guys at the top REPE funds or RE hedge funds attended Wharton for Undergrad... in this niche Wharton is definitely not second fiddle to HBS/Stanford.
I'd still go to HBS over Wharton though, simply for the overall branding... I haven't met anyone from Stanford at a senior level in REPE, would take Wharton over GSB if my REPE career was my only focus.
Wharton ugrad > Wharton MBA so not a relevant comparison (prestige wise)
As for RE, yes Wharton MBA has a very good specialist RE programme so it makes sense for its alumni to be plentiful in the REPE business.
I think for a finance-oriented MBA, Wharton is not at all behind Harvard and Stanford. So, for a pure-finance applicant with every intention of staying in finance post-MBA, I can't imagine putting H and S ahead of W.
Well this is just fkn depressing after looking at your experience and GMAT.... Had a friend from undergrad that got into HBS with a GMAT, and no experience in corporate/ibanking/anything that stands out... Though she did start a non-profit that aimed to reduce tuna consumption (slaps) in our local market (Hawaii, again SLAPS)...
fist bump
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