Yet another....

I know the "when should I?" question is posed a lot here, but I was hoping someone could opine on my current situation. I have been more open to going to B school than I have in the past. There are a few reasons for this; my specific industry is in trouble and I want the chance to re-do OCR.

I am wondering if my experience or lack thereof will place me at a disadvantage with admissions. Background: 3.3 from a top 10 public, not that impressive of a school though. ~2 years in ER/S&T at a boutique, and also opened a business that is pretty successful.

I am wondering if I should focus on my GMAT and application to apply before the Jan deadline or if I should continue working for a bit to gain some experience or even a promotion. I am looking at schools like NYU Stern, Duke, and other schools in that tier. I took a GMAT diagnostic recently and it showed some promise, but will definitely need some work.

To boil my question down: how much will additional work experience help me? I know that MBA applications are down, in some cases considerably. Apart of me feels like I should strike when the iron is hot (ASAP).

 

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Why not give the GMAT a go? It'll be necessary regardless and you can see depending on how you score if you want to apply.

Also, I'm not sure how much weight I'd put into applications being down. My intuition on candidate admissions is that people are bucketed against each other depending on career history. Applications are down but I think that's due to international students realizing they are getting fucked in the job market in the US these days - I'm not sure you'd be compared against them for a spot? Not sure if any of what I wrote is true but just a thought that came to mind

 

Thanks for the responses as well as the questions, should have clarified.

I am working in S&T right now, I run the business in my spare time. I took a GRE diagnostic and was in a higher range (70 percentile). I am working with a tutor and hoping to bring that into the 90+ percentile range, he is confident we can get there within 3 months.

Post MBA goals would be to work in a banking/advisory role. Later in life, after I earn my stripes, I would like to work in PE. The PE aspiration is more or less irrelevant at this point, it is my end goal.

To summarize: 3.2 out of UG (I thought it was a T10 public but it is T5), a few years of experience in equities (both S&T and ER). My tutor and I are targeting >90 percentile GRE, he feels this is realistic based on my diagnostic score. I would like to go to a T10 school, but I prefer NYU for a number of reasons. For what it is worth I am a URM. How realistic are my T10 aspirations?

I want to apply when my application is at its strongest and I've noticed that the median work experience (in years) at the schools I would like to go to are more than I currently have, how much of a material disadvantage is this?

 

Thanks for the responses as well as the questions, should have clarified.

I am working in S&T right now, I run the business in my spare time (it has been running for 2+ years now). I took a GRE diagnostic and was in a higher range (70 percentile). I am working with a tutor and hoping to bring that into the 90+ percentile range, he is confident we can get there within 3 months.

Post MBA goals would be to work in a banking/advisory role. Later in life, after I earn my stripes, I would like to work in PE. The PE aspiration is more or less irrelevant at this point, it is my end goal.

To summarize: 3.2 out of UG (I thought it was a T10 public but it is T5), a few years of experience in equities (both S&T and ER). My tutor and I are targeting >90 percentile GRE, he feels this is realistic based on my diagnostic score. I would like to go to a T10 school, but I prefer NYU for a number of reasons. For what it is worth I am a URM. How realistic are my T10 aspirations?

I want to apply when my application is at its strongest and I've noticed that the median work experience (in years) at the schools I would like to go to are more than I currently have, how much of a material disadvantage is this?

 
Most Helpful

You wrote that you took the GRE diagnostic. Most schools are agnostic between the GRE and the GMAT, but some IBs may prefer the GMAT. Not sure on that one. 90%+ will help you.

Was there any trend to your grades? (preferably upward).

A year of increasing responsibility and growth would benefit you from an admissions perspective. It will allow you to be more competitive in terms of your experience. And it will put a year of high performance between you and your mediocre undergrad GPA. Obviously if you just end up doing what you've been doing, the additional year won't have as much value.

I believe with a 90% on the GMAT/GRE and an additional year of impressive work experience, you are competitive in the T10. Are you competitive this year? Possibly. Would you be more competitive next year? Probably.

I think the decision boils down to whether the possibility of starting a year earlier is worth the effort even if the risk of rejection is higher. If you prefer to maximize the chances of applying only once or possibly getting into a "better" school, wait until next year. If you want some chance of starting your MBA in 2020, apply now.

If you'd like help with your application, please let me know.

Best, Linda

Linda Abraham President, Accepted | Contact Me | Admissions Consulting
 

Thank you for the comprehensive response. My industry is on the flatter side from a title perspective if that makes sense. There wouldn't be any real material difference in my title.

I'd really like to go to B school in 2020 so I guess I will have to try my luck.I am looking at your website now and will keep you in mind. I am glad to hear my aspirations aren't unrealistic. I know there is no way of knowing, but I didn't want to continue on an expensive and time consuming fool's errand.

 

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Linda Abraham President, Accepted | Contact Me | Admissions Consulting

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