Hi - read this site alot, but this is my first post. Any replies would be greatly appreciated.
Was hoping to get some perspective on my MBA business schools">M7 admission chances. Here are my details:
Education: Top-tier UK school (think Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial)
GPA: roughly 3.4 (2.1 in UK system)
GMAT: 730
Years of work experience: 2
Firm: Top-tier consulting firm but not MBB (think LEK, OWFS, Booz)
Solid extracurriculars
Assuming my recommendations are good, I'd like to know specifically:
-people's perspectives on entry shot as is
-whether I need to get another year or two work experience
-whether I should think about a switch to say Google for a year or two to add more to my resume.
Cheers
Out: HSW, Northwestern (Need more W/E) Maybe: Columbia, Chicago and Sloan. I'd consider adding a year or two of work experience before applying. What are your goals? What are you looking for geographically?
Why out H/W?!? HBS is full of people with that background... Maybe the only bad point is the GPA which is not 1.1 but 2.1 is still quite solid.
Why out? Nothing really stands out, you're a strong candidate, but so are most applicants, you have less W/E than most (the average age is 27 at HBS so figure on about 5 years of w/e) and as you said it's a common background, but most people have something that makes them stand out and differentiates themselves from the crowd.
Try the calculator, pretty good
http://www.aringo.com/mba_admission_chances_calculator.htm
[quote=lasampdoria]Try the calculator, pretty good
http://www.aringo.com/mba_admission_chances_calculator.htm[/quote]
Nice link ^
Thanks for the replies.
I have tried the calculator before, but I don't think its that great.
I agree with the w/e point but then my next question is whether to stick with my current job for another couple of years or move into an industry role at Google or a similar firm (I have an interview there). I'm trying to work out which would put me in na stronger positiongiven future career goals are MBB for a couple of years before moving into industry.
Any thoughts would again be appreciated. Cheers
Hi Smike, hope you don't mind my jumping in here. I see a lot of resumes for students at and trying to get into top business schools, and I would have to say that the experience of working both in a consulting firm and an actual company is probably stronger than just consulting. Some may argue, especially if you are on a fast track, but the problem (and beauty) of consulting is that you are an adviser only. That means that your influence is only as great as the client's inclination to accept it.
There's a different feel to a company that actually makes something too. ( I use the term "make" loosely here). Also, there's a difference in working for a company that is run by a partnership rather than one that is publicly held -- all of these factors will influence your experience. And it will influence your communication skills, another thing that will matter when you apply to business school.
So my thoughts on your specific question goes back to you: what's the downside of leaving after two years or so?
Best regards, Betsy
Oh and geographically the only real preference I have is for a big city or close to one (i.e. not in the middle of nowhere).
Feels like a scam after I ran it; the key difference between "strong" and "stretch" for M7 (for me at least) was the application-related criteria, which is the focus of the services Aringo is peddling. This is inevitable when they are giving over 40% weight to application essays/recs/resume.
Betsy, thanks for your comment.
I agree with you that it can certainly be beneficial to get some hands on experience within the business for a major firm. I think it is probably the right thing to do.
My only concerns are that I will actually get more leadership opportunity within my current firm, and that consulting firms are more traditional "feeders" of candidates to top business schools.
Also another factor I haven't made entirely clear - I am British and work in the UK. Not sure how that will affect my application.
I figured that you were a Brit. That is fine; makes no difference except on the upside; some of these non-consulting firms are still in their expansion stage in Europe and globally, so that gives you a chance to work on an exciting growth area of the business.
Be careful of false correlations about the "traditional feeder" jobs. Is it causation or correlation anyway? Sure, the consulting firms send a lot of people to business school, mostly because there is nowhere else for them to go. Also, there are more of them. Remember, you would be "just another guy from consulting firm" to the admissions office. Now that doesn't mean that you won't get looked at, but you don't get in only because you came straight from consulting. I see tons of resumes of people (at Harvard and Stanford) who leave consulting to get their hands dirty. Finally, all the firms you mentioned send people to business school as well. And, guess what, they hire from MBA programs!
Having said all that, if you want to stay at your job and your managers are going to give you more money and you simply want to see it through, that's a nice downside to have.
Make sense?
Betsy
It definitely makes sense. Thanks again for your comments, they've been very helpful.
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