At this point, I believe round 1 applicants have heard back from all their schools. I'm curious as to how the WSO members fared during the round. I know a very close friend who should have been a near shoe-in at HBS got rejected (but accepted at Stanford), so I'm under the impression that this year is far tougher than prior years.
Any success stories from the WSO crowd? Would love to hear as I plan to apply for the class of 2013.
| +39 | Wharton Huntsman Program vs Yale vs Dartmouth | 40 | 12h | |
| +32 | Umich Ross vs Rice vs Notre Dame Mendoza | 17 | 10h | |
| St Andrews vs LSE vs Middlebury | 18 | 4s | ||
| +26 | Target School Kids Stop Complaining | 6 | 12h | |
| +24 | Oxbridge or Top 15 US School. | 7 | 2h | |
| +23 | SHOULD I DO THIS MINOR? | 16 | 1d | |
| +22 | UCL Vs Warwick Vs Umass Amherst Vs UW Madison Vs UofT for undergrad | 21 | 14h | |
| +20 | LSE BSc Economics vs Cambridge BA Economics | 7 | 4h | |
| +19 | Imperial College Finance Masters' | 5 | 21h | |
| +16 | Why is Boston College CSOM praised so much here? | 10 | 4d |
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How did you do?
whats kind of stats do you consider a near shoe in for HBS?
not questioning you or your friend's judgement, just wanted to know for self-interest
WYP Undergrad -- with numerous leadership positions as president / founder of various clubs. Very high GPA. 3 Years Work Experience at McKinsey / Bain at matriculation. Continuing community service involvement since a very young age. Female candidate with parents that are HBS alumni and donate to the school regularly. Don't know her GMAT, but I'd be shocked if she scored less than 750.
To me, I thought she was a no-brainer, but I suppose that wasn't the case. To me, it just proves the randomness of the process, and makes me second-guess my chances!
That does sound like a no brainer. Maybe it was the errant Rec or a rushed essay :/
BOO HOO, now she has to settle for Stanford GSB
Dinged H/W, No HBS interview, got Wharton interview. Not really suprised. Interview with Darden in a couple weeks. Starting to regret not doing Columbia ED.
If you guys don't mind, would you please share relevant stats? (i.e. work experience, gmat, u-grad school and gpa, extracurriculars, volunteer work, etc.)
Thanks!
I applied to H/W/S/K for round 1; now considering two of those schools, got rejected by the other two without interviews.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got my first acceptance. I knew that all I needed to do was get into one of the schools I applied to in order to move onto my next steps in my career. This is a really challenging year to apply to business school without exaggeration.
Quick snapshot of my background: Top-5 undergraduate university, good grades, mid-700's GMAT, ~3 years experience in bulge bracket equity research and ~2 years experience in middle-market private equity, and some non-profit leadership and athletics outside of work.
I think the most important things are to tell a unique story, and have clear reasons for why MBA, why now, and what you hope to do afterward. Also spend time working with your recommenders to make sure they highlight the various aspects of your personality/character that you think are indispensable to the school, citing specific examples to back them up. You want the adcom to read your essays and have them see you as someone that really jumps off the page. Other than that, just count your blessings and pray.
Do I feel fortunate to get into business school this year? Yes, of course. Were there many other qualified candidates that didn't get into an excellent program? Yes, I'm sure there were many. Were there people that were less qualified but got into the schools where I wasn't even granted an interview? Perhaps there are, but that's neither here nor there. Every top business school has a limited amount of spots, and at some point, it becomes a roll of the dice. Focus on the things that you can control, and once you turn in your application, don't drive yourself silly speculating about what admissions is thinking. There are people with fine careers out of each of the top business schools, and the common trait among most of these people is that they were very successful individuals well before business school!
So, I think if anyone's seriously considering school this year, it doesn't hurt to apply to a bunch of schools. There is a certain fixation over the top schools, but the reality is that if you come from a front-office investment bank or private equity job, you'll do fine coming out of business school. Having relevant pre-MBA experience matters a lot more than whether you went to a top-2, top-5, or top-10 business school, so my personal opinion is that if you can get into such a program, go for it and be lucky that you got into a great school during what is probably the most difficult year in history to be applying for business school.
Of course, it's inevitable to worry about the application process as you go through it, but the thing that my friends in business school keep telling me is that a year from now, all of that stuff will be in the rear view mirror as you'll be running around trying to find a job as a first-year MBA student. Do the best you can on your applications, but try not to lose perspective and remember to be kind to your family and friends.
I hope this helps or at least provides some perspective on things. Best of luck, everyone!
One last thing I have to add is that in your essays and applications, focus on WHO you are rather than discussing WHAT you've done. For every question that admissions committees ask, either implicitly or explicitly they really want to know WHY you made certain decisions in your life and HOW they've turned you into who you are. It doesn't even necessarily have to do with work! Admissions committees do want to know that you have clearly articulated goals, but just as importantly they want to know who you are as it's their job to put together a diversified and interesting class.
Accepted round 1 to HBS. Got dinged by Chicago after interview and Wharton didn't interview. It's nice to be done with apps.
gordon.gecko, I know two military guys at Darden. UVA is extremely military friendly. Might also look into Cornell, they have a very military friendly scool as well.
How the fu&^k did you not get an interview at Wharton but make R1 HBS? They interview like 40% of their applicants. God I hate this MBA bull$hit.
I know Darden is mil friendly, but I wanted a prestigeous name on my resume, not a "I couldnt get into a better school so I am grinding it out at this top 16 ranked place with a 50% yield" name. Unfortunately, I seem to fit the profile pretty well for what I just described.
Gordon, don't freak out too much about it...the reality is, getting an MBA from any top school will help you make the transition that you need...this is a very competitive year so just crank hard. A lot of people think that going to a top 3 or top 5 university is like the magic way to get the job of your dreams, but in fact, most of the people that get awesome jobs out of business school had great jobs beforehand. Seriously, it's not like going to Stanford GSB is going to help you transition from IT to becoming a VP at a leading buyout shop just because you have the Stanford name...but for some reason people get so caught up in this stuff. Kinda reminds me about the way people obsessed about college rankings when they applied to school, when in fact your chances of getting a good job out of undergrad is pretty consistently good anywhere out of the top 10. Just don't get caught up in the hype and do what you have to do...Darden is no slouch
Thanks
Yeah, don't worry too much about it. It truly is a crap shoot. You just don't know what adcom is thinking. My buds at Darden are still looking at ibanking as a career, and if you can find some Air Force guys on the street that should help. apparently they aren't as numerous as army guys, but that might be an advantage. Scarcity might make them more willing to help out a fellow grad.
UVA has lots of access to Wall Street. If you're up for doing I-Banking in the south, UVA is definitely one of the best programs. Some of the best MM banks recruit primarily out of UVA for the SE, which is great. I know the shop I used to work at had a number of military guys turned I-banking associates.
Stats: GMAT 750 - High GPA at Ivy Five years military
Results: HBS, MIT, Chicago Booth (accepted) Stanford, Wharton (ding w/o interview)
Going to Chicago Booth, planning BB IBD after school.
You are turning down HBS for Booth??? Why? Did they give you money?
I am taking Columbia over Booth (no money from either school). The more I see people do stuff like you (turn down HBS for Booth) it makes me question my choice.
B schools have a lot of overlap when it comes to applicants, especially the top 5. Other professional schools as well as undergrads share info. They know when someone has been accepted at a major competitor for example. Many will often not admit those admitted to a higher ranked school to steam line the process of admissions and to make offers to other qualified candidates they feel would accept their offer without having to think about it. Not saying some are not admitted to all top schools, but many will not be fought over only to tie up a spot in the next class and have some smart guy leverage a competitors offer. Schools unfortunately have egos too...they don't want to be turned down any more than we do.
I have been accepted to LBS.
Accepted at Booth & Columbia? Congrats!! Columbia will set you up nicely.
I did not apply to Columbia, so I cannot really comment on the Booth vs Columbia match up. I have not really given that a ton of thought.
On the subject of Booth over the other schools that I picked from. I choose it because of the strength of the finance education and the school in general. I actually got this question in another forum, and I think that it is legitimate, but odd that it gets asked on this forum which is finance focused. Booth is a finance school, HBS is a general management school, and MIT is a technology and innovation school. Sure all send a lot of people to a lot of places, but those are the core missions of each. All of the top programs are pretty amazing, but I think that people tend to get a little over impressed with brands, this is ultimately about education.
I plan to go into finance, and thus Booth makes the most sense. If I wanted to run GE, I would likely have gone to a general management program.
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