What career would put you in the best position for top MBA admission?
Analyst in GS/MS asset management or analyst in boutique PE shop with solid deal experience?
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I would have to go with the PE shop. You can show that you've learned a lot more because of deal flow (more LBO modeling) and because you get the chance to make decisions in an operational context with your portfolio companies (you may not get that with a big PE firm).
hi bankerchic,
do you have a boyfriend? can you give me your email address?
thanks, blumie
A swing and a miss...
The world has changed. And we must change with it.
blumie again!
military
As long as you can convey the depth of your PE experience in your application you should be golden. And recruiting PE will be a lot easier with previous buyside experience.
What will put you in a very competitive position is that you are a woman.
Yea Blumie is the man...I think it is a tough call as MBA programs value both name recognition MS/GS and entrepreneurial experience, which a boutique PE shop would provide assuming that they are doing deals and are not in danger of imploding. I chose the latter option out of school 3.5 years ago and have been rewarded but again the environment is drastically different and without our existing management fees and portfolio companies life would be miserable for a shop like mine. Feel free to PM for specific advice (and dont worry I wont be soliciting you for a date)
haha Blumie, no can do. I do have a boyfriend. Thanks for all your advice. I will be graduating from a semi-target with a 3.8 GPA and have not yet taken the GMAT but am scoring ~730-740 on practice exams. I think that my grades and scores combined with a great experience at a smaller PE shop would make me relatively competitive. Any thoughts on my overall stats and chances at H/W/S a few years out?
3.7 GPA and 720 - 740 GMAT are average for top business school. Give or take .2 in GPA and 20-40 in GMAT
Not school (including H/S) has a 3.7 avg GPA. Only Stanford has an avg GMAT higher than 720.
I think there is a big misconception on this board about MBA programs. While you definitely need to have the competitive GMAT and GPA to "check the box," being able to tell your story in a way that will make you stand out. I.e. what makes you unique, what are your accomplishments? What else have you done in your life beside work? Why you are pursuing an MBA? Being able to make yourself stand out is really what is going to get you in or not. There is not a lot of difference between at 3.5 and a 3.9 and a 710 and a 740.
Totally agree w/ goalieman688. I recently read a thread on BW forums about PE people having a tough time getting into B-school. e.g. H- ding, S-ding, W-WL. Keep in mind Bschools need diversity, so they can't let in ibankers, consultants, finance guys left and right.
Also, keep in mind that you need to PROVE that you need an MBA. What does a PE guy need an MBA for? To go back into PE? It can be a tough sell. Again, you need to use your essays to sell yourself and show that you need an MBA to take the next step.
I hate to generalize, but amongst the strongest candidates I've seen tend to be the following:
(1) US military officers - especially in the last 7 years of war time; of all the extraordinary experiences and achievements I have seen amongst candidates, a disproportionate amount come from these men and women who did so with far greater humility than other MBA applicants;
(2) Public service blue chip candidates - those with strong GPAs from top schools (Ivy or equivalent) who went into a career with a public service bent - Teach For America, Peace Corps, NGOs, speechwriters and assistants for elected officials, etc. Some of these folks may also include the McKinsey/Goldman types who ditched the firms after 1-2 years and worked in a public service career full-time.
Of course not every person who falls into either of these two categories is automatically a strong candidate, but by and large the most coveted candidates tend to fall into these two categories. And the reason adcoms place a premium on these two categories is because these two categories have one thing in common: they are full-time jobs whose primary mission is more about service and serving others or putting one's self in service of a larger mission than it is about personal enrichment. And the fact that one can do that at a young age or stage in their working life also says something about their values. It's leadership in service of a group, mission, ideal, etc. And even if there are a few that do it purely for cynical reasons (to get into b-school, at least with the public service crowd), the very nature of their experience gives them more compelling raw material to work with.
The good news is, these people are hardly an overrepresented category. That leaves plenty of room for the traditional finance/consultant types (in whatever permutation of firms and alma maters) to squeeze in.
hi bankerchic,
it is okay, i will wait for you.
yours, blumie
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