Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

Deferring doesn't always work. I tried to do that when I got into Haas, but no luck. Some really top tier schools (HBS, Stanford--I think) have been known to allow deferrals, but I think it's a mixed policy.

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Sorin Istrate - Community Manager

MBA Watch - Your one-stop shop for all MBA program research

Why did you want to defer Haas if you got into Stanford?

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Blogged my way through the application process, and 1st year of school, now a 2nd yr at the Johnson School at Cornell University - Follow my MBA journey here @ www.money9111.blogspot.com | 2 New Posts on 3/5

Alumni networking app that shows you your alumni near you when you're on the go! http://www.MyAlumniApplication.com

Spectator for Another Year

Well, I finally made the decision that I will be a spectator during this upcoming application season. I talked with a lot of people about my situation and feel it is in my best interest to hold off another year. I know that I will have some significant achievements and leadership opportunities in the next year. Thus, I will have an increased chance of admission at my target schools next year. Additionally, I think by waiting another year that gives the economy more time to rebound and that job opportunities will increase by the time I graduate b-school.

I have visited most of my target schools, so this coming year I will focus on talking with as many students as possible at my target schools.

So my b-school journey will continue for quite sometime! I look forward to blogging about my continued experience. I will work on the debrief from my Fuqua campus visit this weekend so be on the lookout for it!

Crazy Times

Well, it has been quite awhile since I posted anything on my blog. I still haven't got around to the Duke debrief from months ago, but I hope to get around to that sometime soon!

The main reason I have been inactive is because I changed jobs at my company. That has kept me pretty busy. I am now working in Treasury/Finance and I am enjoying the new position. I am still planning to apply to b-school next year. Right now, I am going to keep my options open, but I am strongly considering applying to Tepper's Flex-Time program. It seems to be a logical choice for me if I decide to stay in Pittsburgh (let's see how I feel after winter).

I have some interesting ideas for my blog. I plan to make some changes to the blog and incorporate some new ideas. Be on the lookout for the changes in the future!

2010-2011 Full Time B-School Tuition



I like to look at things visually, so I put a quick graph together on b-school tuition for the Top 25 schools from the U.S. News ranking. I think you will see that the tuition for private schools is pretty consistent. The thing that sticks out the most is the in-state tuition for some of the public schools. For example, a non-resident of North Carolina would pay an additional $22,124 in tuition at Kenan-Flagler for the 2010-2011 school year. What I am getting at from this post is if you have a top public school in your state, I highly recommend looking into it!

One aspect I want to discuss more in my blog is the financial impact of business school. Many of my family and friends ask me why I want to take on the financial burden of business school. Although b-school is expensive, I don't see it as a financial burden, but as an investment in my future.

Last year, I developed a spreadsheet to look at the NPV of attending various b-schools. I plan to update the spreadsheet in the coming weeks and will post it on my blog when it is complete. [/img]

Inside the MBA Tour

I attended the Inside the MBA Tour last year when it was in Pittsburgh. I enjoyed the event and was hoping that the tour would be back in Pittsburgh this year. I just found out that it will be in Pittsburgh on October 27th, but I won't be around that day!!

Here are the schools that are going to be in Pittsburgh on the 27th:

Carnegie Mellon University
Georgetown University
Indiana University
Purdue University
University of Maryland
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis
Case Western Reserve University
Emory University
Pennsylvania State University
Temple University
University of Minnesota
University of Pittsburgh

I am pretty disappointed because I really want to talk with Washington University in St. Louis and learn more about the program.

Private Equity

Today, I sat in on a meeting that included presentations from some big banks, asset managers, and a private equity firm. I have to say, private equity is by far the most interesting. The person presenting today was actually the chairman of the PE firm and he was phenomenal. This particular PE firm specializes in buyouts and targets companies in the 150-500M range. They have been extremely successful and are looking to start a new fund (that's why they were visiting of course). One of the slides that the PE firm presented had a list of the partners, principals, vice presidents and associates. Two things struck me as I looked at this slide:

1) All but one of the partners were HBS grads.
2) There were no women working with the company.

I guess point 1 isn't that surprising, but I was surprised that there were no women working at the firm. It just seemed like it was the all HBS boys club!

Can anyone that is in or wants to be in PE provide any insight if it is similar with other PE firms?

there's a girl in the mba blogosphere who is in PE... shoot me a message if you'd like her blog address

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Blogged my way through the application process, and 1st year of school, now a 2nd yr at the Johnson School at Cornell University - Follow my MBA journey here @ www.money9111.blogspot.com | 2 New Posts on 3/5

Alumni networking app that shows you your alumni near you when you're on the go! http://www.MyAlumniApplication.com

Get the GMAT out of the way

If there is one thing that I recommend more than any other when considering applying to business school, it's get the GMAT out of the way very early! This was best thing that I did. Seriously, the application process is stressful enough and I'm not even applying until next year. I know that this isn't relevant for those of you that are applying for MBA programs this year. However, if you know one or two years in advance that you are going to be applying to MBA programs, get the GMAT beast out of the way!

I finished my GMAT over a year ago now, but I took the GMAT twice. My first attempt was in June 2009 and I was so nervous going into the test center. I didn't know what to expect that day. All I could think about was getting close to my target score of 700, and I did get close with a 690. Unfortunately, I couldn't get that 690 out of my head and had to give the GMAT another shot. I signed up for my 2nd attempt in July 2009 and ended up with a 710. That put me in the 80% range of all of my target schools.

Overall, I put in a lot of effort studying for the GMAT. Actually, I just looked to see when I signed up for BeatTheGMAT because that is when I began studying for the GMAT. It was April 6, 2008 that my GMAT journey began. As you can tell, I took the GMAT pretty serious by studying for over a year. OK, OK, I admit my studying was off and on at first, but atleast I got started. Here I am over two years later and my GMAT is out of the way. Now, all of my time can be spent researching schools, visiting schools, talking with current students, and of course blogging about my adventure.

Great advice Dave. Getting the GMAT over with is definitely a huge relief later in the process.

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Sorin Istrate - Community Manager

MBA Watch - Your one-stop shop for all MBA program research

i second - third - fourth - fifth - sixth that notion!

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Blogged my way through the application process, and 1st year of school, now a 2nd yr at the Johnson School at Cornell University - Follow my MBA journey here @ www.money9111.blogspot.com | 2 New Posts on 3/5

Alumni networking app that shows you your alumni near you when you're on the go! http://www.MyAlumniApplication.com

I thought you would like that

Does Undergrad Institution Matter?

Below is a video that was posted on Business Week of Jim Dean, the dean of the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. In the video he briefly discusses whether undergrad institution matters.

http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=f06ab2e07d68beb674edc579d664ebf3eb25fef5&rf=bm

To summarize:
Undergrad intuition matters somewhat but it isn’t the only thing that matters. Prospective students that went to a prestigious undergrad institution and excelled could have a leg up. However, Kenan-Flagler is impressed with prospective students with backgrounds that did not allow for them to get into a prestigious school, yet they still excelled in school and had great experiences.

I like this topic because I didn’t go to a prestigious school. I am actually the first in my nuclear family to graduate from college and I think that is something that I can bring out in my application. I didn’t really have the background to get into an Ivy League school out of high school, yet I still excelled and had great experiences. Instead of seeing this as a weakness, I will do my best to turn this into a strength in my essays.

Interview with BTG member accepted to HBS, Booth, and Kellogg

I am preparing some interview questions to send to BeatTheGMAT member eskimoroll (Alex). Alex was recently accepted to HBS, Booth, and Kellogg in the first round. Congratulations, Alex! That is very impressive and I am EXTREMELY jealous!

Alex agreed to answer some questions from me about the application process. I will be posting this Q&A interview to my blog in the coming days. If any of my readers have questions they would like to see answered by Alex, now is your chance to let me know!