Tuck/Ross/McCombs/Kelley Through Consortium

dmagnia

All,

This has been a very awesome application season for me as I went 4/5 (dinged @ HBS). I applied to the four schools through the Consortium and received a fellowship offer to Tuck which was my #1 choice.

My stats are as follows:

26 yo male/Hispanic/Army Officer/3.1 GPA(regional state school)/650 GMAT

How in the hell did I get into these schools?!? Obviously the schools paid no attention to the numbers. I would like to think that my essays and work experience/personal background is what pushed me in to the admit pile. The leadership piece obviously played a huge role in the interviews yet I still thought I bombed my Tuck interview.

As far as lessons learned, I would definitely heed the advice of one of my good friends cgiles and start to prepare early. I took my Kaplan course in JUN/JUL, GMAT in JUL, again in AUG (and did worse), and then worried about my essays. The Consortium only has 2 rounds and I applied to the first one available as I am an impatient person. I did not utilize the services of a consultant other than posting my profile and taking Amy's advice when it came to school selection. I sent my essays to probably 2-4 people (peers, friends, coworkers...no family!). One thing I would say when it comes to essays is that you have to learn to let go...meaning, every time I read my essays I would find an apostrophe missing or some other minor grammatical error, I must have read my essays 50+ times so it got to be quite frustrating. My best essay, in my opinion, was the one I wrote for Ross which I wrote once in 2 hours and revised just prior to submission.

I used the optional essay to highlight quantitative course work on my transcripts and to discuss scenarios when I was able to meet or exceed a challenge (tying this back into the rigorous coursework expected at a top program) which I believe mitigated my score. On a sidenote I just had a friend get into both Wharton and Stanford with a 610, best part is that she applied R3...lesson? The GMAT is not a deal breaker!

As far as ECs go, I was pretty involved in college. Given my occupation, I was not as involved post UG. I do consider myself to be well rounded and I used the essays to highlight this feature.

Regarding interviews, I would definitely suggest using one of your lower ranked schools as a warmup. Tuck was my first interview, McCombs my last and the McCombs one was far superior to my Tuck experience. The funny thing is that when I got the admit, Tuck mentioned my interview as a key to admission.

People always talk about fit and after going through the process I think this is huge. I want a small tight knit community so Tuck suits me perfectly. For others, Hanover may be a hard adjustment. Take the time to visit the schools. Minorities...be sure to apply for diversity weekends, these are great ways to explore various schools.

As the Consortium is open to everyone, I suggest people that are committed to its mission to apply through the Consortium.

www.cgsm.org

Hope this helps and lastly, good luck to everyone. You will find me freezing my ass off in Hanover this fall.

-D

mwilliams · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 2:13 pm Post subject:

4 for 5 is amazing! Congratulations on everything and you must be an excellent writer to get into such great schools. Hope you enjoy your MBA experience!

parore26 · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 6:38 am Post subject:

Hi DMagnia.

Congratulations on your success. What exactly is the Consortium application? I looked at their website and I'm very interested in Tuck. Do you think there are any advantages to applying through the Consortium application if I'm only interested in one of those schools. I'd appreciate your response and hopefully I'll join you at Tuck in a year's time Wink

Best of Luck!

dmagnia · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:03 am Post subject:

Parore, you are automatically considered for a fellowship once you apply to a school via the Consortium. Yale is the newest addition to the Consortium so you now have 14 schools to choose from of which you can apply to 6 using the common Consortium app. If Tuck is the place you want to be, apply early action and let them know you will be applying through the Consortium. I believe this may be addressed somewhere on the Tuck website actually.

The Consortium app should be available late Aug/early Sep.

Best of luck!

molt_llest · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

Congratulations!

I would like to know more about applying through the consortium, how can I do it? (I tried to find a link in the consortium web but I'm pretty lost)

And am I eligible? (I'm from europe)

dmagnia · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 3:39 pm Post subject:

Molt, one has to be either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to qualify... they also must support the following mission:

The mission of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of leading American business schools and some of our country’s top corporations, is to enhance diversity in business education and leadership by helping to reduce the serious underrepresentation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in both our member schools’ enrollments and the ranks of management.

One of the essays on the app will be one that demonstrates support to the mission. Also, you will have to submit a letter of recommendation that deals with your commitment to the mission. Hope this helps.

-D

RonMexico · Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:22 am Post subject:

Dmag,

Congrats on the acceptances! I am in a somewhat similar boat to you (hispanic military officer), and am looking to doing the consortium thing.

A quick question, how did you interview with the consortium? Did one interview cover all the schools? I am posted in the United Kingdom as an exchange pilot, so getting back to the US is a rare treat. Did you have any problems with the interview process and your work schedule?

-Ron

dmagnia · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject:

RonMexico,

I interviewed with a Consortium alum as I did not think I would be getting a chance to visit the various schools I was applying to, however, some schools will require an additional interview (i.e Ross) separate from the Consortium one as part of the admissions process. For a school like Tuck I think it is imperative to visit and interview with them as well as they want you to experience life in Hanover if even for a day (my opinion). I started networking with my interviewer once I knew I would be applying through the Consortium. Consortium alums are all over the world and it would not surprise me if you found one near your duty station. I am not sure if the list of available interviewers is accessible now but just keep checking back with the website or call over to CGSM and ask if they know of anyone available in your area. Best of luck!

DM

QualityOfLife · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject:

HI DM (I wish I would have seen this earlier so we could have connected at OP) and everyone else.

I've posted a few times on here before, but I just wanted to be another resource for anyone who may be interested in applying or learning more about the Consortium.

I'll be going to Tepper at Carnegie Mellon in the fall and I am a Consortium Fellow as well. I, too, wanted a small program and Tepper certainly provides that for me. They also offer a Computational Marketing track which is what really attracted me to their program, before even knowing anything about their reputation or their involvement in the Consortium.

I don't know how I get in either. I honestly thought they were going to burst out in laughter at my application (esp. my GMAT score which was a mess Shocked

), but somehow I got in. I like to think it was my recommendations, essays, interview...heck, every other part of the application EXCEPT the GMAT score...lol. Oh...and the simple fact that it was meant to be!
*Note: Tepper does not require an additional interview. My interview was with a Consortium alum, Simon at University of Rochester Class of 1983 - she is now a VP and Chief of Internal Audit at Coca-Cola...the Consortium's mission/vision in action!

I URGE everyone who demonstrates a genuine commitment to its mission to apply via the Consortium. After attending the Consortium's Orientation Program (and I'm sure DM will agree 100%), I feel EXTREMELY blessed to be in the Consortium and have the opportunity and network that it provides available to me. In addition, I also want to recommend the Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) program to any minorities who are interested in applying to b-school for Fall 2010 entry.

http://www.ml4t.org/join/programs/mba

I found out about MLT's deadline too late, but I have friends who are in it and there are many Consortium members who are alums, so I definitely recommend it.

Feel free to send me a pm if you want to talk more!

Oh and DM, I definitely feel your pain. Pittsburgh is certainly not on my top 10 (or 70) places to live long-term...and I will most definitely have to get re-acclimated to harsh winters! lol

wawatan · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:26 pm Post subject:

hi QualityOfLife,
what was your gmat score? im also interested in applying to carnegie mellon. thanks.