I am interested in my chances at top 20 b-schools. I applied round 2 to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, UCLA, NYU, Columbia.
Rejected from Harvard and Columbia. Recently Interviewed at UCLA - still waiting for final decision. I am curious what you think my chances are at the remaining schools and if you believe there are any programs I may have overlooked that I should consider for round 3.
Here are my stats and background:
29-year-old white male, 55 months FT work experience
690 GMAT
3.9 Undergrad GPA - Honors Program in Economics (very quantitative) at UC school (think San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine)
3.5 Grad GPA - Masters of Accounting (MAcc) from highly ranked Accounting Program (think UT-Austin or University of Southern California)
Work experience includes a 16-month stint as an M&A analyst at a boutique oil & gas investment bank; two years with a rare mid-cycle promotion to associate director at well-known, public, NY-based financial firm (but not a huge Goldman, JP Morgan, TPG, KKR, Blackstone or similar) where I led sourcing and due diligence for oil & gas private equity deals, sourced 2 of my team's largest and most successful PE deals and developed my team's most profitable PE product.
"SEC Whistleblower" who led to the agency's recovery of over $3 million from company and a person's lifetime ban from the securities industry - I have been told business schools would find this interesting and valuable
Raised $5 million from a foreign family office to start up a small oil company that had a $12+ million valuation 16 months later - I divested my interests and departed due to a "too-attractive-to-resist" offer to sell
Currently an advisory board member for two small oil companies and a charity that provides critical surgical and reconstructive care to children in conflict regions
Strong recommendations
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SEC Whistleblower - Evaluation for Top Business Schools
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formerlyhscsnow
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esther.magna
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Hello Formerlyhscsnow!
Thanks for your post. I am sorry to hear about your HBS and CBS outcomes. Every year at around this time, we receive countless calls from inquiries who were dinged across the board. They are typically high-caliber applicants that didn't differentiate their background sufficiently or recognize who they were competing against. A cursory analysis of your profile follows here. Usually, these topics are covered through an interactive discussion; posts can distort the intentions of this feedback.
Another caveat is that your consultant must first get to know you on a deeper level, through an analysis of the themes in your life over time and what experiences have shaped your professional and personal choices. Your consultant will develop your brand based on a couple hour strategy discussion with you. In reviewing your profile notes, it's difficult to conclude anything other than certain assumptions and generalizations. So feel free to "filter" my comments below based on these caveats.
Strengths:
Really high GPA with analytical coursework at reputable undergrad college
Rigorous work experience at IB
Leadership shown through early promotion
Strategic work that is more sophisticated than we typically see of an accounting professional
Adaptability across finance- based settings (large cap/mid size/ boutique) and functions (buy and sell side experience)
Consistent professional interest in specific gas/oil arena
Weaknesses:
Your MAcc degree may devalue the need for the MBA
Finance is a common function in the applicant pool
Did you sufficiently demonstrate the need for the MBA given you've achieved leadership levels (e.g., Assoc Director) that suggest you could be successful without an additional degree?
Clarity of career goals needs to be evaluated
GMAT that is below average for target schools- we need to see your quant percentage and academic transcripts to understand if academic readiness is a true gap
Global exposure? Have you lead teams abroad? E.g., have you done due diligence on deals with international leaders?
It's unclear what really drives you. What's your motivation and where does it come from? Your value proposition has to encompass all spheres of your life so far, with professional tenure as only one element of the holistic positioning.
If and when I get a better sense of the above elements, I could then comment on your subsequent schools. NYU and Anderson seem doable for you from my vantage point. We generally discourage round three for top ten programs, especially for common applicants. If we consider round three, it would need to be for a broader range of programs, such as those that still have spots open for the 2014 admits. Believe it or not, we have already started with round one clients and we prefer to have this lead time to develop complete and compelling applications.
Feel free to email me at [email protected], and we can set up a 30 minute chat to discuss your background and next steps for you.
Best,
Esther Magna
Thanks for your post. I am sorry to hear about your HBS and CBS outcomes. Every year at around this time, we receive countless calls from inquiries who were dinged across the board. They are typically high-caliber applicants that didn't differentiate their background sufficiently or recognize who they were competing against. A cursory analysis of your profile follows here. Usually, these topics are covered through an interactive discussion; posts can distort the intentions of this feedback.
Another caveat is that your consultant must first get to know you on a deeper level, through an analysis of the themes in your life over time and what experiences have shaped your professional and personal choices. Your consultant will develop your brand based on a couple hour strategy discussion with you. In reviewing your profile notes, it's difficult to conclude anything other than certain assumptions and generalizations. So feel free to "filter" my comments below based on these caveats.
Strengths:
Really high GPA with analytical coursework at reputable undergrad college
Rigorous work experience at IB
Leadership shown through early promotion
Strategic work that is more sophisticated than we typically see of an accounting professional
Adaptability across finance- based settings (large cap/mid size/ boutique) and functions (buy and sell side experience)
Consistent professional interest in specific gas/oil arena
Weaknesses:
Your MAcc degree may devalue the need for the MBA
Finance is a common function in the applicant pool
Did you sufficiently demonstrate the need for the MBA given you've achieved leadership levels (e.g., Assoc Director) that suggest you could be successful without an additional degree?
Clarity of career goals needs to be evaluated
GMAT that is below average for target schools- we need to see your quant percentage and academic transcripts to understand if academic readiness is a true gap
Global exposure? Have you lead teams abroad? E.g., have you done due diligence on deals with international leaders?
It's unclear what really drives you. What's your motivation and where does it come from? Your value proposition has to encompass all spheres of your life so far, with professional tenure as only one element of the holistic positioning.
If and when I get a better sense of the above elements, I could then comment on your subsequent schools. NYU and Anderson seem doable for you from my vantage point. We generally discourage round three for top ten programs, especially for common applicants. If we consider round three, it would need to be for a broader range of programs, such as those that still have spots open for the 2014 admits. Believe it or not, we have already started with round one clients and we prefer to have this lead time to develop complete and compelling applications.
Feel free to email me at [email protected], and we can set up a 30 minute chat to discuss your background and next steps for you.
Best,
Esther Magna
