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A few questions...

by meebo » Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:16 am
I'm applying mba programs this year and had a few questions:

(feel free to answer any of it or give unrelated advice, I'd be greatful either way)

1) Should I retake the GMAT? I feel like I'm in a competitive applicant pool (either indian IT male or indian capital markets banker) that would have a much higher average gmat score. Also, I don't feel comfortable with just a 720 with my low gpa. Plus, I feel like I underperformed on the gmat.
2) How should I explain my low gpa? I don't want to give excuses for my gpa, but in Undergrad, I had no plans to go to graduate school and wanted to continue a business I started in high school (regardless, I didn't shy away from harder classes). Should I mention that reason or just confess and show how I've changed (I would do this by showing how I was near the top of the analyst class with great year end reviews)?
3) Based on the profile, I'm curious as to know what type of schools you think I am competitive at...? I am applying for Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT and Kellogg.
(the reason I'm applying for 7 is because I couldn't choose between Duke and Columbia, plus I'm not sure MIT would admit me based on the fact that I've taken a lot of the mba related coursework in undergrad)
4) To which of the above mentioned schools is it ok to say I don't know what I want to do post-college? I intend to do a banking/pe related internship and choose either a startup, banking/pe, capital markets, or corporate strategy post mba (haha, I know that sounds like the good majority of career paths post-mba, but in my mind I have a somewhat focused approach).

Background (abridged):
Undergrad: top engineering school
Major: EECS and Finance
GPA: 3.0
GMAT: 720
Work Ex (total ~2 years): 1 year, worked at top tier bulge bracket ibank in a technology related capacity in research (i.e., desk quant for interest rate options desk), left after another bank acquired (after 9 months) because they placed me in a sort of 'tech support' related capacity (versus where I was doing financial modelling at Lehman)

EC's after college: tutoring elementary school kids for exams, consulting gig for FAA site, various other projects


EC's in college: varsity sport, co-founded career fair, student government dorm rep, probability/statistics tutoring/grading, internships at fortune 100 company and a bulge bracket, top tier investment bank
Last edited by meebo on Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by Bryant@VeritasPrep » Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:21 pm
1) Should I retake the GMAT? I feel like I'm in a competitive applicant pool (either indian IT male or indian capital markets banker) that would have a much higher average gmat score. Also, I don't feel comfortable with just a 720 with my low gpa. Plus, I feel like I underperformed on the gmat.

You will get marginal benefit on your application going from a 720 to a 750, for example, so I would focus on apps instead. 720 says clearly you are smart and would definitely go a long way towards forgiving a bad GPA.

2) How should I explain my low gpa? I don't want to give excuses for my gpa, but in Undergrad, I had no plans to go to graduate school and wanted to continue a business I started in high school (regardless, I didn't shy away from harder classes). Should I mention that reason or just confess and show how I've changed (I would do this by showing how I was near the top of the analyst class with great year end reviews)?

Telling the truth is usually the best approach--make it personal.

3) Based on the profile, I'm curious as to know what type of schools you think I am competitive at...? I am applying for Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT and Kellogg.
(the reason I'm applying for 7 is because I couldn't choose between Duke and Columbia, plus I'm not sure MIT would admit me based on the fact that I've taken a lot of the mba related coursework in undergrad)

Depending on your professional accomplishments, you could be competitive at any top school. Two years will not be considered heavy work experience, but it is very common for banking industry to send their top analysts out to B-school after two years, so the committee likely will not balk, but it doesnt look like you came exactly from the typical analyst feeder area. Also your experience seems to lack leadership, but it's hard to tell from your brief description. Despite coming from a very competitive pool, international applicantions as a whole are down this year, so you could be in a good position to apply. If you can pull of 7 applications, I think that's a good stragegy towards being able to choose between a couple of offers, but you will really have to wow them with your essays.


4) To which of the above mentioned schools is it ok to say I don't know what I want to do post-college? I intend to do a banking/pe related internship and choose either a startup, banking/pe, capital markets, or corporate strategy post mba (haha, I know that sounds like the good majority of career paths post-mba, but in my mind I have a somewhat focused approach).

In general, it's not a good idea to tell any adcom that you're not sure what you want to do. B-school is drinking from the proverbial fire hose, so if you don't go in with a strategy, you will come out with a hodgepodge of general knowledge that you may find useless compared to going in with a focus. Adcoms will toss out those who do not have a clear vision of what they want to do with the MBA, telling them to "come back when you figure it out..." Especially given you are out of work and have only two years under your belt (with one job change as well) you unfortunately seem to be set up as a candidate to whom they can easily say :come back in a couple of years." For this reason, you definitely do not want to send the signal that you are using b-school to figure out where you want to go.
Bryant Michaels
MBA Admissions Consultant


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by meebo » Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:53 pm
Thanks for the reply Bryant!

I might have been a bit misleading:
-I'm indian by ethnicity only (born and raised in the good ole US of A)...
-It's not that I don't know what I want to do or that I want to experiment, it's that I don't have a set career path. My preference is for a startup (but that's only if I find something I believe in, which is rare), otherwise I want to do corporate strategy following graduation (which can come from pe/banking) unless I get a better capital markets offer (and depending on how the market is doing 2 years from now)

So, just a few (maybe stupid) follow-up questions:
1) What group do I fall into? I'm not a banker in the traditional sense, and I'm not really an IT guy...is this something I should even worry about?
2) Given that I'm slightly open, would it be better to say to adcoms that I'm interested in corporate strategy? (and not mention the other things)
2) What kind things do/do not count as "significant leadership" for someone a year or two out of school?
Last edited by meebo on Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by Sophia007 » Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:40 am
I agree with Bryant on everything. However - here is one thing I want you to carefully consider as you move forward with your application.
"3) Based on the profile, I'm curious as to know what type of schools you think I am competitive at...? I am applying for Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT and Kellogg.
(the reason I'm applying for 7 is because I couldn't choose between Duke and Columbia, plus I'm not sure MIT would admit me based on the fact that I've taken a lot of the mba related coursework in undergrad)"
For the kind of profile you have, I don't see any safety schools (seems you want to take the risky path!). Keep in mind that you're going to be competing with a pool of applicants that come from various backgrounds (and there is always a chance that you may not be invited for even a single interview - specially when you take the risky path).

Btw: MIT and Standford admit students based on their caliber and experience. As long as you meet the pre-reqs you should be fine.

Hope this helps. (Check your pvt message for the rest of the information)
Sophia Pathak| Admissions Consultant |

If my post was helpful, let me know by pushing the thanks button.:) Please free to directly email me at [email protected]. ANY questions are welcome! check out what others have to say about their experience with me https://mymbamentor.com/?page_id=31
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by meebo » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:15 am
Thanks!

I do realize I have an upper rank bias in my school choice. I've considered applying to lower end schools and I don't feel I get enough benefit out of them to warrant spending 2 years and thousands of dollars (I would rather just work at a startup or ibank in a similar position and reapply in a couple of years).

I'll talk you more via private message, thanks again!
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by Sophia007 » Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:46 am
Hi Meebo,

Looking forward to your questions! Have a fun weekend!

-S
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