The Application Process

Hey everyone.
I'm a newbie on this site and I'm interested in going to business school.

I'm currently a junior at a top public university majoring in English Literature.

I started college a private liberal arts college where I had a 3.7 GPA and then I withdrew because I didn't want to take out any more loans and spent 2 years at a community college where I had a 3.9 GPA.

Now, at my current school I have a 3.2 GPA.

I'm planning to take the GMAT next year and hopefully do well on it.
What can help me get into a top business school? Will my ethnicity (Puerto Rican) help me like it would in J.D. admissions? What kind of work experience is needed to impress a top school?

Hi MustBeDaMoney! Welcome to BTG - you've come to the right place!

And, this is also the right time for you to be thinking about grad school. It's a LOT easier to get ready for bschool -- at least, with some preliminary steps like the GMAT or GRE - while you're still in college.

We're going to point you to a few recent exchanges that we've had about some others who have somewhat similar profiles to yours -- everyone is different, but these threads might be worth exploring for you, to get some initial questions answered:

1. There are a number of bschools with specific programs for applying straight from college. The most well-known is Harvard's 2+2 program; Yale has one called Silver Scholars, and there are also one or two at European bschools. Check out these posts where we explore what they're about and which might be good choices for you to research:
a) https://www.beatthegmat.com/high-gmat-an ... 94723.html
b) https://www.beatthegmat.com/profile-eval ... 93486.html


2. The Consortium is an organization devoted to increasing the number of US minorities (African-American, Hispanic, etc) in business, specifically by helping them with bschool strategy and access -- and yes, your ethnicity will be an advantage, because there just aren't enough minorities in bschool and the upper echelons of the business world. Here's a few posts to start with about this:

Someone just starting out, just like you:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/forward-look ... 93897.html

Someone specifically asking about The Consortium:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/applying-thr ... 93382.html

We'll be having a series of posts about HBS 2+2 on our blog in December. For now, you might want to check this one out, that talks about whether or not to take the GMAT, or the GRE:
https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/06/ ... makes.html

Finally, to respond directly to what you asked about:

- Congrats on majoring in English!! That's actually quite rare these days - and believe it or not, some of the bschools REALLY appreciate the straightforward liberal arts education!! Because so many people come to bschool from a finance or econ major, the English degree will actually help to set you apart from the competition (at least somewhat).

Your current GPA is fine but do all that you can to continue to improve. Grades matter A LOT at these top programs, particularly if you are applying to HBS 2+2. You'll also want to start putting some thought into exactly what your career path will be - you don't have to have it fully defined when you apply, but knowing the general target and a trajectory will be really important. You need to show the adcom why you want/need an MBA, and that all comes down to professional interests and aspirations. These programs for current college students are designed to help you navigate your early career, but still, knowing what you want to be when you grow up will help.

Also there are a variety of Master's of Management programs you can go to straight from school - these typically have a MAXIMUM work experience requirement of one year - in other words, you're only qualified to apply if you have a very LIMITED amount of professional experience. Duke has one, so does LBS in the UK, there are more and more every day.

Whew! That was a long post! Hope this helps you get started - and please continue to ask if there's more we can do to help!
EssaySnark

Hi,


If you wish to apply to top business schools then one of the prerequisites is having significant work experience. Generally candidates have around 4-5 years of full time experience in spite of several term time projects or jobs; so you may be competing with other candidates who have 4-5 years of full time experience and have started significant initiatives at college.
Hence, we would advise you to gain some full time work experience before you decide to apply for an MBA.
If you don't wish to do so them, you could look at the HBS 2+2 program or the Yale Silver Scholars program.
Your ethinicity could be an advantage. The gmat score above 700 should be aimed for when aiming for top b schools.
We would also recommend that you work on academics, work experience and beyond academics to make you and your application stand out.

Thank you for the informative posts, essaysnark and FutureWorks.
I have a few more questions.

Will my lack of leadership positions weaken my application significantly? Could a higher GMAT score mitigate a lower GPA at my current institution? Would a summer internship help my application even though it isn't a full-time job?

Is there more information on the internet about Yale's Silver Scholars program? (Namely class profile statistics)

Hey MustBeDaMoney --

A strong GMAT can help you, yes. Of course, your grades in your final terms will also matter a lot too, so keep up all the work in your current classes!

Not sure about separate Silver Scholars statistics, don't think that Yale publishes them apart from their standard stats. You can use those to guide you in terms of average GMAT/GPA; obv work exp will not be relevant. It tends to be very high-achieving candidates who apply to these programs so the HBS 2+2 stats are likely to be somewhat representative even at YSS (not identical but in the ballpart, we'd guess).

A summer internship is absolutely useful in terms of work experience - it does count! The bschool adcoms will look for evidence of achievement in all areas of your life, and so that's one place you should look when identifying appropriate stories to present in your essays.

Hope this helps, good luck with it all and let us know what you end up doing!
EssaySnark