Kellogg or Booth???

[Mbaiyer]

Hi all

I am currently in the process of researching school, to start my part-time MBA next year and was wondering, if you could help me by evaluating my profile and letting me know, what my chances are at Kellogg and Booth. Also, when I start my part-time MBA, I will be 33. Will this hamper my chances of admission?

Experience: 6 years in the mech. industry, with 5 years in a fortune 50 and one year as a team lead in a smaller company.

Education:

Undergrad: 3.3 GPA
Masters: 3.2 GPA
GMAT: 750

I would be grateful, if you folks could help me out

[Stacy Blackman]

Hi Mbaiyer,

Unfortunately, with the limited information you have written it is difficult to discuss your chances of admission. If you would like, you can sign up here for a free 30 minute consultation with the Stacy Blackman team where someone can provide more information:

https://www.stacyblackman.com/contact/


If you are interested in hearing over Beat the GMAT, can you talk more about your work experience? Do you have a history of leadership/management and of progression in your career?

Best,

Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

[Mbaiyer]

Stacy

Thank you for your reply. With regards to my work experience, I spent the first two years of my career with an engineering consulting firm. I, then joined Caterpillar as an engine development engineer and worked there for three years. I am currently working for Polaris as a lead CFD engineer, with responsibilties including technical mentoring, project forecasting, budgeting and other leadership roles. I am planning to join the next fall, so that would leave me with 1.5 years of leadership experience. Please let me know, if I have furnished enough data or would you need more data to be able to advise me.

Vijay

[Boothie2013]

Vijay,

Your basic stats are good enough to get into both (although the GPA is a bit on the low side). That said there are a lot of unknowns in regards to the quality of your undergrad/masters (top-tier will help obviously, a 3.2 at a State school on the other hand will weaken your profile a bit). You are also in what I presume is a difficult demographic (Indian engineer), but for part-time the GMAT will probably give a chance to get into both places if you create a stellar story esp. as it pertains to fit. Also for the part-time programs I have gotten the impression that the recommendations hold more weight than full-time admissions, so that maybe a chance to compensate for the GPA.

The thing that will likely handicap you however is that you didn't mention why you wanted an MBA which many applicants fail to really express. Both schools are pretty harsh on applicants with unrealistic expectations going into the part-time MBA and do a good job of weeding out those who are trying to make a low probability switch, this often kills applicants with stellar stats. You are an engineer who would have limited career switching ability coming out of a part-time program so your application would really have to tell why you need an MBA and what you plan to do with it. At Booth the Engineers seem to have a tougher time crafting that story as most seem to harbor at least veiled aspirations towards finance and as such it seems I meet more dinged applicants from this area (and IT type functions) than anywhere else. I would think Kellogg might display less of this due to what I percieve is a slightly heavier focus on general management, if you have a year I would stongly encourage you to evaluate and clarify your intentions before you apply.

Kellogg and Booth, even in the PT programs are completly different programs, know and address this in your applications for the respective schools and you will have a much better chance.

[Mbaiyer]

Dear Boothie2013

Thank you very much for your mail. My reason for trying to get an MBA is to hone my skills in the field of operations and supply chain. I am currently employed in the manufacturing sector and most of the work that I do is in the analytical side. While I have gained sufficient theorotical knowledge in the past five years, I strongly believe that to grow within the company, I need to gain knowledge in the field of operation and supply chain. Given the nature of our work, a combination of my analytical skills in conglomeration with the operations and supply chain skill set would help me get a well-rounded skill set that would help me climb up the career ladder. I am hoping that I can get into one of these schools. Also, when I apply for the PT program, I will be 33. Would that be a showstopper?

Looking forward to hearing from you

Vijay

[Boothie2013]

33 for a part-time MBA is no showstopper, I think the average for those two programs is around 29. If you were going for a full time MBA that would be a different story, but PT under 35 years old isn't really frowned upon as the age factor really stems from full time post-mba recruiting, older canidates are less desirable for most burn-out fields ft top tier MBA grads head too (consulting/banking). All in all I think your intentions and stats are good enough but I would address your GPA in some small way, which your masters and the fact it's Engineering should do most of that. One thing to note is that from an analytical perspective Booth is intense, even marekting is very heavily stats oriented which you might enjoy given your background, or see as duplication of your previous abilities. If you want more of the "poet" type MBA and a focus on the general management side Kellogg might be a better fit. In the end I think Booth is the better program (I'm biased, see my screen name) as you still can take the Operations focused concentrations in both, but Northwestern may be better at bringing out your percieved deficiencies. Both are great schools and achievable if you ace your application.