As an experienced Admissions Consultant, I plan to answer at least one question from MBA applicants worldwide everyday. While these answer ONE qn at a time, my hope is that these answers would help most others too.
If you are an applicant, post your questions in the comments, and I will try to answer at least one everyday, to the best of my bandwidth.
Original Profile as Posted:
Work Experience: 5 years
Nationality: Spain
Year Applying: 2027
Gender: Male
Score: 320 GRE
Pre-MBA industry: Finance: Diversified Financial Services
Post-MBA industry: Finance: Venture Capital
Target MBA schools List:
Columbia
Harvard
Wharton
Sloan MIT
Stern
A few observations and suggested actions:
Observation 1. Your choice of schools is ambitious and very aggressive, more so in the light of your pre-MBA industry of Diversified Financial Services (often used to convey tens of related sub industries), and seemingly tenuous links with your post-MBA VC goals.
Suggested Actions:
a. Widen your choice of schools to include safety schools in your basket.
b. Highlight your work accomplishments (across your entire application, LORs included) in a way that makes the AdCom more confident about your understanding of your post-MBA goals
c. Spread your application in multiple rounds. Any admissions in your earlier rounds, will heavily weigh in your favour for admissions to higher ranked and more competitive schools (provided you are able to weave that in your application properly)
Observation 2. GRE score of 320, which puts you among the lower ranges of admissions granted to these schools.
Actions
a. Esp for VC (and IB) goals, it is ever more important to target high Quant scores (not saying that low verbal/ DI/ reasoning scores are ok, but high quant is absolutely essential)
b. It would be wise to get higher GRE scores. 330+ would put you in a comfortable range
Observation 3. Low Spanish Representation in your target schools.
Actions:
a. Low representation can be a positive for you. However, it is very important that you leverage this card to maximize your benefits.
Observation 4. Most applicants spend the LEAST amount of time in understanding the importance of their MBA schools for their entire career beyond the ranks published in a reputed publication. Choose your schools wisely.
Actions:
a. Don't just take the employment reports at face value. Go DEEPER; UNDERSTAND the percentage of employment outcomes from these schools that match your projected trajectories. Technically speaking, few of these reports (if at all) may put in data that’s false about employment outcomes. However, since you are betting your future career and life on your school, it is important for you to dig deeper, and choose your list of target schools wisely
b. Going to a slightly lower ranked school (assuming it still fits your career goals) with a high scholarship may sometimes be worth MUCH MORE than going to a top school with zero scholarship, not merely because of the financial aspect
Observation 5. In your question, you haven’t specified your college, its national standing, your CGPA and such other data. AdComs from the Top ranked schools such as those that form your list, would also LIKE to see top college/ pedigree AND top percentile scores in those.
a. IF you have not had such colleges and/or scores, it may help to take up ancillary courses such as mba math or hbs core. More details about whether or not you should take these courses can be found on the relevant Stacy Blackman page
Hope that helps.
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Bala (Founder, the Ivy League Edge)