Dilemma: Cost of Waiting

May I ask which school have you been admitted to? You should keep in mind that once you rescind the admission offer of the school you've been admitted to, you won't be able to apply to the same school ever again with a straight face.

You can also ask them whether there is any possibility of deferring the admission offer citing some personal exigency.

One thing to remember is this: you already have four years of experience, which is the sweet spot for H/S. If you didn't get in this cycle, I don't see how two years and one promotion will meaningfully change your chances. Keep in mind, though, that this is just a gut reaction to the minimal information with which you have provided us.

Agree with the above posters. Being a 10-14 admit myself at Ross, I would absolutely give up 2 years to attend Harvard or Stanford. But I also know that 2 years wouldn't dramatically alter my chances. P&Q already dug up the dirt on Stanford's incoming class, and it's not all hippy dippy save the world as they would want you to believe. It's a metric ton of Bain & GS types. So if you are currently working at a firm of that stature, then maybe your chances are decent, if not.... good luck lol.

I would not give up 2 years for non-HS M7. The 10-14 schools are all super solid and will provide tons of opportunities across the board.

I agree with the poster who said above that fundamentally you would remain the same/similar candidate. Wouldn't a promotion in the next 2 years be considered as expected if you continue in the same job trajectory? Further you are looking at it as 2 years until matriculation. Really speaking, you only have a year until the app season for 2014 begins...

If you think there were other factors including your job profile that contributed to you not getting into H/S, simply holding out for two years for a promotion won't help.. Even if you think that your job profile/growth was the ONLY factor which did not help you get into H/S, it still doesn't help..because 1 year of rockstar work will not override 4 years of middling performance..

Take the admit and go with an open mind to your school. You will find that many of the opportunities that could've been available to you at H/S would still be available to you, albeit in lower numbers..

Thanks for you feedbacks. Ignoring my odds of getting in H/S. I want to get your feel on what the pros and cons of getting a head start on one's post-MBA career versus the benefits of attending H/S.

Everywhere I went I heard, "You know when we go into a job interview, we're sitting next to applicants from HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, and at that point the school has done its job and it's up to you."

A lot of the core b-school jobs are feeding from all of the top schools. Waiting 2 years might just put you 2 years behind where you were already going to end up. Which is why, to me, most of the M7 is not worth the wait. HBS and Stanford supposedly hold the keys to some ultra elite jobs, and hold that extra special prestige to grease your first job and boost future promotions, but probably most other schools are in roughly the same boat.

I think one case where it may make sense is if your desired career is in an ultra-competitive field where networking is at an even higher premium, like private equity, venture capital, or hedge fund management.