go to tier 2 or reapply to tier 1

I think you should try again, since you`re basically trying to move two levers - good location for entertainment and school brand, none of which Texas really has. Following up on what a few others have said, and I what I mentioned initially:

1) If you`re looking for a specific career path that`s very location oriented (finance = NY, entertainment = LA, tech = SF, etc.) then you need to keep the location aspect in sharp focus. Beyond UCLA and USC, make a short list of a few other CA schools
which have an equal brand as Rice (for example, Pepperdine). Then you get an equally ok brand, but optimal location.

2) Having said this, brand is a stronger lever of ANY job, and has more influence than location. I would get your stats and map out which school you would be very competitive in, average and reach (do it based on GMAT and GPA). Then apply to that set of schools, in addition to your California schools.

This way you`ll have your primary levers - Location and Brand - covered for your second try.

What guarantees (if any) do you have that you will gain acceptance at a top school next year when you reapply? What if you reapply and end up in the exact same situation you're in right now?

I'd weigh the opportunity cost of turning down your current acceptance and assuming your situation is going to change next year.

Unless you have a significant change in your application metrics, don't expect you'll have any difference in results next year.

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

I think you`re going about this without taking a step back. My advice is first decide what you want to do after your MBA, and how will the MBA help you with your goals. How can a Top 20 help you and how can a Top 5 help you?

If you want to switch into a specific field in a large corporation, especially in the region of your Top 20 admit, then that would be a good path. However, if your goal is to go into consulting, banking or higher tech then Top 5 will increase your chances by a lot.

All of this will be a necessary thought process anyway if you want to reapply, so you might as well start early!

Thanks a lot for the help.

I'm looking to work in entertainment -a business-level job in a disney, sony pictures, fox, etc... (but don't have any experience in such a sector) - would going to say, a 20th ranked Texas school make that much of a difference then going to say, a higher level "brand name" school

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Texas (or top 20) to Yale (top 10-15) seems doable, but I am not sure how it will help you land a job at disney and etc over Texas.

Texas (or top 20) to Wharton (top 5) is a huge jump. You are skipping top 6 through 15.

Texas to HBS (top 2) is another jump. There is a noticeable gap in gaining admissions from Wharton vs. Harvand/Stanford.

Honestly, I think you would have a better shot at Disney, Sony, and those CA media/entertainment industry jobs from UCLA Anderson vs. Texas (or top 20) and even some other top 10 or 5 schools. But if you are going for a brand, it is another story. From your post, I am not sure if you are going for a parent university brand or a prestigious MBA brand. Yale definitely a great brand as a university but lacks prestige in MBA - definitely not at par with Harvard, Wharton, and other top 10 schools. Good luck.

Thanks. Yes was thinking more in terms of overall university reputation (Yale being the perfect example) .

So in that case, going from a Rice for example to a Yale wouldn't make much of that difference for those sorts of jobs?

Not to split hairs here, but I think some of the advice given here was on the assumption you were talking about UT-Austin, not Rice.

thanks. yea, that's what I thought also - that's why i wrote Rice in the previous post to clarify. Any guidance would be super helpful Thanks a bunch.

As others have said there's a huge jump from gaining admission to a top 20/30 school to making it to Harvard, Wharton, and even Yale. Given your goals I do think that you would have an easier time getting into the entertainment industry from Harvard or Wharton than you would coming from UT-Austin or Rice. At the same time unless something drastic changes in your profile, beyond just another year of work experience, I don't see you gaining admission the 2nd time around either.

Doesn't Texas have a pretty big music scene at the very least. You might be able to work your way into the entertainment industry in baby steps through those avenues. And here's the thing, if you turn down the admission to top 20/30 Texas school in favor of reapplying, that opportunity may no longer be there if you don't get into any of the top schools you apply to.

If you're in a good working spot now, I would reapply to a different set of schools. The Rice MBA doesn't have a lot of play, unless you're interested in energy or public education from what I understand. The recommendation for UCLA makes a lot of sense, and you'll probably get a lot of the same benefits from USC. I've heard the USC network is bananas out west, so those seem like much better options than Rice.

I would REAPPLY! Don't look back - just REAPPLY!

Your GPA and GMAT are inline with top 10 MBA average (3.5 GPA with 710 GMAT on 3x major is impressive). A lot of people with lower stats than yours get into top 10 all the time.

Beef up your work experience, extras, essays, and rec letters. Give it another try. As a safety, I am sure you'll get into at least one school that is at par with Rice or Texas on your reapp. I wouldn't bother with Harvard and Stanford. I'd rather buy lottery tickets with the saved ~$500. Apply to 3 long shot schools, 3-4 competitive schools, and 2-3 safety schools. The value of B school drops pretty significantly after top 15-20... so do whatever it takes to get into the best MBA you can possibly can. G'luck!

Could we please refrain from encouraging people to falsify information. The advice in this post ends on an ethically questionable note.

Thank you.

Thanks for all the help. Yes don't worry wouldn't falsify anything at any point for any reason with any of the schools.

Someone mentioned this earlier, but I would like to second that if you reapply you should definitely apply for UCLA or USC if you want to work in the entertainment industry in LA at any of the companies you mentioned. I work for one of the larger studios that you mentioned and and I can tell you that most of the MBAs in this industry are either UCLA, USC, or tier 1 alum. If you don't get accepted into a tier 1, it pretty much has to be UCLA or USC; if you attend any other program it's going to be an uphill battle to try to get a foot in the door and a good career opportunity in LA. Just my $0.02!

Hi, I would partly agree with maki here. I'm in a similar situation like you - Indian candidate, 710 GMAT, applied to just one school for 2012 fall (National University of Singapore, ranked pretty high up), got the offer but I want to give some top tier US schools a shot in 2013 fall.

Also you have the advantage of being young, max you'll be 25 or 26 if you defer by a year which is still well below the avg US MBA age.

The only thing you should reconsider is:
- Can you really make a huge difference in one year to your app (I know I have 2 big opportunities coming up in the next 6 months which will help my app for the good US schools, why I deferred NUS)? US schools want you to display a difference in that year
- Why just Harvard/Wharton, why not expand that list of schools, there are plenty of competitive top 10 schools which are incredible and might meet the criteria required for your career goals - e.g., and just to name a few, Sloan/Duke/Ross/Darden/Tuck or INSEAD in Paris etc.? These are all ranked above TX.

Just some thoughts. But I would say plan some solid steps on how you can improve your candidacy in the next 6 months before 2nd round deadline passes for 2013 and if you can lay out concrete steps to enhance your profile, then by all means defer and reapply! Either that or spend your life thinking you could have got a better degree (that's what I told my parents)

Good luck amigo!