Ask Tepper MBA Admissions

Hello kotela and thank you for your question! I have to apologize for the delay in responding, but we're a little new at this forum and will be much better here on out. I am happy to assist with your questions, and please feel free to contact us should you like more information.

1. - That's a great question and a challenge for me to answer on the forum since there are a number of things which immediately come to mind that I think set us apart (although I have to say I'm a little biased.). So, to start, I'm going to borrow one of our professor's favorite ways to talk about the Tepper School. Dr. Mather's 3 C's. Content - https://www.tepper.cmu.edu/mba/mba-programs-coursework/index.aspx. Community - https://www.tepper.cmu.edu/mba/community-diversity/student-experience/index.aspx and Commitment - which is best experienced first-hand. Staff, faculty, and students are fully engaged in the school, and it's important that everyone is an active contributor. I would encourage you to get in touch with some of our current students for their perspective as well.

2. - Since our admissions process is holistic, and we are looking to build a diverse class, our ideal student does not fit a rigid profile. We welcome students from diverse academic, professional and personal backgrounds and seek exceptional individuals who have made an impact on whatever path they have chosen. We examine all components of your MBA application to gain an understanding about you as a candidate. I would recommend that you focus on highlighting the strengths in your application, your fit with the Tepper School, and what you would bring to the community. As to GMAT scores, we do not have a minimum score, but you can check out our class profile to see their average and range of scores. https://www.tepper.cmu.edu/mba/admissions/class-profile/index.aspx

Thanks again for your interest in the Tepper SChool, and I look forward to staying in touch!

Best,
Tepper Admissions team

Hello Jock4MBA,

Thank you for your post, and I am happy to assist with your questions. Sorry about the delay, and please feel free to contact us should you like additional info.

1.) At this time, the school does not provide a loan, but there are a couple agreements with external foundations and banks in place that help with funding options. More information can be found at our financial aid website https://www.tepper.cmu.edu/mba/tuition-financial-aid/internationalstudenttuitionfinancialaidlinks/index.aspx

2) All admitted MBA students are reviewed for the Merit Scholarships, and there are no additional application steps. Applicants are reviewed during the application process and awarded based on academic and personal credentials. This scholarship is awarded to students who we believe will enrich and add to the diversity and development of the class.

3) Although our most recent class has a high proportion of students from engineering/science backgrounds, we are seeking candidates from all academic disciplines, and in a typical year, half of our students come from non-technical backgrounds. You can feel free to check out our class profile for a little more information on this year's class - https://www.tepper.cmu.edu/mba/admissions/class-profile/index.aspx.

Traditional ways of doing business simply will not work for next-generation leaders, and that's why we emphasize sharpening your analytical know-how. The ever-increasing pace of technology, globalization, and complexity is creating a standard for performance that requires executives to solve problems that have never been seen before. We believe in the Management Science approach, but we also respect and include the softer business skills to round out our students' skill set.

I hope this helps answer your questions, and please let me know if we can further assist.

Thanks!
Tepper Admissions

Hello!

Please feel free to post if you have any questions - we are happy to assist!

Best,
The Tepper Admissions team

Hello James ,

A little background :
After graduating from VJTI ( one of the prestigious colleges in Mumbai University , India ) , I worked for about 5.5 years in the IT industry . To be specific , I have worked in SAP ( SAP MM , SD and SRM ) as a technical ERP consultant with MNCs and I do have international exposure in my assignments . Over the years , I developed interest in Open source esp in CMS and I also have a start up that is doing well . I went through the curriculum for information systems and found that I really want to align myself on that path in my career after MBA .

My gmat score is 660 . I went through the class profiles and found that I fall in the lower end of the middle 80% of the batch . Do you recommend a retake before applying ?

Thanks and Regards.

Hello g786,

Thank you for your message and interest in the Tepper School. I would be happy to provide some advice, and please feel free to let me know if you have additional questions.

No single component in the application portfolio is more important than any other, and sometimes areas that fall below the average may be successfully offset by strengths in other areas. That being said, we want you to feel very comfortable and confident in the application that you submit, and it sounds like this is a concern for you. We always take the highest total test score, so it doesn't hurt you to re-take it if you would like.

I hope this is helpful for you, and please let me know if we can further assist.

Best Regards,
The Tepper Admissions team

Thanks for providing another forum for prospective students to ask questions!

I visited campus recently and really enjoyed the experience. I was wondering what sort of computer facilities the building has. I was told that break out rooms have computers and monitors, but is there a computer lab and printing capabilities? Thank you!

Hello James ,

I have been reading at a lot of places esp. on blogs and forums where people say that the chances of getting in in Round 3 are almost nil and the general advice is to apply in Round 1 the next year . If you target a difficult round 3 , and get a reject , You may not apply in Round 1 next year also . I have also heard that people who apply in round 3 are not eligible for scholarships at all .

Is this true ?

Hello Tepper AdCom Team,

From a review of your posts above and the current class profile, it seems natural to infer that a student from a non-Engineering background will have a higher probability of securing a merit scholarship than one with an Engineering / IT background.

Is that a valid inference?

Regards,

Hi Purpleshirt! Thanks for the post. I'm thrilled to hear that you have recently visited campus (hope you didn't wear a purple shirt though, you might have been mistaken for a Raven's fan!). Happy to speak to your question. The Tepper School has its own computer group that supports all computing in the building and works very closely with the CMU computer group as well. They're able to offer support for all supported notebook computers and can even offer a loaner notebook if one needs to be sent out for repair.

As all students are required to have a notebook computer, there aren't as many computer labs in the building as there used to be. There are several on the ground floor that have machines students can use, and more that have workspace where you would plug in to the network with your computer. In terms of printing, there are six areas throughout the building where you can print documents. We also have a copy center which could do resumes, etc.

Hope this is helpful. Let us know if we can be of additional assistance.

Best,
James

Hi Maddyy,

Thank you for the post. Very happy to answer your questions. I can't speak for other schools, but at the Tepper School, we absolutely admit many students in our third and forth rounds. I never encourage candidates to rush to meet an earlier deadline. It's a very big investment you're making on yourself, so you owe it to yourself to submit your best possible application...so apply when your application is at its best.

To your other questions, ALL admitted students are considered for merit award/scholarships - whether they are admitted in our first round or 4th round. Additionally, if a candidate is unsuccessful in a late round application, he/she can indeed apply for the first round in the following year. If a candidate is unsuccessful, however, we would encourage a feedback appointment with the admissions team, which we conduct each year in August. Based on the feedback, a candidate might find that a bit more time is needed to improve her/his application and thus he/she might target for the 2nd or 3rd round in the following year.

Hope this is helpful. Let us know if we can be of additional assistance.

Best,
James

Hi goforanmba,

Thank you for the post. I would respectfully disagree with your statement. Our charge is to bring together an extremely talented, motivated and diverse class each year. There are many, many different ways to measure these attributes. As such, I don't believe simply coming from a non-technical background would offer a higher probability of receiving a merit award.

Hope this is helpful. I would be more than happy to discuss further if you would like. Feel free to post here or email me at jfrick@andrew.cmu.edu .

Best,
James

Thanks for the detailed response, James! Good to know. As for wearing Raven colors, trust me - I would not make that mistake in Pittsburgh!

Hey James,
How much is typically the $$ coverage for the scholarships and GA's ?

hi,

i'm an international student. Although the primary language of instruction was not English in my undergraduate, I'm doing finance phd in a university whose primary language of instruction is fully english. I've completed my courses, and passed proficiency exam. Now I'm preparing my Phd thesis. Also I would like to apply Tepper for MBA. Now I have two questions.

1- Am I eligible to waive the TOEFL etc. ?
2- Is Doing a Phd. a disadvantage for applying MBA? How can I turn this situation to advantage?

Hello,

I have a question regarding your 'impact' essay. I wanted to know if I could write about my impact regarding an organization I volunteer for? Would this be appropriate regarding 'professional or academic impact'?

Thanks

Is tepper a reapplicant friendly school? What % of reapplicants finally got an offer last year?

Hello Tepper Adcom!

My husband graduated with his MBA from Tepper in 2003. If it weren't for Tepper, we would have never have experienced Pittsburgh; the best place to live!

Future Tepper people, get involved in all the student activities. As a spouse, I met some great people through the different clubs. We are all still good friends and visit Pittsburgh as much as we can.

Downtown is amazing. I am in awe every time I drive through the Fort Pitt tunnel and see the glass castle (Pgh Paints).

https://youtu.be/0cKFnPWL8es

Good luck to all the Tepper applicants.