riskylvrg wrote:
Hello all,
first of all, thank you for all of your support through the last two years - it has been so important to know that there are other people going through the same struggles.
After an unfortunate failure last year - HBS/ Wharton/ Columbia/ NYU and Chicago dings - I decided to retake the GMAT and cast my net wider. I scored in the low 700s, got a new banking job and rewrote my essays from scratch. I am a white 30 year old male, 3.6 GPA from a top US school and lots of international experience.
Having failed miserably once I reapplied to 12 schools in R1 this time, here is the outcome:
- Dings: Wharton, Columbia (w/ interview)
- Waitlist: Chicago
- Admitted: Kellogg, Tuck, Yale, Darden and Tepper (50% scholarship)
- Interviews conducted no result so far: MIT, Johnson (late interview for R2), Duke
- Waiting on Stern
It took me 18 months of really hard work to get where I am at now; combined with working 80+ hours a week as a banking analyst I am exhausted but happy that it worked out. At the same time, I am absolutely not sure which school to choose, I was just hoping to get an admit, just one, given how miserably I failed last year. My professional goal is to switch from IBD to PE/VC/Hedge fund/ buy side in general, hopefully in NYC or an equally diverse city - Chicago/ Boston/ SF/ LA come to mind. I am single, so I'd love to be around other single people, go out and date; my personal life is very important to me as IBD left me virtually no time for extracurricular activities and a buy side firm will probably be IBDx2 all over again. The schools are all amazing for different reasons:
- Kellogg: great student culture, close to a big city, tight network, great recruiting (albeit not finance centered which could be an advantage - more for me), fun single classmates (from what I have heard), so an opportunity to really network and get to know a lot of people
- Tuck: amazing program that offers a full immersion, close to Boston, so buy side opportunities, legendary network (tested myself - they reply within minutes), an opportunity to really get to know your classmates, ivy league swagger and great skiing
- Yale: a lot of buzz around the program, I personally felt it, integrated curriculum sounds innovative and exciting, close to NYC (proximity matters for buy side jobs), helpful and down to earth students, amazing facilities just in time for 2013.
- Darden: a really rigorous program, case method makes it so much more engaging, fun classmates, close knit community
- Tepper: great admission package (50%), really rigorous quant program, tightly knit student body, a really inexpensive city that feels bigger than it is
- Chicago: Chicago, Chicago I thought this time will be the time, but you failed me once again - really rigorous quant program, finance focus and a ton of finance classes, flexible curriculum, in a great large city. Have made strong progress professionally, so could make a difference during a WL process.
I'd like to make a decision some time soon and keep making arrangements, look for a pre-MBA summer internship, apply for scholarships and allow other students to be taken off WL and get accepted in R2 and R3 as any of these schools would be a solid choice for anyone.
Please comment on what you think would work best for my career and personal goals. If you have questions on a "rebranding" strategy after a failure to get admitted - feel free to send me a personal message.
Congrats on all the admits!
Given that there are so many schools, have you considered or worked on a "decision matrix" and put in all the criteria you listed? you could even add weights to the criteria that matters most, and then you could just score each school and see which one comes out with the highest score.