Am I Dreaming??

If memory serves me right, generally speaking, the JD/MBA program at Kellogg is more competitive than the MBA program. Not because they get more applications (they dont), but because they admit fewer people.

It doesn't sound like you really know why you applied to these schools - do you have a good story in your application as to why kellogg / why gsb / etc?

I think you are considered separately by each school. You might get into one but not the other.

you might want to expand on your profile a little before we can really help. You can look at any one of our profiles on the wiki page (click our names on the left) or click on the link in my signature.

But like rhyme said, you seem to just have picked 5 schools that are ranked 1-5 on BW (not US News, otherwise you would have picked Stanford and MIT) and applied. From what it sounds, you probably submitted your application already, so there's not much we can do about it this year.

The 5 schools you picked are ok if you want to do general management, but each has its strengths and the culture could not be more different from each other. I cannot imagine how you explained your "fit" to all 5 schools convincingly.

Either way, Ross is probably your best bet, but it depends heavily on your essays and how you explained your fit. For R3, your chances will be diminished at all schools, even the Elites ranked 6-16 on BW. I would suggest you spend some time on this forum reading the stickied posts and figure out what you want to do with your MBA, so we can help you more.

I did address each school as to why I wanted their program based on my career goals and what their school offers. How in depth did you guys go into the Why School essays? 1/2/3 paragraphs?? I plan to get into Private Equity and Venture Capital.

Northwestern and Chicago I havent submitted yet so Im still working on those essays. I think Im going to apply to NYU and Columbia as well for R2 but I have a long way to go on those applications.

Why schools, usually it is in the career to date, future career goal, and why this school....so I used about a 1/3. Then in every essay I make sure to show why that school. You need to make it clear you fit very well. Used majors, classes, extra curriculars, other things like trips and projects, teaching style, school culture, location...pretty much anything you can think of.

Honestly if you haven't started R2 applications yet, there is little chance you will put one together that is worthy of sending in. Right now you should be just ironing out the details with essays. All should be written and pretty much good to go except for some tweaks.

School culture, role models - in GSB I explored Nobel Prizes, Fama, etc; people you know who graduated from there, the reception or the visit you made to the school, etc...

You def need to show that you know the place, what to expect, sometimes in a subtle way, but still you have to show them...

yeah, I'd say 1/3 to 1/2 of my goals essays are on the "why school" part. And I add a "why school" thing generally at the end of every long essay (not the 300 word ones).

PE and VC you can also look at Stanford, Haas, and UCLA, if you want west coast stuff. East Coast you're right with Columbia and NYU. MIT would be a good choice, but their R2 is also very difficult to get in.

Is MIT R2 much harder than its R1?

from what I heard. Since MIT only has 2 rounds, their R2 is equivalent of R3's for schools with 3 rounds (or R4 for schools with 4 rounds).

I don't think MIT R2 is quite as difficult as R3/R4 at other schools, though it is challenging. From what the adcom say, they take the same number of admits in R1 and R2. Problem is, the number of R2 applicants typically far exceeds (1.5-2x) the number of R1 applicants.

Pretty in depth. Do you have prior banking experience?

No banking experience.

If you have no banking experience PE or VC is extremely difficult unless you have very detailed knowledge of something incredibly important to a particular firm and special in your background. By that I mean you have knowledge of a particular field that is hot for investing, like you were researcher doing work in nanotech, you may get an interview by a VC firm who funds nano companies. Both fields hire few people, and prefer those people have prior experience in PE/VC or at least come from a bulge bracket banks or something along those lines. Its impossible with no experience but it is extremely hard.

I hate to say it but its bordering on unrealistic with no experience and nothing extremely well related unless you uncle runs a firm. There are several current students here who I am sure will back-up what I am saying about how hard it really is. I know a few are making a run at those types of jobs and can clearly speak to what it takes.

I am not trying to be insulting, but I want to give you an honest answer so that you can better position your career goals to maximize your chances. You would be much better off using a career switch into IB, which in reality you will probably have to use to get your foot in the door anyways. Even better is something that clearly relates to what you do. Schools want to help you reach your goals, and to do that they need to be attainable. Using something that clearly relates to what you currently do is a much easier sell.

Remember for every person like myself who applied with a career goal related to what I do that actually plans to follow that goal there are probably 3 or 4 who wrote about something completely unrelated to what their real goal is. Schools dont hold you to your career goal once you are in, and the point of applying is to be accepted.

I am aware that PE and VC are extremely difficult to get into and IB will be more realistic but I already have my foot in the door with Blackstone. I currently do consulting for some of their real estate projects. Now Im not saying this is going to get me a job in the future but it should give me an advantage. I thought about writing my career goals as real estate to show a more clear career path but I decided to write about what I really want to do. Should I change this for the schools I still havent applied to??

What do schools weigh more leadership experience or type of work experience?