Re: Calling all Tepper-CMU Applicants(2016 Intake) Class of 2018
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06 Feb 2016, 15:52
I received a message with some good questions from a prospective Tepper student, and thought I'd post my replies here, in case they can help others:
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I have a few questions regarding Tepper. I am looking to apply in R3, although I'm a bit uncertain about it since I would be a late applicant. How competitive is R3 at Tepper?
I can’t put a specific number on it, but yes, like all competitive programs there are fewer admits in R3, simply based on the way the class fills up with strong candidates early. That said, it’s a great program and they certainly do take students in R3 so I would encourage you to apply at least so that you can know the true outcome, something only Admissions can decide.
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I'm from Pennsylvania, so I do want to move back home. I also thought there would be more scholarship opportunities...although I'm not sure if there will be any for R3.
I have a number of classmates who are also originally from the area; I’m not sure how much of that is those students selecting the school based on location vs. if any of it could be admissions looking favorably on that criteria. Either way though, you’d be in good company with plenty of people from the area, despite it being a very international program.
RE scholarships, I'm entirely guessing but I wouldn't be surprised if the quantity or size of scholarships does come down in R3 a bit, for the same reasons as admits. Again though, that's 100% anecdotal.
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My other questions are specifically related to your experience. I'm looking to get into IB or investment management, how strong is Tepper's OCR for those type of roles.
You know, I will have to get back to you on that, since I haven’t been recruiting for IB/finance. There definitely is a good portion of the class heading in that direction, but I will ask some of them for a more specific perspective and follow up.
I have paid a bit more attention to consulting recruiting and can tell anyone who’s interested that the major firms all recruit here, McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, AT Kearney, PwC, KPMG. All on-campus interviews, except McKinsey which holds interviews at their local Pittsburgh office.
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What do you think Tepper does that stands out from the other schools? Is there anything that you were impressed while at Tepper? I know CMU is known to be much more quant focused, but I'm not actually sure what that means in terms of student life and opportunities. Does it mean it attracts a lot of quant firms or is it just that there are more quant classes than other MBA schools?
I’ll bundle this into one answer, because you did hit on one of the defining elements of the program; its analytical focus. The program is definitely rigorous and quantitatively oriented, which is a well-earned, common perception.
If you come here, you will work hard no matter what your background, that’s just the way it’s set up. The first portion of your 1st year will be structured around classes such as Statistics, Finance I, Accounting, Optimization, Operations etc., as well as the more 'soft skills' management and strategy classes. The result is that Tepper alumni have told me the school has a reputation in the workplace for MBAs with highly deliverable skills, and I believe it helps the school “punch above its weight” in terms of recruiting. It's a position that the school has taken for a long time, but that business itself reflects more and more, as decisions become more analytic-based.
A large number of people use this as a platform to go to tech companies; Amazon is possibly the biggest recruiter at Tepper right now, but there are many other people going to large tech companies as well as startups. As far as attracting specific firms, I’m not so sure compared to other b-schools, but for instance a lot of people will recruit for data analytics positions, or more of an operations focus at a given firm, but by no means is that required.
Because it’s an intentionally smaller program, the alumni network is very strong too, which becomes super important considering the MBA program itself is only two years. In my first year I’ve been able to talk to all sorts of alumni, from the most recently-graduated class to partners at firms, and every one of them has been invested in helping me, to help the program itself.
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Hope that helps a bit, I’ll seek out some tips from some of my finance-oriented classmates and follow up. I know I sound a bit like a shill for the school, but no one asked me to come here. ha This forum helped me on my way to taking the GMAT and going to b-school, and now I'm interested in helping out and getting some good classmates along the way.
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