Profile Eval - Fall 2011 Intake

Hi Alex, I'd appreciate some feedback on my profile / school targets for Fall 2011 Intake.

Current status
I've spent the last year visiting campuses to short-list my schools, and my list currently stands as per below (in no particular order). I'm probably going to have to whittle this list down to about 5. I've added in some comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

-Columbia (loved the campus & classes that I attended, generally got a good vibe. Will have to work hard to prove fit though..)
-MIT (Visited campus, I assume this would be a good fit with my goals, but I don't know if I want to go to b-school with a bunch of engineers much like me?)
-Ross
-Tuck
-Cornell
-Kellogg
-Stanford
-Hass


Visited Booth, thought it was too finance focussed and didn't really connect with the campus. Visited Harvard, I know this may be a good "fit" with my goals, but I found the students / adcoms a bit snobbish and the spread-out campus didn't click with me.

How does my profile match with these schools, and should I be looking at additional schools based on my profile/goals? I'm also considering applying to LBS because of its strength in International business and its brand recognition in Asia.

That was fairly long. I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts!

There are no safe schools in there -- you have a somewhat reasonable chance of getting into at least one of them, but also an outside chance that you may run into bad luck (or crappy execution on the applications) and not get into any of these tier of schools. Whether you want to include safer schools (i.e. schools outside the top 16 like Texas, Georgetown, USC, Indiana, Purdue, UNC, etc. or Canadian schools like Ivey or Rotman) is really a personal decision.

If you're focused on these tier of schools, then just know that there's a risk that you may not get in anywhere (but like I said above, you have a reasonable shot of getting into at least one of them).

Not sure what you saw in Columbia, but if you're looking for general mgmt type of programs, I would nix this from your list. Not that CBS has crappy general mgmt/strat/operations, but that there are other schools on your list that have a stronger focus on that (and Columbia being in NY is still very finance oriented in terms of career and "personality" of the student body).

Stanford is a lottery ticket. The application is also a huge time sink. Unless you have such a hard on for it that you'd regret not even trying at all, I would consider focusing on other schools.

Cornell - a school you probably have a decent shot at getting into, although the student body also leans towards finance than the other schools on your list.

There. Now you've got five: Sloan, Ross, Kellogg, Tuck, Haas.

Hi Alex,

Thanks! I gained more insight and honest feedback from your post than a paid consultation with another consultant last year.

- I forgot to mention that I was considering Ivey as a safe school, my only turn-off is its limited recognition outside Canada, and how this would affect my long-term goal of working in Asia. Your thoughts?

- I'm not interested in a second-tier MBA from the US, I don't think it will fit with my goals, especially since I will be a career-changer and need all the branding I can get my hands on.

- I agree with you on Columbia & Cornell and shall nix accordingly. Re: Columbia, I generally liked the environemnt, the student body and NYC.

- I'm still see-sawing on Stanford, I guess it will boil down to whether I have time for another application but yes, I will regret not having tried at all.

One question - how about LBS? I realize that it leans a bit towards finance, but will the international (specifically Asia) recognition work in the context of my long-term goal?

Thanks Alex.

"Long-term goals" is only useful for essay writing.

Outside of the essays (i.e in reality, off the record), practically speaking look at schools based on your short-term goals and short-term goals only.

Because in the long-term, two likely things will happen:

(1) You will end up in a completely unrelated career or life. It happens more often than you think. 10-15 years after you graduate, you may end up doing something completely unrelated to your initial industry of choice, or perhaps even completely unrelated to business. It's more common than you'd think. It's called LIFE. You get married. You change jobs and cities for your spouse. Your parents or your spouse's parents get very old and sick, and you move to be closer with them (which may mean taking on a completely different job or career altogether). You get fired or laid off. You plateau in your industry of choice, get bored of it, and decide to start over doing something new (i.e. you decide to open a restaurant). Your children have health issues or your children have some special talent (sports, arts, etc.) that either compel or require you to make a very different lifestyle choice or to move to the location that is best for your children. You become a stay-at-home dad/mom. You start your own home business. You become a teacher. And so forth. Whatever it is that you cannot predict, something BIG and SIGNIFICANT will happen within 10-15 years that will cause your life to take a completely different turn -- not necessarily good or bad, but different and something that you never would've expected. The business school "goals essays" tend to force a linear progression in terms of career planning, but in reality, careers like LIFE are never linear. Something *big* will happen, and the further out it happens, where you went to b-school (or whether you have an MBA or not) won't matter in helping you make that transition.

(2) When you're in your 40s and 50s (that's "long-term"), you won't care really where you went to school in your 20s. B-school has nostalgic value much like your high school or your alma mater. But by the time you're that far removed from your 20s, your b-school will have little to no practical value. You're not going to be trolling your alumni database to sell your wares or "make contacts". If you need to mine your network, most of it is going to be people you've dealt with within the last 5 years. Moreover, *others* won't care about where a 40+ year old professional went to school in his/her 20s -- again, at best it may have nostalgic value (i.e. worth a toast of a champagne glass or beer), but from a practical standpoint it won't have any real bearing on business decisions -whether to hire you, whether to invest in your business, and so forth. This may be hard for many applicants to appreciate - because they're falsely assuming that everyone in their 40s and 50s has the same mentality and attitude as they have in their 20s. The only way I can help you appreciate this is being the one having to give a high school kid advice -- certain things that may seem like life and death, or at least hugely important with big stakes as a high school student will seem like nothing to you now in your 20s or 30s because you know that the high school kid isn't going to have those same values or perspectives once they're your age.

Again, when it comes to school selection, focus on how it will help you in the short-term (first 5 years out of b-school).

Great insight, thanks.

Golden words Alex!!!

Kudos!!!

Wonderful Explanation.