Wow...

But business schools are not necessarily looking for best "students" - they are looking for best future business leaders, right?

Because they pride themselves on saying a high gmat score alone doesn't make a good student.

same logic hsampath. I have not seen any evidence to say that sacrificing 800 scorers is the best way to get those great potential leaders with lower scores.

Are schools assuming that any 800 will most likely be not a great business leader. That sounds illogical. Granted, some of these 800ers would be poor leaders, but that possibility holds for every score. Not just 800.

Actually a 800 scorer would seem to have a better chance of landing a good traditional MC/IB job post MBA than a 640 scorer. So, going by that logic, a high GMAT score would make practical sense to schools.

Its not like these schools are summarily denying applicants with 800 scores. So, there must be somewhere where they did not see a fit with the school, I would think.

Schools tell everyone they have a shot so why not apply. Not for the $250 but so their number of applicants go up. Then their acceptance rate goes down and looks more impressive.

And so that they find that one gem who sucks at taking tests, and so has a poor GMAT/GPA combination .. but who is bound to do great things otherwise? The more I get involved in the application process, the more I appreciate the so called 'holistic' approach of B-school admissions.

Although I would still recommend the schools to just take the top GMAT scorers to fill up their class

Oh I wasn't referring to just the GMAT. Someone who has an amazing background but a 650 gmat stands a better chance than someone who has a 750 and there is nothing special about them.

They may deny there is a method to how they choose their classes but I wouldnt be suprised if there was. There was an article on BW today about an admissions consultant for UG (charges up to 40K) and I guess a lot of schools dislike her because she gave up a lot of their secrets (she was assistant dean of admissions at Dartmouth). All these top schools had formulas they run people through. I wouldnt be suprised if they have something like that at certain business schools. You get point values for everything from GMAT, GPA (weighed by ug degree and school), your work experience, recs, extras, and of course essays. If you dont meet a certain number you are dinged. If you exceed a certain number you are accepted. In between those two values you get a more thorough review and are reevaluated for a ding/WL/accept.

Ya, I read the same article and was disappointed to see that you can get into an ivy league school merely by hiring this $40K consultant.

Whoa!! Where's this article, guys? The point system sounds a little unfair (Consider all the 'holistic' crap we hear), but I wouldn't be surprised with something like this.

Link:

https://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... op+stories

Well that 40K consultant isn't a normal consultant...she is more of a life coach. She starts on the kids in sophomore year and molds them into schools dream students. The are extremely well rounded and academically successful, because they have every opportunity. The kids do have an unfair advantage but they still must work their tails off.

But i guess its still a huge setback for those other smart hardworking kids who dont have the 40k to spend.

Well after reading the article, I dont think the $40k is too bad. This is similar to the coaching centers in India that charge some ridiculous amount to get students into IIT or whatever medical school. She does seem to spend a decent amount of time working with the students.

MBA consultants seem to charge $200 an hour, so around 200 hours of work per student? Thats a LOT of work

$40K? Dayam. I'd rather throw that money at the target school as donation and hope that sways the admissions counselors.

Wow!!

The best thing is she said she makes a million bucks a year doing it. I think I need to get on an adcom at school 2nd year. Hmm which schools do that?