My profile:
- 27-year old Indian male with ~5.75 years of work experience (~5 years in a 15-member boutique IB firm with multiple promotions)
- UG: Economics from one of the leading colleges of India
- UG Grade: 3.2 (based on WES evaluation). I thought that clearing two levels of CFA, GMAT score and my quant-heavy work-ex would compensate for it.
- International experience: I've engaged with executives based out of the US, UK, Middle East and Asia. I have also done schooling in New Zealand for a couple of years. Travelled to 3 countries in Europe in a personal capacity
- Post-MBA career goals: To work in a bulge-bracket IB firm, with a preferable focus on Sustainability (I've got extensive experience in renewable energy financing). Given that IB is competitive, Plan B was to look at boutique IB firms and corporate finance advisory roles in Sustainability-focused firms in the school's country.
So I had decided on applying for MBA programmes last year itself but decided to delay the process for a year because of COVID. As I was planning to move along with my partner, my options were pretty limited in terms of schools (UK and Canadian schools, as they allow dependants to work). I started speaking to consultants and students/alums in March 2021.
Some of the consultants suggested that a good way to improve my profile before R1 would be to increase my GMAT score (it was 730 at the time). Reluctant to do so, since I hadn't studied anything GMAT-related for more than a year (I had given the exam in early 2020), I decided to slog as I knew how competitive the process would be, so every small margin would matter. After two months of focused studying, I gave the exam and scored a 760.
While I was delighted with the score, I was fully aware that it would be foolish to get complacent about my chances because of the GMAT since I belong to an ORM. With this in mind, these are some of the things that I did during the applications process:
- Hired a consultant with an established track record (after speaking to more than 12)
- Lurked on reddit, GMATClub and ClearAdmit on a routine basis so that I could get even small insights about the application and MBA process from fellow applicants and experts. Also got featured on one episode of the WireTap as well! Also joined a couple of https://gmatclub.com/chat MBA application groups
- Routinely listened to the
Stacy Blackman podcast while driving
- Spoke to at least 40 students/alums across the 5 programmes during the process
- Attended more than 30 admissions events across the 5 programmes
- Worked rigorously on the apps from June onwards, spending an average of ~2.5-3 hours daily on the process
I knew I had done more work than the average MBA applicant and that some of the schools I was applying to weren't even considered dream schools (Oxford, Cambridge and Rotman), so I was cautiously optimistic of my chances as I felt I had tried to cover all bases and done everything by the book. Most of the consultants I spoke to were positive about my chances and told me that I had a strong profile (one even said I will have an easy application season!). Even quite a few of the current students/alums were positive.
I applied to Oxford (R1), LBS MBA (R1), Rotman (R1) and Cambridge (R2). After getting dinged from Oxford and LBS in R1, I hired another consultant to review my Cambridge app so that I could get a fresh perspective and even got it reviewed by a Cambridge alum before submitting it for R2. I also decided to apply to LBS' MiF programme, even though that wasn't a part of the initial plan, because studying in UK (especially in LBS) was my dream. For the MiF, I got some facetime with the ad-com, and even got a current student to recommend me for the program.
Despite all of this, I ultimately got dinged at Oxford, LBA MBA and LBS MiF and got waitlisted without interview at Cambridge. I only secured an interview invite from Rotman, and I'm awaiting my interview decision.
I hate my job so I was extra motivated to work hard for this as it would provide me a gateway out of it. Given my personal constraints, I can't apply to any schools in the US, France or Spain and I don't want to apply below Oxbridge in the UK as I just wouldn't be happy with it.
I wanted guidance from all you good people about how I should proceed. Does anyone know any way I can get to know about what is lacking in my profile (from the ad-coms or generally), so that I can take a calculated decision about reapplying next year? I already feel broken after this process.
Sorry for the long post