MBA Decision Tracker - Real Time Updates

Haha now that I’m called out I’ll put in some thoughts.

Managing a team or athlete is generally a different pathway from MBA. Starting from being an assistant at a talent agency for an athlete, or being a athlete or coach for managing a team. The few examples I’ve heard of are pretty rare. I mostly have context on the basketball case but examples I would think of that came from MBA are Sam Hinkie and Daryl Morey, who went to Stanford and Sloan, but the way they got their starts is very unstructured.

In the case for CEO, I’m not sure how F1 is structures to, but generally in the sports I follow the responsibilities are separate from the General Manager who actually manages to team, signs athletes and coaches, etc. Columbia and Stern’s Media Entertainment and Sports conference recently had CEO of the Brooklyn Nets Sam Zussman speak a bit about that, he’s mostly focused on growing the complex around the Brooklyn Nets and their arena.

Growing profits and market share and leading your team to victory seem separate to me at least for the sports I follow. For profits and market share, your typical mba stuff and goals, and how your MBA will help you in typical ways, will help you the most, just with a little Media Entertainment Sports flavor.

For leading your team to victory, I would go to as many Sloan Sports Analytics Conferences as possible. Unfortunately most MBA programs, even your HSW or M7, aren’t going to have set pathways to go here. A lot of it will be taking shots on getting anyone’s ear and seeing if you can hook anything promising yourself. A great place to catch some ears are conferences like that. A great school name will help, of course, and guys like Morey give back to conferences at their own schools.

I can go a bit deeper into my own findings/experiences networking Pre-MBA if you want to chat. Of course, I haven’t even started my MBA yet so I don’t have that exact context yet.

I’ve only heard anecdotally about people trying to get into sports management from places like Harvard PhD and MBA programs and other really prestigious places taking unpaid internships or working for pennies to be with a team… is purely antidotal stuff and I don’t know how much true it is. it’s very competitive

Same, I submitted on the 16th of Jan received an email jan 19th saying they received my application and they were going to review it and it will take 6 weeks from the 19th email. Goodluck, hope to see you in.

Yes enrollment advisor told me the same thing, did you speak to Maureen K ? I’ve seen the past info sessions they said before being accepted all finalists get an interview I asked a couple times in two info sessions they said that’s not the case anymore. So who knows. Yeah getting an interview most likely means you are in. Who knows hoping for the best, I am checking my emails and portal as well since today marks 6 weeks since I received the last email.

Let’s hope for the best, I am sure you will receive something soon, last time I spoke to the enrollment advisor she said they were behind. Goodluck will keep you updated.

Dee & BB many thanks for your thoughts, i really appreciate it. I think i gave the adcom many reasons to disqualify me, this is my assumption. Low CGPA, gaps in employment, away from FT work. I applied with a 730 and only in late march retook the GMAT. I used a consultant last year , even though i didn't apply and used those essays as a reference. I had to rush through the applications, didnt spend enough time talking to students from marquee colleges and maybe that reflects in my essays. I did speak to students at McCombs and they do seem to have enough opportunities for IB(energy in Houston) and rarer cases of IB in NY. I'd be quite happy to do M&A consulting an/or Corp-dev roles at tech companies too. I just want access to the transactions job market, my partner is moving to the US soon for her post-doc. Right now, i'm inclined to take McCombs, they seem to be moving up the ladder in terms of rankings etc. There's just this voice at the back of my head, i went to a marquee university for undergrad and my goal was to either get into Cornell or Duke. Alas, thanks once again. i have some thinking to do, is the Columbia Jan intake useful for someone getting into IB? i hear its near impossible without an IB internship

Thank you for adding your take and advice!

Thank you for the response

Hi Aryaa03!! I am from niche background merchant navy, working on managerial roles for quite a few time. At isb it about how you present your compelling stories in essays and application and how do u execute it in interview! Isb believes in diversity.

Hi anulofuma! I am from merchant navy background, non engineer. My under grads was pretty bad but I do make here which suggests academics play a part but it's not everything. Incase u can get a decent GMAT score and can create stellar application that would be okay .

I wish I had a calculator that would translate alumni relationships into dollars to help you with your decision. A lot of successes based on Chen luck and trying and pursuing. I do think Tuck is more prestigious than Fuqua and more exclusive perhaps so I think that will be worth something. People will definitely talk to you and I think that would be a big helpful plus. I had the same time it doesn’t mean you’ll get a job .


I have not checked the alum composition within companies. It changes from time to time and especially now with tech changes and troubles it’s all over the place. Before the pandemic messed things up, tech was a fairly common exit path for consultants. As tech jobs dry up, consultant exit pats dried out and consultants stopped quitting. at least that’s one theory I have heard from a person.

so the value of alum is going to be slow to how much effort you invest into it. A lot of the hiring is done using referrals in many companies and especially in large tech firms. You want somebody to refer you but there’s a difference between a cold and a warm referral so to speak.

I would say that it’s gonna be pretty hard to get into anywhere without a cold referral. That’s basically an employee putting you into the database and saying they referred you and they know you a bit. I don’t think anyone is getting any jobs without this kind of a Minimum effort these days just because there’s so many applicants and HR struggles with choosing the right one.

at the same time, everyone else is getting these so if you don’t have as good of experience or don’t as highly in your job performance or other elements, they’ll be quite a number of referred candidates. Everyone with a computer can find an alarm in the company and bug them until they refer them. Not very hard to do. Trick for you stay engaged with the employed tech stay in touch with them for the two years while you’re in business school. In that case, you have a relationship in the network and something much better than a cold referral. This is the relationship matter and make a meeting for difference it’s not a replacement for relevant work experience or skill set. Right now, I’m seeing many students mentioned that employers are looking for people with prior work experience and they have plenty to choose from those for not changing industries. And the for that , your best opportunity is getting an internship in the summer. These can be networked but they’re harder to network.

😂 One message above you said it all comes down to scholarship and now you’re getting back to indecisive.

PS. This is very common by the way and if you have a gut feeling and it’s just feels right, nothing can change that so it sounds like you may be more decisive