Baker, Palmer, Arjay Miller Scholars, and other top 5-10%

Question

What is the feeling about the top 5-10% (depending on your school) of your class honors? Does it add anything that an MBA for X school doesn't get you? Is it worthwhile to spend the extra energy?

As someone with a low undergrad GPA, I am tempted to step it up and go after these awards. I think it might help further offset a low undergrad GPA (in the event it is requested by prospective employers during or after B school), especially for schools with grade non-disclosure.

nink · Answer

I really enjoyed the competitive environment of my undergraduate institution. It allowed me to push myself harder than ever before, and I think it allowed me to be successful later on in my professional career. During my freshmen year in college, my best buddy from college and I took the same introductory micro-economics class. In our first mid term, he received 97 and I received 94 on the exam. However, he decided that 3 point difference on our exam proved his intellectual superiority over me. During the next 2 months until the final exam, he boasted his intellectual superiority to me, to the others, to professors, to the poor girl across from our dorm, to the homeless guy selling painting on the street, to the crackhead selling fake Rolex on Washington Sq Park, and to anyone on the street who was willing to listen to him. He actually self-designed a t-shirt that said, "I am with an idiot" with arrow pointing to the right. And he always tried to stand to my left while wearing that t-shirt in public. That forced myself to push myself harder, do every homework on time, do all the reading before/after the class and etc. When I scored higher than him on the final, his silence was PRICELESS. I think the habit I developed from this friendly competitiveness allowed me to achieve success ever since that 1st yr. After all, I became sort of a certification/degree wh*re by getting MS degree, CPA, CMA, CIA and now CFA level I. Starting this fall, I plan on harassing my future bschool classmates the same way my buddy harassed me in college. In fact, I would like to apologize in advance to people who will be taking same class with me and will be sitting near me..... I think aiming to finish in top 5-10% of your graduating class is crucial because: (NOTE: These are my personal excuses......read them with caution :wink:

) 1) You are paying almost $150k for your MBA education. The stakes are high, and financial risk is great especially in this job market. Why procrastinate in bschool and give yourself an opportunity to regret later on? 2) I would like to be that douche boasting the fancy MC/VC/PE/IB or any other top internship/job offer on campus. (I hear that after the 1st wk of internship interviews, there is one Yale SOM 1st yr with IB offer and he is currently the envy of all other 1st years.....I wanna be that douche next year but more arrogant, less humble :twisted:

) 3) I always wanted to pursue PHD in anything so people will have to call me Dr. Ninkorn.

Although I tried to get people to address me as MASTER Ninkorn after I got my master's degree, it never caught on. Therefore, I will finish in top 5% of my graduating class so there is a Summa Cum Laude stamped on my diploma. That title will look SWEEEEEET on my resume. And it will be framed on my wall, so everyone can see it.... 4) If you know that you are in top 5% of your class, you can pretty much walk around the campus and tell yourself, "I am better than him, her, him, her......." while walking by others. 5) You busted your butt in the last 1-2 years to get into the school of your choice. You are now up against highly qualified, intelligent classmates. Here is your chance to measure yourself against them and figure out which areas you need to improve on, before you leave that campus in 2 years. 6) If you push yourself and make a lasting impression on your fellow classmates and professors, it can pay off in the future. Your professors can recommend you to other employers for a job interview. Your classmates are future leaders of their respective fields. They might become your key business contacts. If they don't think highly of you, then it might become a problem later on. 7) For many of us, MBA is the last graduate degree that we will pursue. Why not learn as much as we can and learn them right by aiming for A's all around? 8) I am turning down other schools to go to Yale SOM. If I don't push myself hard and don't find a great job upon graduation, I will be the laughingstock of individuals such as zoinnk, solaris, traffix, raabend, terp, IHTG, isa, Jerz, GB and others...... Also personally, I would like to get a better job than most of the individuals mentioned above so I can become their boss and delegate my work to them - in order to continuously waste my work days in IRC chat rooms after bschool.........

zonk · Answer

I guess my question is more...will a top 5-10% award really look that sweet on your resume / help you get a better job and/or win you respect/points with classmates? Or is it more to stroke my/your own ego? I'm not convinced it's that helpful.

To put things in perspective, I was chatting tonight with my friend who's a first year at Stanford GSB (which has grade non-disclosure). She was working on a take-home test for her Excel modeling class and was sure she had made mistakes in her model. She was debating whether or not she cared enough to go back and find the mistake(s). This was because she has
1) "an in class final for this class tomorrow i haven't studied for"
2) "and another take home midterm i have to do tomorrow and study for beforehand"
3) "and an interview on mon in nyc i have to prep for, and apparently the prep involves doing a case and making slides and preparing a presentation??"

From my current perspective, I would probably just make first-pass attempts at the exams and work hard on the interview stuff. In this case, it just seems to me that the grades are the lowest priority...

Does it say "ninkorn, MS, CPA, CMA, CIA, CFA Level I" on your business card? That would be awesome, but you'll always be our gmatclub laughingstock

terry12 · Answer

I think you could go for it if it would give you some sort of personal satisfaction, a kind of confirmation that you've done a great job. At Stanford, though (don't know about the others), the Arjay Miller awards aren't publicly announced until the day of graduation. I certainly hope you'd have a job by then, so the title won't help you getting your first job. I guess it could help you later on if you try to break into another field (say, transition to HF or something), but the network you've developed at B-school would be just as helpful, if not much more helpful, in making such a move. Having a named honor isn't likely to help you much in advancing within a given firm or industry either; that'll be based on your performance and ability to communicate/schmooze with others.

nink · Answer

It will say Master Ninkorn, MS, CPA, CMA, CIA, and CFA soon enough........... :twisted:

Gonna make some and give it out on my orientation day to classmates....

89nk · Answer

You need to know your stuff well enough to where others will acknowledge you, but not be arrogant to where your peers will exclude you even though your smart.

Grade, and %'s didn't really do much for me. To me, UG was about meeting the right individuals I had a 'fit' with to pursue greater and bigger things out of life.

qaum · Answer

having talked to dozens of alumni from hbs and stanford, i conclude it pretty much means nothing. no one cares. it may validate the fact that you are a smart person, but other than that, means nothing. tons of extremely smart 3.8+ 730+ gmat kids got into b-school, employers for the most part don't really care whether you spent time studying for grades in b-school, they care more about what you learned and how it affects your perspective, framework, etc

the only award i could see making a slight difference is the siebel award at gsb, where you are one of the top 5 students in the class after the first year, because it is announced in the fall right when job interviews are happening, it might help land you an interview with a hedge fund or pe shop, but by no means will get you a job.

that said some of you who are going to b school and thinking about bombing it should also consider that if you dont study at all and just screw around, you are throwing away your education. so for your own self-satisfaction and getting value out of your money, i would spend some time studying as well.

nink you crack me up. good luck at your i bank this summer. your work ethic will shine in that environment because it really is about competing to be better and competing to get a return offer.

Baker, Palmer, Arjay Miller Scholars, and other top 5-10%

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