Calling all Kellogg MBA & MMM Applicants: 2024 Intake Class of 2026

Question for the group. Is there a specific name for the 2nd year students who lead the KWEST groups? Not sure if there was but wanted to ask

As far as I know, no.

Thank you, bb for the warm welcome!

Greetings, everyone! I am incredibly thrilled to serve as a moderator for Kellogg. Given your interest in Kellogg, it's likely that you are aware of it's inclination towards fostering a highly collaborative environment. Aligned with this very principle, I will strive to assist individuals within this forum.

A brief overview of my background. I hail from India and have 6 years of work experience in the Data and Analytics field spanning across diverse industries. Following the completion of my MBA, my aspiration is to transition into consulting, aiding companies in their business expansion endeavours.

To keep this sub-forum active, and yet informational, I thought it'd be nice to post some trivia about Kellogg School of Management. Here's the first trivia:

Did you know that Kellogg School of Management is named after an American businessman John H Kellogg, and until 2001 the school was called JH Kellogg School of Management? You can read more about John H Kellogg here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg

Hi folks, quick question. Does Kellogg accept a test score update if I retake the test? I feel like my profile is decent, but GMAT is 720, so I’m planning to retake. Or should I just wait for round 2?

Kellogg adcom says that if you wish any aspect of your application, you have an option to update your application anytime after the submission of the application, however, if your application has already been reviewed, they can’t promise that the update will be considered.

So if you are planning to retake the GMAT, don’t keep if too far beyond the school application deadline. Better option would be to apply in R2

Hi, I know that the average for the two year is nearing 730. I have heard from consultants that don’t bother applying as an Indian with anything less than 750. How true is this?
Can a expert/anyone weigh in?

This is helpful. Thanks @targetKellogg!

Honestly, there is no correct answer to the question. If I have to get political, I can say that the admission committee sees your application holistically and GRE/GMAT is just one part of your applications.
However, there are some factors that you’d want to consider:
1. Every school looks for diversity. Therefore, nationality is obviously a deciding factor. Since some countries have more applicants than others, therefore, the competition among applicants of those countries could be relatively higher. How can one outshine in such competition? Through quantifiable metrics, such as a higher GMAT/GRE score
2. Still, any school has to fill in the seats. In doing so, they also need to ensure that people who are filling in the seats are actually going to add value to the school. This value can be in any aspect - culture, clubs, or employment. If they find that you have demonstrated your contribution to adding value, they may keep the GMAT/GRE scores at the bay
3. Employability is a big big factor - Imagine you are already a founder of a profitable start-up and you want to pursue an MBA for getting thorough business knowledge to boost your start-up’s growth. Definitely, B-schools have a much advantage to prefer you even if you have a low GMAT/GRE score. Why? Because if in future your start-up develops into a well-established firm, better Fortune 500 firm, S-schools will be in a position to take credit for that as, and rightfully so. But if your employability after MBA looks vague, B-schools might not want to offer you an admission even if you have 780 GMAT. Why? Because, you may not get a job post MBA, and you’d blame it on the school and that would tarnish the B-school’s reputation.

Therefore, it’s always said that the profiles are evaluated holistically.

That’s a good detailed analysis. Coming to point no.3 what are the chances you not getting a job after getting into a school like kellogg

that is actually a very well rounded answer @TargetKellogg2024

Well, if we look at the school’s employment report, we’d notice that 98.5% of the people get a job within three months of graduation. This means that there still are just a few you do not get the job. Please note that this figure does not include those people who are not seeking employment - for eg. someone who is planning to go back to his previous company. However, it is the admission team’s responsibility to filter out the people who could be considered as ’high-risk liability’ in terms of employment. Let’s say, you have done work in tech for 6 years. Now you wanna move into Private Equity, with no prior experience whatsoever. If you mention this is your post-mba goals without proper justification of why PE and how that is doable for you with an mba, you may be considered a ’high-risk liability’.

Please note that this information is not published in school’S website or any other official source. This is based on my research from various sources.

I have a follow-up question to your response. Do career pivot is possible easily after mba. lets say a family business applicant who came to bschool with goal of eventually heading back to family business but during 2 years of mba got fascinated by the product management or marketing side and wanted to explore some years of corporate work ex in such fields. Is this possible ?

Absolutely! There are two aspects-
1. Mentioning your career goal in the application
2. Actually getting a post-MBA job in there

If your post-mba career goals do not align with what you actually wanna do, then it’s better to rethink investing 300k for an MBA. However, if your post-mba goals are your actual goals, then two things could happen-
1. You get a job where you wish to - an ideal situation and basically the target of all adcoms
2. You realize that your post-mba goals have changed throughout your mba journey - absolutely possible to change the field! Adcoms understand this and absolutely foresee this possibility. There’s no binding contract per say

That said, it’s utmost important to not lie on the essays just to be a preferred candidate - maybe the school won’t be able to give you what works best for you.
Remember, Harvard or Stanford may be the best B-school in the world but they may not be the best school for you.

does anyone know if kellogg has the optional question for the recommendation this year?

Yes, it does. Every school always has.