Calling all Oxford Said MBA Applicants: 2024 Intake Class of 2025

Admitted!

Congratulations everyone. This group has been a source of support, so thank you.

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Completely agree. Better things ahead.

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Got an admit
Congratulations to everyone else!

Got an offer!!!

Yes I am one of the unlucky guys. I am self shocked. Unable to digest this rejection since my interview went pretty well (taken by external counsellor). And this was my last option and put a pin to the coffin of my international MBA dream. Wish you all the best. It will take a few days for me to get out of this shock.

Think about all the effort you put in and all the materials you have on hand to support next round of apps. Keep applying!

Hey guys can u please drop the names of the Admissions consultants you used for the oxford ot Cambridge applications?

Or if yall can recommend sources/ consultants/ other resources

 
My 2 cents: Attend webinars (and recordings) hosted by these schools, talk to a few alumni and current students on LinkedIn, and use ChatGPT solely for grammar and spell checks on your essays. As long as you have a clear understanding of your career goals, the importance of an MBA to achieve those goals, and the ability to demonstrate coachability, you will be okay.

I can imagine what you must be going through, I was in same boat last year. My advice to you would be, focus on improving your profile and re-apply next year. This is subjective but I feel good admission consultant can help to greatest extent in my case admission consultant helped me to revise the complete story (authentic though) and prepped me nicely for interviews.

Actually i have done all that.Perhaps being on the higher side of age 34+, and seeking a career in investment banking perhaps was not reasonable for the admission committee. I have no choice but to abandon my MBA journey now, for new candidates do make sure your age criteria is met else you will end up wasting a full year in preperation and applications like me.

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­You should receive in some time an email where they will state in which week they'll release scholarship decisions 

I am sorry for your rejection. The sad truth is that unfortunately the job market is really though, especially for very competitive roles such as IB. From my experience, Said places a great focus on career objectives and their feasibility, and maybe they believed they couldn't really help you get the career you're seeking. Have you considered anything else besides Investment Banking?­

If I’m honest, I think that’s pretty much what I think is the sticking point for you, mate. It’s the change of industry to a high-pressure, high intensity one at a relatively advanced age. It will probably be difficult to get a job in a major investment banking firm unless you already have some ties. I don’t think Oxford would have an issue with your age in general (I’m only a couple of years younger than you are).

I believe they would also have an issue with my pursuing consulting at this age but I was very clear that I was looking at specific companies (rather than just wanting to be at MBB) and had alternative roles that made sense on paper.

I would advise to not give up. I have just been admitted and I am 35 Yo. My post MBA project was more about Entrepreneurship (A) or Private Equity position (my pre-MBA industry). In my opinion you should work with a consult by that will help you to story your story and make it more appealing, under the condition that your Gmat score and academic are correct, but a consultant may help you the assess that.

I’m 36+ and got admitted. I believe Oxford wants clear view of post MBA goals. I preferred consulting roles and complete change of industry from energy to strategic consulting but I had solid backup plan to move to strategic management position within the same organisation. They liked it along with my international experience

­Hi, I was browsing this thread before sleep, and just saw this message, so I got up to send this reply. I want to share my experience just in case you will be reapplying. I got admitted, but this is actually the second cycle of my MBA pursuit. In the last cycle, I interviewed with Chicago Booth, and also felt it went pretty well. Normally I'm very confident in my self-evaluation, as whenever I sense that I perform well in exams/ interviews, the outcome is usually good. I really felt that it was one of the best interviews in my entire life, but I was just rejected afterwards. Later I learned that normally it's best to interview with the adcom directly, and I also opted for this format for this cycle's Oxford application (didn't apply to Oxford in the last cycle), and everything has been rather smooth. I also heard from other applicants that it's much harder to pass alumni interviews - I assume external counsellor should be similar in nature, as I broadly categorize them as non-adcom interviews. In a nutshell, you may take this factor into account if you will be reapplying in the next cycle. Hope that helps & best of luck!