https://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v312/27/8/7603459741/n7603459741_609063_1221.jpg Essays A. What are your short-term and long-term goals? How will a Tepper MBA help you to achieve these goals. (Please include any information regarding what steps you have taken to learn more about the Tepper School.) (Suggested length: 2 double-spaced pages) B. The Tepper School’s culture relies on all members to be active contributors to our community. With your values, experiences, and interests, how will you make a unique contribution to the Tepper community? Your examples may include: classroom interaction, student activities, career development, community service, etc.(Suggested length: 2 double-spaced pages) C. Please answer two of the following three questions or statements. Please clearly specify which questions you are answering. Your two answers should equal a total of two pages or less. 1. Describe an obstacle you have faced in your professional or academic life. How did you overcome this obstacle and how did it foster your development? 2. Describe a time in which your ethics were challenged. How did you deal with the situation and what did you learn from it? 3. One thing people would be surprised to know about me is . . . D. Is there anything additional that you think we should know as we evaluate your application? Note: if you believe your credentials and essays represent you fairly, you should not feel obligated to answer this question. This essay is intended to provide a place for you to add information that you think is important but is not covered elsewhere in the application. You must complete this essay if you answered “yes” to the additional information questions on the previous page. Deadlines Round 1 Deadline - October 26, 2009 Decision - December 21, 2009 Round 2 Deadline - January 04, 2010 Decision - March 15, 2010 Round 3 Deadline - March 08, 2010 Decision - May 03, 2010 Round 4 Deadline - April 26, 2010* Decision - June 04, 2010 Round 5 Deadline - June 01, 2010** Decision - Rolling R1 Total Applicants: 18 Interview Invites: 14 Admitted: 8 WL: 1 Dinged: Unknown: 9 alnasi - Interviewed alymarie andy2010 - Interviewed awesomeusername - Admit w/$$$ bhy - Admit w/$$$ Class2012 - Admit dv450 - Admit w/$$$ hopeful1 - Interview jackets85 - Admit madbubbles - Admit(Forte Fellow) MBA42012 - Admit Pre777 quantumquark - Interviewed rao_1857 - Admit rhaces - Waitlist rohitmakkad Skye10 - Interviewed vnbui R2 Total Applicants: 26 Interview Invites: 16 Admitted:5 WL: 6 Ding: 1 Unknown - 14 Admits Boogs - with $$ LetsGoMets - with $$ maxtor onmymind - with $$ sam04 ammim - Ding anxietyismyname - Interview Ari123 - Interview/Withdrew apurvashukla Boogs - Interview coakleym - Waitlist connecticket finblue Freshair - Interview gmatmba2010 - Waitlist gottabwise hookemhorns86 - Waitlist kirtanasrini - Waitlist lewi - Interview M2010 manasa - Waitlist mechIFR nilashis shaun3 - Interview Spikezz - Waitlist stayingcalm yuskay R3 Total Applicants: 4 Interview Invites: Admitted: WL: Dinged: jbourne shinkdown sunshinemoods tomahawk003 Link to last year's thread - calling-all-cmu-tepper-fall-2009-applicants-69554.html

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Calling all Tepper Fall 2010 Applicants

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MBA42012

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17 Feb 2010, 17:51

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milias

I'm thinking of applying to Tepper in R3. Is Tepper's R3 different from R3 for other schools? Are applicants at a significant disadvantage compared to R1/R2 applicants? Thanks in advance!

Tepper has 5 rounds - this could be favorable compared to applying elsewhere R3. Obviously there will be some disadvantage compared to R1/R2 applicants.

rao

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18 Feb 2010, 06:36

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MBA42012

milias

I'm thinking of applying to Tepper in R3. Is Tepper's R3 different from R3 for other schools? Are applicants at a significant disadvantage compared to R1/R2 applicants? Thanks in advance!

Tepper has 5 rounds - this could be favorable compared to applying elsewhere R3. Obviously there will be some disadvantage compared to R1/R2 applicants.

Also, Tepper doesn't have that great acceptance rate so ... you will be competting against a lots of spots as compared to a handful of at other top-10 school.

milias

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18 Feb 2010, 07:22

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Thank you, MBA42012 and rao_1857. If I want to go into tech marketing with a sustainability focus and eventually go into tech consulting in emerging markets, would Tepper be a good fit for me?

Also, what is the student culture like at Tepper? Is it more on the competitive side or is there a greater emphasis on teamwork?

coaks

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18 Feb 2010, 08:27

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milias

Hey milias, I applied to, visited and interviewed at Tepper and the impression that I got was that if you wanted to do anything finance/tech/engineering-related Carnegie Mellon was a top-tier option due to the mathematic and analytic rigor of their courses. They offer a lot of dual degree options with MS programs at their school. For instance, you know I'm a dual degree policy/business applicant and CMU is the only big name school that I know of that offers a Masters of Science in Public Policy rather than a purely professional policy degree.

I did not get the impression that the students were very grade-competitive but in the finance elective I sat in on everyone that spoke was very impressive. I was not disappointed by the quality of students. It was a course on valuation and half of the sessions were case studies of past mergers that were presented by student groups to the rest of the class via PowerPoint as if the student groups were an independent board of directors or something like that who wanted to know how to price the corporations, at the time of the merger. After the presentation, students respectfully grilled the presenting group about their numbers/calculations/assumptions and they walked through where they could have improved/changed their analysis. Even though it wasn't their case to present, each group had done some unique analysis with different but relevant data that added to the conversation. I'm not a finance guy at all, but it seemed like a cool class.

Also, every Friday they do a booze session on campus, similar to Fuqua Friday but less cultural, so the students seemed pretty sociable to me.

I too kind of decided to apply last minute but I'm very happy I did. I would be happy to go to CMU if I were accepted.

coaks

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18 Feb 2010, 08:31

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Also they like to advertise a very analytical approach to marketing. I think they place more emphasis on quantifying gains and losses with more- and less-resonant marketing techniques, given an audience. I thought that was cool and very appropriate given our data-driven times.

rao

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18 Feb 2010, 09:39

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coakleym

milias

I second everything that coakleym said... I think its a great school with great analytical approaches to buisness problems. Dual degree options with engineering school or Heinz school is difinetely a big plus.

milias

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18 Feb 2010, 09:48

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Thank you, coakleym and rao_1857. That was very helpful! I'm debating whether I should visit the campus prior to applying. It'd be a 10-hour drive for me. Or maybe I could fly.

MBA42012

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18 Feb 2010, 11:11

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milias

Thank you, coakleym and rao_1857. That was very helpful! I'm debating whether I should visit the campus prior to applying. It'd be a 10-hour drive for me. Or maybe I could fly.

I would say it's not worth the 10 hour drive, unless you definitely plan on applying and want to write that you visited the school in your essays. Otherwise, from an opportunity cost standpoint, you could probably just do the entire application in the amount of time you spend driving/deciding to apply (especially if it's 10 hours each way)!

milias

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18 Feb 2010, 12:50

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MBA42012

milias

Thank you, coakleym and rao_1857. That was very helpful! I'm debating whether I should visit the campus prior to applying. It'd be a 10-hour drive for me. Or maybe I could fly.

Yea, it'd set me back by about 300 bucks for plane tickets, hotel, and car rental, plus a couple of vacation days. The timing is also really tight. I think the best bet for me is to do an on-campus interview if I'm invited to interview. I hope they won't hold it against me for not having visited the school before applying.

coaks

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18 Feb 2010, 12:54

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milias

I didn't visit before applying but I put that in my essay. I just wrote something along the lines of, "naturally, I'm disappointed I haven't yet had the chance to visit the school but I'm looking forward to seeing Tepper when I interview later this year."

Wasn't an app killer.

Even if you're concerned about fit in R3, I wouldn't be too worried. As was mentioned, I'm sure Tepper will be looking to fill profile holes from R1/R2 withdraws so I think you have a good shot.

LetsGoMets

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18 Feb 2010, 13:51

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I'll second coakley. I did something along the same lines. I put something in my essay about having visited CMU last when I was considering them for undergrad (8-9 years ago), and that I'm looking forward to visiting again for my interview. I think as long as you do your research on the school and write good essays that explain why it's a good fit, they understand if you haven't visited yet. I think this is true of most schools. They all know that traveling is both time consuming and expensive, and that a lot of the information is available online.

That said - you can get information from a visit that isn't available online. So, it might make your application stronger (i.e. you may have more details in an essay explaining why it's a good fit or what you'd add to Tepper)

milias

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19 Feb 2010, 07:04

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Cool, I guess I'll be putting that in my essays, too. It's a good thing that Tepper has only 3 essays, and they all seem pretty straightforward.

hypermeganet

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19 Feb 2010, 11:37

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I'll be submitting my app this weekend. I have an old coworker that is a Class of 2011 MBA'er at Tepper now and he convinced me to do it. That plus the fee waiver sealed it for me.

And Pittsburgh is only about a 6 hour drive for me (50 min by plane) so I can visit eventually.

milias

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19 Feb 2010, 11:58

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hypermeganet

And Pittsburgh is only about a 6 hour drive for me (50 min by plane) so I can visit eventually.

What did you all think of the city of Pittsburgh? I've heard that it's kinda rundown or something. Any truth to that? How's the business climate over there?

hypermeganet

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19 Feb 2010, 12:01

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milias

hypermeganet

And Pittsburgh is only about a 6 hour drive for me (50 min by plane) so I can visit eventually.

What did you all think of the city of Pittsburgh? I've heard that it's kinda rundown or something. Any truth to that? How's the business climate over there?

I haven't visited Pitt for school stuff but I've been there many times when I worked as a consultant seeing clients. It's an "ok" city. Very blue collar. Weather stinks. Home to PNC, has quite a few finance firms, all of the Big 4, and some other decent businesses. It's pretty insulated from the outside world (you go through a mountain to get to it from one side!).

milias

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19 Feb 2010, 12:10

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hypermeganet

Hey, I'm curious - are you based out of Boston?

coaks

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19 Feb 2010, 12:13

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Since we're all rankings slaves around here... Pittsburgh was ranked the #1 most-livable city in the United States by the Economist. :stupid

milias

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19 Feb 2010, 12:17

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coakleym

Since we're all rankings slaves around here... Pittsburgh was ranked the #1 most-livable city in the United States by the Economist. :stupid

Really? Pittsburgh? What were they smoking? LOL!

anu1979

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19 Feb 2010, 12:26

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milias

coakleym

Since we're all rankings slaves around here... Pittsburgh was ranked the #1 most-livable city in the United States by the Economist. :stupid

Really? Pittsburgh? What were they smoking? LOL!

I think Pittsburgh gets a bad rep because people still think of it as being in the situation Detroit is in now, a run-down, dying, former industrial powerhouse. It revitalized and focused on education and healthcare to improve the economy. Yes, the whole town is obsessed with the Steelers, which may add to the "blue collar" flair or whatever, but it's actually quite a nice city with a strong professional core. I actually think the setting of the city is absolutely gorgeous.

I'm not going to pretend its New York, but it's the type of place where if you're a professional married to another professional that you can own a beautiful refurbished robber baron mansion (as opposed to flimsy new construction) in a nice neighbourhood in the city core (as opposed to the 'burbs), buy a couple of nice cars, take nice vacations and save for retirement/kid's college educations without making investment banking money. There are enough companies around that you can job hop, but not as many as if you lived in a bigger urban area.

2 of my hipster (ergo, pretentious) classmates from law school married each other and moved there and seem really happy with it. I actually really liked the city when I visited and wouldn't mind settling down there eventually. But I'm kind of crazy/obsessed with old architecture and like places like Detroit, Philadelphia etc.

More importantly, I was very impressed by CMU and its students.

milias

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20 Feb 2010, 09:28

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In the application, it asks for other MBA programs that you are applying to or planning to apply to. Did you guys list them or did you guys leave it blank, since it's not a required field?