Dilemma: Simon Vs. Deferral ?

Really appreciate your response SkaterGirl and bb.

I have spoken to several students from top15 and 15-25 school range over the past few weeks to get a deeper insight into my candidature at these schools. It is clear to me that top15 will be very difficult for me to crack, let alone with scholarships.

So my thought really have been with the schools in the 15-25 range, and I feel a little let down with the thought that I never gave myself a shot at any other US school(I had applied only to Simon in the US) - I would have loved to have applied to schools like Tepper/Kelley/Anderson. If I had gotten rejects from them and gotten an admit at just Simon - I would have happily gone with Simon. The idea of missed opportunities is weighing heavily in my head.

While speaking to students from the 15-25 schools, I have gathered the following -
1. For Tech jobs, none of these schools have direct campus presence of big tech companies(only top15 get that focus). However, several alumni are in these companies so that surely helps. Simon has had a several people over the past few years going into the function of my interest. Among big tech, the only place I have seen Simon students is Amazon - and literally 1 person at Google(he got into google PM role several years after simon).
2. The job search between a 15-25 school and Simon will pretty much be the same. Simon has a good career centre, i have had several interactions with them and they take as much interest in your future as you do yourself.

So, the base differentiations which I have identified between a 15-25 school and Simon -
1. Brand name
2. Peer circle. I hate to come across as someone very judgemental, but this is the feedback that I have gotten from the students, that I would see a difference in the strength of the profiles and competencies(if i can put it that way - for the lack of a better word). And that this would directly translate out to my experiences in the school and beyond that.

I do value the brand name and the peer circle; I do believe that while a B school is completely 'what you make of it', going to a better school with a stronger brand name and peer circle will definitely help with this pursuit?

SkaterGirl - Your response makes a lot of sense and I have been asking myself the same question. I have been asking myself - if I do get an admit from Tepper/Ross without a scholarship, would I go for it? (I am leaning towards a Yes).
If I do decide to go for a deferral, I would apply early R1 come September. By that time I will not have any significant improvement in my roles/responsibilities.

bb - Thanks, I have been religiously tracking the decisions trackers and other resources. My gmat got delayed due to multiple attempts(3) to 710. It was only late r2 that my gmat was over, I prioritized Canadian schools at that time and in r3(march) I applied to Simon- interview went fantastic and they offered me a 55% scholarship.

I am not sure if I am being crazy by thinking that it is worth it to try and defer by a year and apply in 3 months time to ranked 15-20 schools(kelley/tepper/anderson) and even ross(you never know until you try right?) and see how it goes. The only reason I think of this option is because of the thought that I never gave myself a shot at any of these schools. And I do believe that my peer circle experience might offer me greater opportunities at these schools. I would love to hear your thoughts around this. I am not sure if I am nit picking way too much - and just making my life harder.

Legolas1221 If Simon allows a deferral and you are open to drop a year for potential future gains, then there is no harm in doing so. The gulf in opportunities really drops from tier to tier and one does an MBA only once.
Considering you are an international, your GMAT might be the biggest hurdle for the schools you’ve mentioned (maybe try the GRE?!).
And, if you’re reapplying my advice would be to not hold back! Maybe try schools such as Kellogg, Fuqua, and definitely Ross.
Anderson, Tepper, Marshall, and Foster are great schools for tech in the range you mentioned.

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Hi

Ross, Tepper, Anderson will be tough to aspire for at your current GMAT (though we would love to know your profile and achievements in more detail as well). KF and Kelley are possible, but even for those, would recommend you retake and increase to 730+.

In terms of career opportunities, schools in the 15-25 range may not necessarily provide better opportunities (though some of them will have some more top tier recruiters coming in).

Thanks for the feedback GyanOne.

I do not plan on taking the GMAT again - I will be sticking with this score and need to make the best of it.

A bit more about my profile -
Professional -
- Worked for 5.5 years at Cerner(US healthcare IT giant). Started off as a software engineer, and received 3 promotions over 5 years to become a Team Lead - managed 10 associates(function - Product Owner). Received the highest appraisal bucket of 'distiction' - given to 3% of the 26k employees of Cerner.
- I was handpicked by the Director in Bangalore, India to visit Cerner's newly established office at Dublin, Ireland to lead Cerner's market entry in the EU. I was there for a month - to give knowledge transfers and help this Dublin office understand our organization. Post this i worked very closely with the team for two years(from bangalore) to help with the EU market entry. (No other international work ex)
- Worked in the CSR group: Spearheaded the digitization of several rural indian healthcare centres. The effort now positively impacts ~50k individuals.
- Department Training head: I lead campus recruitment events across several universities in India. In this responsibility I also trained and onboarded internship students and was responsible for assessing their capabilities in order to offer full time roles in my organization.

Personal/Extracurriculars -
- I am a thespian at heart and have acted/written/directed over 10 publicly performed theatre plays. I have also won national awards in this sphere. I continue to be part of this community.
- I conduct and take part in long distance cycling events and marathons.
Undergraduate studies -
- Founded a new student club in my undergraduate studies - "Entrepreneurship Cell". Grew the student club to have over 500 members across the university within a year. Organized over 15 events to get the students in touch with leaders in the start-up space in Bangalore, India.
- Was the head of the University Theatre club and a core member of the University debate club. (Won several national awards in this sphere)

*Note* - I have attached my resume. It looks really cluttered with a lot of information(and this is not the version I used for my applications), but for the sake of understanding 'everything' I bring to the table, I felt this version does justice.

I totally understand buyers remorse and whenever you get something without a push back, There’s no way to know your worth or if that is a good deal or a bad deal. Sometimes you buy something and the person doesn’t bargain and you wish you had offered less

Hiring schools tend to have more opportunities but your success really depends on you. You can have 100 interviews and still not get a job. You could have 100 on campus recruiters look at your résumé and not get a single interview invite. It all really is defined by your résumé… and interview skills. Nobody will higher a person with an obscure background and terrible interview skills even if they went to Harvard. There’s always competition for every spot and do you have to perform.

It’s really up to you if you want to wait. It’s definitely less risky to wait. Though I am not sure if business schools are offering deferral‘s this year. I haven’t really heard a whole lot and I have a sense that they will not be offering deferral‘s again.

Getting a 50% scholarship that Simon is an indicator however. Even though you didn’t get other indicators from other business schools in the US, this is a data point. You can probably count on getting into Kelly or maybe Emory or McCombs next season but without a scholarship. Is that going to be an appealing proposition for you?

It also depends somewhat on your job and family situation. Are you able to grow in your job or is it going to be a year wasted on nothing and basically waiting. If that’s the case, then Simon is probably a better choice than nothing. At the same time, if you have a promotion coming in the next six months, or you are confident you can retake the GMAT and get it up to 740 or 750, then you can improve your chances but I still don’t know if it’s worth waiting a year….

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Hi Legolas1221

Thanks for posting details on your profile. You certainly have some very noteworthy achievements. Your resume certainly helped in understanding you at greater depth.
- Healthcare IT is an interesting domain, and does provide some differentiation beyond the typical IT mould.
- You have some very noteworthy leadership experiences. They will definitely help at 15-25 ranked programs.
- Given this, we would encourage you to seriously consider deferring by one year (if Simon allows it), retake GMAT, and target 15-25 programs. If this is a possibility, what is the worst that could happen? That you will ultimately go to Simon, but one year later. Not a bad outcome ultimately, even if it comes to that.
- We concur with the advice given by bb and skatergirl as well.