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03 Mar 2014, 16:00
| FROM Defying Gravity - The MBA Journey: Stanford GSB Interview Scheduled! |
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It was initially a bit challenging getting in touch with my alumni interviewer, but I have finally heard back and have scheduled a date. OMG, it's real now! This will be my final admissions interview, and I'm really hoping it goes well. It's crazy to think that since I've made it to the interview stage, I now have a 50-50 chance of being accepted. Seriously, this is bananas!! I've said it before, but it bears repeating: When I began this application journey, I was honestly just hoping for one admit. I absolutely never imagined myself being in this position, and I am so incredibly grateful for these opportunities. To prepare, I've been reviewing the feedback on Clear Admit and practicing responding to behavioral questions, (which the GSB apparently loves). The most frequently asked questions include the following themes:
... oh, yeah, and in the meantime, I still need to decide whether or not to submit the Kellogg deposit on Wednesday! Ahhh! |
03 Mar 2014, 21:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: The Most Common MIT Sloan Interview Questions |
 At this point all of the Sloan interview invites have been sent out for this year. Unfortunately, I did not receive an invite from Sloan, but I am happy to say that due to all of my preparation, my interview with Wharton went very well. Although the team based discussion is a new interview format, I was able to assume a leadership role without being aggressive or obnoxious about it. Since I had already started preparing for a Sloan interview incase I got an invite, I decided to post the Sloan interview preparation I was working on for myself. I hope this is helpful for those who will be interviewing with sloan over the next few weeks. Interviews can take place on campus, in hub cities or even at the offices of alumni. Most interview last 40 to 50 minutes, but some have been as short as 15 minutes. I have listed out the questions found in Clear Admit over the past 2 or 3 years in order from most common to least common. The number to the right indicates how many times it was asked.
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04 Mar 2014, 15:00
| FROM The MBA Journey of an African Doctor: Another ding from Stanford… and way forward. |
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It was not quite unexpected. When Harvard and Wharton ding you without an interview, then you know your chances at Stanford are slim to none. I hold nothing against them because I am pretty sure there are many great applicants to pick from. I had to take a cold hard look at myself after the Wharton ding, and I came to the realization that there was really nothing I could do about who I am. I made good use of all the opportunities that came my way, but the fact that I came from a poorly understood culture did not really help matters. The Admission Committees simply did not understand me. I make investment decisions that potentially impact the Nigerian financial markets almost on a daily basis, and I am involved in activities that have changed the actions of the managements of some listed companies in Nigeria. I am pretty sure that if these schools were Nigerian schools, they would have understood the context of candidacy and I would have stood a better chance. Enough of the whining. Now I know that I might have to look towards more internationally focused schools, schools that are more likely to understand the context of my candidacy. American schools have exposure to 35 – 40% international applicants. Americans with a population of about 300 million have slots for 60 – 65% of the seats while the remaining 6.7 billion of the World population fight for the remaining seats. Now, I have to work out a strategy to get off the INSEAD waiting list. And I have a month to apply to London Business School and IESE Business School. If I have the time, I may throw in Chicago Booth into the mix, just for the fun of it. No, the MBA dreams of the African Doctor is not dead. I may be bruised and battered but like King Leonidas and his 300 men, my chin is up in the sky, and I will fight on. Meanwhile, the views on my blog have almost touched 2,000. I am humbled by your belief in me, and I am grateful to those who have encouraged me all along. I am sorry I do not have better news for you.  
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04 Mar 2014, 15:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: The Most Common Stern/NYU Interview Questions |
 Back in December, I interviewed with Stern. I am happy to say that I was accepted. I used Clear Admit to prepare, and it was very helpful. I felt completely prepare and don’t remember being caught off guard. I have created a list of the most common questions you can expect during an interview because I want to help all of my potential future classmates. Most interviews are around 30 minutes and conducted by an admissions staff member who has read your full application. My first question was about a unique activity that I participate in that I mentioned in the interview. When you arrive, you will receive a folder with information about clubs/programs you mentioned you would be interested in. You will also be given a Stern shirt so you can show your pride if you are admitted. I interviewed right before winter break so I didn’t hear back for almost 3 weeks, but often candidates get their decision in as little as a few days. Don’t forget to bring a copy of your transcripts, your application cannot proceed without them. I forgot mine and had to overnight them when I got back home.
Other interview preparation articles: MIT / Sloan Interview Question Preparation Wharton / Upenn Interview Question Preparation |
05 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Defying Gravity - The MBA Journey: And the winner is Kellogg...No, wait, it's Tuck! |
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The past 5 days have been pretty intense. I'm totally not complaining about having options, but I have been insanely stressed. In the battle between Tuck and Kellogg, I finally made the decision late Sunday evening to enroll at Kellogg. I appreciate Kellogg's strengths in marketing and social enterprise, and I loved the school when I visited. It's a solid, top 5 program that will help me reach my goals. I clicked the "enroll" button on the online portal, and felt relatively confident with my decision. "I am going to Kellogg," I thought. But then, I woke up Monday morning with doubts. The costs of earning a MBA are astronomical. Am I really going to turn down a full scholarship?! I spent Monday and Tuesday chatting with some current Tuckies who I met when applying. They alleviated a couple of small, personal concerns that I had, and reignited my initial excitement and passion for that program. I interviewed with Tuck all the way back in September, and I think that I somehow just started to forget the little things that made me love it. So, today is the deadline to enroll and submit my deposit at Kellogg. I have a few hours left to change my mind (again), but I'm pretty sure that I'll be choosing Tuck. And surprisingly, my decision is actually not based on the money (although it's obviously a great thing to have). It's been a week of soul searching, and I'm feeling good about my decision. I'm excited to be a Tuckie! |
05 Mar 2014, 17:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: Holiday time: USA road trip |
I’m off to the States on Monday  . It’s a bit of shock, my holiday has crept up on me almost unnoticed. Thankfully my friend who coming with me kept me updated with a count down! This was planned back in November to allow me to go campus surfing. Now it’s finally here and I might not even need to visit a campus!We’ve got of a bit of road trip planned. First we land in Boston, then head up to Niagara Falls, then swing down into North Carolina, and finish off the trip in D.C. First time ever renting and driving a car in the states. Excited and scary at the same time. Anyone got any hints or tips on what to see, how to get the best bargains? Already got a distillery tour in Chapel Hill off Groupon. What’s even more scary is is that decision day for Duke is on the 13th March; same day as I’m having a nosy round HBS. Now that’s bad planning. Hopefully my MBA blog will briefly change into a travel blog, please forgive me. But to keep in the spirit I will post my thoughts on HBS and Duke (if I take a tour.)  
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05 Mar 2014, 20:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: How Important is GMAT vs. GPA for Harvard Business School |
Word is that Harvard will take a chance on applicants who have low scores, but impressive accomplishments. Lets see if Harvard lives up to its reputation. As you can see the slope for Harvard is much steeper than for the other schools. The slope of -.0093 means that Harvard would look at an application with a 750 GMAT and 3.0 GPA similarly to a 650 and 3.93. This result is interesting, it shows that on the margin Harvard is weighs GMAT very strongly, however, they are willing to go much lower on the GMAT than other schools. Harvard is willing to take a chance on a low GMAT, but you better have a damn high GPA to make up for it. It is interesting to look at the total accepts instead of just the accepts on the margin. As you can see below, Harvard seem to be completely missing the population of students with low GPA and really high GMAT. I guess the admissions committee isn’t interested in students who slacked in undergrad and tried to make up for it with GMAT. I find that odd given Harvard’s reputation for grade inflation. They say that the hardest part of Harvard is getting in.  Harvard has an impressive 730 median GMAT. It is interesting that Harvard posts the median GMAT score instead of mean score like other schools. You can hide some very low GMAT scores by only posting a median. I would venture a guess that Wharton’s mean GMAT score, at 725, is higher than Harvard’s mean. After all, Harvard did accept a person with a 550 GMAT score last year. That has to be bringing down the average. Check out how some of the other schools weigh GMAT vs. GPA: Wharton / Upenn GMAT vs. GPA Sloan / MIT GMAT vs. GPA Tuck / Dartmouth GMAT vs. GPA Stern / NYU GMAT vs. GPA Methodology: The scatterplot represents the 50% of applicants who are accepted with the lowest GMAT and GPA. It isn’t helpful to look at the top 50% of applicants because those are not the marginal candidates who barely got in. I occasionally will remove very low outliers because those candidates may have been admitted due to very strong connections that most applicants don’t have. I never remove more than 5% of the total accepted students as outliers. The slope of the scatterplot demonstrates the point at which the school is indifferent to GMAT vs. GPA. |
06 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: Standardised Tests: SAT |
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I don’t like standardised tests after my GMAT experience; So I feel for everyone who needs to take SAT for college. NY times just posted a really interesting article about whether SAT are useable when deciding undergraduate admissions. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/magazine/the-story-behind-the-sat-overhaul.html?hp&_r=1 Wonder when something will take a look at the GMAT?  
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06 Mar 2014, 14:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: The Most Common Interview Questions at Tuck |
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Check out my new MBA Interview Guide. Tuck interviews are typically 30 to 45 minutes. Typically, the interviewer is a second year student, but on occasion you will be interviewed by an admissions staff member. Unlike most schools, Tuck allows anyone who visits campus to interview. Since Tuck is in a very remote location in New Hampshire, Tuck wants to see that you are committed to the school and are willing to travel to campus. Tuck does extend interview invites to a few select candidates who did not self-initiate an interview, but it is very rare. A member of the admission committee told me that slightly over half the candidates self-initiate an interview. I highly recommend you self-initiate an interview on campus, because if you don’t then you put yourself at a huge disadvantage. While visiting campus, visit a class and go on a tour. It is a great way for you to gather material for your essays. Here is a list of the most common questions asked during a Tuck interview. I also included the probability that each question is asked based on Clear Admit interview reports.
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06 Mar 2014, 19:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: The Most Common Tuck Interview Questions |
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The Most Common Tuck Interview Questions Check out my new MBA Interview Guide.  Tuck interviews are typically 30 to 45 minutes. Typically, the interviewer is a second year student, but on occasion you will be interviewed by an admissions staff member. Unlike most schools, Tuck allows anyone who visits campus to interview. Since Tuck is in a very remote location in New Hampshire, Tuck wants to see that you are committed to the school and are willing to travel to campus. Tuck does extend interview invites to a few select candidates who did not self-initiate an interview, but it is very rare. A member of the admission committee told me that slightly over half the candidates self-initiate an interview. I highly recommend you self-initiate an Tuck interview on campus, because if you don’t then you put yourself at a huge disadvantage. While visiting campus, visit a class and go on a tour. It is a great way for you to gather material for your essays. Here is a list of the most common questions asked during a Tuck interview. I also included the probability that each question is asked based on Clear Admit interview reports. Tuck Interview Questions
MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
06 Mar 2014, 20:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Tuck Interview Preparation |
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Tuck Interview Preparation Tuck interviews are typically 30 to 45 minutes. Typically, the interviewer is a second year student, but on occasion you will be interviewed by an admissions staff member. Unlike most schools, Tuck allows anyone who visits campus to interview. Since Tuck is in a very remote location in New Hampshire, Tuck wants to see that you are committed to the school and are willing to travel to campus. Tuck does extend interview invites to a few select candidates who did not self-initiate an interview, but it is very rare. A member of the admission committee told me that slightly over half the candidates self-initiate an interview. I highly recommend you self-initiate an Tuck interview on campus, because if you don’t then you put yourself at a huge disadvantage. While visiting campus, visit a class and go on a tour. It is a great way for you to gather material for your essays. Here is a list of the most common questions asked during a Tuck interview. I also included the probability that each question is asked based on Clear Admit interview reports. Tuck Interview Questions
Check out my new MBA Interview Guide. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
06 Mar 2014, 22:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Harvard GMAT vs. GPA Comparison |
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Harvard GMAT vs. GPA Comparison Word is that Harvard will take a chance on applicants who have low scores, but impressive accomplishments. Lets see if Harvard lives up to its reputation. As you can see the slope for Harvard is much steeper than for the other schools. The slope of -.0093 means that Harvard would look at an application with a 750 GMAT and 3.0 GPA similarly to a 650 and 3.93. This result is interesting, it shows that on the margin Harvard is weighs GMAT very strongly, however, the marginal Harvard GMAT scores are lower than other schools. Harvard is willing to take a chance on a low GMAT, but you better have a damn high GPA to make up for it. Harvard GMAT vs. GPA All Accepts It is interesting to look at the total accepts instead of just the accepts on the margin. As you can see below, Harvard seems to be completely missing the population of students with low GPA and really high GMAT. I guess the admissions committee isn’t interested in students who slacked in undergrad and tried to make up for it with GMAT. I find that odd given Harvard’s reputation for grade inflation. They say that the hardest part of Harvard is getting in. The median Harvard GMAT score is 730. It is interesting that Harvard posts the median GMAT score instead of mean score like other schools. You can hide some very low GMAT scores by only posting a median. I would venture a guess that Wharton’s mean GMAT score, at 725, is higher than Harvard’s GMAT mean. After all, Harvard did accept a person with a 550 GMAT score last year. That has to be bringing down the average. Check out how some of the other schools weigh GMAT vs. GPA: Upenn / Wharton GMAT vs. GPA MIT / Sloan GMAT vs. GPA Dartmouth / Tuck GMAT vs. GPA NYU / Stern GMAT vs. GPA Methodology: The scatterplot represents the 50% of applicants who are accepted with the lowest GMAT and GPA. It isn’t helpful to look at the top 50% of applicants because those are not the marginal candidates who barely got in. I occasionally will remove very low outliers because those candidates may have been admitted due to very strong connections that most applicants don’t have. I never remove more than 5% of the total accepted students as outliers. The slope of the scatterplot demonstrates the point at which the school is indifferent to GMAT vs. GPA. The data for this analysis comes from GMAT Club. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
06 Mar 2014, 22:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Tuck Interview Preparation Guide |
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Tuck Interview Preparation Guide Tuck interviews are typically 30 to 45 minutes. Typically, the interviewer is a second year student, but on occasion you will be interviewed by an admissions staff member. Unlike most schools, Tuck allows anyone who visits campus to interview. Since Tuck is in a very remote location in New Hampshire, Tuck wants to see that you are committed to the school and are willing to travel to campus. Tuck does extend interview invites to a few select candidates who did not self-initiate an interview, but it is very rare. A member of the admission committee told me that slightly over half the candidates self-initiate an interview. I highly recommend you self-initiate an Tuck interview on campus, because if you don’t then you put yourself at a huge disadvantage. While visiting campus, visit a class and go on a tour. It is a great way for you to gather material for your essays. Here is a list of the most common questions asked during a Tuck interview. I also included the probability that each question is asked based on Clear Admit interview reports. Tuck Interview Questions
Check out my new MBA Interview Guide. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
09 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Defying Gravity - The MBA Journey: 1000 Page Views |
| Woohoo, I've hit 1,000 page views in my first two weeks blogging! Thanks for reading everyone. |
09 Mar 2014, 13:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Harvard GPA Impact on Acceptance Rate |
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Harvard GPA Impact on Acceptance Rate Harvard business school is ranked first and it is incredibly difficult for applicants to get admitted. If you are applying, then you might wonder what is the minimum Harvard GPA requires in order to have a decent chance of acceptance. I analyzed the data from GMAT Clubapplication data to discover the relationship between Harvard GPA and acceptance rate.  At Harvard GPA is Not Important Unless it is Very High or Very Low As you can see, the acceptance rate between 3.0 and 3.79 is relatively flat. GPA only seems to have any impact if you are above 3.8 or below 3.0. The acceptance rate for Harvard is higher in the 3.0 to 3.39 range than 3.4 to 3.79. This is likely due to low sample size in the lower GPA range. Although the acceptance rate is 0% below 3.0 in my dataset, I don’t think there is no chance of getting in, it is just very challenging. At Harvard GPA only starts to help you when your GPA is 3.8 or higher. The average acceptance rate at Harvard is 12%, but it is 20% for applicants with a 3.8 or higher. I could not find any data published by Harvard on average GPA or GPA range. In my dataset, the average GPA of an applicant was 3.55, but the average GPA for someone who was accepted was 3.66. The middle 80% for Harvard GPA was 3.2 to 3.98, which means that 10% of those applicants that Harvard accepts have a GPA of 3.98 or higher. In summary, if you are applying to Harvard, don’t stress out too much about your GPA as long as it is at least 3.0. Having a somewhat low GPA isn’t going to hurt your chances very much. Harvard only seems to care about how high your GPA is if you have a low GMAT score. For this analysis, I used data from September 2011 through February 2014. There were 774 applicants in my data set. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
10 Mar 2014, 14:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: MBA Data Guru Reaches 1,000 Visits |
MBA Data Guru Reaches 1,000 Visits I started MBA Data Guru a little over a month ago after all of my MBA applications were submitted. I needed something to distract me while waiting to hear from all of the schools I applied to. When I found the GMAT Club application data, I knew it would be the perfect thing to keep me busy. My goal is to help the next round of applicants to better understand MBA admissions by showing them what their chances are at different schools. Fewer than 40 days after starting this website, it has had over 1,000 visits from more than 700 unique individuals. I think that this is a great start, and I hope to build from here. I plan to not only build this website while waiting to start my MBA, but also continue to work on it while in school. I hope to build this into one of the largest MBA admissions websites. What is Next from MBA Data Guru? In addition to working on the MBA Data Guru blog, I am working on building a fully functioning admissions calculator for all of the top MBA programs. This calculator will predict your chances of being admitted into different programs based on a few pieces of information, including GMAT, GPA, years of experience and others. This is a fairly large undertaking because I need to learn how to program HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, R and MySQL. I am making great progress and plan to finish the admissions calculator before I start school in the August. I will also build a comprehensive database of all MBA data you could ever hope to find, including admissions as well as job placement data for all of the top MBA programs. If there is anything that you would find helpful and would like me to add to this website, please let me know by leaving a comment on this article. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
11 Mar 2014, 08:00
| FROM The adventures of a (provisional) MBA student: Admitted Students Weekend – Part 2 |
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As mentioned in my earlier entry, ASW was a action packed couple of days. I covered my first impressions of HBS in Part 1. In Part 2 I’ll take you through what my I got up to on my visit. Wednesday I arrived in Boston early, mainly to see an old school friend who was a tutor at Harvard, but also to visit and observe a case discussion. I was lucky enough to get a really easy to follow subject (Entrepreneurship) that focused on a business started by some HBS alums a few years earlier. It was fascinating and well worth visiting, and prepared me well for my own case later in the week. After that I trudged off again through the snowstorm to visit my friend and do a tourist trip around Harvard Yard, before capitulating to jet-lag. Thursday Mostly optional events on the first day, I attended (for me at least) an essential Financial Aid and International Office joint presentation, and sat in on an entrepreneurship panel discussion, before the full cohort joined for an evening reception. Financial Aid was full of details that aren’t particularly relevant if you aren’t attending HBS. However, it is pretty note-worthy that HBS only give out need-based aid and fellowships – the alternative of merit awards have always seemed a little like thinly-veiled bribes to me. What this means as an attendee is that;
I had the choice of an ‘Entrepreneurship’ panel discussion hosted by the Rock Centre for Entrepreneurship, or a similar ‘Established Companies Careers Service’ event. Being still very undecided about my future career path, I decided to check out the Entrepreneurship panel – after all, it was an area of HBS I was less familiar with and thought I’d learn a little more there.  HBS Panel Discussions – Careers Service and Centre for Entrepreneurship, & Financial Aid (Picture: HBS Admissions Blog) One of the most exciting parts of the discussion was the fact that 3 out of the 4 panel members, when they attended ASW, went to a similar ‘established companies’ panel. They ‘fell into’ entrepreneurship at HBS. To me, this is far more exciting than hearing from a group who were always destined to be entrepreneurs. I want to believe this option is a possibility even if I don’t pursue it from Day 1. Of particular note was the way FIELD3 (the final part of the new experiential learning course in Year 1 where students begin a new microbusiness) had led to several new viable businesses being started, and these were continued during Year 2. There was also a walking tour to have a good look at some of the housing options offered by Harvard University as a whole or HBS, most generously current students opening up their own apartments for viewing!  View east from One Western Avenue After registration, an introduction and a group exercise designed just to get some introductions started we heading off to an evening drinks reception. Putting me in a room with 400 excited fellow-admits and a low ceiling led to me developing temporary deafness… Friday The welcome began with introductions from the Co-Presidents of the Student Association and followed by the Dean, both very light-hearted and entertaining. We were then split into mock sections, and participated in our first case. My own was discussing how to grow an expanding Indian textile producer and retailer, with a member of the faculty who had studied the business in question and had regular contact as they made critical business decisions. It was really interesting to work through a real-life problem and then get a “so what did the business do?” discussion afterwards with the thought process of the managers. There was a huge amount of activities during the two days, with sub-groups splitting off and having special-interest discussions with what was relevant to them. It was quite an achievement by the admissions team to provide personal itineraries to over 400+ attendees! Before heading off into Friday evening and an ‘extra-curricular’ event the incoming class had organised ourselves, the event was closed by Director of Admissions Dee Leopold and Associate Dean Youngme Moon – who appeared to be very passionate, warm and also both very funny!  Closing address of ASW: Dee and Youngme with the first half of Class of 2016 (Picture: HBS Admissions Blog) We got a real sense of the scale of HBS here, with all the attendees of ASW together – and this is only half the incoming class!  
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11 Mar 2014, 16:01
| FROM Domotron's Blog: Part 2 Profile – Elements of an MBA application series |
 So here we are onto Part 2, an applicant’s profile. Broadly speaking this consists of the following components:
For the GMAT and GPA, you will ideally be in the upper half of their range. For example if the 80% GPA range is 3.33 – 3.63 then anything around 3.50 or above will be very solid. As for age and average years of work experience, these factors are far more subjective. In terms of age, typically a class will range from 24 – 35+ with the majority falling between 26-32. I think your age is tied directly to your work experience. For example, if you are older but this is due to military commitments then this is easy to explain. However if you graduated at 21 and have 10+ years of experience, it is more difficult to explain why you need an MBA now (and not an EMBA). It is also not only about the length of work experience but what you have accomplished. 2 years of phenomenal leadership experience would definitely be more useful than 6 years of job hopping with no clear direction. Extracurriculars. This is the “interesting” element of your profile. I think there is a misconception that you need to start an NGO and save half of Africa from starvation (although if you managed that, awesome!). It is a way of demonstrating to the admissions committees that you are a well rounded person. This can be anything from playing on sports teams, volunteering, hobbies or accomplishments (finishing a triathlon for example). Think of it like this: would you want a classmate who was 100% concentrated on studying with no outside interest? Personally I would find that completely dull and steer clear of that person. HOWEVER, amazing extracurriculars will most likely not make up for other weaknesses. You may be the most interesting person in the world but if you can’t demonstrate the necessary intellectual horsepower, then you will still not be competitive. Finally, I will bundle gender and nationality together. In the crudest terms think of an MBA class like pokemon. The admissions committee are gonna catch ‘em all or try to create as much diversity as possible. Cue the complaints of but I have a higher GMAT and went to a more prestigious college. Unfortunately, if that was all they looked at then the class would not be diverse at all. Undoubtedly if you come from a far flung location which do not send many people to study for their MBAs, you have a distinct advantage. You can offer something culturally that no one else can. I won’t delve too deeply into the affirmative action argument but promoting diversity in the class is only beneficial I feel because it broadens the horizons of everyone. Tip: I did not use an admissions consultant. However a lot of them offer free 30 minute chats / reviews of your profile. Others even offer paid for service that really digs into your profile. Take their comments with a pinch of salt but they can help you figure out any weaknesses that you may need to address. FAQ and debunking some myths
 
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11 Mar 2014, 20:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Wharton GPA Impact on MBA Acceptance Rate |
Wharton GPA Impact on MBA Acceptance Rate When applying to a top MBA program, GMAT and GPA are important parts of the application. As one would expect from a top MBA program, at Wharton GPA has a large impact on your chances of admission. The question is how much does your undergraduate GPA affect your chance of admission. I analyzed the acceptance data from the past two and half years at GMAT Club to see how much GPA impacts acceptance rate. Unlike Harvard where there is little benefit from GPA until 3.8 or higher, at Wharton the acceptance rate generally increases as the undergraduate GPA rises. At Wharton GPA Increases Chance of Admission  You can clearly see that acceptance rate is lowest below 3.0 and highest in the 3.8 to 4.0 range. There is a slight dip in the 3.6 to 3.79 GPA range. I took a closer look and it appears to be because more applicants in this GPA range worked in industries that Wharton does not value. There are more applicants in the 3.6 to 3.79 range that work in Government and Mutual Funds and fewer in Military and Venture Capital, which are industries that Wharton seems to prefer. Higher GPA does appear to increase the chance of an applicant being admitted to Wharton, but the slope is not as steep as I would have expected. Unfortunately for some, GPA is stuck in stone. Applicants who hope to increase their chance of admissions need to focus on GMAT to increase their odds. Luckily, data suggests that very high GMAT scores significantly increase the odds that Wharton will accept an applicant. If an applicant studies hard for the GMAT, then a high GMAT score is highly likely achievable. There are many companies that offer GMAT preparation which will increase your chance of admission. Wharton does not publish statistics on GPA for us to analyze. However, we can look at what the average GPA is in my data set. The mean GPA for accepts at Wharton in my dataset is 3.61 GPA with a middle 80% GPA in the range of 3.23 to 3.94. The mean Wharton GPA of 3.61 is lower than the mean Harvard GPA of 3.66. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
12 Mar 2014, 07:00
| FROM Defying Gravity - The MBA Journey: HBS and GSB Interviews |
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I am now officially done with b-school interviews! While I am in no way complaining about having the opportunity to interview with some amazing programs, I am extremely ready for this part of the process to be over. I had my GSB interview this week, and my HBS interview last month. Everything else happened back in Round 1, which seriously feels like an eternity ago. HBS I expected this one to be a rapid-fire style of crazy questioning. However, it ended up being very relaxed, friendly, and enjoyable. My interviewer smiled and laughed, and was totally unlike the expressionless interrogators that are described online for past HBS interviews. While I have a few things that I wish I had said differently, overall I left feeling pretty confident. Who knows how it will work out in the end, but I think I was able to convey an accurate sense of my personality, motivations, and goals. Stanford I am less sure about this one. My interviewer was much more serious and asked a few unexpected questions, although he was still a very nice person to chat with. Interviews are only one part of the decision-making process, but I don't think I presented my best self here. In retrospect, there are quite a few things that I wish I would have had time to say. It's weird, this was my longest interview (about an hour), yet I feel like I had less time to truly show who I am. I now have exactly two more weeks to hope and stress, and then it will all be over... sort of. I will finally know where I'm going to be for the next two years, and I can begin the next round of stressing -- including finding housing, deciding when to leave my job, and of course worrying about financing this huge endeavor. |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 11:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai Watch earlier episodes of DI series below EP1: 6 Hardest Two-Part Analysis Questions EP2: 5 Hardest Graphical Interpretation Questions
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
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