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23 Nov 2015, 22:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Low GPA MBA Acceptance Rate Analysis |
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Low GPA MBA Acceptance Rate Analysis Many applicants worry about applying to business school if they have a low GPA. I analyzed the low GPA MBA acceptance rate at the top 25 schools to see what are the realistic chances for applicants with a GPA below 3.0. In my data sample from GMAT Club, less than 3% of applicants had a low GPA, which I defined as below 3.0. Individual schools did not have enough data for me to analyze in depth, so I grouped schools into clusters for analysis. I was surprised to see that low GPA MBA acceptance rate is a lot higher than I expected. Low GPA MBA Acceptance Rate by School Rank  For applicants who have a low GPA, school selection is extremely important. Only 8% of applicants with a GPA below 3.0 are accepted by top 10 schools. This is much lower than the 18% acceptance rate for applicants with a higher GPA. Acceptance rate is much closer at schools ranked 11 to 16 for low GPA applicants. Low GPA MBA acceptance rate is highest for schools ranked between 17 and 25 on US News’ top business school rankings. There is only a small disadvantage for low GPA applicants who apply to schools ranked 17 to 25. Next I looked at how GMAT impacted chance of admission for low GPA applicants. Low GPA MBA Acceptance Rate by GMAT and School Rank  As you can see in the graph above, GMAT is especially important for applicants with a low GPA. An applicant applying to a top 10 school with a GMAT below 700 has an extremely low chance of being admitted. Scoring a 750 or higher raises an applicants acceptance rate to 13% at top 10 schools. However, an applicant is much better off just applying to lower ranked schools. Low GPA applicants with a GMAT below 700 had a respectable 20% acceptance rate at schools ranked 11 to 16. An applicant with a GMAT of 750 or higher has double the chance of admission, with acceptance rate of over 40%. For MBA programs ranked 17 to 25, it seems that applicants with a GPA below 3.0 only need to score 700 or higher to have a 50% chance of admission. Although there is not enough data to analyze low GPA acceptance rate in depth at each school. I posted the acceptance rate for each school below. I included the sample size of so you can get an idea of how trustworthy the acceptance rate calculations are. For example, Foster and Mendoza have a sample size below 10, so you probably can’t trust the accuracy of these acceptance rates. On the other hand, Ross has a sample size of 45, so I trust the 40% acceptance rate for Michigan much more than Mendoza and Foster. MBA Acceptance Rate for Applicants with GPA Below 3.0 School Acceptance Rate Sample Size Tepper 57% 30 Foster 56% 9 Mendoza 50% 8 Cornell 49% 37 Georgetown 45% 29 Kelley 43% 21 Ross 40% 45 Kenan-Flagler 38% 29 McCombs 24% 33 Duke 23% 48 Kellogg 19% 59 Emory 18% 17 Booth 16% 38 Darden 15% 34 Olin 11% 9 Anderson 10% 31 Tuck 5% 40 Yale 4% 24 Haas 4% 25 NYU 3% 29 Sloan 3% 30 Stanford 3% 32 Wharton 3% 36 Columbia 0% 22 Harvard 0% 38 MBA Data Guru - Business school admissions data and analysis |
14 Dec 2015, 03:02
| FROM MBA For Tech: Decision week expectations |
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This week is most stacked in terms of decision dates; many schools will distribute their results, including some of the ones I applied to: UCLA Anderson – it seems that admit calls will be made today (Monday, Dec 14, 2015), while final results will be communicated tomorrow. I am quite confident, my interview was pretty good, and so I think that final decision will be around ‘fit’. Northwestern Kellogg – decisions will be sent out on Wednesday (Dec 16, 2015). Truth be told I think my interview was quite weak – it was the first interview I had and it was so soon (I received an invite almost immediately after submitting video answers) that I wasn’t as ready as I should’ve been and got caught off guard on the last question (“What else do you want to add?”). Let’s hope for the best. Duke Fuqua – decisions are on Dec 17, 2015 (the day will start with a Star Wars movie for me, ta-ta-ta ta tata ta tata ta-ta-ta tata tatata ta taaa tata tatata tataaa tata taaaa). Again, I’m quite confident, but this decision will be similar to what I expect from Anderson – a ‘fit’ question and how I compare to peers with the same background. Berkeley Hass – one is not like the others. I still don’t have an invite, and, considering that they already started calling, I probably won’t. And that is quite sad, truth be told – these were my favorite essays, I put a lot of effort and was sure that I will be at least invited, seems like I’ve made some mistake that I didn’t catch or that my approach to the school application was wrong. Maybe they didn’t like my choice of “The Times They Are a-Changin'” for my first essay, maybe my long-term goals seemed a bit too unrealistic to them, maybe underlying theme of my essays wasn’t as applicable to Haas as I thought, anyways I’m happy I had an opportunity to write these essays, but sad that I couldn’t build upon them during interview. Some schools deadlines this week: School Deadline R1 2015 Northwestern (Kellogg) Dec 16 MIT (Sloan) Dec 16 Pennsylvania (Wharton) Dec 17 Duke (Fuqua) Dec 17 UC Berkeley (Haas) Dec 17 Michigan (Ross) Dec 18 Virginia (Darden) Dec 16 UCLA (Anderson) Dec 15 Dartmouth (Tuck) Dec 17 NYU (Stern) Dec 15 UNC (Kenan-Flagler) Dec 14 Good luck and have fun! Tagged: Fuqua, Haas, Kellogg, Progress, thoughts, UCLA Anderson  
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29 Dec 2015, 05:23
| FROM MBAMiss: Done with GMAT – What next ! |
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Shortlisting B schools ! If you ask me this is the first thing you should do once you have decided to take the plunge in the MBA admission process actually even before giving a mock GMAT . There are many reasons for this but the most important one is once you do this you will have a rough idea of your target GMAT score while you go through the average intake scores of your preferred B Schools. Some tips on what you should keep in mind while selecting schools :
Cheers!   
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29 Dec 2015, 05:23
| FROM MBAMiss: If you are a woman planning to do MBA from a top notch B School |
 There are a host of articles around the internet suggesting the advantage that women have over men in applying to business schools . As Poets and Quants puts it , women apply in smaller numbers and are under represented in the top MBA programs and hence they have a higher probability of getting through . Let us look at some statistics first . It is true that women are falling behind men in occupying a place at the board rooms and in b schools but this trend is slowly changing . Wharton’s 2016 graduating class is comprised of 40% women while Harvard’s latest class has 41% female admits, the third consecutive year that HBS has had 40% or more women. GMAC’s 2013 Application Trends Survey shows that 37% of applications to full-time two-year MBA programs were from women . These numbers speak a lot about the increasing competition that women are facing when their applications are assessed against other similar MBA aspiring women . Keeping all this in mind there is a fundamental difference in the way women approach their application strategy against the way men do . Very similar to the fact that women are poor negotiators at the table when it comes to post MBA salaries , most admission consultants vouch for the fact that women lack assertiveness while writing their stories in essays . Women applications when weighed against men with almost similar profiles show a lack of self confidence in convincing an admissions committee to admit them to a top MBA program. So if you are a woman who dreams to join the C-suite and plans to pursue an MBA as the first step to fulfill the dream I have a few tips for you to keep in mind while you approach your essays . Tip 1 : Know your worth You might be a mother along with managing a full time job and taking time out for your passion . Women are proven multitaskers and sometimes you don’t even realize how many things you have accomplished altogether . Now MBA is something that again would require a lot of multitasking , hence you would fit in the program very easily . You just need to demonstrate your worth in your application . Tip 2 : Discuss your accomplishments with your recommenders This is again something men usually do and women shy away from doing . You need to know that your recommender is a big busy man and he/she might miss on a few of your strong points while writing your recommendation . So go do this one now ! Tip 3 : Communicate to the admissions committee any of the challenges you encountered successfully in your personal or professional life . Women sometimes face extraordinary challenges in their jobs and even in their personal lives .For instance , If you are in a male dominated manufacturing job don’t shy away from mentioning how difficult your day at work is. Tip 4: Networking Now there is a strange finding around networking as it is practiced by women against men . In spite of the fact that women are better at making new relationships than men , the aspiring MBA women network less against their male peers around their career goals and target schools . If you don’t know any current students or alumni of your target schools, be proactive and find ways to reach out to individuals associate with these. Current students and alumni are more than happy to share their experiences.  P.S : Views expressed are personal . If you have any questions /suggestions / your own story on this , Pl comment below or write to me on ojasvisoni100@gmail.com .  
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30 Dec 2015, 00:04
| FROM MBAMiss: MBA- Why should Women do it |
 All these days I have been reading so much around Why MBA is nothing but a waste of time and money . One of the CNN reports actually quotes ” If you want to be rich , don’t get an MBA “. The philosophy around this thinking is that all that you do in a MBA program you can do it anyways without ending up in a huge debt . Now I partially agree to the thinking and partially not . Especially for Women aspiring to break the glass ceilings , I believe MBA grants some of the unique competencies to lead . Let us see how .
 2.Numbers and more Numbers : There is no denying to the fact that irrespective of your industry and function , at the end of the day all the business problems and solutions boil down down to just one thing . Numbers . And Business schools prepare you to the brim to deal with numbers . 3.Show me the money : If you dream of going for your presentations in a Versace business dress and carrying a Prada bag , and you dont want your man to buy that for you .. According to the Forte Foundation, an MBA lands you pay gains at graduation of 35-40% of your pre-MBA salary, pay gains of 55-65% of your salary within 5 years of graduation, and a lifetime earning potential of over $3 million. Ok you can stop dreaming now :D  4. It ll teach you imperfection : Yes you heard that right . If you are a perfectionist , you need to tone it down since in the business world your ability to influence outweighs your ability to achieve results to the 4th decimal place . The tough deadlines of your assignments will make you quicker and more agile at completing tough deliverables without sacrificing overall quality. That’s exactly what you need to learn to be a leader . As Sheryl Sandberg puts it – “Done is better than perfect.”  So ladies ! Trust me an MBA can be your safest investment that will give you innumerable returns in terms of money , network , knowledge and most importantly unleashing the leader in you . Have you considered or pursued an MBA? Why or why not? ~MBA Miss P.S : Views expressed are personal to the author . Write to me on ojasvisoni100@gmail.com  
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31 Dec 2015, 01:01
| FROM MBAMiss: Take these New Year’s resolutions if you are an MBA applicant |
 2016 is just around the corner and its the time of the year when many of us promise ourselves to abide by a few things-goals we want to reach and things we want to achieve in the coming year. If your goal is to apply to a top notch B School by the fall of 2016 , and matriculate in the same by the fall of 2017 , now is the time to reflect on how you should prepare yourself for the same . Here are a few New Year resolutions you should take to make your application successful :
 ~MBA Miss P.S : Views expressed are personal to the author . Write to me on ojasvisoni100@gmail.com or comment below . Happy New Year !  
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12 Jan 2016, 06:01
| FROM Pulling That MBA Trigger: Hello Los Angeles! |
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I started this blog in 2014 and it’s taken till 2016 for me to come full circle. After a wait of 517 days (1 year, 4 months and 29 days, but who’s counting?) since I first started this process, I’m ecstatic to announce that I’m going to be a proud member of the UCLA Anderson Class of 2018. *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* Okay, back to business. I couldn’t be happier with my choice and I now realize that there is nowhere else I’d rather be. Throughout the ups and downs of the entire admissions process, I’ve always believed that I would end up where I was supposed to be. Life has a way of working out, you know? I mean it’s hard to keep sight of that when you’re staring at your third rejection letter and your career is looking bleaker than Leo’s prospects of winning an Oscar – but you just gotta keep the faith and motor on (which is what I did plus a lot of binge eating, binge watching and binge regretting). I chose not to document the entire process this time around – to be honest, I was sick of doing it without having anything to show for it. But now that I’ve actually gotten in, I’m going to dissect everything I did differently this time around for the benefit of applicants and reapplicants everywhere (I feel your pain). I also have this faint idea of continuing to blog during the MBA, although I’m not sure how realistic that would be. In the meantime, anyone looking for help, advice or a shoulder to cry on, go ahead and send me an email at pullingthatmbatrigger@gmail.com. I would be more than happy to help!  
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30 Jan 2016, 17:01
| FROM The MBA Manual: Launched: Behaviorals.com ! |
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Hey, everyone. I know I’ve been on a posting hiatus for several months now, but I’ve been busy. So, after you get into B-school, you’re in the clear, right? The tough part is over, isn’t it? Well, yes and no. You’ve now placed yourself in another league of people, a league of intelligent, hard-working, amazing people. …And you need to compete with them for jobs. This is not necessarily a bad thing, you just need to be prepared! Everyone knows that THE interview of choice for employers is now the behavioral interview. During my interview prep this fall and winter, I was surprised to find that there wasn’t a place I could go to actually practice for behavioral interviews. I found a lot of question banks, but no real-time, rapid fire practice platform. I decided to fill this niche and launch Behaviorals.com. Behaviorals.com features practice slide decks featuring real behavioral questions asked in past job interviews for specific employers. For example, if you’re looking to work for Pepsi, you’d go to the Pepsi deck and can simulate a real behavioral interview by trying to answer the questions that come up as you go through the slides. I’ve got a few dozen employers up right now, as well as twenty-something of the top B-schools. I’ve also included a shop that features documents containing all of the questions on the site (600+ job interview practice and 300+ MBA interview practice). The behavioral interview isn’t going away anytime soon and it 100% will be a main data point in your recruiting process, so you’ll want definitely want some practice under your belt. Check out the site, get prepared, and let me know what you think.  
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31 Jan 2016, 12:00
| FROM The adventures of a (provisional) MBA student: So to conclude my point… |
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As I’m halfway through my second year now, graduation is now rapidly approaching. I’ve neglected this blog in the last year, mainly because I felt I didn’t have a large amount to say. However, with many still reading this blog after over a year since I really wound up posting, I realize I’m in a fortunate position to be able to provide the ‘inside story’ on HBS. So as part of my New Year resolutions, I’m announcing I’d like to spend a final few posts over the next 4-5 months before graduation describing how various things work from a student perspective, before I lose the ability to do so. But about what, I am not so sure. I’m accepting suggestions for this, and I’ll try to tackle a few of the more popular ones. If there’s something you’re particularly interested in, leave a comment below!  
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11 Feb 2016, 13:59
| FROM Anshul Sharma: The “3 Golden Nuggets” of MBA admissions |
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The “3 golden nuggets” of MBA admission process With ten years of experience helping prospective students with MBA admissions and career progression, I will be writing this blog through the lens of an international student applying to foreign universities in US and Canada. These two countries hold a very similar MBA admissions process. Anyone applying to B-schools in one of these two countries should find this blog helpful. That’s my goal of writing the blog. I could only wish I knew these ‘3 golden nuggets’ of the MBA admissions process at the time when I first ever thought of pursuing an MBA education and only remotely heard about the GMAT exam. The time I started, it was quite overwhelming for me to put all the pieces together to be able to achieve the next goal of my life to get into a premium MBA school spending little to no money at all. Not that I did not want to pay for a good education rather I never had enough to support my education. The only feasible path for me was to prove myself as a merit-based student with scholarship or some financial aid. I had a strong desire to achieve my goals and finding the right way was the only feasible option. So I took the challenge and decided to keep moving forward… In the four year journey, from the time I wrote my GMAT exam to getting into the MBA School. I have had many challenges, however, scoring a 740 in GMAT in the first attempt and working ardently on my MBA applications led me to secure a 100% scholarship at Smeal College Of Business, Penn State, one of the top 30 programs in the US (according to Forbes MBA rankings 2015). I was fortunate enough to receive the graduate assistantship that paid off for my living expenses. I remember that as one of the proud moments of my life. Now let me share with you the three ‘golden nuggets’ that were instrumental in making this happen… Let’s jump right in… Golden Nugget #1: Students often tend to assume that they know the MBA admissions process. Like any other process, MBA admissions process has deliverables, timelines, and milestones to it. Deliverables: Essays, resume, letter of recommendation and finally the interviews. Timelines: Every school has multiple rounds of application deadlines Milestones: Shortlisting schools, applying, interviews, decision making and so forth. I would consider this as a superficial understanding of the process. Students need to go a level deeper and uncover to hidden elements to ace the MBA admissions. Let’s discover those hidden elements:
When students ask the following questions, it does not make a whole lot of sense. What GMAT score would get me into a good MBA school in the US? In contrast, let me ask you an intriguing question… Why students with strong academics and high GMAT score (700 plus) fail to make to their desired MBA School? What’s the missing piece? The amount of work required on an MBA application is just like the iceberg, when one can only see the tip of the iceberg but not what lies beneath the surface, and what lies beneath the surface is the hard work that you need to put in as an applicant to ace the MBA admissions. Tip of the iceberg – all administrative and logistical work
 Image Credits: https://www.omegafi.com Golden Nugget #2: Many times, students DO NOT spend enough time researching and networking to have access to the right information Finding the right MBA School that fits your needs is THE single most important thing to consider at the beginning of the process. Things to keep on top of your priority list while shortlisting schools should be
 Image Credits: http://www.changementor.net I would like you to think 2, 5, ten years beyond MBA and can connect the dots. Remember, there is life after MBA, and your decisions today will impact your tomorrow. Debunk the mindset that MBA is end all be all. MBA is not the destination. It is a significant milestone in the long journey that is ahead of you. Make sure you are making the right decisions for yourself. Merely getting admission in an MBA program that ranks on the MBA top 50 lists should not be the thought process. Hence, cultivating the right thought process is the key. I talk more about “Cultivating the right thought process” in my upcoming eBook – From GMAT To MBA. You want to come out of the MBA program all set to achieve your next goals. Taking out a loan from a financial institution only makes sense when you can justify it as an investment. Make sure you understand the return on investment (ROI) on an MBA education. Do you know how long will it take before you can pay-off the loan? The power of research: The good news is there is a lot of great content online to know about any specific school. Research is one of the most critical elements of the MBA admissions process. In fact, the whole idea of focused researched on the internet can prove to be very powerful, be it for admissions or seeking a job or looking for the next big idea in life. Unfortunately, in my experience, students have quite a laid back approach when it comes to ‘strategically’ searching for MBA programs that will be a good fit for them. Rather, I have found students ‘outsourcing’ the work to consultants. Imagine a restaurant outsourcing its dining services to an external vendor. No one else except you would ever be able to put the level of effort, time and thought that is required to find the right MBA School for yourself. You know your needs at best. My intense research was one of the primary reasons why I was able to secure myself a great school and had a tremendous return on my investment. I took the time upfront to find a couple of MBA programs that would be a good fit for me. The search takes time and patience. However, every minute and a second is worth investing now and savings thousands of dollars, later on, your MBA education. Hence, cultivating the right thought process. The influence of networking: Online research will take you only to a certain point in shortlisting the schools. To prepare the final list of schools you want to apply to, go the extra mile and reach out to either a current student or alum to know more about the program. Nothing beats an in-person interaction with someone who have had traveled the road before. Not only it help you know the unique aspects of the program but also give a vibe of the program and if it is the right one for you. If not, I’d say check it off your list and move forward. Be lest assured that there is no dearth of good business schools in the USA. You got to find the right one for yourself. You should also mention about the interactions you had in your essays as well during the interviews. On agreement, you can mention the names of individuals you got in touch. Your interactions strongly reflect your interest and that you are ‘hungry’ to join their program (and not just any MBA program out there). This single approach has worked for students and has increased the application to interview conversion rate manifold. Golden Nugget #3: Most times, student DO NOT spend time in self-exploration. Let me introduce you to the supernatural strength of Self-exploration. A strong application demands a lot of this from the student. However, some students realize it, and some do not, and those who do not, tend to take a very transactional approach to the MBA admissions process. Students who do take time out upfront reflects in the quality of content in the essays and interview delivery. I have talked about self-exploration in much more detail in my upcoming eBook – From GMAT to MBA. You can go and sign up here for launch updates. Self-exploration stretches you to think about topics that you might have never thought before but will help to move the needle, producing top quality content for your essays. It helps clarify some of the critical aspects such as
Some of the basic foundational elements of self-exploration can be
 Image Credits: http://worditout.com/ Once you have spent good quality time with yourself, the job of writing essays, resume or preparing for interviews becomes a mere triviality. At that point, you’re not making up thoughts on the fly or in haste, rather you have a well thought through the inventory of ideas to plug into your essays. I would close this blog by saying “Cultivate the right thought process.” , which also happens to be the subtitle of my upcoming eBook – From GMAT To MBA – Cultivate the right thought process.  Hope you find the blog useful. Please leave your comments about the blog down below. Do you have specific questions? Feel free to email me at connectwithanshul@fromgmattomba.com Sign up on my website http://www.anshulsharmaglobal.com for eBook launch updates, new blogs, and online courses. Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fromgmattomba Good luck with admissions. Success is not by chance! Anshul Sharma |
15 Mar 2016, 12:09
| FROM Tech MBA Girl: My Tepper Interview |
I better write this down quick before I forget… So I literally just had my interview with Jackie Jones at Tepper via Skype. It was relaxed and very conversational…much better than my Rotman interview when I was sweating like a hyena. Before I get into details, let me start from the top: 2 Days To … Continue reading My Tepper Interview →
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15 Mar 2016, 12:09
| FROM Tech MBA Girl: To Round 3, or Not to Round 3, That Is The Question |
Image Credit: Accepted.com I’ve been in a spin for the past few days trying to decide whether to apply to 2 or 3 schools in round 3 and which schools to apply to. Here’s how it’s been going: I love tech! Stanford all the way But I need a safety…add Berkeley What if there’s already … Continue reading To Round 3, or Not to Round 3, That Is The Question →
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16 Mar 2016, 03:02
| FROM Tech MBA Girl: Stanford GSB Round 3 Myths |
I’ve been getting a lot of heat on GMATClub about applying to Stanford in Round 3. Perhaps I should dial down my big mouth a notch. I really don’t think that there is already a me at Stanford so I’m going to put in my application nonetheless. It’s up to Derrick Bolton to decide if … Continue reading Stanford GSB Round 3 Myths →
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16 Mar 2016, 08:01
| FROM FINAL HOUR MBA: The End…of Round 2 |
I survived! I even got an interview request at one of my top 3 schools! I will ignore the fact that I think it is because people who attended a diversity event got an interview  I made every mistake in the book and still feel as if I have a chance to get in to one of my top 5 schools. I have one more application to the University of Hawaii to knock out. This is a unique school with a unique program that aligns with what I am looking to do post-MBA. They are not even ranked in US News but stop into a QS World MBA Tour and speak with Marc Endrigat. He will make you a believer. I am putting that application on a pause for a couple days to breathe. I am also starting to pick up coding because it’s a skill I feel I need for the future that I finally have time for. The MBA application process is great for those with time management skills. It’s also a great crash course in time management – a crucial skill while at business school. I will round out my blog with more information once I start back up. The next couple of posts will be around interview prep and summarize how I chose schools, prepped essay answers, and some of the best resources I found for the first stages of the application. It’s hard to believe that I am only about half way through the ADMISSIONS process. Not even in orientation yet :-/ Also, if you are reading this, hopefully you found it through a social media channel. If not, and you are looking at business school, make sure you get active on social media! Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, about.me, blogs, and YouTube are all great ideas. Clean up your Facebook as well. No pictures of keggers in college or flipping off the camera. One more thing…videos to come soon! for now check out VincePrep on YouTube and follow @TokyoVince for great admissions advice.  
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16 Mar 2016, 08:01
| FROM FINAL HOUR MBA: The Waiting Game…and First (likely) Ding |
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At this point all my applications have been submitted and I am in the territory that MBA and any college applicants dread…the doldrums of waiting for an interview. The admissions blogs give all sorts of advice for this time period: don’t bug the adcom, improve your profile, take a math class, don’t do anything at all, etc. Of course, none of it helps. Us poor applicants are in the purgatory of the application process, our emotions in the hands of the overlords known as the admissions committee. Each email from a school starts our heart fluttering, only to find out that it’s just a notice that our application materials are complete, or interview invites will be sent out February 8th (you know who I’m talking about). Luckily, I have been busy looking at additional schools to apply to and finishing my Hawaii application that I didn’t have much time to worry. I have only logged into the application web sites like 3 times since hitting that submit button. I am sure there’s some out there that check daily. Here’s some advice:
It turns out that Michigan sent out their final wave of interview invites on January 22nd. I didn’t receive an interview request so I didn’t make the cut. After reading further I learned that I am in one of two categories: waitlisted, or denied. Of course, I still have to wait until March 18 for the results. So, this looks like my first official Ding! This is going to be a long two months. Looks like I’ll have time to get some work done on the rest of this site!  
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16 Mar 2016, 08:01
| FROM Pulling That MBA Trigger: Hello Los Angeles! |
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I started this blog in 2014 and it’s taken till 2016 for me to come full circle. After a wait of 517 days (1 year, 4 months and 29 days, but who’s counting?) since I first started this process, I’m ecstatic to announce that I’m going to be a proud member of the UCLA Anderson Class of 2018. *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* Okay, back to business. I couldn’t be happier with my choice and I now realize that there is nowhere else I’d rather be. Throughout the ups and downs of the entire admissions process, I’ve always believed that I would end up where I was supposed to be. Life has a way of working out, you know? I mean it’s hard to keep sight of that when you’re staring at your third rejection letter and your career is looking bleaker than Leo’s prospects of winning an Oscar – but you just gotta keep the faith and motor on (which is what I did plus a lot of binge eating, binge watching and binge regretting). I chose not to document the entire process this time around – to be honest, I was sick of doing it without having anything to show for it. But now that I’ve actually gotten in, I’m going to dissect everything I did differently this time around for the benefit of applicants and reapplicants everywhere (I feel your pain). I also have this faint idea of continuing to blog during the MBA, although I’m not sure how realistic that would be. In the meantime, anyone looking for help, advice or a shoulder to cry on, go ahead and send me an email at pullingthatmbatrigger@gmail.com. I would be more than happy to help!
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16 Mar 2016, 08:01
| FROM Pulling That MBA Trigger: So what changed this time? |
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Okay, so let’s look at the cold, hard facts. My GMAT score stayed the same (710) My GPA is the same as well (9.03) The last time I checked, I was still an Indian engineer My work experience moved up from about 19 months to 26 months My job title is now “Product Manager” and not the dreaded “Software Engineer” it was before My post MBA goal looks legit now because I have the experience to back it up A senior colleague at my new job wrote what I can only assume was a stellar letter of recommendation Let me tell ya, I had to work my butt off to transition from being a code monkey to someone making actual product decisions. I must have applied to nearly a 100 places and interviewed at about 25 until I finally got the job I wanted. But I persevered because I knew that MBA or not, this was where I wanted my career to go. I guess the lesson here is: don’t let the fact that you got rejected bring you down (if you are a reapplicant like I was). The lofty goals that you’d written about in your essay? You can still get closer to achieving them without an MBA. By self-selection, most applicants are ambitious, go-getters who honestly don’t need an MBA to get where they want to go. Of course, if you still think business school is right for you, then your application will be stronger than it ever was before. Apart from switching jobs, I also narrowed down my goals even further. Previously, my short-term goal was to “work in company X as a PM”. I changed that to “work in company X’s Y division as a PM”. I backed it up with very relevant experience that I had and tied it in neatly to my long term goal. I’m sure it wasn’t a huge distinction, but it became super relevant during my interview, where surprisingly enough I spoke to a 2nd year student who had a ton of knowledge about my field of interest (odd because it’s quite a niche area). I believe that this worked in my favour since I was immediately able to establish common ground and our conversation centered more around the latest developments in that industry than the usual “tell me how you…” stuff. Finally, in my reapplicant essay, I called out what I believed were the weaknesses in my application. I addressed the age/work experience thing head on, I made a stronger connection between my short term and long term goals and finally, I mentioned in passing the gazillion students, alums and admissions officers I’d spoken to over an entire year. Now, I do want to caveat this by saying that I did pretty much the same things I mentioned above in my reapplication to Fuqua as well, but surprise surprise, I got dinged without an interview. There is a pretty big element of luck involved, plus the relative quality and composition of the applicant pool, so there is no “fool-proof” method to this madness. It’s just doing the best you can and hoping for the best.  
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17 Mar 2016, 07:01
| FROM MBA For Tech: UCLA Acceptance and Tuck Interview |
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Since my last post a lot has happened in terms of my path towards my MBA, so I will summarize these events and bring my blog up to date in 1-2 posts. The Dec 14, 2015 week was quite rich on decisions for me as evident from my previous post. But no day during that week was more memorable than Monday, the day of my UCLA decision and Tuck interview. Most schools schedule the calls based on geo locations of admitted students, so Asian and European students are among the first to see that magical +1 … on their phone screens, so I was quite confident that my Skype interview with Tuck will not conflict with my UCLA call (if I was to receive one). So after coming back from work I set up my Skype, got dressed up and added my Tuck interviewer, in a few minutes the call was made and I was facing my interviewer, a member of adcom. Very sweet and friendly lady was looking at me, while being located on the other hemisphere (just think about that, progress is an amazing thing!), but the picture froze and then again, we had difficulty hearing each other, so we decided to turn off the video, then tried to call again, then again, then I called her from my phone, then she called from hers, this was quite a challenging interview, and I would lie if I tell you that I can write good enough to sparkle in you that feeling of frustration that I had in the beginning. On top of that, when we finally overcame technical issues – I got another call, I tried to cancel it, but my phone decided otherwise and answered it while putting my first line on hold, and guess what, it was a call from Anderson! They informed me about my acceptance and congratulated me on it, I had to rush that call so that my interviewer didn’t have to wait for me listening to god know what kind of music. I think that I’ve noted a bit of disappointment in my Anderson caller’s voice, as I didn’t sound very exciting though I truly was, but on top of that I was trying to figure how to rush the call without hanging up. Now that’s some juggling I had to do. Not the best experience in theory, but thanks to my interviewer being so nice and positive what should have been a horrible memory turned out to be a very exciting and fun interview to remember and by the end of it I was relaxed, though worried that I couldn’t fully demonstrate who am I and why they should take me. Tagged: Interivew, Progress, Tuck, UCLA Anderson  
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17 Mar 2016, 08:01
| FROM MBA For Tech: Week of decisions: calls from Anderson and Kellogg |
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By the time this week started I already was accepted to Booth, my top 1-2 choice (with Kellogg), so I was quite relaxed and confident. First, I received an acceptance from UCLA Anderson, I tried not to visit GMATClub live thread too often and spend most of my day doing usual things (+Tuck Interview), so I they caught me off guard with their call and it was such a relief! I don’t have a lot of MBA’s among the people I work with, so it was difficult to assess my chances, especially considering the ding from Wharton, where I believe my app was quite strong. So actually receiving 2 admits was very important and powerful for my confidence, I knew that Booth acceptance wasn’t an anomaly but rather a reflection of my real standing in this process and with that Wednesday came and guess what: another accept! Northwestern Kellogg extended me an offer to join their class of 2018! Kellogg was my top choice actually, so this was a great call and I was ecstatic. The rest of the week wasn’t as fruitful in terms of admits: I got WL by Duke Fuqua and has withdrawn my app, and Haas has dinged me without an interview. This actually raised some questions concerning my applications; I used different strategies that I would group as follows:
It seems that my second strategy was a disaster, I had time and I submitted what I wanted, but something was missing. And I think it was the ‘essence’ that was missing, stories were about me, but they didn’t really draw one true picture of me, it was ‘a bit of this, a bit of that’, while my Booth/Kellogg essays were all linked by a common theme, that was present throughout the essays and I think these essays drew a single picture in the readers mind about who is that person they are reading about. But that’s just one theory, and I think it’s important to not confuse correlation with causation.  
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19 Mar 2016, 09:01
| FROM Tech MBA Girl: HBS vs Haas for Technology MBAs |
As you all know, Stanford is a done deal for my applications in Round 3. I’ve made a lot of progress with my app so far. Oh btw, there’s a second Stanford GSB Just In Time Webinar for Round 3 on March 22 at 09:30 AM Pacific Time. Shoot me an email for the password if … Continue reading HBS vs Haas for Technology MBAs →
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