Engineers - Is the free Vocaz Chances Indication accurate?

In my opinion, getting into a top b-school is not just another thing on the resume, it can open so many possibilities and develope networks. It's a career defining moment!

Is the age factor so important? they say that the 4 years difference between age 29 to 33 is 4 points in admission chances, which is the difference between competitive and strong. Really?

Yes. Age matters. If u have 2 candidates that are identical in ALL respects, I believe the school will lean young, as they can mould them better and catch them young. This is true.

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I think that age is an important factor mainly in top US b-schools, while European b-schools are more open to older applicants (30+).
It can be seen on schools profiles - the average age of students and their age range.

Looks like they updated the system. I am not an engineer, but now when I fill out the form it falls much more in line with the results I have seen so far in my applications....

How do you judge if you are fairly accomplished job/education-wise for an engineer? For education would it be your school/GPA/GMAT?

What about job? Would it be based on promotions? Or some cool projects that you worked on where you made an impact? I tend to underestimate myself and don't want to short-sell myself thinking I am not "good enough" for certain schools when I might be hence I am curious.

My post wasn't meant to be engineer-specific (I was just looking at Vocaz). however, education-wise, I think it's where you went to school, major, and GPA.

Work-wise is a bit more subjective, in my opinion. From Alex's standpoint, I think he means the coveted jobs or industries where there's a lot of competition amongst highly-accomplished people (top consulting firms, investment banks, pe/hf, google, etc.).

Here's the quote from Alex's site (https://www.mbaapply.com/advice2.htm#hsw):
"Also, one thing to keep in mind is that for most of the Blue Chips and Vagabonds, going to HBS or Wharton or Stanford isn't the best thing that's happened to them - they have a long enough list of pedigree and/or accomplishments in their lives already that it's not that big a deal for them whether they have the HBS name or not. They don't dream about having a prestigious degree, because many of them already have one (their undergrad), or have done some pretty interesting things in their lives that it trumps whatever brand name they have on their resume. That's why you'll see that the biggest proponents of "brand" and what it does for your career on this board (and to some extent in real life) are people who didn't go to these schools (i.e. they don't get it) - brand doesn't come before achievement and talent; achievement and talent comes first, and "brand/pedigree" is a nice dessert that may or may not result.

Adcoms tend to admit people who don't need the "brand" on the resume - they would've been successful without it. It's like health insurance where they provide insurance only to the superhealthy, or banks lending only to those who don't need the money.

The real acid test for applicants is this: if getting into HBS or Stanford would be the best thing that's ever happened to you professionally or personally, your chances are probably pretty slim (because you don't have enough to bring to the table, which is why HBS/Stanford/Wharton would be the best thing that's happened to you)"

I agree that banks/consulting companies etc are prestigious.

But when I completed my engineering degree I wasn't one bit interested in banks/consulting companies (even though they recruit at my school). I wasn't interested in software so didn't try for Google/MS etc. I was interested only in my field of electrical/systems engineering and got what I think is a cool job at a F500 designing technology used by millions globally on a day to day basis.

So my question is: 1) Will I (and people such as myself who worked in technical fields) be in the same applicant pool as engineering grads who took the banking/consulting route? Or will I be compared to folks who stayed technical after graduation? I was interested in engineering back in HS and went into a very well regarded engineering school. It's awesome for engineering but is not "very prestigious" like Harvard or Yale (The school is consistently ranked Top-15 worldwide for engineering. The overall university ranks between 10th and 20th in various rankings).

2) What is considered "prestigious" job for engineers who did not take the banking/consulting route? Is it the name of your company or what you actually did? Or both?

Thanks,

gijoedude

"What is considered "prestigious" job for engineers who did not take the banking/consulting route?"
I think there are many prestigious companies in the engineering world - IBM, Intel, Motorola...
you can find more in the list that linked from the chances indication page.

I think there can also be a prestigious job, not only prestigious company. it can be determined by the number of people you manage, the size of the budget you are in charge of, and your overall contribution to the company's success/profits.

i agree. you need to show quality work experience, whether it is a brand name company or a senior role. promotions are also important.
bottom line - you need to demonstrate success!

I got a 60, so I guess I won't get admitted anywhere!

The calculator looks like a good gauge, but some of the numbering methods are soo vague (like resume quality) that you can't possibly make an educated guess from it. How the heck am I supposed to know my resume quality? I suppose it's good, but who knows!

I'm with you... i got 62, but maybe i should have given more points to myself on some aspects, i don't know...

Another aspect is the recommendations, which the applicant can't see or at least not supposed to see.
Recommendations have significant weight in the admission process, but the applicant don't know how strong they are, and therefore can't estimate their impact on his admission chances.

Good point. i guess each applicant should select recommenders who he trusts and can provide an excellent reference for him.
that way he can ensure strong recommendations.

well, yeah... obviously. that should be the safe points of your application.

speaking of strong recommendations, some schools have an evaluation grid, where the recommender is asked to rank the applicant on different skills.
Do you think they should balance the "excellent" rankings with some average rankings, to make it more credible?