Journey to Kellogg School of Management.

I'll update this tomorrow when Booth comes in, but Kellogg was my top choice, so figure I can write this now.

Deciding on Business School

I had been thinking of applying to business school for a few years, but at first I didn't plan on applying this application cycle. After being passed up for a promotion I had been told I'd get for "budgetary reasons", I left my job and transitioned to a different bank. I was able to get the promotion in my job switch and landed in a better company, with better pay, so it all worked out...but since I was starting a new job, I expected to not apply to business school until fall 2014. However, my job quickly became boring. I craved the excitement of college again. I was also single at the time (I have a girlfriend now) and I hate to say it, but I thought it would be cool to go to UCLA and date some pretty cali girls. After attending my little brother's college graduation, and being in that environment again, I knew I had to be back, and immediately signed-up for Manhattan GMAT at the end of May 2013.

GMAT

I'll make this section quick, since I want to talk more about applying, but my first step was studying for the GMAT. I had taken it during college 4-5 years ago, and got a 680. I had been going through a break up and smoking a bit too much herb back then, so I knew I could do better. I took the GMAT a week after the 9 week Manhattan GMAT ended. I studied every day, mostly at work, during the last month. My goal score was 740, so it was nice to hit in. My "GMAT IS DONE WOOT!" vacation brought me to Egypt during the Morsi revolution, and to Kenya at the mall everyone got shot up (I was there 3 weeks earlier), but that's a story for a different time.

Application strategy

My "sells pitch" was that I was going to leverage my project management experience in finance to transition into management consulting (preferably in the financial services area, where I've globally project managed a lot of different areas), aiming for MBB. Honestly, at first, I came up with this because I thought it would make my application look the strongest, but somewhere along the way I convinced myself that this is what I actually wanted to do.

Figuring out where to apply was a bit of a struggle. I had a high GMAT, but my GPA was below average...but I did go to a pretty good undergrad college. I was from a competitive demographic (finance) and I am a white male. I work at a name brand company, but in a non-client facing/revenue generating role. Aside from knowing I wouldn't get into Harvard or Stanford, it was a bit tough to see where I stood. I did a lot of research, but it seems like any school in the top 10 was a reach, and any school outside the top 10 was a safety...but I couldn't really decide on any schools that were a "match." I decided I was going to apply to two schools outside the top 10, and 3 schools inside the top 10. The strategy I decided on was the following:

R1: Columbia ED, and UCLA. If I get into Columbia, I go there. UCLA has a very late R1 deadline and only required 1 essay, so it was the only other school I could get off in R1. I wasn't feeling confident about my chances at M7 schools at this point, so I hoped the added advantage of early decision would help me get into Columbia I figured (I was wrong haha).

R2: Duke, Kellogg, TBD. If I got into UCLA apply to another reach school; If I don't, apply to another safety school (would've probably been Ross or Cornell), and revamp applications. I decided on Booth as my 5th school in late December after getting into UCLA with scholarship.

For Recommenders, I would user my former boss of 3 years (didn’t want to do current boss since I had just started) and a senior co-worker who worked with me at my first job, and then brought me with him when he switched companies to global head a metrics team (he really likes me because he finds my facebook statuses funny).

Schools I didn't choose

• Harvard/Stanford - Wasn't qualified.
• Wharton - Was deciding between Booth and Wharton for my 5th application, figured I had a better chance at Booth. I expected booth to surpass Wharton this year, but the opposite happened.
• MIT - Have a friend who goes there, seemed too nerdy/quant.
• Haas - Acceptance Rate was too low. Would've loved to live in the area, but seemed like a waste of an application for a school barely in the top 10, but has the same acceptance rate as Harvard.
• Stern - Went there undergrad...disliked it because it was over-competitive, and the people had very poor social skills. I wanted to get away from those type of finance people during business school.
• Tuck - Seriously considered it, and I kind of wish I did now that I'm in a long term relationship (would be easier to maintain since I'm from NYC), but felt it was too isolated, and honestly I didn't feel like having to go on campus to interview before they've even looked at my application (I was lazy).
• Ross/Cornell - too cold, if I was going outside the top 10, it was going to be somewhere warm.
• UVA - Felt it was basically Duke, but Duke had a better brand name and the whole Team Fuqua thing, so went with Duke. UVA curriculum seemed super hard too.
• Yale - Poor recruiting despite hard to get into.

Schools I did choose

• Columbia - I currently lived in NYC and it was an Ivy. In hindsight, this wasn't a school for me since it was weak in MC recruiting and I wanted to get away from NYC, but didn't really think of it like that at the time.
• UCLA - I love LA, and it would've been warm.
• Duke - Warm and a collaborative environment. Strong at MC for it's rank.
• Kellogg - My top choice. Super strong in MC, and super cool student body. M7/Top 5.
• Booth - Best school I thought I had a realistic chance of getting into.

R1 Applications

Columbia – I applied ED, and I spent more time on this application than any other. I spent a month re-writing the essays almost every day. My interview, I left it feeling good, but it was at 8am, and as a slept on it, I kind of thought of all the things I did wrong. She kept asking me about “how much money my projects made the company” and I was in a non-revenue generating position. I had been souring on Columbia as the process went a long, as I learned about other schools. Was worried about the cost (Columbia has the worst financial aid and is the most expensive), poor MC recruiting, and I kind of wanted a change. Being rejected worked out for the best, although it did destroy my confidence for a bit.
Essay strength: 8/10, interview strength: 6/10, prediction: 50/50 chance of getting in, outcome: REJECTED

UCLA – I spent about 3 hours on the essay, and just used my Columbia essay as the base. During the skype interview, my laptop shut off which was a bit embarrassing. There was a lot of lag and I could barely make out what he was saying a lot of the time. I thought it went horrible, but he responded to my thank you note saying I had strong interview skills.
Essay strength: 6/10, interview strength: ?/10, prediction: In with half scholarships, outcome: ADMITTED with $40k.

R2 Applications

Duke – My “Why Duke” essay was good, but pretty cliché. I talked about Team Fuqua, consulting recruiting, international focus, and classes. My 25 things was really strong, as I’ve done a variety of lots of kick ass things (e.g. kissed a crocodile, sky dived, crazy trips, played with tigers, started sports team, snowboard, marathons, etc). My interview was interesting: I got a very straight edge Indian guy (exact opposite of my personality), who asked a lot of tough questions (a bunch of different “weakness” questions), which was strange since Duke is known as one of the friendly schools. Regardless, I thought I did a good job. Was a bit stressful since my flight was cancelled then delayed and I arrived right before my interview.
Essay strength: 8/10, interview strength 7/10, prediction: admitted with $50k, outcome: ADMITTED with $18k.

Kellogg – Honestly, my essays were really weak here. “My greatest obstacle I’ve overcome” was just over-coming an injury to run a marathon. My other two were okay, but I was a bit fatigued by the time I finished them and they weren’t nearly as great as the could’ve been. My video essay went pretty well, although the program cut off the end (I emailed and told them though). My in-person interview went great, and I think it was my strongest. I rambled a few times, but over-all left it feeling good.
Essay Strength: 5/10, Video interview: 7/10, in-person interview: 8/10, prediction: 50/50 chance of getting accepted, outcome: ADMITTED HELL YA

Booth – Booth was a bit of a reach, so I went for a risky approach on the PPT. I made it very image heavy, and leveraged a lot of things from the “Duke 25” things essay. Has photos of me with a moustache for Movember, shirtless running tough mudder, and eating gross food. My interviewer was European. Every single question he asked was a derivative of “Why booth”, which I really wasn’t expecting (I had been preparing conflict examples, weakness examples, leadership examples, etc), and I was a bit repetitive. I thought I didn’t do that great, but he seemed pretty enthusiastic about me afterwards
Essay strength: 8/10, in person interview: 6.5/10, prediction: 25% chance of admission (although the Kellogg acceptance makes me more confidence), outcome: TBD

I also should mention I had to continuously chase down one of my recommendations, who didn’t submit until the last hour, which was stressful as hell.

Choosing the school

Between UCLA and Duke, I was flip flopping back and forth. UCLA had the area I wanted to live and gave me more money. Duke was a cheaper place to live, higher ranked, stronger MC recruiting, and stronger North East recruiting (incase I want to move back to NYC). I eventually decided if I didn’t get into Booth or Kellogg, I’d do Duke, since Business School would be pointless if I didn’t pull off a MC job (I make a lot of money already, and ROI just isn’t there if I end up having to do marketing or entertainment).

I got into Kellogg, so it became a moot point. Kellogg does amazing in MBB, and neither Duke nor UCLA gave me nearly enough money to convince me to choose them over Kellogg. If I get into Booth tomorrow, I’ll compare financial aid packages (I’m not expecting anything from either though), and visit both, but I’ll probably choose Kellogg. I want a close knit environment with social people, Booth seems a bit too competitive and spread-out.

Random Thoughts

It seems the biggest predictor of success is “does our interviewer answer your thank you note?” Kellogg/duke/ucla did and I got in, Columbia did not and I was rejected. I’ll see tomorrow if Booth follows the same structure.

Overall, this has been the 2nd most stressful thing I've had to do in my life (1st being trying to find a job in the middle of the financial crisis), and everything took way longer than expected to complete. The worst part way the waiting, since I didn't have any outlet anymore....I couldn't study GMAT problems, rewrite essays, or practice interview.

Going to campus visits or speaker events doesn't seem to help, I didn't go to any aside from Columbia (where I was rejected). You can build "Why School X" essays just by leveraging the website mostly.

GMATs matter a lot (I'm convinced this is the main reason I got into Kellogg).

One thing I find interesting too is that undergrad breakdown of the class. I think part of the reason I got rejected from Columbia is that they take a low percentage of business majors. for example, Wharton take 25%, Columbia takes 29%, but Booth takes 55%. This is a huge difference very few people tend to notice:
https://poetsandquants.com/2013/10/28/th ... numbers/4/