New B-school grad: GMAT retrospective on school/employment

Hi everyone,

I recently stumbled on this forum after looking into helping a fellow undergrad with GMAT prep. Nice site!

I started thinking about the GMAT and how it helped me prep for b-school. When I decided to apply, I had been out of school for 15 years, which is a long time not to be taking any exams or going to class. I also ran my own business and had nobody to answer to except my customers. Some perspectives:

1) I had a definite goal to attend a top B-school and get at least a 710. I took both The Economist (got me to 710) and Veritas Prep (bump to 730) to achieve this score. The testing really helped me to "get prepped" for business school, in a logic and reasoning sense. Sure, the quant refresh was good, but it was really the logic verbal section that was FAR more useful in real-world scenarios. I attended a top 30 b-school, mostly due to geography, and was one of the top 5% of students, especially when we moved away from "regurgitation" courses into logic-based strategy/marketing strategy/consulting/statement analysis courses. The verbal logic prep really helped me hone in on developing and refining my DIKW pyramid skills.

2) 2 thoughts on which b-school to attend: I attended a lower-rated school but with top-notch professors. I found that 20% of my class were people that could have gone to any school but that stayed local, while 30% of my class did not belong in b-school and did a great job at pulling down our ratings (I suspect that parents were paying full $ and then more in donations-the % of students whose families owned private jets at my school was about the same as the % of Subarus on the road). GMAT was fairly highly correlated with the top people in my class, but not always. Some very smart people cruised in with a 650 but didn't put in the prep time. However, I didn't meet anyone who scored over 700 and was sub-par. So, if you do well on the GMAT, chances are that you will do well in B-school. With that said, recruiting at a school outside of the top 20 can be rough. If you are going to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, be prepared to jump through extra hoops. You won't get the benefit of the doubt that people from Wharton/Booth/Harvard/Kellogg get. That being said, I wanted to be a strategy consultant and cased with many folks from these schools. They weren't any brighter than the top tier at my school, so don't be intimidated. It is just harder to get in the door. Speaking of harder, it is much more difficult to gain admission (and find employment) when you are approaching 40, as I was. Age profiling is a serious issue....don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I was told this by several ex-recruiters (and current recruiters, 3 drinks in...).

3) I was able to snag a position at a top-tier (but smaller) general strategy consulting firm. I made the "post final-round wait list" at Bain but honestly, they are looking for someone younger. Don't overlook smaller firms if you are slightly older and more polished: you may be required to wear more hats at a smaller firm and that requires a different skillset than a 28-year old may have. My firm feels like a much better fit; I get paid 85% of MBB salary (with the same 85% increase over time) but the demands aren't quite as intense and burnout just doesn't happen as often. Honestly, I am not really upset about making $170k this year instead of $200k at Bain, or that as a manager here in 4 years I will pull down $375k vs $425k at Bain. The GMAT gave me the tools to start building the blocks necessary to do well on case interviews for strategy consulting.

4) non-GMAT related: grab internships in grad school. It will help you build street cred and have access-able content ready for job interviews. Don't focus too much on grades: a 3.6 is typically adequate (I had a 3.72). A very smart friend focused on grades (with a 3.9) and can't find a job. Networking and internships opened doors (I did private equity, restructuring, and venture capital). Go with fit, not brand name. Smart people will get good roles and make plenty of money.

5) Certain schools are well known for certain industry ties, so make that a point when choosing.

Overall, the GMAT (and many hours of case prep with ex-Bain and McKinsey friends) really helped me to do well in grad school and land a top-tier job. Having a 730 on your resume won't get you a job but will impress some employers. Others will write you off-"too smart and will get bored". This is typical in Real Estate and banking-client advisory type roles. You may want to skip the GMAT on those apps. One guy at JP Morgan told me "whoa-730: we don't normally see that number around these parts". Getting that really high verbal score WILL help you later on in terms of asking the follow up questions and solving complex problems. Plus, it helps with scholarship money and bragging rights. I got lots of "benefit of the doubt" due to my high GMAT compared with my peers.