Calling All Fall 2012 Consortium Applicants!

Mbahopesful,

First, I hope you join our roll call. Second, I am one of the offenders who applied to 9 schools... if I had to press the redo button I probably would have done 4 or 5 instead. Initially I thought I would get the most bang for my buck by applying to six Consortium schools then hoping to take a few 'long shots' with other schools outside the Consortium. What I found is that many of the schools within the CGSM network actually emerged as favorites.

I wish I would have done my due diligence prior to filling out applications, but will say a positive has been that I went through the essay writing process so much I was very pleased with the final product on my essays for the most part, especially those for CGSM schools.

Good luck in your search for schools and as I led off I hope you consider joining the roll call.

Thanks Mbahopesful.... I know now to prepare to go into a more in depth monolog if the interviewer is going to ask me some basic questions.

Answering your other question regarding applying to numerous schools... Personally I just found myself being nervous about my chances to get into my top 4 schools. I did not have enough confidence with my metrics to not have a back-up plan (school choices 5-7) and there is no way in hell I'm going back to my job next year. I broke it down by my by the feeling a school gave me. My top 4 envoked great pride within me at the mere thought of attending and they help me get closer to my goals. The next 3 would help me get closer to my goals, I don't mind attending, and they get me away from my job. Plus, a 9 month old baby makes multiple gmats a bit of a challenge so I needed a wider target to aim at.

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Welcome to the forum Mbahopesful.

I applied to six schools, all through the Consortium, and i wanted to apply to a few outside the Consortium but asking for more the one recommendation, especially from my boss, was a near impossibility. Getting one was like pulling teeth, as I don't come from a feeder industry and if my boss thought I might be leaving I'd probably be fired before I could put in my two-weeks. That having been said, I applied to so many as a buffer. I'm one of the FEW individuals on this forum that values Scholarship/ Fellowship money and the social environment more than the prestige and academic difference in the programs (100% case study? Kill me now). I figure I'll be alright in the long-run going to any of the top-25, they're all kick-ass IMO, especially considering where I went to undergrad. I'd literally go to USC on a full-ride Consortium Fellowship before HBS having to pay full price, yes, I just said that. So, I applied to 6 that i thought were within my range and that I thought I'd have a decent shot at the fellowship if i was offered admission. Plus, the cost benefits and condensed apps in applying through the Consortium influenced my decision. If it was $300 per app instead of $300 for all six I might have applied to a few less programs. Two months later, I wouldn't change a thing, except for a slight tweak in my rankings, lol

I don't know about everyone else, but originally I was only applying for 3 schools.
A GRE prep professor gave me his opinion, "if your dream is to go to grad school, and those two or three schools don't accept you, are you going to just decide that grad school is not for you?"
a relative of mine (former Johnson admissions officer) also told me "the application process, unfortunately is very unscientific, a lot of it just comes down to luck of the draw"


With these two pieces of advice, and the amount of effort I had put into my work experience, UG GPA, ECs, GRE scores and applications, I didn't want to put all of my eggs in one (well, three) baskets. It felt like too much work for too few of options. But with the more applications I submitted, I was bound to "get lucky" somwhere. If the application process has an element of luck to it I might as well use it to my advantage.

While I definitely have a #1 pick, If I didn't get in there, there are still plenty of really good schools where i could get a good education, a considerably large fellowship might change where I would want to attend, and I wouldn't truly know what options were open to me unless I tried.

As far as applications go, once I filled out the first few, the rest were much easier, even the essays.
And overall, my 10 applications only cost 470$
Consortium: $300 (6 schools)
CBS: free
HBS: $100
Stanford: free
MIT: $70

Graduating from any of those schools would be an incredible opportunity and definitely benefit my career, so at the average cost of 2-3 essays and 47$ per app, each of my applications were great investments. I felt as many applications as I could comfortably handle was a good idea.

I originally planned on applying to 9 schools. After my initial research 9 programs stood out to me in terms of curriculum, ECs, and location. Within the top schools there's never anything that's a sure shot, so I figured applying to 9 would give me multiple shots at gaining admission to a top tier program. Upon visiting several schools, I took one off the list due to fit. The rest were all schools that I would be spittin happy to attend. I was going to split my apps between R1 and R2 to balance the workload.
Luckily (or maybe not) for me my first app took me a really long time to complete and burned me out and I missed the first Consortium deadline. Once I got admitted to my R1 school, that changed the landscape for me. I had a benchmark with which to compare all of the other schools to which I had planned to apply. I simply asked myself if there was anything that would make me choose the R2 option over my R1 admit. If the answer was no then I didn't apply. This ultimately cut my list by another 4 schools and in the end I only submitted 4 apps. I would attend any of the schools I've applied to with or without receiving fellowship/scholarship money. Honestly, by the time I finished application #4 my brain was fried. I don't know how I would've done all those other apps.

For those who are maybe a year out and haven't experienced the true cost of applying, I feel we should mention that MBA applications are far more expensive than the application fee. For schools you're dead serious about, you will want to visit on your own or for some Diversity/Preview Weekend type event. Depending on where you are in the country, I think you can expect, conservatively, to average $400 a visit. Then on top of pre-application trips, you may feel compelled to interview on-campus. If so, $400 an interview depending on geography, airfare and lodging accomodations.

I'm sure several applicants on this forum have already dropped thousands.

Good point Method, visits and interviews are by far the most expensive part of applying. Some people spend loads of cash on visits, applications, and even consultants, at several schools, but only attend one. I know it's a good investment in the grand scheme of things, but I definitely think there are better ways to go about it.

If anyone is looking for an easy (and very fun) way to save some money on upcoming interviews, I would recommend couchsurfing (https://www.couchsurfing.org ) instead of a hotel. That alone will save me $430 in Boston for interviews next month. Plus it's an awesome way to start networking and making friends at all of your potential schools.

If some of you are lucky enough to combine that with air travel benefits and paid time off at work, you could very feasibly do all of your pre-visits and interviews for little more than the cost of lunch.

Method,

Great point. Just for simplicity's sake I'm going to break down three trips I took recently so people can get a feel for what to expect.

Pre-Visit Trip to Tuck

Airfare (book well in advance): $322.00
Lodging: Free
Cabfare: Free
Food/Incidentals (4 day visit): $125.00
Bus on to/from Boston: $58.00

Day Trip Interview to Cornell

Airfare (w/in two weeks): $535.00
Cabfare: $30.00
Food: $22.00

Overnight Interview Trip to Wharton:

Airfare (w/in two weeks): $379.00
Hotel: $170.00
Food: $55.00
Cab: $54.00

Now imagine doing that a few more times and you'll see it quickly adds up. I've spent about $5,000.00 all in so far, but comparatively if you've applied to six plus schools I really don't think that's on the high-end.

We have the same answer. I am not sure about my chances and there is no way in hell I'm going back to my job next year, so I applied to 6 consortium schools and 2 non-consortium schools.

I almost applied to Ross but did not have time for their essay requirement. I am not going to lie to you, I wouldn't have applied to the other schools in my list if there were more school-specific essays. Consortium's essay system made it a lot easier to apply to multiple schools. I mean what's spending a day writing one extra essay and paying an extra $25 bucks for a 6th school. It's all worth it, especially if you like multiple Consortium schools.

Agreed, i would have done less if it wasnt for the consortium,
The consortium application definitely opened more opportunities for me

I'm a little confused. Has anyone who applied in round 1 received interview invites from either Haas or Tuck ?

csp2p,

Welcome. The answers to both questions are yes. Also if you haven't already, I'd suggest you visit Tuck for an interview.

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Damnit Yale!!!! Blast you an your proactive approach to information giving!!! I thought I was getting a dadgum interview invitation.... Just more freakin' info about the app process.

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Probably won't get an invite using terms like "dadgum"

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Haha, no one sends untimely emails like Yale!

I definitely wish I had found this forum prior to undergoing the application process. Initially, I had planned to apply to 6 Consortium schools, to get the most "bang for my buck" so to speak, but I really underestimated the amount of time, energy, and research necessary to submit a solid application. Completing 6 Consortium school wasn't feasible for me.

For those looking to apply for the Class of 2015, I would definitely recommend starting ASAP, whether it be doing research on schools or studying for the GMAT. It's a tedious process.

Seconded, especially the studying for the GMAT part... and attending information sessions.