McDonough 2012 - Calling All Applicants

I see your point and thank you for the input. I used the optional essay to write something else so I didn't mention the reason why I chose my former supervisors in my essay. Would it be appropriate to explain this during interview? Thanks!

I would call it a judgment call, but if it was me, I'd leave it out because it's a potential negative. But let's say your interview wasn't blind and the interviewer pointed it out. Then you can go ahead and explain. Also, if the interviewer asks about any weakness in your app, then this is possibly one of them.

Note: I applied for the part time program (MBA Evening Program), not the full time MBA, but the process is similar for both programs with recs and every part of the application. The only difference is that R1 full time MBA applicants can schedule an interview on their own, and Evening MBA applicants can use the GRE instead of the GMAT.

For me, I had to get my current supervisor's rec, or it would be a minus for sure, even with an optional essay. In the full time program it's not quite as bad because you're leaving your supervisor anyway, but a question mark still.

Is there anyone from India , planning to join Georgetown Fall 2012 ?
Would you people like to meet up , get to know each other ?

Couldn't have described the weekend better. I was excited beforehand, but after this weekend, I knew I was at the right place. All of the admitted students I spoke with were very accomplished yet really easy going. Adcom and co. did a great job and a few people who told me they were 50/50 at the beginning were telling me that they were leaning heavily toward Georgetown by Saturday. I made sure my deposit was in as soon as I got home yesterday.

Anyone who got waitlisted Rnd 1 has a decision?
Those for Rn2 , have you done anything to improve your app?

I don't know of any wait list admits for full time on here but I'd imagine that statistically someone likely did get admitted.

I was waitlisted in round 1 for the evening program and retook the GMAT and sent and additional essay. Now all I can do is do the Wharton wait (because they won't take any more material until the next round of decisions). In general however, I would guess that most WL'ers will get rejected in the last round of acceptances and a small WL is kept in case less people bite on the deposit. That includes me, so though my GMAT has improved, I'm still looking at my other options more than hope I get accepted by Georgetown now that the real waiting has begun. Even though G-Town is my first choice and I'll go if accepted, the other schools I applied to had me as their first choice, and I think all the WL'ers accepted elsewhere need to look at those schools too.

Waiting to hear back now myself. Pretty excited, due in no small part to the fact that they have the most outrageously incredible building that I've seen. Absolutely loved the layout. Too many places just feel like hallway after hallway, but the Hariri building is just perfect.

Maybe I'm just mildly claustrophobic or something, haha.

The question is will you definitely attend if you were to be admitted? I will for sure, I love Gtown and hope that I will get an admit

I think I'm with you on this one. I would definitely attend if accepted.

So, best of luck to all of us! I truly hope everyone on gmatclub that is still waiting to hear back gets an admit.

A few posters had sent me PMs and I figured it was more beneficial and time efficient for me to attempt to answer some questions and provide some additional color on this thread.....

I helped to work Welcome Weekend so we may have met and/or many of your questions and concerns may have been addressed, but I'll try to highlight some of my additional thoughts as they pertain to your questions.

Housing:
- Most students do live with roommates simply out of financial efficiency and the social benefits. Many of my friends found their roommates from the class's facebook group, formal and informal Gtown happy hours organized prior to the fall, and simply by emailing members of our class. I found my two roommates at a Happy Hour organized by Georgetown last Summer in NY.
- Living in the DC area is infinitely better and more convenient than the more rural settings of many other schools that I once considered (Duke, ND, etc). I severely underestimated this.
- With regards to where to live...I currently reside in Rosslyn but will most likely look to move to Dupont or Georgetown. You do get more value in Rosslyn, and the commute is very easy (10 mins), but there is almost a social stigma associated with living in Arlington, especially as a single guy.

General thoughts re: McDonough

Accepting my offer to attend and subsequently matriculate to Georgetown's MBA program has been perhaps the most rewarding decision of my life. From a career, financial, social, and intellectual perspective the experience has been nothing short of incredible. I would venture to guess that most of my classmates would reiterate this sentiment. In order to give you the best and most brief assessment of my MSB experience I will discuss the three main pillars of the MBA process; career, academics, network (social)

Career:

To qualify my statements, I have been fortunate enough to secure a summer internship at a NYC bank this summer, thus I am naturally going to be more upbeat than an individual that has yet to find employment. Each year Georgetown seems to become further entrenched within the key firms that traditionally place our students. I would attribute this development to the business school being relatively new in comparison to its peers and the aggressive efforts of our alumni in furthering the MSB brand within their organizations. JPM, Citi, BAML, Deloitte, Booz, etc. BB banks and large consulting firms. BCG hired a few McDonough grads in recent years and now are coming to campus to bring on multiple people each year. In addition, new firms are emerging each year and are enhancing their presence on campus. Bain, McKinsey, Goldman, etc have now begun to recruit on campus. In short, the Georgetown brand will open up most every door for you, yet at the end of the day you must capitalize upon these chance and grab success for yourself. I will add that the Georgetown student body is a VERY collaborative environment within this context, and this is not an aspect to overlook. Our students genuinely band together and assist each other throughout the interview process, rather than throw sharp elbows and/or compete intensely with each other. This certainly made the banking "hell week" of interviewing much more tolerable.

Academics:

Academics are what you make them out to be. As a student, you are encouraged to broaden your horizons and you are brought out of your comfort zone in order to stimulate your intellect. That being said, you can make the curriculum as easy or as challenging as you would like it to be. At first the workload is self-described as "drinking from a firehouse" but you soon will learn how to manage the workload and your time in order to efficiently maximize your experience. The academics also begin to become more career/elective specific as you progress through the first six months in order to prepare students best for their internship search. Beyond the first two mods (semester for next year's class) the workload is as smooth or as difficult as each student tailors their schedule to be. Some students will concentrate on courses directly pertaining to their career, striving to attain top marks, while other students might choose classes outside of their normal concentration and simply enjoy the indoctrination into the subject matter rather than seeking a top grade. That being said, there is a staggering number of available courses, even across Gtown's other colleges, which will appeal to almost everyone.

It's also worth mentioning that the curriculum will be overhauled next year for what, in nearly everyone's opinion, is for the better. This is one of the more visible initiatives of our new dean, Dean Thomas, as he attempts to bring the program in line with what he feels should be our natural peers (NYU, Duke, UVA, etc). Gone will be the mod system and in will be a semester system which should prepare 1st year students even more appropriately for their internship search (ex. more accounting).

Networking:

By far the most underrated aspect of the MBA experience, I cannot begin to articulate how important and how enjoyable the Georgetown network is, both internally and externally. Externally, alumni both undergrad and graduate alike are always very receptive and actively involved with our program and our classmates. Internally, we have an awesome time. My classmates are all very talented but are also very fun. As a graduate of a state-school undergrad institution, I can honestly say that I may have more fun and more social activity than I did when I was in college. Perhaps it has something to do with having worked in the "real world" and realizing that this is my last opportunity to be a (more-or-less) care-free student before matriculating back to the workforce but the Gtown MBA experience lends itself to a lot of social activities that bond our class together. This has been incredibly important to me not only for these two years but also for my professional future in which I look forward to calling on my classmates if potential business opportunities present themselves. Rather than being just another number or having just a passing knowledge of my classmates, I feel as if I have had a personal relationship with most all of my classmates. I find that this makes our network that much stronger and more valuable.

I'll leave just a few random passing notes:
- There are no Friday classes
- Kegs and wine are provided every Thursday night in the building
- The Hariri building is among the best in the nation. Very important as you will spend a significant amount of time at the school and the facilities make for a much higher quality of life
- If you are looking to get into banking be prepared to be travelling to NYC every weekend for "informational interviews"...being in DC makes this much more convenient than other locations (take the boltbus, megabus, train, etc)
- There will be more clubs that you will want to join than you can handle. Join a professional club (finance, consulting, Investment Fund) and perhaps two social clubs (Wine, Gourmet, Golf, Sports) and you will be set
- Meet the 2nd Years early in the year
- Take advantage anytime free food is made available

Ranking:

When I was applying to schools (eight of them) I was obsessively concerned with the rankings of various schools. For a $150,000 investment I wanted as close to a guarantee as possible that I'd maximize my ROI. Yet Georgetown was not the highest ranked school that I was accepted to and I am quite convinced that I made the correct choice. Having nearly completed my 1st year and having proceed through the internship process, I know that I would not have had any additional opportunities made available to me had I instead attended a higher-ranked program outside of the top 10. Even within that context, the other Summer Associates in most of my classmates' programs matriculate from NYU, Penn, Harvard, UNC, Duke, UCLA, Columbia, etc. Once you are in an MBA program and the bullets begin to fly with regards to interviews, no one will even think about your school's ranking. I hadn't even thought about our ranking until it was brought up during Welcome Weekend and I laughed at how much emphasis I remembered putting into them at that point last year. That being said, we all have a great deal of school pride and a bit of competitiveness, and I know for a fact that it is our school's overt objective to move into the Top 15 (the problem is, who moves out?).

Excellent information, NGgator60! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up!

Hey everybody. I just found this thread and think it's awesome. I'm in for round 2 of their evening program - still waiting on an interview invite. Good luck to all R2 and R3's!

applied to R2 evening as well. hoping for an interview invite.

I hope both of you get your invites and ultimately, admission to Georgetown University for this fall!

Did anyone recieve the login credentials for mbamath which was suppose to follow after the May 1 deposit deadline?

I have not, and was probably going to email them this week, as I would like to finish that sooner, if possible.

By the way, long time reader, first time poster. Look forward to starting in the fall. Good luck to all those on the WL or applying in R3.

Thanks novanative, got my invite last week and have my interview this Friday. Since the staff is different for the evening program I was hoping you could share some of the questions you received. Were they similar to what the full-time people have been posting? Below are the most common ones I've seen on this forum. Did they throw any curveballs at you? Thanks!

1) Tell me about your "journey" - how have you ended up here applying for McDonough? (essentially the "walk me through your resume" question)
2) What are your immediate post-MBA goals?
3) Why do you need an MBA to reach your goals?
4) Tell me more about what you do in your current job
5) Tell me about how you have motivated others / led a team
6) Tell me about a time you navigated a difficult interpersonal situation
7) What kind of international experiences have you had?
8) How did you become interested in (area of interest)?
9) How have you stayed involved in (area of interest)?
10)Can you remember a time that you had to apply a specific skill to work that you hadn't used in a while? How did you do it?
11)Tell me about a time that you had to give someone unfortunate or difficult news.
12)Questions for me?