Calling All Consortium 2013 Applicants

Cane4life86 --> Emory --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
MBAOK2013 --> Tepper(CMU) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
cinder4277 --> Darden --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
AtaQuye --> Stern (NYU) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
HowDidIGetHere --> Kenan-Flagler (UNC) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
Peeweeninja --> Michigan (Ross) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
Eamers --> UC Berkeley (Haas) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes ... however since OP is mandatory, this last part really isn't needed. So excited for New Orleans!

So in last year's C thread there was a discussion about people turning down their C-fellowship in order to attend some other school, with or without money. Is anyone here planning on turning down their fellowship to go someplace else - or thinking about doing it?

I'm currently choosing between Kellogg with no money and Anderson w/ the fellowship - but since I want to do tech product management on the West Coast, I'm very likely to stick with Anderson. But I imagine some others have harder choices if they have other goals or desired geographies or money from a non-C school. Anyone care to share their decision making process?

If I get into Columbia and they give me money (which is probably a long shot) then I don't know what I would do. I have some friends that are waiting to hear back from H/S/W. If they get into those schools, they would turn down their Consortium scholarship. I remember reading that ~50 students per year turn down their fellowships so even tho it's rare, it does happen.

I am deciding between Columbia with a partial scholarship and Haas with the CGSM fellowship. Leaning heavily toward Haas however.

I hear you - full scholarship MBA to an amazing school is hard to pass up.

Keep in mind that Haas and Columbia have an exchange program so you might be able to get the best of both worlds with your full-tuition fellowship.

Do you have a preference on coasts?

It's a snowy/rainy mush in NYC right now. Just saying.

My thoughts exactly. I'm from California, but have lived in NYC for a while now. I love both coasts, but sunshine might just be the tie breaker (advantage: Haas). I'd be pretty happy ending up on either coast. It looks like I will be leaving my current job a bit early to do a pre-MBA internship (in NYC) at an early stage VC fund... a little tech, a little finance... best of all possible worlds?

Congratulations to all of the recent admits!!! It will be an amazing and intense experience during your next 2 years.

Just my 2 cents.... so, please take it with a grain of salt.

I'm a current first year student in the consortium, and the scholarship (if offered) and the early exposure to companies (if going the corporate route) is SO helpful and life changing that I would not turn it down for a school that is "ranked" higher (within reason) and has offered you no scholarship, if perception and prestige are the key drivers of that decision.

Geographic concerns - you really didn't like the people you met at your CGSM offer school - or if you have a specific company or industry you want to work in and access is only given from a particular non-CGSM school... are real issues that amount to a major decision worth forgoing a few hundred thousand dollars.

I'm not trying to sell my school or any other; it's just that once you get in, the curtain drops and you are the one left holding the billing at the end of the show.

Nearly all of the same companies recruit from all of the top schools, the difference is some companies will pick up 10 - 15 students each from H/S/W and 4 - 10 each from X/Y/Z. But X/Y/Z has far fewer students so the ratio is not that skewed.... and these companies are still struggling to find diverse talent, so the opportunity is there from your CGSM school.

Industry perceptions seem to be more accurate, being that the east coast schools seem to have the best access to general finance, IB, health care (pharma), and east coast VC/PE; mid-west schools have best access to companies HQ'ed in mid-west, brand and product management in cpg, west coast schools are best for tech, entertainment, entrepreneurship, health care (biotech), west coast VC/PE; southern schools seem best for energy and any other category for companies located in a southern major city. Consulting is everywhere.

If you have a target company, look where their headquarters are. Company Recruiters are human too, and they can/do get lazy and like to stay "close to home" during a long recruiting season. These are just generalization around the mean, not the definition of what these schools have to offer. All of these schools in these different regions can pretty much give you what you need.

.... All that being said, if you just love a school more than the next - then definitely go there. I just rambled all of this crap off for anyone who didn't do proper research (i personally know a ton who didn't) and just wants to stunt and flash around their school name like some Bentley keys at a NBA all-star weekend party. The trajectory of success between MBA choices can be marginally different for certain industries, and if that is the case, you may want to reconsider doubling your debt/equity ratio if you don't have to.

^^^ Great post.

Hi everyone! I'm new here and will not be applying until new cycle. I'm interested in the Consortium and hope one of you is willing to give me some guidance as to what I should do from here until this fall.

First of all, I have a 3.61 gpa from Texas A&M University (BA in POLS). I'm first generation high school/college graduate. I earned my BA in two years and graduated at age 20. I have been been working as a bilingual teacher at a Title I school for the past six years. I have excellent LORs, wherein I'm credited for playing a leading role in transforming our school from failing student achievement scores (and risking state clousure) to one of the top 2 schools in our school district (out of 35). I scored a 640 on GMAT (V: 44; Q: 34). (97th and 35th percentiles, respectively). I have not taken any math level courses since taking AP Calculus in high school.

Since my professional experience is not in business, I feel that I may be at a disadvantage when it comes to gaining admission to a competitive business school. What suggestions do you all have for me to improve my chances of gaining admission? I have about 6 months to work on anything that you guys believe may help my application. Thank you and best of luck to each one of you in your applications! Congrats to all of you who are in!!!

So I'll state the obvious: Quant.

You have a great story; solid gpa; impressive extras; shoo-in for C-membership. You do not have to have a business degree nor have spent your pre-MBA years in a traditional "businessy" path. You could be a teacher, a Marine, a firefighter, a peace corps volunteer -- all are interesting, impressive, and offer business school classes much needed perspective from someone other than banker/consultant/marketer. You need to spend a solid 2-3 months drilling yourself into oblivion on Quant which will push your GMAT up to where your Verbal thinks it should be. Another way to prove your quant chops would be to enroll right now in a Calc or Stats (college-level) class and get an A. Any local school will do.

Good luck and aim high.

I completely agree with the post above but would strongly suggest you start networking now. Find out which one of your friends have an MBA or know someone that has one. Even if it's from a school you are not interested in, just talking to someone that's been through the proces and asking them questions will help a great deal. Also start thinking about why you want to get an MBA - what do you want to do afterward. I don't mean start writing your 'Why MBA' essay but start giving some thought towards your goals.

Cole's post is spot on. You have a lot of great things to build on (your background, bilingual teaching experience -- very good for gaining admission into the consortium, GPA from good school). Just a couple of suggestions...

#1 -- You likely will need to get your Quant score up for a more balanced GMAT score for admission into most (if not all) Consortium schools. Considering you did AP Calc, I'm guessing you're pretty solid as far as math goes. That being the case, I'd recommend going the self-study route and using all of the Manhattan Quant books used in conjunction with the Official Guides. Also, some schools (such as CMU Tepper) want to see that you took a quant course in college, so I would maybe look into taking a supplemental university math class as well (money/time permitting).

#2 -- I wouldn't be too concerned about your non-traditional background; in fact, this might actually play to your favor in your essays as you discuss why you feel that you need an MBA. Just be able to talk about how your teaching experience has allowed you to build up skills that can be leveraged in a business setting, and of course put everything in the context of your career of interest (marketing, finance, non-profit, etc.)

Just spit balling here, but for an education background, I'd imagine the following skills from your current profession could all be readily applied in business: communication/speaking skills, project/class management, ability to coach others, taking creative approaches to drive home key ideas/concepts

Cane4life86 --> Emory --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
MBAOK2013 --> Tepper(CMU) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
cinder4277 --> Darden --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
AtaQuye --> Stern (NYU) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
HowDidIGetHere --> Kenan-Flagler (UNC) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
Peeweeninja --> Michigan (Ross) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
Eamers --> UC Berkeley (Haas) --> Fellow --> New Orleans Yes
DMNY31--> Tepper (CMU) --> Member --> New Orleans Yes

Thank you all for your replies. I know that it will not be easy improving my 640 gmat but I'm up for the challenge. I'm ready to improve my Quant score! If any of you have any resources/suggestions that helped you with Quant, I would love to hear them. Thank you once again. I truly mean it!

By the way I did talk to an admissions counselor from one of the top business schools (top 30) and he suggested the same things you guys did: to retake the GMAT and try to improve my Quant score. It turns out that he used to work in the same neighboorhood where I have been working at for the past six years. He told me that he understands how difficult teaching is giving our demographics in this area and was impressed with some of the things I have accomplished as a teacher.