Calling All Consortium 2013 Applicants

Congrats !!! I am very happy for you.

Why you should not apply through the consortium


That title is sure to ruffle a lot of feathers. Relax. I am not here to bash the consortium. I think the consortium has a wonderful mission and I admire the work that they do. After students are admitted to graduate school, the organization fosters an incredible network for minority students. The Orientation Program is awesome, the opportunity to network with employers (and possibly land internships) before the start of the MBA program is pretty remarkable. All in all, the work of the consortium is a net plus for society and is increasing the number of minorities in the ranks of management.

But is it right for you? That's the question.

Applicants that apply through the consortium are lured in by dollar signs. . We want the money. We want those b-schools to “make it rain”. When people first hear about the consortium they generally have the following reaction: "So you are telling me I can save over a thousand dollars, apply through one common application, have my recommenders fill out one form AND compete for a full-tuition scholarship!? I'd be a fool to miss this opportunity!"

So with that said, here are my 3 guidelines for applying through the consortium

1. Don't apply through the consortium if you are a marginal candidate.

My lengthy logic

Many of you have been the "only one" for sometime. The only one in your class in college. The only one in your office. The only one at a non-diversity MBA event. After being the only one for so long, you might think you are the "only one" (or one of the only ones) applying to business school. Well that's just not true. The positive thing is that there are many talented minority applicants applying to business schools.

Here are some stats from GMAT for African Americans. Data on Hispanics is slightly higher.

• Nearly 72% of African American Test takers score below 500.
• In 2010 940 African American test-takers scored over 600. 461 scored over 650, 175 scored over 700 (Out of 9,214)

The data is sobering, but 940 African Americans is waaay more than enough to go around for top MBA programs. If your GMAT score is below 600 you are most likely not going to be in the top echelon for a consortium program and should apply to the school directly. (there are exceptions of course).

Keep in mind that the consortium is pretty much a scholarship competition. 70% of admitted consortium students get scholarships (of some kind). 30% don’t. So scholarships are given out more often than not for admitted consortium students and schools generally don’t give scholarships to marginal candidates.

Don’t ever forget this! When you apply through the consortium you are deeming yourself scholarship worthy. If you are not scholarship worthy you should think twice about applying through the consortium.

The consortium is a very easy way for schools to attract top minority students to their programs with scholarships. If you have an above average GMAT and GPA with very few red flags, the consortium is a Godsend. Do it! If you are a “chance” candidate with some hiccups on your record don’t risk admittance to school in pursuit of the convenience of a streamlined application and the lure of a scholarship.

Now the smarty-pants may counter with, “hey miss random woman from the internet, if a candidate is marginal he/she would be denied no matter which application method is used”.

I disagree.

Schools take chances all the time. They sometimes overlook lower GMAT scores and questionable GPA’s. I just believe they are less likely to do this for consortium candidates and more likely to do it for candidates that apply directly. Remember 70% of admitted consortium students get some form of scholarship.

You will hear forever and ever that there is no advantage or disadvantage in applying to The Consortium versus applying directly a consortium school. The same review process and admissions standards apply for both pools of applicants.

This is only slightly true.

Lot’s of folks are going to disagree with me here, but here it goes. When you apply through the consortium you send a clear message, “My number 1 concern is money. My decision to matriculate to your school is partly determined by how much money you give me. Here are my six choices, one of ya’ll need to make it rain.” Now if you got a 3.6 and a 720 you can have that swagger, but if you don’t….you can’t afford it.

By applying through the consortium and sending this message you are in direct conflict with the schools number 1 concern. Rankings. You care about scholarships, they care about yield. The school wants to offer admission to candidates that will matriculate. Every school knows that candidates will apply to more than one business school, but they still want to feel like the bell of the ball, like they are the only one. They want to be wined and dined. By applying through the consortium you have revealed yourself. Sure you wine and dine them, but in the back of their minds they know that they are not the only one because on the first page of your consortium application is a rank of all of the other schools you applied to for them to see. !Yes they see them! To add insult to injury they ask for the names of the non-consortium schools you are applying to.

They were ok with this open relationship in theory, but now they have seen all the dirty business and believe me it is on their mind. Now if you are Denzel Washington with your 720 and 3.6 the admissions officers will follow their emotions and swoon all over you. A couple of schools may even give you scholarships because they want you so bad. If you are Evelyn Lozada with a 590 and 3.2, not so much. Applications are often pooled from both application rounds so schools can cherry pick the very best candidates. If a school is going to be in awkward open relationship they are going to take their time and pick the Denzel’s of the group.

Application readers are human and as much as they try to assure you (and will step it up after this article makes its way around) that all applications are treated the same, its tough for that to happen.

Have you ever sat back and thought about why a school would join the consortium? Sure they want more minority applicants and students, but think about this from a business perspective. The consortium is a way for schools to run up chart on the number of applicants and protect the yield on the backend with scholarships.

So what does this mean for marginal candidates? If you are a marginal candidate you need a fully customized application to get that extra look. If adcom is going to take a chance, they want to make sure that the candidate is a slam-dunk for their yield. Consortium candidates are not slam-dunks for the yield.

2. Don’t apply to a school via the consortium unless you believe you will be in the top echelon of candidates applying to that school. (e.g. apply to your safety schools via consortium and apply to your reach schools directly) If you are a minority candidate in the 700+ range, consider every school on the consortium a safety school. If you are in the 650-700 range all consortium schools are safeties except for maybe Yale, Haas, Tuck, Stern. (Very broad stroke here)

3. Don’t forget about the non-consortium schools other than H/S/W.
Because the consortium lures many minority candidates in, you have the potential to be “the only one” (or one of the only ones) in non-consortium schools in the top 25. If you put in that extra work you could be Evelyn at Booth or Duke. I have seen people get rejected from 6 consortium schools (Madison, Darden, Goizueta, Kelley) and get into Booth or Duke. It’s possible, but it costs some more money and time to throw your hat in the ring.

Non Consortium Schools (MIT, Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, Duke, Carlson, Foster, McDonough, Scheller, Fisher, Mendoza)


Consortium Reforms

Below is my vision of a reformed consortium process for candidates.

- Candidates submit core essay on the CGSM website and select and rank the 1-6 schools that they want to apply to. Candidates pay regular consortium tiered pricing and receive fee waiver codes for use through the school’s application system.
- Candidates apply directly to the school and use the fee waiver codes upon submitting the application. “Consortium deadlines” are eliminated. Consortium candidates can only apply in the 1st or 2nd round.
- Schools notify consortium candidates on regular decision day with notification of aid packages. Admissions packages note that if you apply through the consortium your aid package is subject to change.
- Post decision “the draft” online system activates. Consortium sends a list of eligible consortium candidates that applied to the school and meet the consortium standards.
- School updates draft system with their admits and denys.
- School reps work within the deadlines to manage the “virtual draft”
- School “updates” the aid packages of admitted candidates that are subsequently awarded the Fellowship.

This reform is indeed a long shot, but I think it is the only way to restore the perception of integrity into the process.

If you got a Consortium Scholarship you deserve a pat on the back. As I visited schools this year and attended diversity weekends I was so impressed with the caliber of attendees. I know as I embark on my MBA and join this great network I will continue to learn from all of you.

This just needed to be said.


See you at OP ☺

I'm not really sure where to begin. Some of what you said above makes sense but some of it makes me raise an eyebrow. Obviously, you applied but maybe your experience was just completely different. Which is allowed of course.

The Consortium process isn't the best in the land. In fact, it's probably more stressful than a regular application. When dealing with 17 schools you have 17 different processes for the same applicant group. Which is enough to make you go crazy. Lol. Consortium applicants are like the step kids of the MBA process. Some schools are great dealing with us. Others just can't seem to get it together. If I could do this over I would have added a few non-consortium schools to the mix to calm my nerves.

However, I believe to tell people to not apply unless they are a top candidate is a bit misleading. Minorities at the 'top' tend to be programmed to work even harder to meet the expectations of their peers while downplaying their abilities...so not to make others jealous.

A bet half the over achievers that applied didn't realize their worth before beginning this process. Thankfully I was so naive about Consortium (I even mispronunced it wrong for the 1st 2 days I was at my first and only diversity weekend) that I didn't have much time to think about if I was good enough to apply until afterwards.

If I had read your message back then I might have overthought the process completely and not applied. I'm glad I didn't or I wouldn't be able to meet you at OP I'm sure there are consortium candidates who shouldn't apply but that's true of all MBA programs.

There is more to getting into school besides a GMAT and application. I'm confident that a large majority of fellows worked their asses off to get to know adcom, students, and their schools. I know I did. Lets not mention the MONEY and time it costs to go to multiple diversity events 1000 of miles away. In general, those individuals aren't the usual. And your advice wouldn't apply to them. This process weeds out applicants as part of its nature. Many of the students I met at UNC's IKF didn't apply. One chic was like I just can't see how I can do all this by the deadline.

Perhaps I'm just naive because I didn't plan this journey like most. There was no year of GMAT prepping, endless diversity weekend tours, or months of essay writing. I had 2 months to get it together and put all my eggs in 2 baskets. And I made it. I would tell anyone, to at least try.

Half the reason why you don't see minorities in the work place is because they didnt know they could apply or were qualified. I have had some amazing jobs because I walked into interviews and said look maybe I don't look like your usual candidate, 'but you're going to love meeeee' (in my Jennifer Hudson Dream Girls voice). Lol.

The consortium and MBA application process is not just about getting into school. It's also about learning who you are and taking inventory of your life and your future. Even if an applicant doesn't get into a program, I'm strongly confident that the process changed them as a person. I'm definitely not the same person I was in November.

So, I say you know what just try. And this comes from someone who will probably be the oldest Consortium member of the Class of 2015. Lol. Damn I'm getting old.

SEE Y'ALL AT OP!!!!

Posted from my mobile device

I am happy to have defied just about every stat in your lengthy opinion. I think people should just follow their guts and have confidence in their choices. Yes, everyone out there has their opinions and is entitled to them... the smart people of the world know how to take gross vocalizations like the one below with a a grain of salt. Is there some truth there, I'm sure there is. But if you stay true to yourself, acknowledge your weaknesses, capitalization on your strengths, and have the courage to be vulnerable, ANYTHING is possible!

If your mission aligns with that of the Consortium, why not apply via CGSM??? I was concerned about this initially with Haas, but in speaking with several admissions officers early in my thought process, they highly encouraged me to apply via Consortium over Haas' regular round 1 period. According to the post below, I never should have A) been accepted to Haas via The Consortium and B) certainly not have earned a Consortium Fellowship. Standardized testing isn't for everyone... it certainly isn't my forté. Luckily I did my research and learned to articulate my passions and strengths through my application process. I took the GMAT 3 times, still came out "less than marginal," but kept my head up and forged on. As for my two-cents, avoid trying to "game" the system with rankings, etc. Know what you want and rank accordingly...be genuine throughout the entire process (and throughout your life for that matter). While the "Denzel's" of the world may be an obvious, superficial choice, believe it or not, schools are also looking for depth and balance. During my application process, one of Haas' leading professors told me that it is often the admits with lower GMAT scores and/or who were originally wait-listed who went on to be the leaders of their class. Let's hear it for the underdogs!

My stats:
African-American female
GMAT: 630
GPA: 3.2 (from Stanford though if that helps)
Zero years of traditional work experience (but 5 years otherwise + volunteer work)
....
take that "Denzel's" of the application process (and other doubters)... ick my elementary teachers used to always coo that my dad looks like Denzel Washington. Ewww. In the future, I will choose a different name. But to those with "marginal" scores and below... more power to ya! Stay true to yourself, have confidence in what you want to achieve, and do the work to make your dreams come true. ... be better than just a statistic

Can't wait til OP!

Kudos to and1 for being contrarian and speaking out, I don't think what they said is neither offensive or should be seen as "frightening" but there's also a dose of reality behind it, especially concerning the rankings and yields. Say you want to apply to haas tuck Yale stern -- all schools which are supposedly ranking sensitive. If you get into your first pick, it is easier for the other schools to admit you and possibly award you a fellowship (as we've seen stern do with many of you this year). However, if you are dinged by your first then there is less incentive for the other schools to offer you the same. The ability for the schools to "yield manage" and weight your application based on your rankings is a bit unfair especially since the consortium states that this isn't used at all in admissions.

For the benefit of the future years applicants and fellow alumni, I think you all should form a petition to truly make the rankings blind not only on behalf of CGSM but also talk with the diversity officers from your school to be on board... I would have but I'm not going to be at a CGSM school

Posted from my mobile device

I'm not sure I agree with the blanket statement opener ("Why you should not apply through the consortium"), but I think I see what and1 is trying to say.

Perhaps and1 put a little too much emphasis on GMAT in his/her writeup and the parameters were a little strict, but what I interpret he/she is trying to say is that you really need to assess yourself as a viable candidate for your target school before applying through the consortium.

Sure, this statement applies to any applicant, but there is more at stake for the Consortium organization and its mission. They are trying to place capable minority and/or socially conscious business leaders in positions to make an impact in business and in the minority community, so leveraging their application platform is not something that should be taken lightly by applicants.

To be quite blunt, if your work experience is average at best AND you don't have a solid GPA (assuming you didn't apply from a top 50 undergraduate institution) AND your GMAT is not remotely in the ballpark of where it needs to be AND you don't have an interesting story to tell, then perhaps you are doing a disservice both to yourself and the Consortium if you are still planning on applying. I would imagine it hurts the Consortium's credibility with schools and sponsors a bit when they are forced to field applications from folks who are not really qualified. Afterall, they do have issue a publicly available "Annual Report" summarizing applicant statistics.

In my experiences I haven't encountered anyone who fits the description above, but I'm sure there are a handful of candidates out there like this applying through the Consortium.

Again, I'd reiterate that you shouldn't be defined by work experience/GMAT/GPA/extracirriculars/etc. alone and one or two less than stellar aspect of your candidate profile shouldn't necessarily dissuade you from exploring your options... however, it really all goes back to giving an honest assessment of yourself as a candidate overall and realizing that there is perhaps more skin in the game when you apply via the Consortium.

Just my two cents

Any econ majors out there? Applying to b-school is an example of information asymmetry at work. If you don't apply through the consortium, schools don't know where you've ranked them, who else has admitted you, or what other scholarship offers you've been offered. If you do, well, you are giving the CGSM schools access to all that information, although they still don't know anything about the non-CGSM schools you've applied to. These are tradeoffs that perhaps you may want to consider. If you are a marginal candidate throwing in reach applications to all these schools, I'd imagine your odds aren't great even if you apply outside the CGSM. (In my case, I feel as if the CGSM process worked to my advantage-- immediately after the CGSM draft, my second CGSM choice offered me a very generous fellowship.) But at the end of the day, I didn't think about any of this when I chose to apply through the CGSM. I liked that the application was streamlined; I believed in the mission of the consortium; and I liked and would have applied to the CGSM schools I selected even without the potential for a full ride. Maybe I am naive, but don't think I'm alone-- I definitely didn't have dollar signs in my eyes when I chose to apply through the CGSM!

I would agree. I Iove what the CGSM is doing and once I began writing my mission essay realized that I had been doing much of this since graduation but on my own without a network of peers. So to be a part of the Consortium just makes sense to me.

Not a fan of reach or safe schools. I made the decision to only go to school in a warm, technology town. lol. So I only had 3 choices: Research Triangle (NC), Austin Texas, or anywhere in California. (Although Yale, Tuck, and all those other schools seemed so attractive...sighs) Plus, every school on my list was part of the Consortium. Again it just made sense.

There are definitely tradeoffs. But life is about figuring out what works best for you. If people are concerned, I'd suggest applying to non-CGSM schools too. The streamlined application helped me because my manager only had to submit to one non-descript website. My management team aren't fans of MBAs. I needed to apply as discretely as possible. By saying its a site that allows me to apply to multiple schools and programs at once for scholarship purposes made it less threatening.

Different strokes for different folks...but for me ,Consortium all the way! All day any day! Looking forward to OP!! BTW not sure you guys checked yet but I saw the companies coming to OP on the site https://s3.goeshow.com/cgsm/annual/2013/exhibit_hall_map.cfm

UPDATE: Eamer's response below says that we aren't actually supposed to register online. Weird. Why have the link? Anyways, I don't want to share false information just because I got excited. lol. So disregard the below.

First Year Student Registration for OP is now open online, too. You can pick which sessions you want to attend there.
https://s3.goeshow.com/cgsm/annual/2013/student_reg.cfm

I have to mail my Consortium Enrollment Form today as well.

Getting excited! 2 months!

According to Travis McAllister's (Recruiting Manager) email yesterday, we ARE NOT suppose to register ourselves on the OP Registration site. They will register all incoming members themselves. Not knowing this, however, I did register myself on Sunday. There are quite a few wanky things about the Consortium, such as this, that I think need improvement so that CGSM can have even greater credibility. Yes, on the home page of the attendee registration it does have a line saying incoming students will be registered by The Consortium, but then in the left side bar there is a link for first years and when you click it, it reads " Welcome class of 2015..." and tells you how to begin registering. This is just one of several technical oversites that I think needs to be improved. As for your enrollment form, you can also email it to recruiting@cgsm.org (or fax to 636-681-5499) per the fine print on the back.

And yes, I agree with some of the above comments about rankings (blind or otherwise). As far as I know, Michigan is the only school that truly goes "ranking-blind" during the admissions process. I think it should be that way for all schools... admit candidates truly based on the strength of their candidacy regardless of where the prospective ranked them (as they would for their regular applicants). I think ranks should only then be released at the time of the draft. I think it is important that schools know they are giving money to an applicant who truly wants to attend their school. The Consortium isn't the only way to earn scholarships, however, the current ranking system may truly prevent otherwise perfectly qualified candidates from even being admitted due to the current ranking system. Based on previous forms, schools such as Haas, Stern, and Yale (among others) really seem ranking sensitive even in the admissions phase.

Whoa, check out booths 708 and 710. Was not expecting them to show up!

Thanks for this!!! It didn't make sense at all. I thought we weren't supposed to but the wording on that page says the exact opposite, so I registered anyway. Good call. Why in the world would there be a link?

And thanks for the info about emailing/faxing the enrollment form instead!

I corresponded with Travis directly to clarify, and he said NOT to use the website to register

Google is a Consortium partner. Most partners will be at OP if not all of them. I could've sworn I was given the list for OP but I can't find it. Anywho... here's the link to the partner list so you don't have to look booth by booth on the map. https://www.cgsm.org/corporations/partner-list/

Am I the only one who didn't get the email from Travis yesterday? If one of you can PM me the content of the email, I'd appreciate it. I'll have a hug waiting for you at OP.

PM me your email and I'll forward it. Though there wasn't much call to action that you probably haven't already received or completed. However a good piece of info contained in his message is the correct link to the Student Manual which was incorrect on our enrollment forms. Here's the proper link:
https://www.cgsm.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... Manual.pdf