PaulLanzillotti wrote:
Hi Applebee:
I have been an admissions consultant for the last 8 years and have worked with hundreds of clients, including those who have gotten into HBS, Wharton and Stanford. In 2008, I started a workshop in the LA area to provide a low cost or free service to those applying to business school. It is now the largest pre-MBA group in LA. Currently, I lecture extensively at UCLA Anderson and to their pre-MBA Riordan programs. I was also an UCLA Anderson interviewer. So what is my point? My point is that I when I tell you the following, it is coming from experience and is meant to be in your best interests.
One of the biggest "misnomers" in the pre-MBA world is that programs have drastically lowered the average age of their incoming classes. This is simply not true if you look at the ages of the incoming classes. I will admit that they have trended lower but not drastically enough to give you an advantage at only 2 years. This is setting a false expectation as the needle has only moved by a year or so.
At no point did you define what your long or short term goals are. This is a serious oversight as it signals that you have not thought out what you bring to a program and how you will extract every available ounce from an MBA program. Again, I always say to start with these goals first.
So:
What are your longer and shorter term goals?
How do they logically build upon what I trademarked as the "MBA Acceptance Equation"? (BTW This is a hour long discussion by itself)
Why do you not have strong recommendations?
What do you believe that you will bring to a program?
What makes you tick? What are your values and norms? How does this tie into your longer terms goals?
Don't set yourself up for failure, you have to ask yourself the tough questions and get the experience before you apply. Sure there are programs like Yale SS and HBS 2+2 but you are past that window.
Please let me know your thoughts and I can send you over some free guides that will lay out the process for applying.
Thanks,
Paul
applebee wrote:
GPA: 4.0/4.3 from an Ivy League school
GMAT: haven't taken yet, but expecting something like 750
Work experience: 2 years
Extracurriculars in school:
-on the board of one of the school's honor societies
-tutored math, physics and chemistry for years
I don't have very long work history, nor do I have strong recommendations. What are my chances of getting into schools like Harvard, Warton, Stanford and Sloan?
Thanks so much for answering !!
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your input on applebee's experiences.
However, from our experience (we have been helping clients since 2004 as well), our input is that across top MBA programs, a lot more younger candidates are being admitted. Courses are increasingly being tailored to younger applicants and employers come to campus expecting to hire younger employees with fewer years of experience. One of our own consultants was admitted to multiple top schools with 2.5 years of work experience.
In this particular case, applebee does not propose to apply with 2 years of work experience. Rather, he is giving the GMAT now, will apply this fall, and enter business school next fall with 3 years of work experience. Three years of work experience, as you must know from your own extensive experience, is very common among business school applicants.
Short and long term goals are important, as are extracurricular experiences, recommendations and strong examples, to make up a compelling application. However, it is a step-by-step process. It is important to focus on the GMAT first since (we both believe) it is the first gauge by which an applicant is measured, which makes it imperative to give it one's best shot.
In this case, applebee hasn't refrained from providing his goals, neither have we advised him to apply without looking at his work experiences, potential lack of recommenders and community service activities in detail. It will simply be covered once he has the GMAT in place. He has strong academic credentials already, which give him a boost for his MBA application - the GMAT will hopefully be the next step down that road.
Thanks again for your input - it was valuable. However, we believe encouragement might be a better motivator than fear and wanted to speak up in this situation on behalf of the applicant. We have different styles, but I am not sure how he can be advised that he is setting himself up for failure without doing a full assessment of his profile in a one-on-one discussion.
close
14 Feb 2010, 09:29
