Calling All 2018 Consortium MBA Applicants!!!

Well for CGSM schools, I'd say rank the schools in the order you really want to attend them vs. trying to game the system. I know there are sources that say the schools can't see your rankings, but assume the opposite.

For essays and all schools, before you start writing essays, take a look at the school's history. Try to find out who founded it, why, what were his or her life like. Do the same for the namesake of the school. For example, I remember reading about Ezra Cornell, and S. Johnson. One was like salesman or a farmer or something like that, he had two territories Maine and Virginia I believe and he didn't own a car so he walked the distance between the two. That kind of "by any means necessary" attitude should be reflected in at least one Johnson essay because that's the school was founded in.

During the interview process, I think there were a few things that helped me, each of which I think will give you a leg up on your competition. One thing I did was reach out to the office of career development at each school to get a better idea of how successful the incoming class and exiting class were at finding IB jobs (which is what I was interested in). Sure you can find out basic info from pamphlets, but if the pamphlet says 20% of the class went into IB, you wont know how to interpret that unless you know what percentage of the class was interested to begin with. The only way to get that info is to call and ask. Also ask to speak with a student that was successful during recruiting, see what they did, and ask why they thought other classmates were unsuccessful (language barriers, etc..) For Johnson, speak with the head of the IB immersion (Drew Pascarella, I think).

Have an idea of which classes you'd like to take, and which extracurriculars you'd like to be a part of. This plays well for two reasons. The first is obviously it shows you've done your HW. The other is it is a great way to answer "what is a weakness of yours" or any objections your interviewer may throw your way. "I see that your resume is lacking X, why would an employer want to hire you, or why should admit you" --> I understand that I'm lacking XY and Z experiences but I've spoken to numerous students who have taken this professors class, and I'm confident that the combination of his formal instruction and the informal opportunities through extracurriculars like... that I'll be prepared for my desire career. Or something like that.

Keep in touch with all the alumni you meet at events, especially diversity events and keep a list of people you have spoken to from the schools because you'll likely be asked "who have you spoken to?" or "how do you know this is the right place for you, and why are you the right person for us?" Meet for coffee, discuss their time at the school your applying to etc...

Pretty basic stuff, but its a lot of work, and half the people applying (IMO) will not put forth this level of effort.

Be yourself, you'll all be fine!

Thank you guys! Good luck for your applications.

Is anyone interested in having a chat with admitted consortium students? Let me know, and we'll try to schedule a chat!

also hoping someone can offer advice - I have my GRE scores and they are pretty much in range. If anything, I would retake to get my math score up a bit.

However, I am prepping to take the GMAT. I am not sure if I should continue with GMAT prep or just submit my GRE scores.

I keep hearing that schools look down on the GRE so i wanted to put my best foot forward and take the GMAT.

has anyone heard of anyone successfully submitting GRE scores instead?

(lol yea i know this is a GMAT forum)