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sarcophilus
Joined: 26 Jul 2018
Last visit: 09 Aug 2021
Posts: 10
Given Kudos: 6
Location: United States
Concentration: Sustainability, Finance
Schools: HBS '21 (D) Yale '21 (WL) Ross '21 (A$) Stanford '21 (D) Wharton '21 (D) Booth '21 (M$) CBS '21 (D) Johnson '21 (A$)
GMAT 1: 760 Q49 V46
Products:
Schools: HBS '21 (D) Yale '21 (WL) Ross '21 (A$) Stanford '21 (D) Wharton '21 (D) Booth '21 (M$) CBS '21 (D) Johnson '21 (A$)
GMAT 1: 760 Q49 V46
Posts: 10
Updated on: 29 Dec 2020, 23:28
Originally posted by sarcophilus on 29 Dec 2020, 22:55.
Last edited by sarcophilus on 29 Dec 2020, 23:28, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by sarcophilus on 29 Dec 2020, 23:28, edited 1 time in total.
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30 second summary
Origin: Spain, but USA Green card
Stats: 3.2 GPA (Math), 760 GMAT
Previous occupation: Tech role in finance
Applications and admissions:
Brief background
I'm originally from Spain, though I moved to the US when I was much younger. I have a green card so I'm not an international. I did my high school and undergrad in the US and I was working in a tech role at an Asset Management firm.
What prompted MBA?
Between 2017 and early 2018 I had tried to move to the investing side within my company without much success, so I eventually became fed up and planned next steps, with the MBA being the most obvious answer.
GMAT Experience
As soon as the 2018 world cup ended in July, I started getting ready to take the exam.
While preparing for the GMAT I definitely did not focus on timing, and this was easily my biggest mistake. When I took the test the first time I felt very overwhelmed and was disappointed to see a 650 on the first screen.
I took it the second time around two weeks later, and did quite a bit better, hitting 720. Not great, but at least I was minimally competitive for some decent schools.
After a conversation with my boss (who would be writing my letters of recommendation) he suggested I take it one more time to see if I can push it up a bit higher. I jokingly said he should pay my test fees. I took the GMAT the third time in early September, and was ecstatic to see a 760 on the screen. The woman at the testing center seemed happier to see the score than I was. Still, I ended up taking the test after the R1 Harvard deadline, so I could not send them my new and improved score. My advice here is that if you have an "okay" score, and are on the fence about taking it again, unless you are financially constrained, you should take it, because you feel feel relaxed knowing a poor score is not the end of the world.
Application Process: School List
I generally took the shotgun approach when applying to schools. After a certain point, applications are a crapshoot, and I had a low GPA from undergrad because I was a STEM Major who definitely should not have been a STEM major. So I applied to the M7 except Kellogg, Haas, UMich, Yale, and Cornell. All R1. I knew I didn't want to go to Tuck because it's in the middle of nowhere, and Cornell was very much my safety.
Application Process: Rushing the essays
Since I had just scraped by the GMAT deadline in early September, I rushed to get my essays done, thankfully many of the schools have similar prompts, so it's fairly easy to tailor to a specific school, and I had a fairly straightforward story: I had worked in a technical role at a finance firm, and I'm looking to get closer to the "pure finance" side of things.
One invaluable resource was my friend Isabelle who has a masters in creative writing from Columbia university (she does run a side business editing MBA essays, feel free to DM me if you are interested). Given that the essays are crucial in securing an interview or admission, her feedback and assistance definitely helped improve my essays and win over the admissions committees. No matter how confident you are in your writing, I highly suggest having somebody you trust read over your essays and give honest feedback about whether it feels genuine and whether they think it is effective writing.
Application Process: Interviews and Interview Prep
I was fortunate enough to land interviews at the following schools: Wharton, Cornell, Booth, Yale, and Ross.
For each school I was prepared 4-5 questions:
I didn't expect there to be too much deviation from this backbone, with the exception of the Wharton group activity (which is a bit tough to prepare for).
The waiting game
Needless to say, applying to 10 schools in one round was absolutely exhausting. While I was extremely happy to have gotten a lot of money from Ross and Cornell, it felt a bit weird to have not been admitted to other schools in R1. So you can imagine my frustration when I was waitlisted at both Booth and Yale and needed to wait longer to see if I was worthy of the M7. I put down my deposit at Ross and plotted to get off the waitlist.
The waiting game part 2
I'm a generally overconfident individual (as most aspiring MBAs), so when I was waitlisted at Booth I thought to myself "If anybody is going to get off that waitlist, it's going to be me!" and I plotted to get to work.
First , there were additional video questions that Booth wanted waitlisted candidates to answer: I picked the question of "how will I contribute to the Booth community".
I planned an extra visit to Chicago to demonstrate additional interest in the school. I flew out there shortly after being waitlisted, reconnected with some of the people I had met during my interview process, as well as people involved in some of the clubs I had mentioned. One of them offered to write a "Shape the class" message on my behalf. These connections also helped improve the content of my video question response, since I could mention specific names and conversations.
Finally, I tried to identify areas where I could differentiate myself. I did not do much here, though as I did some international travel at the time, I started tagging the university in some of my social media posts in case the admissions committee checked those periodically.
In mid March, after a long cold winter, I was finally admitted into Booth as part of round 2, with a pretty substantial scholarship! I withdrew from Ross that same afternoon and started looking for apartments in Chicago.
Final stats: Booth (Waitlisted R1, admitted R2 $90k), Ross(Full ride), Cornell(Full ride), Yale (Waitlisted), Rejected everywhere else
Origin: Spain, but USA Green card
Stats: 3.2 GPA (Math), 760 GMAT
Previous occupation: Tech role in finance
Applications and admissions:
- Booth - Admitted/Accepted ($90k)
Cornell - Admitted (Full ride)
Ross - Admitted (Full ride)
Yale - Waitlisted (Withdrew before final decision)
HBS - Rejected no interview
Wharton - Rejected with interview
Columbia - Rejected no interview
Stanford - Rejected no interview
Sloan - Rejected no interview
Haas - Rejected no interview
Brief background
I'm originally from Spain, though I moved to the US when I was much younger. I have a green card so I'm not an international. I did my high school and undergrad in the US and I was working in a tech role at an Asset Management firm.
What prompted MBA?
Between 2017 and early 2018 I had tried to move to the investing side within my company without much success, so I eventually became fed up and planned next steps, with the MBA being the most obvious answer.
GMAT Experience
As soon as the 2018 world cup ended in July, I started getting ready to take the exam.
While preparing for the GMAT I definitely did not focus on timing, and this was easily my biggest mistake. When I took the test the first time I felt very overwhelmed and was disappointed to see a 650 on the first screen.
I took it the second time around two weeks later, and did quite a bit better, hitting 720. Not great, but at least I was minimally competitive for some decent schools.
After a conversation with my boss (who would be writing my letters of recommendation) he suggested I take it one more time to see if I can push it up a bit higher. I jokingly said he should pay my test fees. I took the GMAT the third time in early September, and was ecstatic to see a 760 on the screen. The woman at the testing center seemed happier to see the score than I was. Still, I ended up taking the test after the R1 Harvard deadline, so I could not send them my new and improved score. My advice here is that if you have an "okay" score, and are on the fence about taking it again, unless you are financially constrained, you should take it, because you feel feel relaxed knowing a poor score is not the end of the world.
Application Process: School List
I generally took the shotgun approach when applying to schools. After a certain point, applications are a crapshoot, and I had a low GPA from undergrad because I was a STEM Major who definitely should not have been a STEM major. So I applied to the M7 except Kellogg, Haas, UMich, Yale, and Cornell. All R1. I knew I didn't want to go to Tuck because it's in the middle of nowhere, and Cornell was very much my safety.
Application Process: Rushing the essays
Since I had just scraped by the GMAT deadline in early September, I rushed to get my essays done, thankfully many of the schools have similar prompts, so it's fairly easy to tailor to a specific school, and I had a fairly straightforward story: I had worked in a technical role at a finance firm, and I'm looking to get closer to the "pure finance" side of things.
One invaluable resource was my friend Isabelle who has a masters in creative writing from Columbia university (she does run a side business editing MBA essays, feel free to DM me if you are interested). Given that the essays are crucial in securing an interview or admission, her feedback and assistance definitely helped improve my essays and win over the admissions committees. No matter how confident you are in your writing, I highly suggest having somebody you trust read over your essays and give honest feedback about whether it feels genuine and whether they think it is effective writing.
Application Process: Interviews and Interview Prep
I was fortunate enough to land interviews at the following schools: Wharton, Cornell, Booth, Yale, and Ross.
For each school I was prepared 4-5 questions:
- 1) Tell me about yourself?
2) Why this school?
I would try to hit on the points of curriculum style, location, and recruiting strengths
3) How would you contribute to the community (what clubs would you join)?
4) What classes would you take?
5) What do you want to do after graduation in both the short and long run?
I didn't expect there to be too much deviation from this backbone, with the exception of the Wharton group activity (which is a bit tough to prepare for).
The waiting game
Needless to say, applying to 10 schools in one round was absolutely exhausting. While I was extremely happy to have gotten a lot of money from Ross and Cornell, it felt a bit weird to have not been admitted to other schools in R1. So you can imagine my frustration when I was waitlisted at both Booth and Yale and needed to wait longer to see if I was worthy of the M7. I put down my deposit at Ross and plotted to get off the waitlist.
The waiting game part 2
I'm a generally overconfident individual (as most aspiring MBAs), so when I was waitlisted at Booth I thought to myself "If anybody is going to get off that waitlist, it's going to be me!" and I plotted to get to work.
First , there were additional video questions that Booth wanted waitlisted candidates to answer: I picked the question of "how will I contribute to the Booth community".
I planned an extra visit to Chicago to demonstrate additional interest in the school. I flew out there shortly after being waitlisted, reconnected with some of the people I had met during my interview process, as well as people involved in some of the clubs I had mentioned. One of them offered to write a "Shape the class" message on my behalf. These connections also helped improve the content of my video question response, since I could mention specific names and conversations.
Finally, I tried to identify areas where I could differentiate myself. I did not do much here, though as I did some international travel at the time, I started tagging the university in some of my social media posts in case the admissions committee checked those periodically.
In mid March, after a long cold winter, I was finally admitted into Booth as part of round 2, with a pretty substantial scholarship! I withdrew from Ross that same afternoon and started looking for apartments in Chicago.
Final stats: Booth (Waitlisted R1, admitted R2 $90k), Ross(Full ride), Cornell(Full ride), Yale (Waitlisted), Rejected everywhere else
29 Dec 2020, 23:17
Kudos
Bookmarks
Wow! Amazing result! Waitlist and then a scholarship - that is almost unheard of! Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing. If you do not mind me asking, did you do anything to get off the waitlist or to get the scholarship? Any tips about this for those on the WL right now?
Thank you!
B.
Thank you!
B.
29 Dec 2020, 23:22
Kudos
Bookmarks
who cares with a Booth and scholarship admit.
