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Question

Profile:
undergrad EE & Comp. eng. 3.0 (top 20 eng school).
Grad school Comp. sci 3.3 good school
GMAT 720
Work exp 5+ years in the IT field. Thinking of career change but flexible.
Currently leaning toward FT MBA.

Target schools(leaning into FT MBA with concentration on E-commerce, finance, management):
Yale <- first choice because family lives there (so less burden financially)
Johnson
stern
cornell
Others are in consideration...

I am more interested in schools on the East(family lives) and West coast(love CA) plus schools in illinois.

i went through the GMAT scores and 720 seems to be the mean in many of the top schools so i "barely" made it there... I hope colleges will look at my Master degree GPA more since it is more recent... Can i please get a profile evaluation and possibly some reasonable target schools to add to the list?I also understand that there's only so many colleges one can apply to... my goal is to apply to ~7 schools with maybe 3-4 reach and 3-4 "on target".

AlexMBAApply · Answer

I wouldn't worry too much about your GPA for the kinds of schools you're targeting (especially since it's in engineering/CS, they know that the grading curve is pretty harsh).

In any case, I would focus on 5-6 schools at most. Maybe add UCLA and Haas to your list since you said you like the west coast as well -- and then you'd have 6 schools total.

With these 6, you should be competitive for all of them -- while there aren't any safeties in there, you should have a reasonable shot of getting into at least one of them.

shaselai · Answer

Thanks for quick response Alex,
Are there any other schools from the top 30 you think i should put in as safety?

I did a little bit more research and came up with the following list (mix of top and lower rankings):

Yale 
Johnson
stern
Haas
Berkely 
Sloan
Columbia
Anderson
Kenan-flagler
Tepper

Any schools you think i should take out to reduce the list? i think ~7 is the sweet spot for me. You suggested Berkley and haas so those will be the ones on west coast i want to focus on - although stanford also in my mind.thanks!
thanks!

AlexMBAApply · Answer

I don't know.

By the way, Berkeley and Haas are the same school.

As for safeties, that's really a personal decision whether you want to apply to those schools or not. I have no idea whether they'd be a fit for you - that's something you have to figure out on your own, as you know yourself and your personal situation/preferences best. Research these schools, and come up with 5-6 that you'd love to go to.

shaselai · Answer

Alex,
 How far apart is the difficulty among the colleges in the top 30s? Is there a way to compare the difficulty of getting into lets say Wharton vs Kenan when they are quite a few rankings apart? I am trying to figure out a way to help myself figure out some more targets/safes. thanks!

MBA42012 · Answer

I don't think any of these schools can be considered safeties, but that's okay. If you apply to 7-10 target/reach schools then it only takes one. Duke should definitely be on your list since it is one of the easier top schools to get into. I'd then trade up for Kellogg and drop Anderson and Haas since the west coast schools are generally harder to get into. I'd apply to all of those schools round 1 and initiate the interviews at Kellogg, Duke and Tepper. Then apply to 20-30 schools if you don't get in anywhere or better yet, apply to Haas, Anderson and Booth if you do get in somewhere R1.

shaselai · Answer

thanks for the insight MBA42012, i wasnt considering any of the schools i listed as safeties but was curious how to find one to put on the list just in case. I also hope you were joking about the 20-30 schools toward the end :shock:

. But you did raise an interesting point about applying to the west coast schools if i DO get into somewhere R1 - is the rationale "i have nothing to lose" or "save the harder ones for last"? Also, do you know any schools that looks GPA a little bit "less"? it might be a silly question but my GPA doesnt really jump out much... thanks!

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Again, apply to 5-6 schools and you'll have a reasonable shot of getting in. There are no guarantees.

MBA42012 · Answer

Yes, I meant just in terms of applying to only reach/target schools in Round 1 and then falling back on safeties in the later rounds if it doesn't work out for you by that point. If you're already in to say Yale/Duke Round 1, then you would have nothing to lose by applying to Standford and Haas later on. Also, 20-30 schools implied rankings, not quantity haha.

shaselai · Answer

yeah i will do that. Would the R1 deadlines be in consideration for applying the 6 schools so just in case if i dont do well in R1 i can have some time for R2/R1 for other schools?

shaselai · Answer

Also, what school ranges (ranking wise) do you think is reach for me and target for me? I dont want to overextent myself on that. Thanks

MBA42012 · Answer

At least you have a good amount of time to game plan. I kind of got caught up in this thread so I might as well stick with it... There are definitely enough options out there for you to avoid applying to schools outside the top 20. Another idea could be to swap the round 1 and round 2 schools below and just apply to the top 5 + Yale in round 1...

Round 1: Yale, Columbia (ED?), Tuck (ED?), Kellogg (initiate int), Duke (initiate int), Stern.

If IN round 1 then Haas, Booth, Sloan + (H/S/W?). Note: You might have to start preparing a few of these if the decision date from the round 1 apps is before these R2 deadlines.

If NOT IN then UCLA, Tepper, Cornell, UNC. It isn't worth applying further down the ladder than this grouping with your scores.

shaselai · Answer

Thanks for sticking around

. What is ED-early decision? With the interviews you suggested me to initiate them with kellogg and duke, shouldnt I try with all of them or some schools will ask you for interview if they are interested? Just to clarify, when you say "IN round 1" that means i got accepted to somewhere so i can try to go for more reaches while if i didn't get into any i should go for the 2nd set? It seems the strategy is to go for reaches then adjust accordingly - is this what you did or you did something simpler/more complex? thanks!

MBA42012 · Answer

Yes, both Tuck and Columbia have early decision. This will slightly increase your chances of getting in, but then you will have to withdraw your other apps if admitted. Kellogg interviews everyone. You can initiate interviews at Duke, Tepper, Georgetown and a few others before a certain date (mid October usually).

I used a similar strategy which worked out for me, but with a lower set of schools since I had lower test scores. I applied to schools ranked 15, 19, 22, 28, 29, 33, 44 (all of which I considered reach schools with my 660 GMAT + 1.5 years W/E), and was actually only dinged from #44. I then reached for 2 more schools in round 2, but I knew that I probably maxed out in round 1 so I didn't push it.

It's a lot less stressful to be admitted in Round 1 which is why a lot of people apply to 2-3 targets and then 3-4 reaches. You might also learn something from your earlier applications and be able to write stronger essays for your round 2 apps, in which case it would make sense to save a few top choices for round 2. But then again, if you apply to your top 6-7 in round 1 and get in, then you are done... good luck.

shaselai · Answer

Did you do all the interviews for your schools? I probably have to cut back on interviews since i dont get too many days off (~2weeks a year) but i will be sure to go to any interviews for 1st round.... If they reject initiation of interview is it pretty much a ding?

shaselai · Answer

I have checked out geographic details and other stats of the colleges and have came up with a new list:

Round 1:
NYU (picked out of tuck and columbia)
yale
Cornell
georgetown
Virginia (instead of Ross)
Carnegie (instead of duke)

Some backups:
UCLA
Southern California
North Carolina
(might consider haas and other top 10 IF i get some round 1 acceptances)
I think the round 1 list has less reach from before - only 1 top 10 school and the others 10+. I considered geographic location, employment percentages and others. Is this a better list or i should reduce some choices down? thanks

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