Ask Alex @ MBA Apply

If you're confused between a part-time and EMBA, don't worry - a lot of people are.

The part-time MBA program essentially has the same curricula as the full-time: it's more or less the same academic requirements and classes, except the classes take place on the evenings or weekends, and the courseload is spread out over a longer period of time (2-4 years, instead of 20 months for full-time programs). The age distribution is wider than full-time, but skews younger than EMBA programs. In other words, you get a pretty wide distribution of 20-somethings to 40/50-somethings. Also, more of the students are financing the degree themselves compared to the EMBA.

The EMBA program traditionally is a mid- to executive level program. Mostly folks in their mid 30s and beyond (and quite a few are in their 40s or older). The curricula is typically not the same as a full-time or part-time program - it's less quant/analytical, and more focused on management issues. In short, it's less analytically rigorous, also because the folks at those more senior levels are not the ones crunching the numbers anyhow. At many schools, classes are typically held on weekends, or in mini-intensive long weekends over the course of a year or two. A lot of the students are being sponsored by their employers - they are the ultimate "company man" in that pre-1980s sort of way (a dying breed). As such, they have no intentions of switching careers or even companies - it's a "country club MBA" since it's on the company dime. Of course that is changing, but the program is still set up in a way that is geared towards these "company men" (and I emphasize men - because it's still unfortunately a sausage fest at this level).

You're on the young side for EMBA programs, but within range. In terms of workload, the EMBA is easier, but you'll learn more in a part-time program (and it won't matter in terms of credential - an MBA is an MBA). Either way, if you can get your company to pay for either program, that would be ideal.

H/S/W: stretches, maybe even long shots. You're a non-traditional, but you don't have the pedigree (i.e. for non-traditionals, it really helps to have come from an Ivy/equivalent).

Columbia, MIT: had you applied in their ED and R1 respectively, they would've been a stretch; but more likely a long shot if you're asking now since they only have 2 rounds, and they fill the majority of their class through their first round admitted pool. Being non-traditional helps, but it's a roll of the dice simply because of the limited spots.

Booth, Tuck, Kellogg, Haas: stretches, but where you have enough of a shot that they're worth applying to.

Sweet spots: Stern, Cornell, Yale, Ross, Darden, Duke, UCLA. These are the schools to focus on. They are NOT beneath you. Focus on 3-4 from this list, and 2-3 from the above (i.e. 2-3 of Booth, Tuck, Kellogg, Haas).

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Readjust your expectations.

Columbia and Sloan only have 2 rounds, so if you're applying for R2 this year, they're both likely a long shot simply because the majority of the seats will have been filled through the ED/R1 admits.

Wharton is a big stretch - nothing wrong with you, but you're up against folks with bluer chip backgrounds, and back office financial services guys have a tough time getting through.

Booth is a stretch - not quite as hard as Wharton, but still a stretch for the same reasons as Wharton.

Stern (and Yale, Cornell, Ross, Duke, Darden, UCLA) are more in range - these are sweet spots and where more folks like yourself tend to have a bit more success in getting in.

If I were you, I'd limit the stretches to 2-3 at most, and add 2-3 sweet spots in addition to Stern.

Hi Alex,

Could you please evaluate my profile and suggest which schools I would be competitive in

Indian Male

Age : 23 (14 - Mar - 1989)

Work Experience : 27 Months as on 1st December 2012 in a HVAC Contracting Company which is one of the top 3 companies in the field in India.

Responsibilities : Procurement Engineer - Involves technical (Have to verify technical data of various machinery to check compliance and ensure apple to apple comparison) as well as commercial responsibilities(meeting with vendors, negotiating and finalizing prices, arranging for delivery).
Have had one promotion and two salary increments in two years although have not held any leadership posts.

GMAT Score:
Quants : 49, Verbal : 42, Overall : 740
AWA: 5.5, IR : 8

Undergrad Info:
B.E in Mechanical Engineering with 70% from Anna University (Non IIT Indian University - State Owned)

Extra-Curricular
Was part of the school soccer team and regular in the school athletic meet winning several medals in the intra school sports meets. Although I doubt if that would amount to anything.
Community service is also 0. I have been instrumental in getting roads laid in my area but do not have any proof. To sum it up, I think this would be what would hurt my profile most.
Have received appraisal letters from my management for good performance which I hope could stand for something and so confident that I can get good recommendations.

Target Programs in order of preference
Harvard
Wharton
Stanford
Yale
CMU Tepper
Boston University

As a follow up, I have the below questions as well

1) Do I need to take the TOEFL for these schools? My Undergraduate and high school were both in English.

2) Is it true that I would be significantly reducing my chances of admission to a US school by applying in R3 instead of in R1 or R2? If yes, is it better for me to wait and apply in R1 next year than apply in R3 this year?

3) Where can I get assistance in framing my essays?

Thanks In Advance...

Alex, just wanted to thank you for my prior profile evaluation. I have a 3.5 GPA, 730 GMAT, and am an average school (70-80 on US News University Rankings) and Big 4/Credit Rating Agency guy. You said my sweet spot schools were the 10-16 schools, and I applied to MIT, Haas, Tuck, and Anderson. Dinged by Tuck (and assuming dings by MIT and Haas since I never got interview invitations from either school) but in at Anderson with a $40K scholarship. I felt extremely good about my chances at Anderson, which is why I applied to long shots such as MIT and Haas.

To everyone reading this thread, Alex knows what he is talking about! Take his admissions advice seriously. He's seen hundreds of profiles and knows what's up.

Thanks for the kind words, and more importantly, congrats on the admission and scholarship!!! It's a bit chilly (by SoCal standards) right now, but you'll love it here in LA (or welcome back if you're from here). Westwood is a great area (traffic sucks, but that's LA). #kaching

Thank you! Not from LA, but I have wanted to move to California from Texas for years now. I'd say UCLA gives me a pretty great excuse.

Would love to treat you to a beer and pick your brain a bit about business school when I move next summer. Also very fascinated by UCLA's 22% increase in applications last year and would enjoy chatting about that. I will contact you in a few months to do so. Take care Alex.

Hello Alex- I have recently been placed on the round 1 waitlist at chicago booth. I am a Big4 auditor, and went to school at a top 10 business undergrad in the northeast. I have my CPA as well. My GMAT is 700 Q44 V41. My question is, in addition to submitting a video, extracurricular LOR, and update essay, is it worth it to re-take my gmat to improve my quantitative score? Any help would be MUCH appreciated, as if I am going to re-take the test, I need to begin studying ASAP.

Thank you so much.

Hi Alex,

Quick question. Is it worth my time and $ to start an alternative transcript. 740 (48 q, 44 v) 3.48 from no-name liberal arts school, business major (3.83 bus. GPA) w/ a quite a bit of quant courses. Basically, I would like to start an alternative transcript for two reasons (1) went to no-name school and (2) work will be relatively calm during the upcoming spring semester so it would be an opportune time.

My questions basically are: Will my current GPA + no-name school be a significant handicap? Probably not applying any time soon (i.e. targeting 2-3 years). If taking additional classes will only have a minimal impact, then my time and money could be spent on other things. Basically, curious if I'm already doomed from top schools via avg. GPA + lack of pedigree.

Greatly appreciate your help.

Thanks,
HImba88

Maybe it's a reversing trend from years' past where people were moving out of CA, and now moving back...

No it's not worth re-taking the GMAT at this point.

Your GPA won't be an issue. Focus on your career.

Hey Alex! Was hoping to pick your brain a bit..


Civil Engineering Major - Top 25 Engineering University 2.8 GPA, upward trend. I also have a Business Minor.

White Male, 26 @ Matriculation

GMAT: 570 -> 640 -> 690 (45Q/40V)

WE: 2.5 years in the civil engineering/construction industry. 1 Promotion from Field Engineer to Project Engineer. Smallish company (Not Bechtel/URS/etc). Have great hands on experience with managing ..lets call them interesting people. By the end of my time there I was managing 25+ employees on a 75 million dollar dam rehabilitation for the Army Corps of engineers. I left to take a job at an investment management firm- it is a 18 month pre-MBA job working in fixed income as well as performance attribution. I'm 1 month into my 18 month contract, so I am unable to elaborate more on this subject currently.

ECs:
Undergrad:
New student orientation: served for 3 years, and mentored many of the students in my group throughout the year.
Habitat for humanity: Had leadership positions in 3 trips across the US with 10-20 students from school in remote, high need areas during spring and fall breaks.
Special Olympics: Venue Coordinator for 3 years - Planned all the volleyball operations for special olympics weekend (largest student run SPO event in the nation).
Yearbook Photographer
Post Grad (Ongoing):
Member ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)
Served on the Safety board at my old job - suggested a company wide safety imitative that they still practice.
On the recruitment board for local Habitat for Humanity
Young Alumni Member
Career Mentor
Other:
Enjoy cars - help run my friends car @ the track...kind of the pit crew for him. Also get together with a local group of "gear heads" about once a month to do car-guy stuff. (Very informal..but i enjoy it a lot)
Travel during hurricane season up and down the east coast to surf
Avid photographer (Not published - never tried)
Enjoy outdoors - hunting/hiking/climbing/etc. You name it, I love to do it.

MBA Goal (In flux, circling in on it...): I want to work in corporate finance (Treasury) for a F500 manufacturing/energy firm.

Why MBA: I want to leverage my background of "hands on" work with my work in the fixed income space to work my way up the corp fin. ladder at a large company. I believe my engineering experience combined with my experience in buying corporate debt allowed me to see not only how projects are built, but the financials on how they're made possible. An MBA will provide me with the hard skills to fill in the gaps between my experience, and "round me out" so that I will have the tools needed to succeed.

Why Now: Well.. for one my Contract is ending in 2014. two, I don't want to get stuck doing fixed income forever - I prefer to be in a company that makes something - not service. I feel that my experience allows me to see things from both sides of the spectrum, and all that is needed now is, as i mentioned before, something to fill in the gaps and brush up my soft skills.

My "list": Tuck, Wharton, Fuqua, Ross, Tepper, Johnson, and Darden. Open to adding or subtracting schools. The only reason W is on the list (love the school, but lets be honest, its a stretch) is because we are family friends with someone on the finance board. He has offered his support that he will be able to help me get in, but I am unsure of how this works/if this works. At any rate, I'll apply

My concerns: Well the obvious concern is the GMAT/GPA combo. I am not too keen on sitting for the MBA one more time, but if thats what I have to do, I'm game. I was going to use the next 6 months to take 2-3 courses to help build an alternative transcript (Currently taking UCLA Extension - Math for Management). Do you think that I need to redo the GMAT? I already have a monster improvement, I'm not sure how much more I can squeeze out. It seems silly to take it again for 20 +/- points. My quant is low (67th %), and I struggled during undergrad in my calculus courses. I believe this was due to overextending with my ECs + plain goofing off. I was very immature. Hopefully now that won't squash my dreams.

Let me know what you think, sorry for the long-windedness.

I think you have a pretty solid all around profile for the range of schools you're looking at - that is, taking the GMAT/GPA out of the equation.

With the GPA, adcoms are a bit more forgiving of those who did engineering, but with that said your GPA is still on the low side. As such, the GMAT becomes that much more important.

Retake the GMAT. It may seem silly for 20+ points, but it's important in your case. You still could be competitive for schools like Tepper, Cornell, Ross, Duke and Darden with what you have now, but it'll also be easy for the adcom to ding you based on your GMAT/GPA alone. Wharton and Tuck will be big stretches because of the GMAT/GPA combo.

Here's what I suggest:

1. Retake the GMAT. Shoot for 740. I know it's a stretch, but do whatever it takes. Hire a private tutor, enroll in a test prep course. No matter how strong your written applications and interviews are, it's still a real gamble with your current GMAT.

2. Enroll in 2-3 extension classes: some combo of calculus, algebra, statistics, accounting, finance, etc. Doesn't have to be upper level courses - freshman level courses are fine. I believe UCLA offers online extension classes, as do other universities. This will help to serve as a counterpoint to your GPA.

Do these two things, and you will be more competitive for the range of schools you listed (and schools like Wharton and Tuck will be less of a stretch). Good luck!

I am a Pakistani National and want to do mba from a top usa university. Kindly provide me with realistic evaluation of my profile and the ways to improve it.

Born December 1991
O Levels 2007
A Levels 2009
ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Affiliate 2012
Bsc(Hons.) Applied Accounting Oxford Brookes University 2013 : Upper Second Class Honours
Work Experience : None

MBA programs will not admit someone with no work experience.

Work full-time for a few years, and then consider getting an MBA.