The MBA Thread

[L.R.]

Originally Posted by calispec

Be careful of that assumption. You have to remember that those percentiles are determined based on the testing population. The average person sitting for the GMAT is not on the same level as the average person sitting for the SAT's.

Case in point, I scored a 1475 on the SAT's and a 33 on the ACT's (both right around the 99th percentile) and the first time I took the GMAT I landed in the 77th percentile. I then came back and studied for a couple months and landed in the 95th percentile, but my point is, there is a drop of as the average level of competition increases.

That's something I was worrying about, thanks for confirming. I'll try to bridge the gap with extra studying. It's several years out, so if I start studying a year or two pre-gmat, I hope I should be fine. (Not strenuous study, just brushing up, then a couple months out, really crack down). Plus, I hear people from arts and non-quant backgrounds are not held to the same standard of those with the backgrounds. (I.E: for every dozen guys with 720+, 10 of them come from strictly quant backgrounds)

 

[medtech_expat]

Originally Posted by L.R.

My goal is to get into LBS in 4-5 years. The largest impediment would be lack of international experience. I'll have good management experience, and a solid GMAT (I think, I'm typically in 97+ percentile in standardized tests), but my job doesn't open up many options for international work. It's governmental, so it's not like I can request a transfer to an overseas office......

I believe that your government experience will actually give you a relative advantage compared with the general applicant pool, the vast majority of whom will come from industry or one of the professions. The top programs stress diversity in class discussions and work groups... use this to your advantage during the application process.

FWIW, I went to IMD in Switzerland. Only half of the Americans in attendance had international work experience; the others helped to provide a more homegrown, regional perspective.

 

[pebblegrain]

Originally Posted by L.R.

My goal is to get into LBS in 4-5 years. The largest impediment would be lack of international experience. I'll have good management experience, and a solid GMAT (I think, I'm typically in 97+ percentile in standardized tests), but my job doesn't open up many options for international work. It's governmental, so it's not like I can request a transfer to an overseas office......


My current thinking is to do some volunteer or paid work with a charity overseas, but that still means I'd leave my current job a year earlier than I would prefer. (Or pushing back my application another year.)

Anyone have any experience with addressing this issue for LBS, or other schools?

If you are 4-5 years out, its not time to panic. Just plan your moves carefully and make the decision when choices are presented to you. If international experience is key for LBS (I'm not that familiar) then you should start looking for that right now. There's no advantage to working at one job for 5 years over 2 jobs during 5 years.

Originally Posted by calispec

Be careful of that assumption. You have to remember that those percentiles are determined based on the testing population. The average person sitting for the GMAT is not on the same level as the average person sitting for the SAT's.

Case in point, I scored a 1475 on the SAT's and a 33 on the ACT's (both right around the 99th percentile) and the first time I took the GMAT I landed in the 77th percentile. I then came back and studied for a couple months and landed in the 95th percentile, but my point is, there is a drop of as the average level of competition increases.

On the other hand, your story supports his point.

Anyway I scored 1560, 35 and 770 so I can't disagree with L.R., and I'm not a quant person. If you give yourself enough time (2-3 months or so), you should be able to knock it out. good luck

 

[Viktri]

Target schools are more important than their rankings. Firms typically have sets of schools they recruit from and schools with a large number of firms who recruit there are considered target schools.

Lots of international target schools aren't ranked or are ranked significantly lower than they should be, as the rankings aren't consultant or banking specific. You'll have to do your own research to determine which schools are target but the b-school rankings are generally US-centric and are often used as a starting point.

Originally Posted by yjeezle

I haven't tried veritas or kaplan, but I think that the absolute BEST in terms of class material and learning style is Manhattan GMAT.

Knewton is also pretty decent but their adaptive test style is very chaotic.


EDIT: what are some schools that are considered "targets" for consulting outside of the top 10? I think this question has been asked before so, specifically: does anyone know if UT is considered a "target" school for recruitment for consulting?

 

[Lord-Barrington]

Originally Posted by medtech_expat

I believe that your government experience will actually give you a relative advantage compared with the general applicant pool, the vast majority of whom will come from industry or one of the professions. The top programs stress diversity in class discussions and work groups... use this to your advantage during the application process.

FWIW, I went to IMD in Switzerland. Only half of the Americans in attendance had international work experience; the others helped to provide a more homegrown, regional perspective.

All top programs want international experience but even places like INSEAD have a number of students with none. The fact of the matter is that few jobs really offer "international" work opportunities so even though schools say they want it, they will never fill their class only with students who have worked on three continents/8 countries, etc.

Some definitely care more than others, though. From my research, schools like Columbia and Wharton seemed more or less concerned whereas European schools like INSEAD and LBS put a big emphasis on it.

 

[hangthree]

Originally Posted by yjeezle

I haven't tried veritas or kaplan, but I think that the absolute BEST in terms of class material and learning style is Manhattan GMAT.

Knewton is also pretty decent but their adaptive test style is very chaotic.


EDIT: what are some schools that are considered "targets" for consulting outside of the top 10? I think this question has been asked before so, specifically: does anyone know if UT is considered a "target" school for recruitment for consulting?


I used a the sentence correction book from Manhattan GMAT. It was great - and I scored in the low 90's on the verbal (in terms of percentiles). highly recommended.

 

[medtech_expat]

Originally Posted by Viktri

Lots of international target schools aren't ranked or are ranked significantly lower than they should be, as the rankings aren't consultant or banking specific. You'll have to do your own research to determine which schools are target but the b-school rankings are generally US-centric and are often used as a starting point.
The Financial Times and The Economist have ranked programs worldwide on a consolidated basis for years; BusinessWeek and Forbes started ranking "international" programs several years back.

 

[Viktri]

Originally Posted by medtech_expat

The Financial Times and The Economist have ranked programs worldwide on a consolidated basis for years; BusinessWeek and Forbes started ranking "international" programs several years back.
Economist: I think it includes the majority of top schools but the ranking orders aren’t done well. Financial Times: Problems with methodology (surveys) and lack of transparency – the reader doesn’t know which schools aren’t ranked because 1) they aren’t ranked or 2) they were assessed with low scores and fell off the tables. I had the opportunity to attend a top 10 school according to the FT rankings but chose the school which wasn't ranked this year due to issues with survey collections but had greater recruiting firms and better network. The volatility, as described in this quote:

AT LEAST 40 SCHOOLS HAVE DOUBLE-DIGIT INCREASES OR DECREASES IN THEIR RANKS.

in the FT ranking is likely due to the shift towards a less US-centric system but it still needs work. http://poetsandquants.com/2011/01/31...ing-by-the-ft/ I think candidates should rank schools based on their own research & goals (mine were recruiting firms).

 

[bananananana]

Any Ross students or alum on this board? Heading to AA this fall.

 

[pebblegrain]

Ross is great, underrated, congrats.

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Originally Posted by bananananana

Any Ross students or alum on this board? Heading to AA this fall.

Did you get an admit call yet? Or were you one of the "preliminary" r2 admits?

 

[bananananana]

No I was actually round 1. Received decisions from Haas and Sloan today, which were the last schools I applied to. WL and ding from those places, so will go freeze ****** up in Michigan this fall.

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Originally Posted by bananananana

No I was actually round 1. Received decisions from Haas and Sloan today, which were the last schools I applied to. WL and ding from those places, so will go freeze ****** up in Michigan this fall.

Cool. Hopefully I will see you there. They sent out these weird "preliminary" admits accidentally for R2. Then they sent an email reneging. It's been hell over here because I was initially elated to be admitted - now there's a chance that I'm not. Still, people seem to think that the "preliminary" admits were just regular admits that were leaked. I dunno.

 

[bananananana]

Yeah if you were one of the preliminary admits, I'm pretty sure you're in. Which SF code should i use if I think i run into you at GBR?

 

[pebblegrain]

Originally Posted by bananananana

No I was actually round 1. Received decisions from Haas and Sloan today, which were the last schools I applied to. WL and ding from those places, so will go freeze ****** up in Michigan this fall.

The weather is by far the worst thing, everything else is great. their facility sounds awesome.