The MBA Thread

I was just looking at the Business school rankings and UC Berkley looks pretty good for undergrad, does anyone have any thoughts on Berkley?

Originally Posted by Studiofan

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Thanks for the help, As far as ECs I am planning to play Varsity Golf in college.

The following falls under the "but what the **** do I know?" umbrella:

Golf is cool but it has a certain country club connotation that I think b-schools are trying to distance themselves from. Hence their appreciation for volunteer work and the arts. So, you're going to have to think about how to sell it as a personal growth story, as volunteerism and art tend naturally to do.

The top schools, esp. H/W seem to be avoiding traditional wall st types, based on a lot of board reading this year. I'm sure it has something to do with the crisis, but I'm not exactly sure why. Anyway, it seems that this year, the more you can do to distance yourself from the finance stereotype, the better off you are. By the time you're applying to MBAs, however, this trend may have reversed. Who knows? Still doesn't hurt to have something touchy-feely in your experience.

But what the **** do I know? I have 2 R2 interviews so far, didn't apply anywhere R1. So I'm not speaking from any sort of personal experience. Just a gut feeling.

Originally Posted by CunningSmeagol

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Please explain why you think the LSAT is "way harder" you jealous prick. Your performance on these tests is benchmarked against that of your peers, so it is essentially your fellow test takers making the test harder or easier, not the test itself.

No one gives a rat's ass what percentage of the questions you get right. In the end, all anyone cares about is how you performed relative to your peers.

"Oh yeah....770 GMAT.....173 LSAT....oh.....almost....there....almost....GHNNNNGGHGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!"

Totally got me that time. I hope you feel better about yourself and your abilities.

Originally Posted by Studiofan

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I was just looking at the Business school rankings and UC Berkley looks pretty good for undergrad, does anyone have any thoughts on Berkley?
Berkeley* If you are out of state, don't bother. It's a great school (prestige wise), but I can't imagine shelling over that kind of money to sit in class with 300 other kids. Plus to get into the undergrad bschool you need to apply there as a junior.... so if competing against some of the best students in California for a ridiculous gpa in a limited, highly coveted spot in Haas is your cuppatea...............

Originally Posted by Lord-Barrington

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"Oh yeah....770 GMAT.....173 LSAT....oh.....almost....there....almost....GHNNNNGGHGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!"

173? that would not even twinge my nethers

how much annual revenue did you run in your business?

2 years experience is very low, no reason not to pad your stats and work another 2 years.

Originally Posted by INFARED_BEAM

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I'm thinking about gettin my MBA as well...

I majored in biochemistry as an undergrad, worked as a research scientist for two years and now I'm debating on whether or not it's worth it.

I started my own business already, maybe it'll help in the admissions process??

I dunno

Gonna start studying for the GMAT though regardless

That's admissions gold.

Originally Posted by bananananana

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That's admissions gold.

not necessarily. I mean, I could have said my ebay account was "running my own business." depends on revenues, sector, growth, etc.

Originally Posted by Studiofan

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Thanks for the help, how much importance is paid to undergrad education when firms look for recruits? What do top MBA schools look for?

You want to start your career out of undergrad - depending on where you went an MBA might be close to worthless. Get a Wharton undergrad degree and you can be an alpha as phuck PE or hedge fund dude after two to three years of ibanking or consulting experience.

Originally Posted by kungapa

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You want to start your career out of undergrad - depending on where you went an MBA might be close to worthless. Get a Wharton undergrad degree and you can be an alpha as phuck PE or hedge fund dude after two to three years of ibanking or consulting experience.
If only it was that easy, we'd all be billionaires. Also, that "plan" requires maybe 12-15 years of logging 70-90 hour workweeks and having no social life. But bottle service is all worth it, baby.

Originally Posted by Studiofan

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Hey guys I am in HS right now, and want to peruse a career in IBanking. I got a 2200 on the SATs and a 3.9 GPA, but I also have volunteer experience and an internship at one of the top hedge funds in PA. I dont know if I can use this in my application but over the last 3 years I have had ann annualized 29% rate of return on the capital I manage. Would you guys have advice as to what college I should go to for undergrad and what MBA program I should peruse after. I am currently leaning towards CMU Tepper as it is local and my dad went there but would love some more advice.

That's great that you have a strong idea of what you would like to do after college. But also keep in mind that you are young and very well may change your mind. Most HS kids say they will not change their mind and resent others even suggesting that they will. But most do. So give yourself options. Pursue the ibanking but think about the broader finance world. Net - get into a good school, as good as you can afford and one where you feel comfortable.

With your SAT, GPA & HS experience, you should have more schools available to you than many other kids will. If you go to CMU Tepper and do well, you probably can get into ibanking, depending on that industry when you graduate. But if you went to - say Penn, Princeton, or Dartmouth - you will still have a great chance of getting into ibanking. Plus those schools open up many more doors for you in the braoder finance world and beyond. Do you really think someone at an ibanking company is going to say no to you with a Dartmouth degree vs a CPU Tepper degree? Knowing where the ibanking companies recruit from is helpful. But some decent networking skills and a degree from a top school will help you get a lot of interviews as well.

good luck.

Originally Posted by kungapa

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I can not underestimate the importance of going to a top school for a career in Ibanking. Yes, people have succeeded in Ibanking coming from a decent state school, but it is more the exception nowadays rather than the norm.

1st tier for IBanking et al is Harvard, Wharton and Princeton. Following that are all the other usual suspects among top schools like MIT, Dartmouth, Stanford, Yale, et al.

If this career is what you want to pursue, you should without a doubt at least try for this level of school.

Studiofan: Good advice here from kungapa. And again, these schools give you even more options down the road if you do by chance change your mind form ibanking.

As well, top MBA programs are influenced by undergrad schools. They look for diversity in their programs so Wharton will not want all Penn undergrads coming back to the school for an MBA. But with everything else being equal, you excelling at Princeton vs excelling at Penn State will only help you get into a top MBA program.

Originally Posted by guster

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With your SAT, GPA & HS experience, you should have more schools available to you than many other kids will. If you go to CMU Tepper and do well, you probably can get into ibanking, depending on that industry when you graduate. But if you went to - say Penn, Princeton, or Dartmouth - you will still have a great chance of getting into ibanking.
As a Penn, Princeton or Dartmouth undergrad graduate he will have a significantly better chance of getting into IBanking at a BB bank. More banks (or at least better) recruit at Penn, Princeton or Dartmouth than at CMU.

Plus those schools open up many more doors for you in the braoder finance world and beyond. Do you really think someone at an ibanking company is going to say no to you with a Dartmouth degree vs a CPU Tepper degree?

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The opposite is more likely.

Knowing where the ibanking companies recruit from is helpful. But some decent networking skills and a degree from a top school will help you get a lot of interviews as well.

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Not too **** on Tepper, but I'm ******** on Tepper. Penn undergrad will put you in a vastly better position than Tepper, even if you didn't do Wharton undergrad. For analyst position, the general prestige of your undergraduate school is more important than studying business undergrad.

Originally Posted by kungapa

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For analyst position, the general prestige of your undergraduate school is more important than studying business undergrad.

Absolutely agree. Also here's a list of schools you should look at:

Harvard
Stanford
Penn
Michigan
Princeton
Berkeley
Columbia
NYU
Dartmouth
Yale
Cornell
Brown
UVA
MIT
UCLA
Vanderbilt

Not ranked in any particular order as I'm not trying to start a discussing on school rankings.