Hey guys,

I haven't posted in BFI before, but over the last ~6 months after I decided to aim for an MBA, I've lurked this thread and others like crazy. I just wanted to say: reading all of your stories as ex-poker players going for MBAs has been inspiring. I was really uncertain how I'd be received by business schools, especially since I have no traditional job experience. I've never even interviewed for a job before; business school interviews were literally the first interviews I'd ever done in my life. But reading all your stories was instrumental in helping me strategize my applications--and in keeping my chin up.

Today it paid off, because I just got the call that I got admitted to Booth! I have no idea how, because I seemed like such a long shot, but somehow I made it through. In all likelihood, I'll be heading up to Chicago for a couple years (not sure how I'm going to survive the winters...!). I've already thanked a few of you privately, but I wanted to thank all of you (even if it's a few years old now) for sharing your stories.

And if anyone is currently looking into the MBA application process, feel free to contact me, and I'll offer whatever help I can give.

Haseeb

Hey guys, I'm a Canadian finance student currently in second/third year. Always been a goal of mine to do some type of post grad education, and applying for my MBA in the states is defiantly something I'm striving towards right now. Just some general questions here (keep in mind I know the bare minimum):

1. As a Canadian, are the standards for acceptance higher? Any other standardized testing besides the GRE that I should look into?
2. What is a minimum CGPA that would be considered for acceptance to average schools? Above average?
3. Is acceptance weighted against standardized testing like with law school? For example, I know some law schools with weight LSAT grades much higher then GPA.

4. (For anyone in Ontario), Will I be eligible for OSAP if I am not attending school in Canada?

Anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated. I know a lot of this info can be googled for specific schools, however it never hurts to get information from people who have first hand experience. Thanks guys.

1. I don't think the standards for acceptance are higher for any students, as long as you have good scores and grades and essays/recommendations and good community service/leadership experience. Most people take the GMAT when applying for MBA's although a lot of schools are now starting to take the GRE as well. If you've already taken the GRE and have what you consider to be a good score for your target schools, I don't think you should take the GMAT. If you haven't started studying for either or are still in the beginning stages, then I would suggest going towards the GMAT.

2. I'm not sure what a CGPA is but most GPA medians at most top 20 schools is around 3.5ish. I think anything from 3.2+ should be good as long as the rest of your app is good.

3. Pretty much all schools stress that they weigh all of your application equally. If you read earlier in the thread, there's a couple of people with 750 scores that didn't get into the top5/their target schools so its quite clear that the GMAT isn't everything. However, having a good GMAT score is essential b/c it gets your foot into the door. I've heard stories where at some schools if you don't meet your cut-off GMAT, your application is thrashed right there. Having clear goals for what you want to do after MBA is extremely important b/c that is one of the major things that ad coms are looking for.

I'm also applying for Class of 17 and its been super stressful b/c I've kinda let things get to the last minute. Advice for future applicants: make sure that you plan well in advance and research, research, research.

I don't know the answers to some of your questions regarding Canada-specific requirements (although from what I gather, it won't be a significant barrier), you can get a lot of information about GMAT/GRE vs GPA relevance here: http://www.mbadataguru.com/blog/

(Although you have to be careful; correlation and causation are tricky in this situation, as people with higher GMATs are almost inevitably more accomplished in other ways). But the rule of thumb is that in relative importance to business school admissions: Work experience > GMAT/GRE > Essay quality > GPA > ECs.

Your GMAT is much, much less predictive of acceptance in B-school apps than LSATs are for law school admissions. In the absence of adequate work experience or compelling narrative (or being in the right age range), a stellar GMAT won't necessarily get you anywhere.

The GRE and GMAT are largely interchangeable now for business schools (among top 25~ programs). Take whichever one you want. Only a few schools even somewhat discriminate anymore (and some people choose to take both the GRE and GMAT just to see which one they can get a higher initial score on).

The GRE has easier math and lets you use a calculator, and its verbal is more vocabulary-heavy, whereas the GMAT's is more grammar-heavy. The GRE is slightly cheaper. I took the GRE myself, and no one batted an eye.

1. unlikely that standards are higher

2. I don't know if a minimum exists (though if you like something like a 2.0, yeah that's bad). As Aditya pointed out, the average for top schools is a 3.5, but a large part of that reasoning has to do with the fact that students with high undergrad GPAs get good jobs and have better performance in those jobs than those with low undergrad GPAs. You can get into top schools with a 3.0 even if it's in a soft major.

3. GMAT is weighted higher than grades, for sure - but work experience, recs, and essays are far more important than law school. I think schools downplay the importance of the GMAT, but it is critical to rankings, so schools that aren't Harvard or Stanford are going to pretty concerned about GMAT (and HBS/SGSB have high GMATs because they only accept top people who get high GMAT scores anyway). But grades are much less important for b-school than law school.

4. no idea what OSAP is.

Thanks for the info! My GPA is just under 3 right now, but again I'm not even fully in 3rd year yet (so I have some time to work on it).

Good job. How old are you?

My friend who goes there now was highly recommending applying w/ an unusual background cause of the huge amount of standard applicants (not just at Booth)

Eat Lou Malnati's asap

I'm curious how you addressed your involvement in scandals in the poker community and how they were received by the admissions committee?

How did they view the misleading statements, cover-up attempts, and fraud surrounding the Girah scandal in the context of their program's values?
I would have expected being let go from reputable organizations like Card Runners for failure to make ethical choices to negatively impact the admissions process.

Do you expect to behave ethically in the future? Are you concerned that you may return to old habits and tarnish the reputation of all poker players transitioning into business?

You think MBA admissions officers google candidates? They are far too lazy for that.

question re GRE and GMAT. I actually took both exams and was thinking about submitting just GMAT but not sure if I should submit both.

GRE Verbal: 56%.
GRE Math: 98%

GMAT Math: 68%
GMAT Verbal: 96%.

Total GRE is 322 while GMAT is 710.

So obv if there is a way to pick and choose, I would obv. submit the Math from GRE and Verbal from GMAT.

I've heard that one of the more important things that MBA schools are looking for is your Quant %ile because it lets them know whether you can handle the rigor of the curriculum or not. That said, should I be submitting both scores or should I only submit the GMAT and not worry about the GRE?

i've never taken the GRE. is the GMAT math really that much harder than the GRE math? your divergent scores are crazy

GMAT was literally the only standardized test in my life where my verbal score was better than my math score.

GRE math is a lot easier than GMAT math. GRE also allows a calculator.

On the other hand, GRE verbal is harder than GMAT verbal. GRE verbal depends a lot on vocab knowledge whereas GMAT is about grammar, which is much easier to learn (the other 2 sections of verbal are the same in both.) This obv depends on which you find easier, personall for me GMAT verbal was a lot easier for me.

schools want to know that you have the ability to handle the quant part of the curriculum. For some, this means the quant GMAT score is extremely important. However, if you have a job that requires strong quant ability, this mitigates the GMAT score issues somewhat.

Given your timing Aditya, I'd just submit the GMAT. If schools have concerns about your quant they may wait list you and ask you to retake the GMAT (I know Tuck will waitlist and then "suggest" ways to improve your candidacy, which can include taking the GMAT).