i agree with downswing, prestige of undergrad isn't that important.

Work experience is #1. The rest can compensate for each other (i.e. You can have a poor GMAT score, but with great grades and a top-tier undergrad institution, you can still hit top schools)...community service is the most overrated aspect, and really doesn't matter that much unless you can find a way to tie it into your overall story well.

I work for a top mgmt consulting firm, and our company, along with our closest competitors, consistently churn out kids to HBS, Wharton, Booth, Coumbia, etc...in fact, I don't think our firm even sponsors kids that don't get into top 5 or 10 programs. This is mostly just because the top consulting/banking/PE firms are simply feeders into top programs.

As an extreme example, the kids at the top couple PE firms (KKR, Blackstone, TPG) pretty much have a track-record of near 100% acceptance into HBS (though this year was a bit of an anomaly) and pretty close to that for Stanford.

There is simply no way to make up for good work experience. However, the one thing you do have going for you if you don't come from this background is the ability to tailor a unique career story, which could stand out...

Do you agree that going into banking post-MBA for someone with a leaning towards finance with no finance experience pre-MBA is a good idea?

My reasoning is that it's super versatile so it lets you continue doing finance or hop into other areas. Also recruitment is very structured so, for example, taking a job at a startup then trying to get into banking might leave you with a much lower shot.

from my perspective (currently doing undergrad banking) the only reason i woudlnt want to do this is because i feel like youd get trapped pretty fast. also, the reason i woudl go get an MBA is to exit banking. otherwise i think yeah its a good way to skip your analyst years and quickly become an associate, although what ive seen from ppl in my situation (different from yours) is that the opportunity cost and tuition for an MBA is just absurldy expensive. after youre an analyst a a bank you go get an MBA and maybe spend 150-200k plus give up like 500-600k in 2 years of income. 650k-800k cost, and then you come out of the MBA and youre BEHIND the analysts who just became associates instead, because youre still an associate when you come out.

i realize thats not very helpful, just a first reaction from me.

good thoughts. for poker guys who skipped the analyst role it kind of seems like the best way to advance in finance. figure ib pay as associate minus mba costs probably similar $$ and more valuable compared to corp finance job over similar time.

i can definitely tell you that as a banking analyst, i am comfortable applying for nearly any sort of business/finance position and usually get at least the first round interview. that includes corp dev, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, etc. you are completely right in that it is by far the best way to enter the finance industry and stay flexible with regards to long-term finance career options. and though ive never had any other job i cant imagine that any other job would be more difficult in terms of stress (except poker. lol)

i've read that associate is supposed to be much worse than analyst cause associates are expected to stay in banking while analysts normally leave after 2-3 years. also associate exits are prob just as skillful as analysts but older/had higher level job so would demand more.

in spite of that i still think it's the best route!

Anyone familiar with the Meyer fellowship at Notre Dame?

What are the odds of getting into a top 10 school with these factors:
- 30 years old
- Decent but not great GMAT score (700-720 range)
- crap GPA (2.8)
- Pretty good work experience in a non-finance industry ( new media / mobile / etc )

i think much of it probably depends on if your work experience really was good and how you can relate it to why getting an MBA will help you achieve your goals.

my company will pay for me to do b-school but only if i do like long-distance or like executive classes or whatever they're called, where i do B-School while working. I'm in the SF Bay Area so I think the choices would be like Stanford, Berkeley, and Wharton (i think they all have programs that would work). Assuming I would even get in (who knows) can you guys speak to any major reasons this would be a bad idea? Economically my company would pay for school (how much is that worth, like 120-150k?) plus i would be pulling in hundreds of k in income, making it seem super +ev.

isn't the only bad idea that you basically give up your life for awhile? it has to be the most +ev decision from a pure financial perspective, the question is whether it is worth it in your own utility curve.

only real drawback i can see is that you get burnt out or your performance at work suffers because you get tired of being busy, and thus you don't get promoted and lose EV that way.

most people say b school is about the networking, i'm just wondering how true that is.

Hobbs,

Can I ask who you work for? I'm trying to identify some tech companies that would pay full or a good amount of tuition that are also located near some top-10 b schools.

( I want to do part time, which mostly limits me to northwestern/chicago/stern I think )

Aren't the executive programs not as well respected/easier to get into/exit opps worse (exit opps part not relevant for you)?

hobb, i'm kinda confused. Stanford doesn't have correspondence courses (which i guess might be what you mean by long-distance), nor does Berkeley so I just sorta ignored that and assumed you were talking about a night/weekend MBA. what are you talking about?

Maybe you guys can give me some general advice. I'm a sales engineer and am completely dissatisfied with my career. I'm 36 and am thinking that if I ever want to do anything about it the time is now.

I took the GMAT Saturday and scored a 610. I didn't study at all. My math was in 38th percentile, verbal was in 90th. I'm thinking of applying to the University of Buffalo professional and executive programs (I also co-own our 2 man business with my brother).

Do any of you know anything about the UB program? Does anyone have any general tips or do you know anyone that has been in a similar situation as me?

Thanks in advance.

Got off the waitlist at Booth, pretty excited

shiiiiip it. congrats.

i know nothing about UB, but I'd retake the GMAT and actually study for it. The possibility of scholarship money alone should be worth studying.

do any schools publish average gre scores? most I've looked at just post gpa/gmat.

i've never seen GRE scores published. no way to be sure, but I find it very hard to believe that your average marginal admit at any school is likely to get in if they take GRE but not GMAT.

you think so? I'm planning on taking it anyway in July before the test changes, so it doesn't really affect my decision, but I'd think a 99th percentile gre would be worth more than a 99th percentile gmat, even if the school places slightly greater value on the gmat, since I think the gre has a stronger pool of test-takers.

MBA applications are down all over the country. Mid 700 GMAT with decent undergrad grades will get you in to a lot of places, but not automatically to Chicago, Wharton, NYU, Harvard, Stanford, etc. Almost any state school, though.

Source?