A lot of the banking jobs have dried up, but there are still plenty of corporate finance and consulting positions that pay 90 and up plus bonus.

MBA here.

Take every practice test, partial or full, you can get your hands on.

Ok, I took the GMAT over summer.

I did fairly well, enough to be in the range of any school, so I feel like my advice may be somewhat valuable with regards to taking the GMAT, but I don't know much about applying or other stuff.

I would buy the official guide, and the two supplementary books to the guide.

I wouldn't waste my time with Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc. The books are generally full of typos/errors and are not representative of real test questions. The only book I would recommend is the Manhattan GMAT sentence correction. There is a finite number of grammar rules to learn, so this pretty much covers it all so there are no surprises.

If you are at all disciplined, there is no reason to enroll in a class, I'm sure they just go through books/practice tests with you and this is all information that is readily available on the internet.

Now once you start prepping, with those 3 books you will have 1400 questions. Granted very few of these are difficult questions. I would just go through them to get a feel for the format of the test and what some moderately difficult questions may look like. If you want a 700+ with a high level of certainty you will need to go beyond those books.

The company that puts out the GMAT offers two downloadable practice tests. These are the closest thing you will get to the real test. I would take each one twice, giving you 4 practice tests. You will recognize maybe 1-3 questions on the second attempt since the question bank is so large. It's imperative that you pay very close attention to mistakes with these tests and look up solutions online. Once you have completed those tests twice, keep doing the math part over and over until you have recognized every single problem. There are probably like 200 questions in their bank for the test. The more exposure you have to those types of questions, the easier it will be come test day. I will be honest though, the actual test was considerably harder than any practice test I took. Perhaps it was just nerves or something, I don't know.

Also, Manhattan GMAT offers a free practice GMAT. You could take it just for kicks, but in my opinion, it is far more difficult, at least the math section is, than the real test.

Once you are comfortable with material, make sure you get timing down. This was a problem for me. I am a math major, and I had difficulties finishing the math section on time. I still did well, but I had to make educated guesses on the last two problems.

As far as the essay goes, I wouldn't spend too much time prepping for it. I just read a couple sample essays and tried to mimic them in format and I got a 6.

Pace yourself, always answer questions under a time constraint, and just relax.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

I'd like to make more than this. (I make around 90k right now, 1/2 way through mba) - any ideas on which industries I should aim for?

Basically, I'd like a career where I can work my ass off and get a large bonus without being a sales position.

IB looked like the way to go, but the crisis hit just as I started my MBA - any thoughts as to where I can go now? Consulting?

Sorry, to bump this thread but I feel like my question is somewhat related.

I am studying at a German university and currently completing my Bachelor's degree in Information Systems (basically a mix of computer science, economics, business administration and several special Information Systems classes). I am about to apply for an exchange program which would allow me to spend a certain amount of time during my graduate studies at an American university.

Now I have two options:
(1) apply for a double degree program at Georgia Tech, which would give me an MBA from Georgia Tech and an MS in Information Systems from my home unversity
(2) apply to Rutgers (New Jersey) and spend one or two semesters in the Information Technology program there. However, this would give me no degree from Rutgers (only MS in Information Systems from my home university)

My undergrad grades so far have been very good but they're not anything special either (unfortunately we don't receive rankings, but I estimate that I am still among the top 5%). I have spent a year at an American high school, so language is not really an issue. I recently took the GMAT and got a 780 (q50, v47, AWA 6.0). Unfortunately, I have no work experience at all (I am 23).

So now my question is: based on the information above, is there any reasonable chance that I will be admitted into the MBA program at Georgia Tech without work experience? And if there is, would I even want that or would I be lost among all these 30-35yo people and not really benefit from the program as much as I possibly would in 5 or 10 years after getting some real world experience first?

I have been pondering this question for a while now and talked to people in Germany, but I would like to get some insight from people who actually know what they're talking about. Maybe some of you guys can help me out.

With a 780 GMAT, top 5% grades you are pretty much guaranteed to get into GA Tech. With just a year or two of work experience you could get into any MBA program you want (e.g. Harvard, Stanford, Wharton). Would definitely recommend getting some work experience and it might make more sense from a career standpoint to go the Rutgers route, get a job for 2-3 years and then go to a top notch MBA program.

i hit a 740 first time (didnt have time to go a second)....

my tips:

-focus on english over maths. i think everyone seems to focus on maths because its 'easier' to study and so many ppl come from an accounting/whatever background. personally i guessed my way through the maths but got in the highest band for english because i knew it all back to front. its so much easier to differentiate yourself that way.

-do a ****load of practises. i think i probably did about 6 practise exams, and properly scored myself on each one. dont take it lightly and just think you can wing it through.

-dont spend a lot of time studying the essays. dont think you have something unique to say or that your opinion matters. learn the structure. write to the structure. dont change it ever. it is ridiculously easy to get 100% for both if you do this.

-dont panic. if it is getting hard and you are having to guess THAT IS A GOOD THING. it means you are being graded up. if you see a silly easy question, remember that they throw in 1/3 of your questions as experimental questions from any difficulty. they can come at any time. i think my second last question in the maths one was clearly a ridic easy one.

-this one you have probably heard before, but set yourself a study timetable. know what you need to get through. take a good month or two and get through it leading up to the exam.

tip from everyone else ive talked to on it:

-do it more than once. most ppl bomb their first time. i think i was pushed to do well because of my application timing, but most ppl go around 2 or 3 times before passing.

also feel free to pm me, but just so you know its been 1.5 yrs since i did it, and i only used to apply for one program which i didnt get in to anyway

What would be the best plan of action for someone who would like to work for an investment bank eventually? Considering you need work experience before entering an MBA program, and without an education level above undergrad most IB's won't even look to hire you, there is a gap between entering the MBA program and leaving undergrad.

There is no best answer obviously, so what's the best thing to dive into between now and when I (presumably) will begin my MBA program.

To phrase it differently, what types of previous employment would be most applicable to someone reviewing my resume at an I-Bank firm.

I am a finance/accounting major, so maybe I could work on getting my CPA license and taking a position as a staff account at a credible company until the 2-3 yrs emplyment criteria is met for MBA programs?

To get into IBanking without knowing anyone, the process seems to be:

Find an MBA school that recruiters target (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, a few others) and then figure out how to get in (plan several years ahead to take optimal jobs etc).

Once you get in, make sure you get a good summer internship and join the finance club.
???
Profit.