How "hard" is it to get admitted to a "top" MBA program?
Okay, so I admit that question is incredibly vague, but I've wanted to ask it for a long time, because honestly, I have no idea what you have to do in order to get admitted to various ranked MBA programs. What kind of profile does one need, in order to get admitted to a top 5 program? What about programs in the 6-10 range, 11-15 range, and 16-20 range? What are the most important characteristics of one's application? Are undergrad grades more important than the GMAT? How much does work experience and extra curricular activities factor in?
Again, sorry for the vague question, because there's probably no easy answers. Anything you guys can give me (advice, resources, etc) that helps me understand what programs I could be competitive for will be greatly appreciated.
Huh?
Haha, I had that coming.
Surprising thread, considering I've seen you 'round these parts for a while.
Been around here for awhile, but I still don't know all that much. Still much more of student than a contributer on these forums.
Thanks.
gmatclub has a lot of good info
I think GMATclub sucks. Maybe it is just the MSF forum.
Not to hijack, but to hijack. Anyone know of good business school forums, other than this?
No problem whatsoever. I'm really looking for any general info I can get, so any additional questions posted in this thread will still be very useful to me.
This probably isn't as helpful as you'd like, but do a quick skim of the Stacy Blackman and MBAApply 200+ post threads. I had the same vague question as you (kinda still do), but some of the profiles reviewed by SB & Alex - where they tell people what they're chances are with XYZ b-school gives some rough context.
I would second gmatclub forums recommendation. It was easier than I thought, but I would get the tiers out of your head. HBS and Stanford are on their own level of difficulty, then maybe another 3-5, then maybe another 10-15...etc. B-school admissions is a weird process in that there are a lot of factors, all weighted in mysterious ways...with essays serving as a very important nebulous ingredient.
It is for this reason that "here is my gpa, here is my gmat...what are my chances" threads make me want to kill the whole town.
At the risk of being a dick, I will say its hard
Okay, but I can't promise I won't make a thread like that in the future, haha.
Any chance you'd give your own opinions on that ranking thing? If there are 3-5 after HBS/Stanford, and the 10-15 after that; I'd love to hear what those programs actually are. Also, how useful would you say it is, to attend those 10-15 programs after HBS/Stanford + 3/5?
Haha. Not sure why, but that reply just made my morning.
Generally it is pretty difficult but sometimes its better to be lucky than good. We recently had a presentation by one of our executives where he touched on MBA programs, he is a major supporter of his alma mater, and basically they are looking to hit target numbers for everything (race, gender, undergrad major, work experience in years, industry, GMAT, grades etc). Adcomm's will take people to juke those stats. Average work experience getting too high in your perspective pool of accepts? Ditch some old people and grab some kids with no work experience that are "truly exceptional."
Take this with a grain of salt since its one guys opinion, but it makes a lot of sense when some off the wall guys get into top 5 programs seemingly for no good reason.
Interesting Aggravate, thanks for the input.
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