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MBA Applywire

10
March 18, 2024 3:54pm ET
Applying: Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Georgetown / McDonough, Harvard Business School, Michigan / Ross, NYU Stern, UPenn / Wharton, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Law
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Other Companies: Bain , Booz Allen Hamilton , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , KPMG , McKinsey , PWC
GPA: 3.75
Years of Work Experience: 8
Location: Colorado
Post MBA Location: New York
Notes:

I am a non-traditional applicant with 8 years of experience as a practicing attorney. I spent the first 3 years of my career in commercial litigation and ~5 years as a federal prosecutor (AUSA), first in narcotics and later in violent crimes. As an AUSA, I was primarily responsible for organizing and coordinating large-scale, complex narcotics/conspiracy investigations involving multi-state and international criminal organizations. I also have substantial trial experience - I secured numerous criminal convictions in federal jury trials in my cases (where I served as lead counsel), and many others in cases I served as second-chair.

After taking some time to reflect on my career and interests, I decided law was not the career I wanted to continue to pursue, and began to look at getting an MBA. My father (HBS MBA, former Bain Consultant, now in PE) was instrumental in helping me reach this decision.

I want to pursue a career that rewards an encourages creativity, problem solving, logical reasoning and analysis, and allows me to use my skills to create value and be a positive force in the world. I am interested in pursuing consulting primarily, as I think that my legal skills and experience would be valuable in this setting, and these positions would allow me to work with others (teammates and clients) to solve complex problems, develop creative solutions, and would generally be engaging and fulfilling work. Long term, I view this as a way to position myself for GC or strategic roles where a JD/MBA combination would be valuable, and I could draw on both my MBA and my legal experience (particularly my investigations experience) to advise on a wide variety of business concerns.

I went straight to law school following my undergraduate career, and went to a law school that would position me to get a job in my local market (Colorado). I performed well in law school and finished with a GPA of 3.68, placing me just outside of the top 10% in my class (Ranked 18 overall in my class). I was involved in extracurricular activities in undergrad (leadership position in my fraternity) as well as in law school (leadership in student club, represented my school in state and national mock trial competitions, externed with a prestigious federal court judge), but I have not had much in the way of these additional activities on account of the time/focus demands of my legal career. I am not sure if this will negatively impact my applications, or if admissions officers will understand given my professional experience.

I have not yet taken the GMAT but I started my self-study course a few weeks ago. I plan to take a more structured online course over the coming month. I am targeting a June/July test date, with a 710+ on the exam - although I do not know what is realistic. I do not have a traditional quant background (Political Science BA), and did not take any math classes beyond required coursework to graduate. I have prepared for standardized tests previously, such as the LSAT, bar exam, and MPRE (90th percentile on LSAT), but I do not know how much, if any, these exams will carry over or help with the GMAT beyond the verbal section of that exam.

The largest / most pertinent question right now is how admissions at top schools will view my application - on one hand, I have significant professional experience and have already attended and achieved in graduate school - but on the other, I do not have a traditional finance / pre-MBA background, and do not know if this will be too much to overcome.

I appreciate any thoughts or advice you might be able to provide! Thank you very much for your time!

5
March 15, 2024 12:47pm ET
Applying: Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton
Intake Year: 2024
Pre-MBA Career: Analytics at a major Tech company
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey , Apple , Facebook , Google , LinkedIn , Microsoft
GMAT: 730
GPA: 3.96
Years of Work Experience: 6
Location: US
Notes:

First job: Economic Consulting at a top Econ Consulting Firm
Second job: Product Analytics at an Insurance Tech Startup
Third/Current job: Analytics at a major Tech company
Extracurriculars include: Undergrad Alum Interviewer; Alumni Chapter Co-lead; Chair at a S16 MBA Partners Club

5
March 14, 2024 7:08pm ET
Applying: Columbia, Notre Dame / Mendoza, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Military Office
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Investment Banking Companies: Booz Allen Hamilton , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , KPMG , McKinsey , PWC , Bank of America , Barclays , Capital One , Citibank , Credit Suisse , Deutsche Bank , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan , Merrill Lynch , Morgan Stanley , JP Morgan Chase , RBC Capital , Wells Fargo Securities
GMAT: 710
GPA: 3.4
Years of Work Experience: 4
Location: San Diego
Post MBA Location: NYC
Notes:

Position held in military, operations officer/executive officer. Managed 250+ marines at a time in a technical field. Promoted once. First generation American and first generation to attend college at a T30 undergrad.

8
March 14, 2024 11:18am ET
Applying: Cambridge / Judge, Harvard Business School, London Business School, MIT Sloan, Oxford / Saïd, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Corporate development
Post-MBA Target Industry: Venture Capital, Private Equity Companies: Other
GMAT: 730
GPA: 3.54
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: Houston, Texas
Notes:

Very visible leadership roles in college, sit on the board of a renewable energy nonprofit, and raised a lot of money and led volunteer events through a previous employer’s corp philanthropy initiatives.

2 years as a financial analyst from a supermajor oil company (Exxon/Chevron/BP) 2 years corp dev & finace at a PE-backed midstream company, 1 year corp dev at a PE-backed carbon capture company (megafund sponsor)

MBA Livewire

March 18, 2024 10:26pm ET
Accepted to Indiana / Kelley
Round: Round 2
Received via email
GPA: 3.78
GMAT: 680
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career Name: Finance
Application Location: Midwest
Note:

Veteran with 6 years experience

March 18, 2024 10:21pm ET
Rejected at Michigan / Ross
Round: Round 2
Received via email
GPA: 3.78
GMAT: 680
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career Name: Finance
Application Location: Midwest
Note:

Veteran with 6 years experience

March 18, 2024 10:17pm ET
Rejected at UVA / Darden
Round: Round 2
Received via email
GPA: 3.78
GMAT: 680
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career Name: Finance
Application Location: Midwest
Note:

Veteran with six years experience

March 18, 2024 10:12pm ET
Rejected at Dartmouth / Tuck
Round: Round 2
Received via email
GPA: 3.78
GMAT: 680
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career Name: Finance
Application Location: MIDWEST
Note:

Veteran with 6 years of experience

March 18, 2024 8:30pm ET
Accepted to Cambridge / Judge
Round: Round 3
Received via email on February 28, 2024
GPA: 8.35/10
GMAT: 730
Program Type: One Year Program
Post MBA Career Name: Technology
Application Location: Brazil

MBA DecisionWire

Oth
March 18, 2024 6:04pm ET
Enrolled: Other
Admitted: Other $
$60416
Applied: Other
Entering Year: 2024
Post MBA Career: Consulting, Technology Companies: Bain, BCG, Ernst & Young, McKinsey, Apple, Google, Microsoft
GRE: 307
GPA: 3.25
Location: Nigeria
Notes:

Getting a fully funded scholarship from the Haslam college of business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville greatly influenced my decision to pursue my MBA there.

Chi
March 18, 2024 5:29pm ET
Enrolled: U. Chicago Booth
Admitted: U. Chicago Booth $
$100,000
,
Northwestern / Kellogg $
$100,000
,
UPenn / Wharton
Applied: U. Chicago Booth, Harvard Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton
Entering Year: 2024
Post MBA Career: Consulting
GMAT: 760
GPA: 3.8
Location: New York
Notes:

Main deciding factors were 1) flexible curriculum and academics; 2) preference for being in a city; 3) class size. Sponsored so scholarship was not a major deciding factor.

MIT
March 18, 2024 5:12pm ET
Enrolled: MIT Sloan
Admitted: MIT Sloan
Applied: MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton
Entering Year: 2024
Post MBA Career: Technology Companies: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft
GPA: 3.63
Klg
March 18, 2024 5:10pm ET
Enrolled: Northwestern / Kellogg
Admitted: U. Chicago Booth , Dartmouth / Tuck $
$120000
,
Northwestern / Kellogg $
$90000
,
UT Austin / McCombs $
$108000
,
UVA / Darden $
$100000
Applied: U. Chicago Booth, Dartmouth / Tuck, Harvard Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, UPenn / Wharton, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden
Entering Year: 2024
Post MBA Career: Consulting Companies: Bain, BCG, McKinsey
GMAT: 760
GPA: 3.2
Location: New York
Notes:

Ultimately came down to Tuck and Kellogg for consulting prowess and personal fit. Was a difficult decision but went with my gut in the end. Advice to applicants getting started would be to start early! I think my scholarship awards were due to the strength of my essays and conveying interest in the specific programs.