Ask AdmissionsConsultants

[AdmissionsConsultants]

On behalf of AdmissionsConsultants, I will be available to answer questions and offer insight into the MBA admissions process.

Best of luck with your b-school applications,

David Petersam, University of Chicago MBA ‘96
President
AdmissionsConsultants, Inc.
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com

Admissions Consultants

AdmissionsConsultants: Admissions committee experience from the top business schools

AdmissionsConsultants is a comprehensive admissions consultancy that has been helping its clients gain admission into their top-choice business schools for over 7 years. All of our consultants have reviewed applications, conducted admissions interviews, and made accept/reject/waitlist decisions for the top business schools. We have a thorough understanding of the admissions process and know exactly what you need to do to maximize your chances. We work one on one with our clients to provide them with the highest possible level of service. In addition to essay editing services, we also consult our clients on admissions assessments, business school selection, admissions strategies, essay topic selection, interview preparation, letters of reference, pre admissions action plans, and more.

[shreyas]

Hi David,
Read a lot from you on BW.
I am shreyas from India. I am no Harvard aspirant - but want to build my personality and skills with an mba. I completed my graduation in commerce in march'02 after which I was running my small family printing business( getting orders, supervising workers, company servicing). Here I interacted with purchase depts and directors of MNC pharmas there. 3 months ago I started working for a radio channel that’s part of a huge and reputed media group here. I am into retail and semi corporate media selling which also requires a bit of creative and programming exposure. I took it bcoz I wanted to move to a field where I would be exposed to selling, marketing and media in a team and the mean world outside the business built on goodwill. Current job sux coz people are very skeptical about radio as a medium- (it was recently privatized in india) so its very stressful and frustrating[xx(], but i am sticking on. That’s a total of 16 months of full time work exp to date.
Anyway, my goals are to excel in the field of marketing - going beyond sales to strategies etc::P being a sportswoman who could not continue playing, I would like to specialize in the sports field.
Could you suggest some good marketing programs and sports marketing programs for a person of my background?
My stats per se are decent gpas, great national level basketball participation, college activities, etc. My gmat score is 740.
Another thing...there are 2 things that I did and I wonder if they are worth mentioning when making apps. -1) for years I used to coach kids at the local basketball courts for free.( not for competitive purposes, just to keep them out of trouble) and 2) last year i was selected to represent India in a student program to France where for a month I stayed with girls from 17 countries and we really learnt a lot about each other's culture and the theme 'women's status in your country' and also had fun exploring NormandyThis was bcoz of my knowledge of french which i pursued coz it would help me in a future global career
Could you please suggest some programs? And also if those 2 things are relevant?
Thanks a ton!
Regards,
Shreyas

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi Shreyas and thanks for your inquiry. I think the radio experience, if properly spun, can help differentiate you from the many other applicants in the highly competitive Indian national application pool.

You will clear the academic qualifications hurdle at likely any school to which you apply. The basketball participation may also have some good ‘wow’ factor if properly spun in addition to being a good and differentiating extracurricular.

Regarding the sports marketing, make sure you want a background in sports. Given your sports background, you may want to focus on marketing if the sports would be redundant. There are many other items besides the concentration and your future career goals to consider when selecting business schools. That said, a few schools that have programs that may be worth checking into further include Wharton and Kellogg among the very top tier schools, Texas A&M, Arizona State, University of Florida and George Washington.

The last two items probably have limited value depending on the exact admissions story you decide to go with and then how well these items really substantiate that story. In other words, these two items could help you a bit but neither appears to have enough ‘wow’ factor to become the foundation of a successful admissions story.

Best of luck with your applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com

www.admissionsconsultants.com/mba/

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

[kicker]

Hi, David,

I have been reading your posts in BW. Just a general question, if I want to do the package for 5 schools, how long will the whole process take?
Thanks.

Linda

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi Linda and thanks for your inquiry.

Our stated corporate policy is a maximum turnaround time of 72 hours -- including holidays and weekends. Over 95% of the time, the turnaround time is within 48 hours and we have consultants (God bless them :-) who went through the entire previous application season and responded to every client within 24 hours.

How long it takes to complete an application depends largely on the applicant. It is not unusual to complete an entire application in a week if the client has a lot of time to devote to it. Obviously, if you work 100 hours/week, then it will probably take about a month to complete each application.

I assure you though that the vast majority of the time the essay drafts, letters of reference comments, resume revisions, and application comments are in the clients' inboxes and not in our consultants'.

Best of luck with your applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com

www.admissionsconsultants.com/mba/

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

[HappyLeaf]

Hello, David,

I have been following your thread at BW, and I have checked out your website. Just wondering if you can assess my profile.

GMAT: 700; I took the GMAT one more time after getting 700. I was very confident to get more than 700, but didn't.
Question: will that hurt my chance.

GPA: Overall 3.07; Major Accounting from a state university. My GPA from community college was around 2.8, but from the State University was 3.2. I didn't do well in the first 2 years because I thought college was like high school, just having fun, and I also worked almost full time during that time.
Question: I am thinking about to build an alternative transcript, but since I already took a lot of business classes during undergrad, I am not sure what classes I should take. My business classes' grades were from B- to A- with a few Cs.

Work Experience: Auditor at one of federal government agencies;
3 years, will have 4 years by July 2004.Started as a staff auditor, recently got promoted to Auditor In Charge
I have been working on Medicare/Medicaid related audits; auditees include state health care department, hospitals, health care providers and universities. I worked independently on the audit which resulted a 3 million dollar finding; I have been the Auditor In Charge for several audits; Major responsiblities include: reasearching and reviewing federal and state health care regulations; interviewing auditees; leading meetings with auditees; analyzing financial data; writing workpapers and audit reports; brifing and giving presentations. Currently, I am the auditor in charge of one auditor can result a $15 million finding.
Certification: Certified Public Accoutants in California
Strength: I have strong analytical and communication skills
Weakness: I don't have any supervisory experience.

Extra:
As of Aug 03 Mentor at Building Futures program at YMCA. I am still attending training session right now, should be pair up with a kid next month.
As of June 03, Co-Treasury at Assoication of Government Accoutants (AGA) local chapter
2003 and 2002: Volunteered at Tax-Aid program; prepared tax return for low income families. I also trained new volunteers in 2003.
Fall 99: VP of Marketing of AGA local university chapter; responsible for promoting the student chapter and orgnizing networking events;
Spring 2000: VP of Administrative of AGA...; responsible for setting up general chapter rules;

Other background:
Immigrated from China when I was 16.

Short term goal:
I want to work in a consulting firm as a consultant for healthcare or non-for-profit sector.
Long term goal:
Open my own consulting firm for healthcare or non-for-profit sector.

Schools of my choice:
Haas -- MBA and Master of Public Health joint degree
(I know Haas is a stretch, but I do want to try)
Indiana,Georgetown, Notre Dame,University of Maryland college park
UC Davis -- I can't decide between the full time (offers a non-for-profit concentration) and part time program (offers a healthcare concentration).

Oh, one more question: what is the difference between an informational interview and formal interview? Should I attend both?

I know my profile is a little bit long. I really appreciate if you can take some time to assess it. Thanks a lot.

Happy.

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi Happy and thanks for your inquiry. The fact you took the GMAT twice hurts, but just a little bit. (Basically, the admissions committees will believe 700 is your plateau score and that you did indeed study hard for the test and game it to the best of your ability. If you had only taken it once, there might be a lingering doubt in their mind that your score does not adequately reflect your ability.) Don’t let this worry you though. It doesn’t hurt much and it’s in the past anyway.

On a slightly related note, this would have hurt more if your score had decreased the second time you sat for the exam. One of our consultants, Mark, who is a former Associate Director of Admission at Tuck, told me this was a big pet peeve to him.

You may not need an alternate transcript. The fact that you worked full time can help mitigate your GPA if properly presented. Your GMAT score also signals you have adequate academic abilities to handle the MBA curriculum. If you were to build an alternate transcript though, you would want to retake the classes you did poorly in, such as macroeconomics, stats, calculus, etc.

Your work experience is actually a bit of a weakness for you. You will be compared to CPAs in public accounting firms where the promotion to senior accountant/in charge is 2 years. You will need to really spin your experiences with the government in a positive light.

Your extracurriculars are fine. I don’t see the tie in to your non profit future career goals though and I fear this may be viewed cynically by skeptical admissions committees who are flooded with applications containing such benevolent ambitions.

Haas is certainly a stretch. They are very stringent when it comes to GMAT score and your score, which is the strength of your candidacy, is slightly below average there. You would be competitive at Maryland, Georgetown, and Notre Dame with a well-prepared application.

An informational interview is (theoretically at least) non evaluative. They will answer your questions about their program and basically try to sell you on why their campus is the best place for your MBA studies. A formal interview is evaluative and will be weighed in to your admissions decision. I say the informational interview is theoretically non evaluative because you still want to be polite and make a good showing. Particularly obnoxious individuals who attend the MBA forums, continuously pepper the admissions committees with questions, etc do hurt their chances and I assure you notes are often made of such behaviors.
Best of luck with your applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com

www.admissionsconsultants.com/mba/

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

[HappyLeaf]

Hi, David,
Thanks for replying. Maybe I should make some facts clearer.
1) I did take GMAT several times. I improved from mid 500 to 700; my most recent GMAT did go down (actually went down a lot from 700).
2) On my work experience: This is actually the first year, my agency made the promotion to Auditor In Charge competitive. I got the promotion after I briefed the Regional Insepector General for the audit I worked on. I have been the auditor in charge for several audits since my second year of employment. I am wondering if I show in my essay how I have improved and taken initiative during those 3 years, will that help me to differentiate myself?
3) I choose non-for-profit/healthcare goal not because of my extracurriculars, but because I already have work experience in the healthcare sector.
4) Will Indiana be a stretch too?

Thanks for getting back to me so soon.

Happy

[Sri]

Hey David,

This is so cool and nice of you guys to give some direction free of cost to people here. I am not an MBA aspirant as of now, but, would love to go for it 4 years down the lane. I actually didnot start working yet, so I need to get a job first. And then I am planning to work for 4 years before I go back to school for MBA. This is way far out into the future, but, do you think that I can do something during these 4 (or may be 5) years that can add some value addition to my application?? I have quite a bit of extra curriculars on my CV from my undergrad days. But by the time I apply to schools, I guess they will all be stale and show to the adcomms that I was an enthusiatic person in the past and I no longer am one!!!

There's no hurry to answer this question (I dont want to take any time that you may use for someone who really needs it). So can you answer this question whenever you can?

Thanks again for being a part of TM.

Good day,
-Sri.

[roborob]

Hi David,

Could you take the time to access my stats? Thanks.

BS in Mechanical Engineering with 3.58 GPA at The University of Texas at Austin. I graduated in 4 years. Will that help me versus candidates who graduated in 4.5 or 5 years? I currently work at Lockheed Martin and when I apply for B-school, I will have two years working experience. My GMAT score is 680 and I only took it once. I won't list it here, but I have a variety of volunteer work experience. I have also traveled to many different places in the world.

I do have a question though. I have absolutely no knowledge or experience in business. Should I take a few undergraduate courses to strengthen my stats? And if I were to do so, does the quality of school matter? The reason I ask is because I live in Fort Worth, TX and there are no decent colleges in the area.

I am shooting for a top 10 school, but I'm not sure whether or not my stats are good enough. Will I have a shot?


Thanks for you time,

Robert