Question about strategy and OB programs

[MS115]

Hello all,

First off a big congratulations to all of you who have accepted offers for the 2009 year.

I've got a favor to ask. I'm going to be applying for the 2010 year to strategy and OB programs (my research interests are a mix of the two). I've made a preliminary list of schools I am interested in and am now working on narrowing that list down. I don't have the stats to have a good chance at getting into a top 10 program and am trying to focus on schools in the tiers below that.

Here is my preliminary list. Am I way off on any of these? Are some of these very hard to get into and should I perhaps focus my attention elsewhere? Are any of these below the top 75 or so schools? I just want to make sure I'm not way off track on any of these.

I really appreciate any help you might give me. Thanks.


University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson) Los Angeles, CA
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross) Ann Arbor, MI
Cornell University (Johnson) Ithaca, NY
Duke University (Fuqua) Durham, NC
University of Virginia (Darden) Charlottesville, VA
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) Pittsburgh, PA
University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) Chapel Hill, NC
University of Southern California (Marshall) Los Angeles, CA
Emory University (Goizueta) Atlanta, GA
University of Rochester (Simon) Rochester, NY
University of Minnesota--Twin Cities (Carlson) Minneapolis, MN
University of Washington (Foster) Seattle, WA
University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, WI
University of Maryland--College Park (Smith) College Park, MD
Purdue University--West Lafayette (Krannert)
Boston College (Carroll) Chestnut Hill, MA
Michigan State University (Broad) East Lansing, MI
Pennsylvania State University--University Park (Smeal) University Park, PA
University of California--Irvine (Merage) Irvine, CA
University of Connecticut Storrs, CT
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--New Brunswick and Newark
Syracuse University (Whitman) Syracuse, NY
Temple University (Fox) Philadelphia, PA
Colorado - Boulder (Leeds) Boulder, CO

[tabegl0]

Your question is a bit broad and lacks the important specific information, namely your profile, to get any meaningful responses. In short, apply to a bunch of place across a somewhat broad range of schools. The cost of the applying many places is, in my mind, money well spent.

Good Luck!

[MS115]

Thanks for your advice. I'll definitely apply to a large range of schools. Easier to put in the time and money now than play the what-if game later.

Here's my profile:

Age: Will be 27 upon entry
GMAT: 730
MBA GPA: 3.7 (from a European school. I was #2 in my class)
Undergrad GPA: 3.1 (I know. I didn't take care of business)
3 years work experience in financial analysis
1 year of teaching experience
No research experience (I will hopefully have LORs that speak to this quality)


Thanks again for your help. I appreciate it.

[longshot]

How much math do you have? I'm not sure how quantitative OB programs are, but I'd say Linear Algebra, Cal III, and a decent stats class should put you in okay shape. If you've got that kind of background, I'd say you're looking at a decent list.

I'd recommend dropping Rutgers, UConn, Temple, and maybe Colorado. If you apply to that many schools I don't think those "super safeties" are necessary (but then again, for only ~$200, why not leave them in the mix).

You look good, make sure you get the math. Take it at a local school if you haven't already. Get good recs, write a great SOP, visit places, and good luck.

[doctoraldude]

You might want to improve your gmat score, if you want to have a shot at some of the higher ranked schools in your list.
The teaching exp and #2 in MBA should help imo ...
About the list - you might want to add Pitt there - they've got a very supportive faculty group in strategy, and have had some good placements recently (but you probably still need higher scores)

PS: ofcourse, take everything with a pich of salt - by the time you have collected scores of opinions, a lot of them will sound completely contradictory :P

[MS115]

Thanks again for your help everyone.

I don't have a super extensive math background; just lower level calc and a lot of stats. I'll take a higher level calc class ASAP to boost that section of my profile. Great piece of advice - thanks.

I'll look into Pitt as well.

Thanks again. I appreciate all the help.