Ask AdmissionsConsultants

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi swx and thanks for your inquiry.

We call that a “rejection with encouragement” letter. They do not send that letter to most rejected applicants and there is a good chance you will be successful as a re-applicant provided you submit a well-prepared application and demonstrate that you are more seasoned as a re-applicant than you were this past year.

If LBS is your dream school and you’re willing to wait a year or more (I can’t tell you how long you should wait before reapplying with no additional information), then congratulations!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[Richa]

Hello Sir,

I am from india,just finished with my graduation,I would like to persue my masters in business administration from canada.In India ,graduation is only for 3 yrs,though in Canada ,they require 16yrs of education and 2 yrs of work experience.Since i have just graduated,and without wasting my time,i want to enroll for this course in canada..What is the procedure,since i don’t have any work exp and i just have 15 years of education ?

If i get a good score in gmat and i some how i get the work exp for 1 yr,will that help me to get into some good university ,or if it doesn’t help..do the universities provide any bridge cources for an year..so that i can cover up my education criteria, ie : 16 yrs of education.

ps : i recently became the permanent resident of Canada,will that boost my application,though i finished my graduation this year from India.

I hope to hear from you soon.

thanking you

Richa.

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi Richa and thanks for your inquiry.

Hello Sir,

I am from india,just finished with my graduation,I would like to persue my masters in business administration from canada.In India ,graduation is only for 3 yrs,though in Canada ,they require 16yrs of education and 2 yrs of work experience.Since i have just graduated,and without wasting my time,i want to enroll for this course in canada..What is the procedure,since i don’t have any work exp and i just have 15 years of education ?

If i get a good score in gmat and i some how i get the work exp for 1 yr,will that help me to get into some good university ,or if it doesn’t help..do the universities provide any bridge cources for an year..so that i can cover up my education criteria, ie : 16 yrs of education.

An MBA is an expensive investment. Be sure you have done your ‘due diligence’ and you know why you want an MBA and what you hope to get out of it. Chances are that, in that process, you will likely decide you need work experience before beginning your MBA studies.

To directly answer your question, there are Canadian schools that will waive the entire college degree requirement in special instances. There are also top US b-schools that quietly make exceptions for Indian applicants with 3-year undergraduate degrees.

ps : i recently became the permanent resident of Canada,will that boost my application,though i finished my graduation this year from India.

Yes, that will boost your chances!

I hope to hear from you soon.

No problem. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you would like to talk through your situation in detail with an expert consultant. If they don’t like your chances as an applicant this year, they will give you a detailed action plan to ensure you are optimally positioned for your future applications. All of this is routinely done in our initial one-hour consultations.

thanking you

Richa.

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[williz]

Hi,
You may find my question rather peculiar especially that I’m asking it so early on, but I’d hope u can help me with it.
I’m 21 years old, I’m from Egypt, and I’ve just graduated from the American University in Cairo with a degree in Computer Science. My GPA is mediocre: 3.1/4.0, but I had a lot of extracurricular activities: I’ve been the president of the university student union, and have founded a student conference discussing IT, among other things.
I am fascinated with IT, but I don’t see myself working in the computer field. I am more interested in working with people on issues, which relates to more strategic concerns (for example, how to employ IT to create competitive edge). That is why I’m interested in IT consulting.
I’ve done a lot of research, and I came to the conclusion that I should do an MBA. I am so interested in Harvard Business School, for two reasons: 1-They’re interested in people who have shown leadership potential, which I think I’ve done so far; 2-Many of their graduates go to consulting which is my field of interest.
I plan to start my MBA 3 or 4 years from now. I’m being drafted to the army for a year, and I’ll need to work for a couple of years afterwards to save a little and gain a hopefully relevant work experience to my application to HBS.
My question is (I apologize for the lengthy introduction): What should I do in these 3 years in order to be a good candidate for an MBA at HBS? Do u have any advice on certain career choices? Being involved in community service (I am currently working with some friends on starting an IT outreach program for local schools)? Taking certain courses? Will my GPA seriously hut my chances (especially that it started off really high during my first two years, 3.9-3.8, but then declined. This is because I had to balance between a very demanding major CS, and being in charge of the Student Union, and being involved in a lot of community service initiatives)? would leadership then count more than GPA??

Ur reply is greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance,
Wael

[guitar]

I hope to be able to attend MBA school in one of the top USA MBA institutions in Fall 2005. I am hoping to get into Harvard because it is generally seen as the best general management program.

Background:

I am from Singapore, 28 this year, male, married (no kids). Ethnicity is chinese.

Education:
Undergraduate: Oxford University BA/MA (Politics, Philosophy & Economics) First Class graduated in 2000.

Post-gradudate: London School of Economics Masters of Science in Management (with Distinction) graduated 2001.

Working experience: Tax administration for 3 years with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. (www.iras.gov.sg) I’ve been rotated through many areas and most recently I’m doing Corporate Planning and Strategy work.

Much of the work directly supports the CEO’s office in terms of driving organisational change and improvements. My designation is Senior Officer. (ie not yet Managerial level) However, I’ve played an instrumental role in many change projects. These can be futher elaborated in my essays and I can ask my recommenders (who are members of Senior Management in my organisation) to support my application.

As evidence of outstanding potential, my organisation has decided to sponsor my MBA, even though, strictly speaking an MBA may not have a direct relevance with a national Tax Administration. This sponsorship includes tuition fees, a monthly maintenance allowance and my full salary.

We cannot afford to be like the bureaucracy of the old but we aim to journey towards being the Leading Tax Administration in the World. To do that, we would need to bring in business best practices in government.

I am preparing for my GMATs at the moment and would take them in time for Round 1 of applications. On top of Harvard, I will also apply to Stanford, MIT, Duke and Columbia.

I would like to get some general advice here:

1) How would you rate my chances of entry?
2) For international applicants (I’m in Singapore), how are the interviews conducted? By phone?
3) What is the best way to tell a compelling story in my case? I should stress my experience in government? Macro-view of fiscal policies? etc?
4) Any other useful comments.

Thank you.

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi and thanks for your inquiry.

I hope to be able to attend MBA school in one of the top USA MBA institutions in Fall 2005. I am hoping to get into Harvard because it is generally seen as the best general management program.

While HBS is a very good school, this is a highly-subjective statement and HBS may not be the best school for you. Furthermore, Harvard will not be pleased if they are not sincerely convinced you are a match made in heaven with their program.

Background:

I am from Singapore, 28 this year, male, married (no kids). Ethnicity is chinese.

Education:
Undergraduate: Oxford University BA/MA (Politics, Philosophy & Economics) First Class graduated in 2000.

Post-gradudate: London School of Economics Masters of Science in Management (with Distinction) graduated 2001.

With a good GMAT score, your academic qualifications will not be questioned. However, the schools will want to know why you need an MBA when you have a MS in management from a very good school.

Working experience: Tax administration for 3 years with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. (www.iras.gov.sg) I’ve been rotated through many areas and most recently I’m doing Corporate Planning and Strategy work.

Much of the work directly supports the CEO’s office in terms of driving organisational change and improvements. My designation is Senior Officer. (ie not yet Managerial level) However, I’ve played an instrumental role in many change projects. These can be futher elaborated in my essays and I can ask my recommenders (who are members of Senior Management in my organisation) to support my application.

As evidence of outstanding potential, my organisation has decided to sponsor my MBA, even though, strictly speaking an MBA may not have a direct relevance with a national Tax Administration. This sponsorship includes tuition fees, a monthly maintenance allowance and my full salary.

Excellent!

We cannot afford to be like the bureaucracy of the old but we aim to journey towards being the Leading Tax Administration in the World. To do that, we would need to bring in business best practices in government.

I am preparing for my GMATs at the moment and would take them in time for Round 1 of applications. On top of Harvard, I will also apply to Stanford, MIT, Duke and Columbia.

I’m not sure you have any safety schools in your list. Feel free to review our GMAT prep section at http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/gmat/.

I would like to get some general advice here:

1) How would you rate my chances of entry?
2) For international applicants (I’m in Singapore), how are the interviews conducted? By phone?
3) What is the best way to tell a compelling story in my case? I should stress my experience in government? Macro-view of fiscal policies? etc?
4) Any other useful comments.

The biggest hurdle you face is spinning a convincing story for why you need an MBA after completing a MS in management. The schools also care a lot about extracurricular activities. These are two big question marks in your candidacy.

Your interviews will either be conducted by phone, by traveling admissions officers, or by local alumni.

I don’t do any of the consulting myself. Our consultants are far more knowledgeable than yours truly and many of them spend their full time helping applicants while I spend my full time running the company. There is not nearly enough information here for me to competently help you form a story. That comes out of an initial one hour consultation which covers far more detail than a few paragraphs on a discussion board ever can.

Thank you.

Best of luck with your applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi Wael and thanks for your inquiry.

I apologize for missing your post earlier. Yes, we do offer pre admissions consultations that provide detailed action plans for prospective applicants one or more years away from their application dates. These detailed action plans are, obviously, customized for each applicant and conducted one-on-one with a highly-experienced consultant who made many accept/reject/waitlist decisions at top business schools.

Best of luck with your future applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[williz]

I have another question: are applicants from middle east, or africa (or developing countries in general) in any better position comparatively to applicants from, say, north america or europe? I understand that u have to be exceptionally good to get into some place like HBS, but is the pool of applicants less competitive? and are schools interested in recruiting people from those backgrounds?

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi and thanks for your follow-up inquiry.

I have another question: are applicants from middle east, or africa (or developing countries in general) in any better position comparatively to applicants from, say, north america or europe? I understand that u have to be exceptionally good to get into some place like HBS, but is the pool of applicants less competitive? and are schools interested in recruiting people from those backgrounds?

Yes, the admissions committees are interested in recruiting applicants from many different backgrounds as per their commitment to diversity.

You have asked a loaded question however. If I say some applicants are not as competitive there will be a firestorm and there will be some who will say they just don’t have the same opportunities as others in highly-competitive countries such as India and China. Of course, you will also see more admitted applicants from these countries than many others.

You are correct to state that every applicant has to be strong to get admitted. If a school such as HBS does not see any competitive applicants from a particular country, they will not admit any applicants from that country.

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[guitar]

Thank you for your quick replies. I have several follow-up issues and comments. Please feel free to comment what I have written.

1) You mentioned that I would need to tell a convincing story as to why I want an MBA when I already have an MSc in Management from the LSE.

Thank you for this pointer. I have consulted my LSE supervisors and they have pointed out to me that the MSC course is very different from the MBA. For example, the course is designed for fresh graduates without working experience. It takes a social science approach towards business. It doesn’t include many core components of a business course like marketing and finance. Also, it is more theoretical and academic as compared to an MBA which has a very practical focus.

And this practical and professional focus is what I am looking for in the MBA. Harvard’s case-study methodology is legendary (even in Singapore!) and that is the prime attraction for me. I will expound on this further in the essays.

2) You asked if I have safety or back-up schools:
I would like to ask for your recommendation on this issue. Which MBA schools are “safety schools”? ( I suppose these schools also have a very good reputation). For example, would you rank Fuqua (Duke) easier to gain entry into than say Harvard/Stanford?

Thank you.

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi and thanks for your follow-up inquiry.

Thank you for your quick replies. I have several follow-up issues and comments. Please feel free to comment what I have written.

1) You mentioned that I would need to tell a convincing story as to why I want an MBA when I already have an MSc in Management from the LSE.

Thank you for this pointer. I have consulted my LSE supervisors and they have pointed out to me that the MSC course is very different from the MBA. For example, the course is designed for fresh graduates without working experience. It takes a social science approach towards business. It doesn’t include many core components of a business course like marketing and finance. Also, it is more theoretical and academic as compared to an MBA which has a very practical focus.

And this practical and professional focus is what I am looking for in the MBA. Harvard’s case-study methodology is legendary (even in Singapore!) and that is the prime attraction for me. I will expound on this further in the essays.

Admissions committees tend to view themselves as controlling a precious and scarce resource. Accordingly, you are at disadvantage relative other applicants without an MSc in Management. It will not be as easy to spin your story as you may believe.

2) You asked if I have safety or back-up schools:
I would like to ask for your recommendation on this issue. Which MBA schools are “safety schools”? ( I suppose these schools also have a very good reputation). For example, would you rank Fuqua (Duke) easier to gain entry into than say Harvard/Stanford?

For most applicants, Duke will be easier to gain entry into than Harvard or Stanford. The school’s standards are high and their acceptance rate is still well south of 50%. Of course, your *fit* at the school will be a huge determinant with your chances. If you are a match made in heaven with HBS, you are likely not going to be a good fit with Duke.

I’ll be glad to assign you to a consultant who is far more knowledgeable than yours truly when it comes to MBA admissions and has far more time to spend with your candidacy.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[varunc]

Greetings,

Having worked while going to school these past 2 years my gpa is only 2.46. I am going into my junior year at the University of Toronto, Canada. I have decided not to work these next two years so I can work on extracurriculars and my gpa. My hope is to get my gpa up to at least 2.8 if not higher. The math courses are pretty hard with class avg’s in the low 60’s. My major is computer science and economics. Almost finished the computer science major and starting to do the economics. Obviously gpa is not the only part of the admissions process, however, I would like to know if having a low gpa like 2.8, complemented with a good story after I finish working in 3-4 years, would allow me a glimmer of hope at attending a top 10 school.
Many thanks for your advice.

-Varun

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi Varun and thanks for your inquiry.

Greetings,

Having worked while going to school these past 2 years my gpa is only 2.46. I am going into my junior year at the University of Toronto, Canada. I have decided not to work these next two years so I can work on extracurriculars and my gpa. My hope is to get my gpa up to at least 2.8 if not higher. The math courses are pretty hard with class avg’s in the low 60’s. My major is computer science and economics. Almost finished the computer science major and starting to do the economics. Obviously gpa is not the only part of the admissions process, however, I would like to know if having a low gpa like 2.8, complemented with a good story after I finish working in 3-4 years, would allow me a glimmer of hope at attending a top 10 school.
Many thanks for your advice.

Yes, the range of GPAs at the top 10 schools will include a few successful applicants with GPAs in the 2.8 range. It will clearly make it a bit more difficult to distinguish your candidacy but your GPA can be overcome.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you would like to be assigned to your own personal consultant to provide you with a detailed action plan of things you can do over the next few years to ensure you are optimally positioned for your future applications.

-Varun

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[mrv7]

Thank you for this great service. Here is my story:

I graduated from a service academy in 2000 with a BS in Management and am planning on getting out of the service to attend B-School full time. My GPA was pretty low, 2.74 out of 4.0, but I can account for that with a couple of quant laden courses I took post grad plus the fact that it was at a service academy where the physics and and chemistry brought me down.

My work experience is fairly extensive and filled with leadership experience including some time in Iraq and the Middle East. I do not have much in the way of community service due to my deployment schedule but plan start performing some comm service now that I am at a job that has a steady routine.

My goal is to get into a top ten program and work in management consulting after graduation. My biggest concern is the GMAT. I took in last week and received a 700, however my quant portion was only in the 66th percentile while my verbal was in the 98th percentile. I know this knocks me out of the running for Wharton but how will this split affect my overall chances at Kellogg, Darden, Tuck, Fuqua, and Yale or any other top 15 B-school. I don’t think I’ll have much time to study and take the test again this summer so the score will have to stick. Do you think I have a chance at these schools or will the low quant score really kill me. Thank you for your time and consideration.

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hi and thanks for your inquiry.

Thank you for this great service. Here is my story:

I graduated from a service academy in 2000 with a BS in Management and am planning on getting out of the service to attend B-School full time. My GPA was pretty low, 2.74 out of 4.0, but I can account for that with a couple of quant laden courses I took post grad plus the fact that it was at a service academy where the physics and and chemistry brought me down.

You can feel assured that the admissions officers will understand the nature of the grading curve at your school. I’m not saying this means your GPA will not be a concern, however.

My work experience is fairly extensive and filled with leadership experience including some time in Iraq and the Middle East. I do not have much in the way of community service due to my deployment schedule but plan start performing some comm service now that I am at a job that has a steady routine.

Sounds good!

My goal is to get into a top ten program and work in management consulting after graduation. My biggest concern is the GMAT. I took in last week and received a 700, however my quant portion was only in the 66th percentile while my verbal was in the 98th percentile. I know this knocks me out of the running for Wharton but how will this split affect my overall chances at Kellogg, Darden, Tuck, Fuqua, and Yale or any other top 15 B-school. I don’t think I’ll have much time to study and take the test again this summer so the score will have to stick. Do you think I have a chance at these schools or will the low quant score really kill me. Thank you for your time and consideration.

First of all, we have seen applicants with quant scores below the 80 percentile gain admission to Wharton. (Sorry, just had to take a stab at yet another ridiculous ‘urban legend’ floating around the Internet.)

Given your grades and the probable lack of a huge ‘wow’ factor, you will want to retake the GMAT and boost that quant score if you believe you can score better with additional preparation. Without an alternate transcript or a higher GMAT quant score, you are definitely going to face academic qualification concerns and struggle to gain admission to a top 15 b-school this year.

Sincerely,

David Petersam
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com
703.242.5885

Admissions committee experience from the top b-schools

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

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