Waiting is torture.
MBA candidates spend months honing their application. They weigh every word in their essays and study tirelessly to tack a few points onto their GMATs. Always seeking an edge, they pore over every blog and chat with any alum who’ll return their calls. In the end, they’re powerless. It’s called the black hole, that abyss where applicants second-guess every choice and imagine every worst case scenario.
Wayne Atwell’s data analysis are certainly entertaining
After this, the interview is the easy part. Question is, what are your odds of landing one? That was a question tackled in January by Wayne Atwell, a 2016 graduate of NYU Stern. Currently a McKinsey associate, Atwell runs MBA Data Guru, a blog that parses through school data supplied by GMAT Club. In January, he examined five years of GMAT and GPA data to come up with interview probabilities at the leading MBA programs.
NOVEL APPROACH CROSS-REFERENCES GPAs AGAINST GMATs
In the process, Atwell offers real insight to applicants on their chance for receiving an interview invite from various schools. He does so by cross-referencing GMAT and undergraduate data. For example, say an applicant coupled a 710 GMAT with a 3.5 undergraduate GPA. This individual would fall under the 700-730 GMAT range and the 3.40-3.59 GPA range. At Yale SOM, the candidate would enjoy a 41% chance of being afforded an interview according to Atwell’s data. At the same time, this applicant would enjoy a 77% chance of an interview at Kellogg.
In other words, Atwell’s approach not only reveals probabilities, but it enables MBA candidates to compare their odds side-by-side and school-by-school. It isn’t a perfect system, however. For one, a GMAT range of 700-730 is an awfully wide swatch that covers many of the GMAT averages at the Top 25 American MBA programs. At the same time, it ignores GMAT averages from 731-740. Even more, it doesn’t factor in supply-and-demand, which is represented in the number of applications and applications per seat – the numbers that reflect how selective programs can be.
Even more, the rubric doesn’t account for intangibles, adds Jeremy Shinewald, a Darden MBA and author with two decades of MBA admissions consulting experience as founder of mbaMission. “It really is a holistic game,” he admits.” Applicants are judged on the basis of their GMAT, GPA, professional experience, extra-curricular involvement, post-MBA employability, execution of application components and more. Each applicant will have strengths and weaknesses within this ‘portfolio.’ I couldn’t point to one or two that are more important – very much candidate specific.”
Jeremy Shinewald of mbaMission
ELITE PROGRAMS LOOK CLOSELY AT UNDERGRAD GPA
That doesn’t mean that MBA applicants can’t learn a ton from Atwell’s efforts. That’s particularly true when it comes to the impact of undergraduate GPAs on the odds of admissions. It is common sense that lower GPAs are mitigated by higher GMATs. Turns out, Atwell’s research confirms it…to a point.
Take applicants with GPAs below 3.40. Not surprisingly, elite schools shun such candidates regardless of GMAT. At the Stanford Graduate School of Business, just 3% of applicants who fall into the quadrant with a GMAT below 700 and a GPA below 3.40 managed to get an audience with a Stanford GSB adcom. How much of an albatross is a GPA under 3.4? The odds rise to just 12% even with a GMAT above 740!
Stanford is no aberration. At Harvard Business School, just 5% of applicants with a GPA under 3.4 and a GMAT below 700 land an interview. Those numbers follow a similar pattern as Stanford GSB, with just 13% of applicants with a GPA below 3.4 and a GMAT above 740 earning an interview. There is a similar leaning towards academic achievement at MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas, and Yale SOM, where the odds range from 12%-15% for students with a GPA under 3.4 and a GMAT above 740.
ODDS IMPROVE AT KELLOGG AND TUCK
That’s not to say some top MBA programs aren’t more forgiving of lower academic scores. At Northwestern Kellogg, lower GPAs aren’t necessarily an application killer. A program that values teamwork, Kellogg interviews 67% of students whose applications include GPAs and GMATs under 3.4 and 700. That’s not to say Kellogg is a school for slackers. Look no further than the Class of 2019, where the average GPA and GMAT came in at 3.6 and 732. However, Kellogg is more open to providing a forum to students with so-so academic performance.
The same holds true at Dartmouth Tuck, another values-driven program with a clearly-defined, close-knit culture (along with a 722 average GMAT and a 3.51 average GPA). Tuck interviews 58% of applicants that fall below the 3.4/700 threshold. And that number rises to 71% when to GMAT rises above 740. That doesn’t mean a 740 GMAT is necessarily a remedy for an undergraduate GPA that falls under 3.4. For these applicants, the odds of an interview at Wharton MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas and Northwestern Kellogg actually declines compared to those who fall in the 700-730 GMAT range.
The trend lines follow suit in the 3.40-3.59 GPA range. At the lowest level – a GMAT under 700 – Stanford and Harvard again maintain stringent standards, interviewing just 6% and 12% of students in this range. However, this is quite an uptick over MIT Sloan, where Atwell reports the interview rate as 0% (a potential error considering the rate is 14% for applicants who fall into the range of an average GPA and GMAT under 3.4 and 700 respectively).
INTERVIEW RATES ALSO TIED TO DEMAND AND SEATING
By the same token, some schools warm up to candidates in the 3.40-3.59 range as their GMAT averages rise. Just look at Columbia Business School, which only interviews 17% of candidates in this range with a GMAT under 700. However, that number doubles to 34% when GMAT averages run from 700-730. Similarly, Chicago Booth interviews 28% of candidates when a GPA and GMAT fall below 3.40 and 700. However, that numbers jumps to 68% when the GMAT tops 740. Under these same conditions, the interview rate at Yale SOM climbs from 24% to 63%.
Go to next page to find your odds when your GPA is a 3.6 or above.
Students at MIT Sloan. Courtesy photo
Overall, the 3.40-3.59 GPA range is a far more predictable measure. Here, interview odds rise as GMAT scores increase. However, the likelihood of getting an interview at either Berkeley Haas or MIT Sloan still stands below 45%. This may be a testament to the schools’ 16-to-1 and 14-to-1 applicant-to-seat ratios respectively, which frees them to be more selective with candidates than most other MBA programs.
STELLAR GPA AND GMAT DON’T GUARANTEE AN INTERVIEW
Last, but not least, are the applicants who boast undergraduate GPAs above 3.6. Such academically-inclined students are most welcome at Dartmouth Tuck, Northwestern Kellogg, and Chicago Booth, where they enjoy a 58%-65% chance of landing an interview – even with an average GMAT under 700. Not surprisingly, Stanford and Harvard are more skeptical about such students, interviewing them at a 13% and 12% clip respectively. Par for the course, MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas, and Columbia Business School give less weight to an average GPA and GMAT. In this quadrant, applicants have just a 1-in-4 odds of winning an interview at these schools.
What about the proverbial unicorns – those students whose applications feature GPAs above 3.6 and GMAT over 740. According to analysis, they are hardly a shoo-in for an interview. Looking for an illustration of just how hard it is to get the attention of Stanford and Harvard? Check out the high performers in the best quadrant. Just 22% of candidates who apply to Stanford ever receive an interview. And the number is an equally dismal 27% at Harvard Business School.
Such impeccable academic credentials don’t guarantee interviews at many other top MBA programs. At MIT Sloan, just 39% with a 740+ GMAT and a GPA over 3.6 make it to the interview stage. That number is a give-or-take 50% at Berkeley Haas. At Wharton and Columbia, the odds are 55% each.
HARDER TO GET AN INTERVIEW AT SLOAN AND HAAS THAN WHARTON
The best bet? Think Northwestern Kellogg, where 83% of these unicorns win an interview (three points less, ironically, than 740+ candidates with GPAs in the 3.40-3.59 range). Across town, Chicago Booth meets with 73% of candidates with stellar academics, just a point below Dartmouth Tuck at 74%.
In short, when it comes to the waiting game, applicants face Herculean odds of making it to the interview round at Stanford and Harvard, even with top notch academic credentials. Applicants also face daunting odds of getting the call from MIT Sloan and Berkeley Haas, with Wharton and Columbia rejecting far more than they invite for interviews. The news isn’t always depressing. Despite their academic rigor, top tier programs like Northwestern Kellogg, Chicago Booth, and Dartmouth Tuck are more apt to look beyond the numbers and give gifted applicants a platform to state their case.
Alex Min, CEO of The MBA Exchange
So what factors do schools to identify which candidates merit an interview invitation? Alex Min is the CEO of The MBA Exchange, one of the world’s leading MBA admissions firms. An MIT Sloan grad and Marine Corps officer, Min considers essays to be the most “meaningful and motivating” component in any MBA application. The reason? They make the candidate come alive beyond the page.
“SELF-AWARE, APPROACHABLE, AND INTRIGUING”
“Effective essays instill the feeling in readers that they’ve already met and like the applicant,” he observes in a written statement to Poets&Quants. “A candidate who reveals himself or herself as being self-aware, approachable, and intriguing is someone who the adcom wants to know better through an interview.”
Min ranks the recommendation as the second-most valuable part of the application – and for much the same reason. “These informed, candid, third-party insights and observations on the applicant as a person – describing past and present behavior – give the adcom a compelling preview of what it would be like to actually sit down and engage with him or her,” he adds. “Recs help vet a candidate as being qualified for and worthy of an interview invitation.”
FOCUS ON FIT AND STANDING OUT
For Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted and a frequently-cited expert on MBA admissions, there are two ways that applicants can stay out of the ding pile or waitlist. For one, they must lay out how they are a solid fit with the school’s ethos.
“Fit means the applicant’s ability to do the work and includes grades and test score and cultural fit with the school’s community – values, missions, and personal qualities,” she tells P&Q. “In addition goals are an important component of fit. Most schools want to know they can help their students achieve their goals.”
Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted
The second way, Abraham notes, is by finding a way to clearly and memorably “stand out” from other candidates. “Applicants can evidence this distinctiveness and ability to contribute through their accomplishments both on and off the job, interests, background, and goals.”
Abraham cautions, however, that landing an interview doesn’t indicate smooth sailing afterwards. Content wise, she explains that applicants can expect “probing question about decision points and gaps in their applications.” While Abraham urges interviewees to emphasize how they fit culturally and stand out from the traditional mold, she adds that other variables are equally important in making the right impression on adcoms.
“Communications ability, poise, and presence are critical to moving that application from the “maybe” to the “accepted” pile. Applicants must come across as people the interviewer would want to have as part of their school’s community.”
To see school-by-school breakdowns by GPA and GMAT, go to the next page.
Stanford GSB’s Knight Management Center
DON’T MISS: DOES YOUR MAJOR MATTER? MBA ACCEPTANCE RATES BY MAJOR OR ACCEPTANCE RATES AT THE TOP 50 MBA PROGRAMS
To see MBA Data Guru breakdowns at schools like Carnegie Mellon Tepper, Emory Goizueta, Texas McCombs, and USC Marshall, click here.
The post Odds Of Landing An Interview At Top Business Schools appeared first on Poets&Quants.
from Poets&Quants
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment