frankdong

Thanks, Wang.

I will contact you during the National Holiday!

hsWang

以下是引用frankdong在2004-9-24 11:47:00的发言：

Hi! I think I've got a very informative service here, and appreciate all the information that you've posted regularly. I'm deeply appreciative for the knowledge I've gained in this forum alone! I plan to apply for an MBA programme in the States within the next three to four years, and am keen to work towards a succesful application in a good business school. The plus points/problems that I anticipate, however, are: - My academic grades ( 78 ) are of average standard amongst my peers, but fall exceedingly short of the minimum/average GPA requirements stated by many business schools. - I am graduating from a 3-year degree programme. - I recently took GMAT, and achieved a score of 710. - I have been very actively involved in extra-curricular activities in university, having been elected into the presidential/chairperson positions in almost all of my student union/club activities. (My heavy involvement can be said to be the reason for my less than exciting grades) - I plan to work for the next 2 to 3 years, in a multinational corporation, before applying for an MBA programme. With this in mind, I have been looking through admissions requirements and prerequisites of MBA programmes in top 30 business schools, but have had trouble gauging my potential application standing. Would you think that I stand a chance of being offered a position in schools like McCombs, Olin, Carnegie Mellon and Rotman (Toronto)? Would you suggest that I take additional certificate/diploma courses in private educational institutes to boost my academic credibility before applying to MBA programmes? Thank you in advance for your advice! Many Thanks, Frank

Hi, Frank. Thanks! The gratitude is never expected, but always appreciated!

Your GPA can be mitigated in your application. It still may be a good idea to build an alternate transcript with a handful of classes. (If you take too many classes, you may be labeled a professional student/degree collector.) A three-year degree is not necessarily a problem. The top b-schools often quietly make exceptions, particularly for graduates from top programs.

I wouldn't spin it that way in your applications. The schools ideally want students who can succeed academically *and* be involved on the campus.

Gaining some professional experience is certainly a good idea. It does not have to come from working for a large MNC though. If you find an opportunity for career development in a smaller company, you should give that opportunity full consideration. (I'm wearing my admission hat?here. Obviously, if you are not comfortable in small companies, ignore this advice.)

With a good career progression, and application story you would be competitive at any business school.

Best of luck with your applications! Sincerely,

H.S.Wang

frankdong

Hi! I think I've got a very informative service here, and appreciate all the information that you've posted regularly. I'm deeply appreciative for the knowledge I've gained in this forum alone! I plan to apply for an MBA programme in the States within the next three to four years, and am keen to work towards a succesful application in a good business school. The plus points/problems that I anticipate, however, are: - My academic grades ( 78 ) are of average standard amongst my peers, but fall exceedingly short of the minimum/average GPA requirements stated by many business schools. - I am graduating from a 3-year degree programme. - I recently took GMAT, and achieved a score of 710. - I have been very actively involved in extra-curricular activities in university, having been elected into the presidential/chairperson positions in almost all of my student union/club activities. (My heavy involvement can be said to be the reason for my less than exciting grades) - I plan to work for the next 2 to 3 years, in a multinational corporation, before applying for an MBA programme. With this in mind, I have been looking through admissions requirements and prerequisites of MBA programmes in top 30 business schools, but have had trouble gauging my potential application standing. Would you think that I stand a chance of being offered a position in schools like McCombs, Olin, Carnegie Mellon and Rotman (Toronto)? Would you suggest that I take additional certificate/diploma courses in private educational institutes to boost my academic credibility before applying to MBA programmes? Thank you in advance for your advice! Many Thanks, Frank

hsWang

以下是引用laozi在2004-9-20 10:57:00的发言： Hi, Thanks in advance for taking time to answer my question. I an an IT professional with an undergraduate degree in Finance. I have a GPA of 3.4 and I have done good in almost all finance courses. I have done some good job hopping in last 6-7 years but I am on my presesnt job for last 3-5 years. Most of these compnies are blue chip companies (and I have worked as an independent consultant. I want to pursue a carrier in Finance (Brokerage firm). My first 2 years of college credits reflected a poor GPA(2.0). But once I moved to a four year college, I was only doing better. I an planning to take my GMAT in April and I am committed to get a decent score (at least 650). What are my chances of getting into NYU part time MBA or Columbia MBA. What can I do to get into NYU or Columbia. I don't have any extra curcular activities. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

This trend, where your GPA increased over the course of your undergraduate education, will help you mitigate any concerns about your grades. A strong GMAT score will further help your cause and demonstrate your strong academic qualifications. The term job hopping certainly conjures up negative images. The key here is to demonstrate a clear and favorable career progression and then, hopefully, tie that into your future career goal. Without having the details of your proposed story and themes, it is impossible to accurately gauge your chances, but I'm not sure I see how your recent DBA experience, combined with an MBA, is going to qualify you for a career in a brokerage. Furthermore, you will be grilled on some of the details of your future career goal during your interviews as the interviewer will want to see evidence that this move is very well thought out and researched. Unless you have been working very long hours and were heavily involved in extracurriculars as an undergraduate, your current lack of extracurriculars is going to hurt you. In a word, get involved and get involved soon. Don't just sign up for any activity though. Find something that will help advance your story with the admissions committee. (I'm assuming you want me to be wearing my admissions hat?while writing this.) Depending on all of your particulars, you may need an extra year for positioning and you may not be very competitive until the fall 2006 applications are released. If you would like to discuss your situation in far greater detail with one of our consultants, don't hesitate to contact me directly. Best of luck with your future applications! Sincerely,

H.S.Wang

mialanhero

以下是引用hsWang在2004-8-25 11:59:00的发言： >

Thanks for your inquiry. As a general rule, it is always more advantageous to apply in the first round than the second. There are more openings for the incoming class and the admissions committees are trying to fill seats. At the most selective schools, round 2 is when the class becomes rounded out and the admissions officers really focus in on getting the right representation from demographic groups such as NY I-bankers and Indian IT applicants. There is no truth to the urban legend that the second round is less competitive than the first round. The admissions officers know what percent of good applicants apply each round and they adjust their targeted number of admissions offers to reflect this. Finally, a good applicant will make a convincing case for why he/she wants to attend XYZ b-school and why he/she has been proactive about wanting an MBA for a long time. Applying in round 1 will certainly help signal this point much more clearly than applying in a later round. In conclusion, if you have a good application put together for a top school, it will behoove you to submit it earlier than later. Best of luck with your applications! Sincerely,

H.S. Wang

Many, many thanks. This is really a great place! You, great too.

hsWang

以下是引用LANDER在2004-9-15 12:04:00的发言：

Thanks for your advice.

I think one thing I'm wondering is what sort of extracurricular activities does one do that looks good on an application? I just don't know how people fit them in either. I see tons of i-bankers going off to harvard and wharton b-school each year and they barely have time to sleep, let alone volunteer or pursue any side hobbies. Also, in terms of the essays- if admissions committees are looking for sincerity, what does someone write about who wants to pursue a career in finance, and make a killing on wall street? Do they sincerely write essays saying they wanna make a ton of money and retire at 40 or start their own hedge fund in Greenwich? I guess I'm just confused about how anyone can have a sincere, admirable goal for b-school and express it well in essay form. Finally, if my ultimate goal was the IMF or World Bank, you are saying there aren't that many opportunities available at those organizations for an MBA? What about Int'l Consulting positions?

I am pretty uneducated about typical career paths for an MBA aside from Wall Street, so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and regards.

You ask some good questions. The fact is we could write a very thick book and still only scratch the surface of the business school admission process. Besides, it still wouldn't be incredibly valuable (even though it would be written by true experts with admissions committee experience who have actually made accept/reject/waitlist decisions) because each applicant needs to develop a unique application story with themes that support that story and best address each of the essay questions and their fit at the different schools. Basically, if you want to maximize your chances, you need more than simply grammatically-correct essays in your application and there are many different strategies, stories, and themes that will work successfully for different applicants. We normally take a full consultation just to provide an in-depth assessment of a candidacy, advise on school selection, and begin coming up with strategies, stories, and themes.

To your final point, there are indeed opportunities out there for MBAs in international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank. They are just not as numerous as those opportunities in the more traditional career paths. Your future career goal may work for you. I simply wanted to point out a few potential issues in case you had not yet considered them. Don't hesitate to contact me directly if you would like to schedule an appointment with one of our expert consultants. Best of luck with your applications! Sincerely,

H.S.Wang

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-9-15 12:48:25编辑过]

hsWang

"I graduated from a well-known university in China. I have strong work experience, but my GPA is only 2.5.

Some one told me to make a fake of m undergraduate transcript. Surly I don't want to do that. But my low undergraduate GPA is really a problem, would you please help me find a way to solve this problem?

Thanks! "

Thanks for your inquiry. As for the low GPA, you can do two things to remedy them:

(1) Do you know WHY you had low GPA? If you do, explain why but don't over explain as it may give readers impression that you are not confident in your ability. If you don't know why, don't explain because it will sound you are looking for excuses.

(2) Get high GMAT scores. US schools have a formula that transfers your GMAT scores into GPA and average them with your undergraduate GPA.

In general, I don't think you should worry too much about your GPA. I respect you for not to cheat.

Best of luck with your application!

Sincerely,

H.S.Wang

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-9-13 15:09:57编辑过]

mialanhero

I graduated from a well-known university in China. I have strong work experience, but my GPA is only 2.5.

Some one told me to make a fake of m undergraduate transcript. Surly I don't want to do that. But my low undergraduate GPA is really a problem, would you please help me find a way to solve this problem?

Thanks!

hsWang

以下是引用LANDER在2004-9-12 21:10:00的发言： Hello, Wang, I am highly interested in going to a top tier B-school, possible focusing on International Business. Though I am well traveled, I thought if my ultimate goal is a position at IMF or World Bank or Int''l Consulting firm, it might be a good idea to do some volunteering (maybe in business development) in an underpriveleged nation for a few months. My goal is a top school- harvard, Yale or Insead or london school of economics. I have excellent work experience- 4 years total, 2 years at a top financial service firm in a very unique quantitative position. I haven''t taken the GMAT yet but I am guessing with a lot of hard work I''ll get in the 680-700 range. The one thing holding me back is my GPA. It''s about a 3.1- because of 1 bad semester and 2 bad grades. I graduated from a Chinese Ivy university where made it very difficult for students to get straight A''s. Just wondering if the abroad volunteerism would help me (especially if I''ll be pitching in my essays that I want economic development to be my career path) and what my chances are for getting into the schools above that I mentioned. I''ve also heard that it helps your chances a bit if you are female...is this true? thanks! Thanks!

Thanks for your inquiry.

First of all, if you only have 2 bad grades and you achieve a GMAT score in the 680-700 range with some balance between your verbal and quant percentiles, your academic qualifications will not keep you out of b-school. Your work experience also appears to be very solid. With decent extracurricular activities and some differentiating factors in well-prepared applications, you should be competitive at all of these schools. Abroad volunteerism, particularly if it is related to your future economic development career goals would certainly help your chances if your stated long-term career goal is the same as described above. However, I think it is only fair to warn you that your future career goal could be a risky one *if* you can not adequately back up your sincerity and how your accomplishments and experiences to date have made that goal attainable. A lot of applicants state grandiose and altruistic goals and get dinged precisely because the admissions committees doubted their sincerity. Besides, there just are not going to be that many post-MBA opportunities in your desired field. Best of luck with your applications! Sincerely,

H.S.Wang

hsWang

以下是引用sunnyrain在2004-9-8 12:49:00的发言：

Hi, Wang,

I am new to this board, and hope this is the right way to ask a question: I have a question about MBA admission acceptance-deadline timing. If I receive an offer of admission from one school (my second choice), and my acceptance of that offer is due several days before I hear from the other schools I've applied to (one of which is my first choice). I am thinking of asking them if they could extend the acceptance date to a few business days after the date that I hear from the other schools, so that I have full info before making a commitment. What do you think/any suggestions? Also, should I contact the Admissions Director whose name is on the acceptance letter, or the general admissions email?

Thanks in advance!

This is a good question. You certainly should contact the Admissions Director directly and request the extension. We have found that these are granted in 95% of the cases with no issues or hassles. Best of luck with your applications! Sincerely,

H.S.Wang