Calculating Your B-School Odds by: John A. Byrne on September 23, 2012 | | 19,031 Views September 23, 2012 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Mr. Airline 710 GMAT 3.76 GPA Undergraduate degree in finance from Brigham Young University Work experience includes one year at a boutique litigation consulting firm, valuing lost profits and developing/rebutting expert testimony, and two at an airline company developing a labor analysis group and negotiating with union groups. Also had undergraduate internships with Citigroup in Tokyo and Johnson & Johnson and spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Tokyo Extracurricular activities include head coaching a middle school lacrosse team, various church activities, and Boy Scouts. Goal: To join an aircraft leasing firm in an operations or finance role or to join an aviation consulting/advisory firm Odds of Success: Harvard: 10% to 25% MIT: 25+% Wharton: 30% to 45+% Dartmouth: 30% to 45+% Duke: 50+% Virginia: 50+% Sandy’s Analysis: This is a “just-off” HBS/LDS profile because your jobs are off the beaten path and goals are too narrow. Also, hold onto your hat, a 3.76 could be in the lower half of BYU GPA HBS admits. Lots of HBS admits seem to roll out of BYU with 3.9’s etc. but that is a subtle point. The real thing that is going to make HBS hard is your off-the-grid and, possibly to them, not super-selective jobs. Your type of litigation and labor consulting IS represented at HBS but usually those candidates work for blue chip firms in those fields, not boutiques. Even if you get past those subtle and never-spoken prejudices, there is nothing driving you into the school in terms of stardust. For purely gaming-the-system purposes, you should have continued on at either Citigroup in Tokyo (a real plus) or J&J, a classic HBS feeder firm. Wharton, MIT, Tuck, Duke and Virginia are all in range given your solid stats and your pretty solid story plus the Japan angle, which is impressive in general. Unfortunately it does not synch up with your goals. That’s another reason you would have been better at Citi with a story about doing banking in Asia, if getting into HBS is all that matters to you. Then, POOF, it all fits together. At all schools, I might say you are interested in strategy consulting, not aviation consulting, per se. Or just phrase your goals more broadly. Being that specific is something you do when you are applying above your head, and you want to assure the school that you will be employable. You don’t need that card and some schools might object to you using them to get your “ticket punched” at your old job rather than being open to an, ahem, “transformational experience.” The only exception to that might be MIT, which has expertise in aviation and even a wind tunnel. Handicapping Your MBA Odds–The Entire Series Part I: Handicapping Your Shot At a Top Business School Part II: Your Chances of Getting In Part III: Your Chances of Getting In Part IV: Handicapping Your Odds of Getting In Part V: Can You Get Into HBS, Stanford or Wharton? Part VI: Handicapping Your Dream School Odds Part VII: Handicapping Your MBA Odds Part VIII: Getting Through The Elite B-School Screen Part IX: Handicapping Your B-School Chances Part X: What Are Your Odds of Getting In? Part XI: Breaking Through the Elite B-School Screen Part XII: Handicapping Your B-School Odds Part XIII: Predicting Your Odds of Getting In Part XIV: Handicapping Your MBA Odds Part XV: Assessing Your Odds of Getting In Part XVI: Handicapping Your Odds of Getting In Part XVII: What Are Your Odds of Getting In Part XVIII: Assessing Your Odds of Getting In Part XIX: Handicapping Your MBA Odds Part XX: What Are Your Odds Of Getting In Part XXI: Handicapping Your Odds of Acceptance Part XXII: Handicapping Your Shot At A Top MBA Part XXIII: Predicting Your Odds of Getting In Part XXIV: Do You Have The Right Stuff To Get In Part XXV: Your Odds of Getting Into A Top MBA Program Part XXVI: Calculating Your Odds of Getting In Part XXVII: Breaking Through The Elite MBA Screen Part XXVIII: Handicapping Your Shot At A Top School Part XXIX: Can You Get Into A Great B-School Part XXX: Handicapping Your Odds of Getting In Part XXXI: Calculating Your Odds of Admission Part XXXII: Handicapping Your Elite MBA Chances Part XXXIII: Getting Into Your Dream School Part XXXIV: Handicapping Your Shot At A Top School Part XXXV: Calculating Your Odds of Getting In Part XXXVI: What Are Your Chances Of Getting In Part XXXVII: Handicapping Your Business School Odds Part XXXVIII: Assessing Your B-School Odds Of Making It Part XXXIX: Handicapping MBA Applicant Odds Part XL: What Are Your Odds of Getting In Part XLI: Handicapping Your Odds of MBA Success Part XLII: What Are Your Chances Of Getting In Part XLIII: Handicapping Your MBA Odds Part XLIV: Can You Get Into A Top MBA Program Part XLV: Assessing Your Odds of Getting In Part XLVI: Handicapping Your Dream School Odds Part XLVII: Handicapping Your MBA Odds Part XLVIII: Assessing Your Odds of B-School Success Part XLIV: Handicapping Your B-School Odds Previous PagePage 5 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 Questions about this article? 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