Your Chances Of Getting A Top MBA

He’s a CPA who works for a billion-dollar multinational in a high-profile financial reporting position. With a 720 GMAT and a 3.7 grade point average, this 27-year-old professional wants to get an MBA to shift to a financial management or consulting role.

He’s a first generation college student whose family lived on food stamps for most of his childhood. With a degree in history from UC-Berkeley, this 29-year-old Asian male is an underwriter for AIG who wants an MBA to fast track his career.

Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com

Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com

He’s a forensic accountant who has worked on white collar crimes and controversies. With a 610 GMAT and a 3.7 GPA from a well-regarded state school, this 25-year-old male is hoping an MBA will allow him to transition to a job with McKinsey, Bain or Boston Consulting Group.

What these MBA applicants share in common is the goal to get into one of the world’s best business schools. Do they have the raw stats and experience to get an invite? Or are they likely to end up in a reject pile?

Sanford “Sandy” Kreisberg, founder of MBA admissions consulting firm HBSGuru.com, is back again to analyze these and a few other profiles of actual MBA applicants who have shared their vital statistics with Poets&Quants.

As he has in the past, Kreisberg handicaps each potential applicant’s odds of getting into a top-ranked business school. If you include your own stats and characteristics in the comments (please add your age and be clear on the sequence of your jobs in relaying work experience), we’ll pick a few more and have Kreisberg assess your chances in a follow-up feature the followin week.

Sandy’s tell-it-like-it-is assessment:

forensicMr. Sherlock “CPA” Holmes

  • 610 GMAT (Q-44, V-31)
  • 3.7 GPA
  • Undergraduate degree in finance with a minor in software engineering from a well-regarded state school
  • 3.6 GPA (master’s)
  • Master’s degree in accounting from the same school
  • Work experience as a CPA includes two years as a forensic accountant/corporate investigator at a big firm
  • “I’ve worked with different kinds of white collar crimes/controversies – payroll fraud, purchasing fraud, financial statement fraud, bribery/kickbacks, FCPA, etc. I’ve worked with companies ranging from a value of a few million to over $100 billion”
  • Extracurricular involvement for an organization relating to children’s health; mentor and tutor to disadvantaged youth
  • “Started a business (think landscaping/construction) with my older brother when I was 10 years old. I bought my brother out, grew the company, and sold it after I turned 21”
  • Goal: To either start another company or get into McKinsey, Bain or Boston Consulting Group
  • 25-year-old bi-racial male

Odds of Success:

Wharton: 20% to 25%

INSEAD: 30%

Stanford: 15%

Harvard: 15%

MIT: 10%

Michigan: 25% to 30%

Sandy’s Analysis: You say your goal is “to either start another company or get into MBB (McKinsey, Bain, BCG).” MBB is going to be real hard with a 620 GMAT (they often ask for that score) and your story. I might change my mind if MBB have  dedicated units for forensic accounting, or something close to it, and even then, my guess is, those consultants would be forensic accountants of long-standing who have switched.

You did not say how many times you took the GMAT, but if only once, or even twice, you need to try again, or try the GRE.  As Poets and Quants has noted, some schools will wink at guys they like (especially high GPA and low GRE) because the GRE often does not get put into the mix of rankings stats, although this area is in flux. Also, some people find the GRE easier.

I’m not sure how much I would stress the forensic accounting part of your story versus just the accounting part. Especially since you don’t want to do more accounting type stuff. The expertise you highlight, uncovering different types of fraud, is not a sweet spot for business schools, which don’t like the idea of business fraud, as opposed to business ethics (something quite different, about making ethical decisions in close cases).

As to your actual work experience: “Two years years  . . . as a forensic accountant/corporate investigator at a big firm. CPA . . . . I’ve worked with different kinds of white collar crimes/controversies – payroll fraud, purchasing fraud, financial statement fraud, bribery/kickbacks, FCPA, etc.” Phew, I am not sure what to make of that. Has anyone from your “big firm” applied to business school recently? That is one very useful statistic.  The issue is, and I am not sure of the answer, will schools consider forensic accounting as more or less selective a gig than Big 3 accounting? It could be less.

Consulting companies, the types you want to work for, also don’t primarily view themselves as fraud detectors (their expertise is actually firing HONEST but now no-longer-needed people). So to the extent you want to use your past to be part of your future, which is highly recommended, I would cast what you have done as “helping companies figure out how to manage better,” etc. etc. I mean,  to the extent you can, given what you actually do.

Schools will appreciate your effort to contort your actual activities into something business-school friendly. It will show them that your personal mindset is not  really as a “fraud fighter” but more as a permissible fraud creator. Much more their type.

I’m not just playing with words. Your ability to pivot (to use a fashionable word) your experiences into a management context versus fraud detection one is something they will respect as a mindset. They don’t want any G-Men types in class pontificating with  black-and-white clarity about fraud. They want aqueous critical discussions endlessly paddling  around  gray areas reaching no difficult or disturbing conclusions.

As to your target schools: Wharton, INSEAD, Stanford, Harvard, Sloan, and Ross.  I’m not seeing this as HBS, Stanford, or Sloan. They just don’t go for accountants or low GMATs. Either one, and you are both. Stanford often takes minorities, especially minority women, from Big Three accounting firms but my guess is that window requires a higher GMAT and a real strong racial story.  You said you are “bi-racial.” If that means that you can identify as black (if that is the race you talking about, or one of them) and check Afro-American on the list on the application, well, that can help.   Sloan is always looking hard for black males but they also want a higher GMAT and probably a more mainstream job. Ross is a maybe and your best bet in the USA.  I am not sure why you would look at INSEAD, but they like Americans a lot, and you get a lot of room to explain yourself in the application, they are still old school, with lotsa, lotsa essays.

If you really want an MBA, I would focus on U.S. News or Poets&Quants’ schools ranked 12 through 20. And I would flesh out my reasons for seeking the degree. Starting another business, after growing and selling your brother’s landscaping company, is a solid accomplishment, it is not a goal statement they will cotton to.  Becoming a consultant is a good thing to say, but try to sound informed and realistic. I just did not get the sense you were while reading your long note (which is abridged here).

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