Predicting Your Odds Of Getting In

Mr. Catholic

• 710 GMAT (Retake?)
• 3.97 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in finance & economics from a regionally ranked Midwestern Jesuit school (“I don’t know whether this is significant or not, but all of my schooling (from pre-school through college) has been at Catholic institutions, and I can’t deny the influence that my faith has had on my education.”)
• Work experience includes a year as a finance systems analyst at a large, private consumer good manufacturer. Plan to remain at company for another three years and then head to B-school
• Extracurricular involvement as vice president of the largest fraternity on campus, a finance & econ tutor, volunteer work painting murals and mentoring elementary school children; various involvement at my neighborhood Catholic parish.
• First in family to go to college
• Goal: “I want to use the MBA to transition into management consulting with my overarching goal in life being to help as many American companies as possible to be successful and profitable (and beneficial to the American public) in an increasingly global and competitive economy (I know that sounds canned, but its the truth). I would particularly like to focus on making American manufacturing companies more nimble.”
• 23-year-old Caucasian male from the Midwest, applying to Harvard and Wharton just for grins

Odds of Success:

Harvard: 20% to 30%

Wharton: 30% to 40%

Tuck: 40%+

Booth: 40%+

Texas: 50%+

Duke: 50%+

Sandy’s Analysis: Business schools have nothing against Catholics or any other religion, and, in fact, like most people, have warm feelings about the focus and intensity of Jesuits (Pope’s marines, etc, B-schools like Uncle Sam’s Marines as well).

So no need to hide that. Also, first in your family to go to college is often a plus as well. What you need to do, though, is stop acting like a mild hick. That, they do not like.

You have a totally standard background, with a 3.97 from a regional college, a 710 GMAT and X years of work experience at a large, privately owned company. You don’t need to apply to H/W just for ‘grins’ those schools take variants of kids like you all the time. A lot will turn on extras, recommendations, and not blowing interview.

Your goals are fine, but no need to giggle through them [viz, “my overarching goal in life being to help as many American companies as possible to be successful and profitable (and beneficial to the American public) in an increasingly global and competitive economy (I know that sounds canned, but its the truth). I would particularly like to focus on making American manufacturing companies more nimble”].

Just say that you interested in being an innovative and impactful leader in the manufacturing sector, and want to use technology and best management practices to make companies more nimble, sustainable, and competitive. It’s just a matter of getting comfortable with business lingo like that, and being serious about it.

The best thing you can between now and when you apply is 1. Continue to do well at work, and try to get increasing leadership roles, 2. Build out some signature extracurricular involvement. It’s okay to involve Church-based groups. B-schools like institutions of all kinds and the Catholic Church is famously the oldest institution in the world.