Handicapping Your MBA Odds

Mr. Management

690 GMAT
3.24 GPA
Undergraduate degree in finance from a California State University
Work experience includes current job as director of finance in the proprietary education industry
Extracurricular activity includes being a founding member of a trainee mentor program for entry-level employees to prepare them for management roles; in college had a local radio/MySpace hit song
“Never thought I’d go back to school this early, but over the past year the for-profit education industry has come under increased government scrutiny and I no longer feel safe progressing my career within the industry.”
Goal: To land an investment banking job in equity capital markets, specifically equity origination, though I’m open to exploring more options in business school
25-year-old African-American male applying through the Consortium round one and Harvard round two

Odds of Success:

Harvard Business School: 10%

Cornell: 40%

Berkeley: 30%

USC: 50%

Texas: 60%

Indiana: 60%

Sandy’s Analysis: As you note, proprietary education is a shaky business these days, and your job and responsibilities there may be ‘downgraded’ by adcom decision makers as being not all that hard a job to get initially (something that really counts), and not as impressive as a “real” blue chip job.

There’s nothing outstanding pushing you in. Your profile makes this a long shot for HBS. Extra currics that are company based are less favored and arguably not “extra,” if that is what “One of the founding members of the company-wide Management Trainee Mentor program where we mentor entry-level employees to prepare them to take on management roles” means.

Although again, that is impressive, it is not some super-duper extra like founding a youth enrichment program and getting massive corporate sponsorship. Goals, as you state them, “IB in equity capital markets – equity origination” are not likely given this background, and I’m not totally sure I know what that means, although I know what IB is.

That kind of heated-up chatter won’t help you anyplace. Given real solid GMAT and arguable “up from someplace” story, I think you are solid at other places as a Consortium applicant. Just get some clear goal statement that does not make you sound like some greedy dude who watched the movie Wall Street too many times.