Calculating Your Odds of MBA Admission

Mr. CPA

 

• 720 GMAT
• 3.1 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in finance and accounting from Rutgers Business School
• Work experience includes a year and one-half at a large global private equity shop (think KKR/Warburg Pincus) as an accountant; one and one-half year at Ernst & Young and a year at a regional public accounting firm in financial services audit focusing primarily on alternative investment clients
• “I haven’t had the opportunity to do much extracurricular activities but I am involved in an organization that helps/teaches small business owners core business skills as well as soft skills so they may grow and expand. Also, involved in recruiting efforts and volunteer events through my job”
• CPA and a CFA level 2 candidate
• Long-term goal: To get into equity research

Odds of Success:

Virginia: 40% to 50%

Columbia: 30% to 40%

Chicago: 30% to 40%

New York U.: 40% to 50%

Sandy’s Analysis: Interesting and isolated set of facts. The issues are whether a CPA can transition to equity research (I guess so)  and whether working for a top PE shop, “doing accounting & some valuation work for the PE funds” plus a 720 GMAT, can cure a 3.1 GPA from Rutgers.

“The schools I am looking into are NYU, Darden, Columbia, and Booth.”  That is a good mix. Most B-schools (esp. H/S/W) do not see themselves as training equity research types because that role is technical, isolated, and wonky. Don’t get me wrong, alums from those schools can be found doing equity research, it is just not an outcome those schools put on their homepage. What do they put on their homepage?  Well, Stanford has put THIS on their homepage:

Highlights from 2012 [STANFORD BUSINESS SCHOOL] Alumni Survey

MBA Employment

24% are self-employed, 48% full-time, 15% are retired.

44% founded companies, majority are private corporations.

66% switched industries, 22% have taken a position for which social responsibility was an important part of the job choice.

43% worked outside the U.S. for at least a year.

50% left or lost a job without having another job lined up.

53% served on a non-profit board, 34% a for-profit board.

44% moved up to C-level management.

None of this sounds like equity research, although in some cases it is apples and oranges, but you get the idea.

I’d say your best shot at computing your odds is to survey guys from your current job who have applied to B-school. How frequently does that happen and where do they go? And also, what did they tell the business schools they wanted to do? The fact you have worked your way up from a regional firm to Ernst & Young and from there to a Blue Chip PE shop is obviously a plus. Also, the fact that you have a strong alternative investment accounting  expertise to  fall back on and be  employable post graduation could be an ace in the hole.

I’d say your chances are solid at NYU (where equity research is not a dirty word) and where the Stern Investment and Management Research club advertises itself as one of the ‘largest’ on campus. NYU may wink at the low GPA given the GMAT and prestige current job. Columbia and Booth will be thinking along the same lines, but with a smaller focus on  research and wealth management. Darden is just easier based on stats alone.

An interesting question for a guy like you is should you reposition your goals as more broadly “finance” versus equity research. That would give you lots more room to BS about “leadership” and “general management,” but it might dilute your brand. As your story currently reads, you are a guy who made his bones analyzing alternative assets and you are good at it. You want to get  your ticket punched with an MBA to do that in the major leagues. You are what you are. That sometimes works.