Is the MBA Degree Losing Its Luster?

Blast from the Past:

Leading Firms In MBA Admissions Consulting

It isn’t easy getting into a top MBA program. Stanford barely accepts 7% of applicants. Harvard enrolls 11.5%, while Berkeley Haas cherry-picks 13.8% of applicants. And that means they’re turning away candidates who graduated summa cum laude and work for top brands. So imagine walking into a room with nine other high achievers hoping to get into Stern. Here are your odds: Only two of you will be moving to Manhattan for the fall.

No one wants to settle. When you’re forking over six figures, you expect to be around the brightest minds and most-connected alums. So what do you do if you scored a 3.5 grade point and a 710 GMAT? And what if you didn’t skyrocket to a V.P. title within four years of graduation? That’s right: You call for help.

That’s where admissions consulting firms come into play. Today, there are over 500 consultants that cater to business school applicants. And they all have stories on how they helped some scrappy underdog earn a spot at Wharton or Fuqua. So what are the top firms; what options do they offer; and how much do they cost? Check out this sidebar to get the answers.