MIT Sloan | Ms. Engineering + Extracurriculars
GMAT 695, GPA 3.45
Harvard | Ms. Impact Consultant
GRE 317, GPA 7.630
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Fertilizer Financier
GMAT 735 GMAT Focus, GPA 3.85
Harvard | Ms. Indian Engineer
GMAT 760, GPA 3.5
Wharton | Mr. Private Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.2
HEC Paris | Ms. M&A Lawyer
GMAT 700, GPA 3.5
Stanford GSB | Ms. UK In the USA
GMAT 720, GPA 1st class (UK scoring)
Kenan-Flagler | Mr. Do I Have A Shot?
GMAT EA: 151, GPA 3.1
Chicago Booth | Ms. Tech4Good
GMAT 760, GPA 3.76
Columbia | Mr. Underdog
GMAT 695 GMAT Focus (750 Legacy GMAT equivalent), GPA 2.85
McCombs School of Business | Mr. Big Pharma
GRE N/A, GPA 3.1
Kenan-Flagler | Mr. Non-Traditional Undergrad
GMAT 660, GPA 2.9
Kellogg SOM | Ms. Talent Acquisition
GRE 316, GPA 3.6
Ross | Mr. Tax Accountant
GMAT N/A, GPA 3.3
Tuck | Mr. Nothing Is Perma
GMAT 760, GPA 7/10

MBA Handicapping: Do White Males Need Better Stats Than School Averages To Get In?

by: John A. Byrne on December 12, 2021 | 7,149 Views

A strategy consultant for a major bank, Zach plans to apply to business school next year for his MBA degree. His target schools? Yale, Wharton, Chicago Booth, Dartmouth Tuck, and Duke Fuqua.

He also brings a work background that includes stints as a corporate banking analyst and associate for a regional bank and a senior investment banking analyst at a boutique firm.

Zach took the GRE during his senior year at Sam Houston State University in Texas where he majored in finance and earned a 3.6 grade point average. That GRE score of 321 puts him below the latest class average GRE scores at Yale (328), Wharton (322), and Chicago  Booth (324), and just in line at Dartmouth Tuck (320) and Duke Fuqua (314).

But he is entering a highly competitive pool of applicants: white men with finance backgrounds. How does that fact change his chances of admission?

Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com, assesses his odds in this episode of Friday’s With Sandy. Poets&Quants founder John A. Byrne suggests that because Zach does not have a prestige undergraduate degree and is below the class stats at Yale, Wharton and Chicago he apply to a different range of schools, including NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, and UVA Darden to enhance his chances of success. That’s because a 321 may still be a challenge for a white male in banking for Tuck and Fuqua.

Any of those schools would allow Zach to achieve his post-MBA goal of working as an internal consultant in Big Tech.

If you would like to participate in a future Fridays With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and John here.

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