Mr. Midwest Banker

Well, you’re 3.8 and 740 GMAT immediately catapults you into real contention for a quality program. The undergraduate degree in finance and economics from Kelley is top notch. Your summer stints in banking and finance complete the story. So what could be missing from a Wharton acceptance? It’s not the lack of an Ivy League or near Ivy because in Harvard Business School’s Class of 2020 there are a half dozen IU grads, the same number from the University of Chicago. Not knowing where you did your summer internships makes this a bit foggy. If it were at well-known, prestige banks, that will help you a lot. One concern I have about Wharton’s Advance Access Program is the way the school describes what it is looking for: “Students who are innovative, intellectually curious and ready to take professional risks while impacting the world… the program will accept a highly selective cohort of students whose academic and career interests expand the traditional notions of business education.” This makes me wonder whether Wharton really wants a finance guy who may want to work in finance. It may want a finance guy who launches a nonprofit or NGO to help disadvantaged people. There is no class profile of admits to this program so it’s hard to say. At HBS, we know there is a preference for STEM grads because 65% of the 2+2 admits have a STEM degree on their resume. With Wharton, it’s more of a mystery at this point. So my odds for you can’t be higher than the overall 22% accept rate at the school.

Hi, this is Julie-Anne Heafey from mbaMission. Great stats, and congratulations on the hefty scholarship to Kelley – impressive! I hear you – a deferred MBA acceptance *does* give you more flexibility than the traditional IB to PE stint…but I don’t have a super clear sense of what you’d use that flexibility to do. From what I’ve seen, the deferred admissions programs tend to look for a few things: academic horsepower, intrinsic leadership (you just can’t help stepping up), and intense passion for something. So, my concern with your odds lies with the last factor – I’m not sure what your passion is. (If you’re not sure yet, that’s 100% OK – but then you might be better off applying later when you have more of a vision of how an MBA will help you.) Historically, a lot of these deferred enrollment programs were geared either to supporting women early or to nabbing future STEM stars, but the pool has expanded over time to include many kinds of backgrounds. It’s hard to say what Wharton’s newly-broadened program will be like, but my sense is that they’ll also be looking for students with high stats and unique stories. One thing to keep in mind for any of these deferred programs is that many of them are TINY. Harvard’s the biggest with 100-ish folks admitted each year (but still daunting odds with an 8% admit rate) but the others are much smaller. In fact, Wharton’s Moelis program took a whopping 9 people into its latest cohort – yikes! I’m not sure how may the broader Advance Access program will take, but I’ve got to think it might not be enormous either, so I’m putting your odds at 10%, about half the Wharton admit rate. They’re doing some upcoming webinars – are you signed up? It’s probably worth asking how big they think the cohort might be. Good luck!! Julie-Anne

Mr. Midwest Banker- it’s Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. Your stats certainly are impressive – great work! You will need those solid numbers given your target schools. I agree with my peers; while I hate to say so in light of your stats, you are not necessarily your schools’ target defer candidate, which is not to say you won’t get in. If you have your heart set on it go for it but I am not clear on how an early assurance will allow you to avoid the “traditional” IB to PE stint. If you apply now and are not successful, I suggest you reach out to a counselor to help you position yourself well to apply again in the future. There would be no stigma for you if you reapply a few years down the road. Assuming you can show how your candidacy has changed. And, by then, it will have. I wish you the best of luck,