Many top MBA aspirants dream of getting into the prestigious MBB (McKinsey-BCG-Bain) firms for good reason. For one, they are the cream of t...
Monday, January 11, 2021
UC Berkeley/Haas School of Business expands its Deferred MBA for all undergraduates
UC Berkeley’s top ranked Haas School of Business has recently opened applications to its Full Time MBA for all college seniors (final year undergrad students) and students in final year of their masters program (without having any work experience). This deferred MBA program allows final year students to apply for the Berkeley MBA program and get an admit now and join after gaining 2–5 years of professional work experience. The program, named Accelerated Access allows students to have one more option for Deferred MBA programs.
It’s an open secret now that many college seniors, especially from top undergrad colleges like the IITs, BITS, NITs, St. Xaviers, Ruia, St. Stephens etc. are increasingly pursuing the deferred MBA route. Usually, successful applicants have strong profiles (please refer to some of the success profiles that I have posted on this space). This way when they have an option between Harvard and IIM Ahmedabad, they can choose the one that appeals to them.
Below is a list of the most popular Deferred MBA programs:
Please upvote if you found it useful and also comment if you have any questions.
With the Covid-19 pandemic playing havoc around the world, top global MBA programs have been trying to adopt new ways to encourage applicants. The latest Poets & Quants update mentions 65 of the top 100 MBA programs (as per PQ ranking) as having gone fully test optional or waiving GMAT/GRE requirement based on certain conditions being met. Many European schools such as ESADE, Warwick etc. have also offered alternatives. Find below examples of relevant schools:
- Schools having gone completely test optional: MIT Sloan, Babson (Olin), Brigham (Marriott), U. Miami (Herbert), Alabama (Henderson)
- Schools willing to work with candidates on case to case basis: Stanford GSB, NYU Stern, ESADE (they have their own test), Warwick (own test), Emory (Goizueta), IE (own test), Maryland (Smith)
How will schools evaluate applications in absence of GMAT or GRE?
The standardized tests such as GMAT or GRE are useful to the admissions committees as one of the evidence that applicant has to convince them that s/he is ready for the academic rigor of an MBA program. B Schools desire applicants who have shown strong evidence of quantitative and analytical skills. As Soojin-Kwon of U. Michigan (Ross) says - “We are not waiving the requirement that an applicant has demonstrated analytical and quantitative skills,”
To provide a test waivers, different schools look for different evidence. Many schools are looking for a minimum undergrad GPA and performance in quantitative courses, whereas others look for certain number of years of experience, a professional certification such as CA or CFA.
Implications for applicants
For schools offering conditional waivers or those offering waivers on a case to case basis, applicants should reach out to admissions committees stating evidence as to why they qualify for a waiver. Mention your quantitative skills, courses, GPA, online certifications in quantitative subjects and quant heavy certifications such as ACA or CFA. If you work in a quant heavy role such as financial analyst, consultant etc. - you can bring out the work you've performed over number of years or in your internships. Reach out to the admissions committees well in advance of the deadlines so that you receive their response in time.
Table of schools offering non-conditional, conditional and case to case waivers for GMAT/GRE:
Good luck and please comment.
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Many prospective MBA applicants face the conundrum between appearing for the GMAT/GRE or the CAT. Much material online concentrates on taking one side or the other. However, I've found through many top performers often prepare for BOTH tests. Let's find out more.
First, by considering preparing for both the GMAT and the CAT, you’re being smart. Really smart! Why, you may ask? - Because you’re keeping your options open. It’s also called hedging your risk or not keeping all your eggs in one basket. That's a good start!
Why are you being smart when you choose to prep for both the tests?
Reason 1 - The syllabus for both is complimentary. CAT Quant helps you build rigor to ace GMAT Quant, while GMAT verbal is much tougher than CAT Verbal - so you ace that too. So it makes a lot of sense to do what you’re doing and prep for both. If you do, take the GMAT first - much shorter and smarter prep required. CAT will take longer to prep.
Reason 2 - You’re being ambitious and realistic at the same time. How? CAT has 200,000 takers per year and IIM ABC have, say, 1500 seats - that is a 0.75% selectivity rate. If you are ineligible for reserved quota, takeaway another 50% seats i.e. 0.375% selectivity. For IIM A, this comes down even further to 200 seats (200 are reserved)/2,00,000 applicants = 0.1% selectivity. How does this compare with selectivity rates of top global MBA and MiM programs?
Most top European schools such as INSEAD, LBS, HEC Paris, ESSEC, ESCP, St. Gallen have selectivity rates ranging from mid 20s to high 30s.
Now, if I were to tell you that you have a choice to join a school with a 10% acceptance rate and a $180K starting salary (HBS) vs. another school with a 0.1% acceptance rate and $30,000 salary (IIM A), which one would you choose? I'm noticing that an increasing number of IITians , NIT, BITS etc. have realized this and are choosing a deferred MBA at the above top global schools - I’ve covered this later in the answer.
Selection criteria for IIM ABC vs. Top Global Programs:
IIM ABC - you’ve got to nail the CAT. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only focused on academics all your life or struggle to communicate or work in a team - if you get a 99.9, you’re likely to get an interview call.
Top Global Schools - These schools still require a strong GMAT score, average is 730 ~ 96th percentile. But you’ll be surprised to know that many 99th percentilers are rejected without interview by these schools if they don’t show evidence of leadership, teamwork and impact. In general, GMAT score is regarded as a key that will only open the door for global MBA programs - however, it will rarely be the most important factor (unlike CAT score) that determines if you will get admitted. Check this out - Suprising Harvard MBA Rejections | Poets&Quants
GMAT usually has a weight of 15–30% in an admit decision for global schools; the CAT score weight ranges from 60% to 85% (though, as many friends from IIM ABC say, it feels like 99%). In global process, GPA, Essays, Recommendation Letters, Resume, Quality of undergrad brand, Quality of employment/internship all matter. Consequently, those, whose only bright spot in their application is their high GMAT score (and perhaps their GPA) face a rude shock when they apply to global schools.
What’s interesting is that the trend of applying to a Deferred MBA has dramatically increased in top Indian undergrad schools like the IITs (especially in Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur and Kharagpur), NITs, ICT, VJTI, LSR, St. Stephen’s and the like. Why? They’ve realized some key insights. You may want to read more about these in this link - Sumeet Verlekar's answer to What are the advantages of studying MBA from Harvard Stanford over IIMs in India?
Many top MBA aspirants dream of getting into the prestigious MBB (McKinsey-BCG-Bain) firms for good reason. For one, they are the cream of the lot and are considered as the fast track to CXO level roles. They are also know as knowledge accelerators. From experience I can tell you that a year spent at such firms teaches you much much more given the diversity of projects, training on best practices and working with highly intelligent and smart co-workers.
At both top Global MBA programs like Harvard, Stanford and top local programs like IIM ABC, MBB are all day zero companies. Each of these firms are leaders in their own right all over the world and in India. Their alumni have gone on to become CXOs in some of the world's largest companies. So which one is the best out of these three?
The truth is that the preference part comes in only when someone has worked in all three firms. I've seen this happen very rarely. However, I've worked on the client side with ALL THREE firms and hence am reasonably placed to discuss how they compare. During MBA, one of my best friends chose McKinsey vs. others, the reason was that he liked the partner more than the ones for other firms. Another chose BCG for the same reason. From a career perspective, the learning and skill acceleration is similar across the three.
McKinsey is the largest strategy consulting firm in the world and as such the size of an average practice is bigger than that for BCG and Bain. This may attract some students. While I’m not aware of the latest numbers, in India, McKinsey and BCG are bigger firms while Bain’s fast making inroads.
Due to it’s sheer size, McKinsey hires maximum number of MBAs out of the three. So there are just more positions available at McKinsey vs. the rest. In my US experience, McKinsey engagements were shorter (2–3 months) whereas BCG/Bain’s were longer. Work ethic was similar, though I found BCG consultants more intellectual (but again, this is from a limited sample size of 2-3 engagements with each of the firms). Bainies seemingly appeared most chilled out among the three.
The reason that the comparison is difficult is because all three firms focus on getting the right interns and then offering them PPOs. This is largely true for India. In the NYC and SFO/Silicon Valley Offices for these firms, 2/3rd to 3/4th of MBA hires were summer interns and only 1/3rd to 1/4th were through final year placements. Once the MBA student becomes familiar with the partners and others during his/her internship, it’s rare for that person to refuse a PPO and join one of the other two.
My friends who are partners in some of these firms have shared that the firm culture really varies from city to city. A BCG NY will have a different culture vs. BCG LA - just something to think about.
If you are lucky to get offers from all three, it will ultimately boil down to how much you like the people you see around - since everything else is comparable.
Note: I’ve answered many similar queries in My Quora Space, Indians Aiming@ IvyLeague feel free to visit & follow.
It’s possible for an applicant from a no name university to get an admit from top tier MBA programs. You’ve got to focus on the tangibles and intangibles and outperform an average applicant to these schools. Read on…
First, the tangible things you’ve got to do:
Test Scores: Get a test score ideally higher than the school average. With a higher score, you’re helping the adcom pull up their score average. Scores in excess of 730 are desirable.
GPA: A higher GPA shows a higher drive to succeed academically and make most of the offerings in these highly competitive programs. It will help even further if you’re ranked in top 5–10% of your class.
Employers/Undergrad Brand: While quality experience can be secured in any
company, top schools value where you come from. So if you don’t have a known undergrad brand, try getting an experience with a known employer brand. The schools want to make sure that their application is not the first time that you have competed and won vs. a highly talented competitive pool.
Choice of Recommenders: Assuming that you will pick recommenders who have observed your work first hand and closely, having a recommender who is a school alumnus can only help you. They’ve been in competitive environments before and their evaluation about you would matter to the adcoms.
Legacy: If your parents, siblings or close relatives have attended, do communicate that in your application.
Next, the intangibles:
Co-curriculars & Extracurriculars: IMO, your co-curriculars and extracurriculars do move the needle for the adcom if they are remarkable. Remarkable would be achievements that are at international or national level. Yes, winning a college level competition may be important for you but 100s of applicants would have won at a college level. The proportion of winners at higher levels is much lesser and hence will standout for the adcoms
Leadership experiences: These can come from both professional and personal life. The choice of the examples you pick to communicate is crucial. Each experience needs to be - a) Highly challenging, b) Showcase innovation, influencing and other coveted leadership competencies, c) Should result in adding significant value to yourself and your organization/community
Community Service: It’s wonderful to take time to give back. However, unless the experience is significant and has longevity, it’ll not likely impact your admit decision.
Engagement with the school: Networking with alums, students and attending school sessions are important in demonstrating interest and I’d highly recommend them. Not only do they enable you to get an authentic perspective on the school and your fit, you may make contacts and get experiences that can help the quality of your application tip over the edge into admit land.
Ultimately, besides scores and GPA, your key docs are resume, essays and letters of recommendation. Every school is unique and the above docs, besides positioning you as a top applicant, should also demonstrate your understanding of these unique features.
Berkeley/Haas is one of the most rapidly rising MBA programs in the world and one of the 3-4 schools to have programs ranked among the top 10 across functional areas - strategy, general management, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, etc. Previous Dean Rich Lyons's work on building endowment, hiring great faculty, building infrastructure and launching the 4 defining principles has made the program feature consistently in top 10 across rankings.
The school is very transparent about the profile of successful applicants.
Academic excellence- GPA
Strong test score: GMAT 726 (Mid 80% would be approx. 670-780)
Leadership and career progression
Achievements or Participation in Beyond Yourself activities
Authentic application docs that show deep understanding and interest about the program (why Haas), why MBA and your goals
Well balanced interests (academics + extracurricular)
Would urge you to visit the school admissions website and visit the campus or engage with alumni or students (Haas student ambassadors).
Having pursued projects with bulge bracket investment banks in NYC, in my opinion, best universities for finance (or for that matter any other subject) are those who provide you BOTH knowledge and the right career break. I’ve shared the school names towards the end of this discussion. If that’s what you’re looking for, feel free to scroll down.
For Finance, the location of the school is very important. Why? Since the best finance jobs reside in a few key financial hubs across the world. Having strong network in these locations is very important! So, if you want to work in a specific location, make sure that your school has a strong network there - if the school is local, even better.
NYC is the world’s biggest financial hub by far - nothing’s even close. After NYC (in no particular order), London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, HK, Singapore, Chicago, SFO, LA, Dubai, Mumbai are big financial hubs. Among the above cities, besides Tokyo (and to an extent Paris and Berlin), you can easily get by with English language skills. If you’re in a sales role like investment banking, knowledge of local language is strongly preferred - it helps you connect with clients way better.
Now on to schools - I’ve mentioned the prominent ones, but there are many more local options you could look at:
NYC: Columbia, NYU, Wharton - it’s in Philly, so considering it to be local, Harvard, Yale, MIT or a NYC based school with a strong local network and strength in finance (Gabelli, Rochester etc.) which offers MS.
Chicagoland: Chicago/Booth, NW/Kellogg and local schools (Loyola, IIIT etc.)
California (SFO and LA): Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, Most UCs and local schools (SantaClara, Golden Gate etc.)
London: LBS, Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, Warwick, Manchester
HK: CUHK, Chinese UHK, HKUST, U.Hong Kong
Singapore: NUS, Nanyang, SMU
Note: Having a CFA Level II would strengthen your application
Post MBA Industry of Interest:
Finance or Consulting
Interviews: Yale Silver Scholar
MBA, Darden Future Years MBA, MIT MS Finance, NYU MS Quantitative Finance
Admits: Yale Silver Scholar (MBA),
Darden Future Years (MBA), NYU, MS Quantitative Finance
When and why did you first consider
getting a deferred MBA from a global B School?
- I always had doing an MBA on my radar, and was initially
considering staying in the country. Over time, I realised just how important
diversity is to me, and decided to apply to B Schools outside the country
(specifically to America) to really be exposed to different cultures and
viewpoints.
Taking up the Silver Scholars program
at SOM was a function of how I (a) Loved the SOM community and (b) appreciated
the accelerated opportunity the program offers.
Gmat prep, reaction/thoughts after
score
- My prep consisted of a TON of practice and most importantly,
reflection.
I started with a ton of theory, and moved on to actually doing
questions and mocks. An important note is to really take your scores on mocks
seriously, and deeply evaluate where you're losing points - getting too many
things wrong in a row will cost you.
Seeing the 760 was honestly more relieving than anything else. I
really didn't want to have to write the GMAT again lol. But on a more serious
note, whilst my score was super important (given the programs I was looking
at), its important to keep in perspective that your score is just a small part
of your entire 'story', and eventually your entire application
Your experience of the MBA
application process. - Did anything surprise or shock you?
- In a word, holistic. I was really shocked by how much they cared
about outside of just your grades. Actually being at Yale now, I can see why -
each person here brings with them a specific skillset and personality, and
that's so important for our overall learning.
Yale interview: How did you
prepare, experience and thoughts
- Without revealing too much, I'll say that the Silver Scholars
interview was tough, to say the least. You need to know your motivations behind
everything. My biggest interview prep technique was actually just introspecting
deeply - WHY do I want to do an MBA? Why Yale? Why Now? These are answers that
differ from person to person, and you need to figure out your own answers. For
me, I knew from speaking to alumni and others that Yale's an incredibly
collaborative place, and a strong community. This was super important to me,
and I made sure it came through.
Specialized inputs and mentoring
your received
This was probably marginally the most important aspect of it.
While as a candidate you could easily be MBA - ready, for the top schools
especially, I don't think that's enough. You also have to be a good fit at that
school, it's so important. The specialised help I got from Sumeet and
the CIE team was really understanding the personality of each
B-School, and figuring out if I was a match. This not only helped me research
the school with a better perspective, but also self select the schools I wanted
to be at in the future. Understanding that you're a fit at a school (and
demonstrating it) is (in my opinion) often overlooked while applying, and I
cant overstate how important it is to get someone who can help walk you through
what the schools are like, and whether you'd be a good fit.
Any advice for future applicants
regarding the application process?
- Yep, relax! Getting into B School is not just about getting in,
its also about doing well once you're there. Choose your schools wisely, and
choose ones you vibe with, and you'd arguably be much happier. Also, focus on
parts of your application you maybe don't actively think about as much, and
figure out what your 'story' is - it may be your make or break.
For more tips on this or other topics
or to get regular updates on new articles, write to me:
sumeet [underscore] verlekar [at the
rate] berkeley [dot] edu
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Wharton,
one of the most prestigious B Schools in the world has recently opened up its
Advance Access program (deferred MBA) to undergraduates outside of U.Penn.
Initially launched in 2017, this program was hitherto open only to seniors from
U.Penn.
What’s
interesting is that the program so far had a very small class; only 10-15
students compared to Wharton full time (FT) MBA intake of 800+ students. By
opening up doors to final year undergraduates or masters students (who don’t
have any prior work experience), I expect the intake for the Advance Access
program to gradually increase. Harvard Business School’s 2+2 deferred MBA
program admits 100-120 students annually compared to HBS FT MBA enrollment of
900+ while Yale admits 10-15 silver scholars in comparison with FT MBA intake
of 370-400.
Accepted
students will work for 2 to 4 years before starting Wharton FT MBA program.
Much like HBS 2+2, Wharton wants to admit innovative, intellectually curious people
who are ready to impact the world. The application process is similar to that
of the FT MBA with academic transcripts, resume, GMAT/GRE scores, 2 letters of
recommendation, 2 essays and application fee of $100. Team-based interviews
will scheduled by invitation only. Click here
to know more about the program. Also refer to my article on How
to get admit in Harvard Business School 2+2 program. Many of the learnings
will apply to the Wharton MBA application.
For more tips on this or other topics
or to get regular updates on new articles, write to me:
sumeet [underscore] verlekar [at the
rate] berkeley [dot] edu
Did you find this article helpful?
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So you want to get in a top B School and are
worried about a low GPA in undergrad? Rest assured knowing that are many smart
things you can do to assuage concerns of the adcom for this area.
Before we discuss what you can do, do you know
why GPA matters to the adcom? Simple, past performance is seen as a metric for
future success. In other words, if you’ve done well academically in past, they
feel that you would be as driven to excel academically in their rigorous MBA program. This matters since
candidates who give it their all in class and juice out the most from the
school experience end up with stronger learnings (and grades) which can impress
employers and provide a positive impression about the school. Read my article
here to gain an understanding of how adcom evaluates your application.
The adcoms also value a strong
GPA since this is one of the important factors to judge the quality of incoming
class. Quality of student body matters in influential rankings such as the US
News or Financial Times and rankings are important in attracting new
applications. Adcoms want to continue this virtuous cycle of attracting top
talent who do well in class and in turn impress employers and help the school
move up the rankings which in turn attracts more top talent. If you have a low
GPA, you’re weakening this momentum they’ve worked hard to build – which will
hence be detrimental to your chances to gain an admit. A look at incoming
classes across Super Elites shows an average GPA of 3.5/4.0.
Clarification: Super Elites are the traditional US top B Schools (HBS, Stanford, U.Penn/Wharton, Berkeley/Haas, NW/Kellogg, Chicago/Booth, MIT, NW/Kellogg, Berkeley/Haas, Columbia, Michigan/Ross, Dartmouth/Tuck, Duke/Fuqua and Yale SOM) and INSEAD, HEC Paris and London Business School.
My past work with applicants with
low GPAs who secured admits to multiple Super Elite schools showed that they
worked hard on all other parameters such as test score, essays etc. that adcoms
weigh heavily. Result, I helped those with GPAs < 2.8 get into top 15
schools with scholarship and those with GPA <3.0 get into Harvard,
Stanford, Wharton with an average $30,000 scholarship.
Let’s understand what you can do
if you have low GPA.
1)Score high on your entrance tests – GMAT or
GRE. For those of you having GPA lower than 3.0, aim for 700+ on GMAT. If
you belong to competitive pools such as India or China, you should aim for
730+. A score of 670-700 would make you competitive to schools in top 30. A
high test score represents your latest evidence to adcoms that if you put your
mind to it, you can excel. The red flag suddenly appear that RED anymore. If
you’re unable to get a 650+, it’s better not to apply only to the top schools –
spread your applications among schools which are solid but expect more
reasonable scores and GPAs.
2)Take on extra coursework or certifications
and excel. Take courses, especially in quantitative subjects such as
statistics, data analytics, accounting or finance. Aim for an A- or better. HBS
CORe (Credential Of Readiness)
has 3 courses – Business Analytics, Economics for Managers and Financial
Accounting and is a great way to establish your readiness for MBA (though it’s expensive).
You can also look at similar courses from coursera.org, edx.org or IMS preschool
(proschoolonline.com).
3)Apply
in Early decision or Round 1. Schools like Columbia, Duke/Fuqua, Virginia/Darden
etc. have early action rounds before their regular rounds. Apply in these
rounds. You’re making a statement to the school that they’re your top choice
and adcoms will be more considerate to some red flags in your application if
you apply in early action round. If you’ve missed early action, apply in round
1 for the same reasons mentioned above. While this is not that strong a
statement as in early action, it’s still signals a stronger affinity towards
that school.
4)Don’t underplay the importance of weak
grades – rather take time to explain. Grades are important to the adcom –
period. Don’t try to convince them that it is not so. Also, don’t leave poor
grades unexplained – nothing will miss the adcom’s eyes. It’s better to accept
the reality and explain why you secured poor grades. Did you spend too much
time in extracurriculars or leadership positions? Were you sick during a
particular semester exam due to which overall grade looks poor? The optional essay is
an excellent way to explain the gap.
5)Showcase your strengths. An excellent
way to overcome your low GPA is to focus on highlighting your strengths. I had
one of past clients highlight that he had proficiency in 3 other foreign languages
besides English and mention an employer who hired MBA grads for a particular
geography which needed expertise in that language. He got into Kellogg with a
2.7 GPA.
- Did you achieve something remarkable in college in
lieu of the low GPA?
- Did you achieve an accelerated career growth? Did you
secure multiple promotions?
- Highlight something that makes you unique which is
also something that B School will value
- You can also ask your recommender to highlight
strengths that matter – say quantitative or analytical skills etc.
6)Gain experience or internship with a
prestigious employer. If McKinsey and Goldman Sachs hired you, they saw
something they liked. This will boost the adcoms confidence that you have the
DNA to belong to a top B School.
7)Put up an outstanding written application. Well crafted, engaging
stories can help you paint an inspiring world around the adcom reader. Help her
imagine what you’re saying instead of just listing down your stories. The
impact of well written, imaginative essays can’t be overstated. Once you’re
close in terms of GPA and test score, your essays will tip adcom over into
providing you an admit.
For more tips on this or other topics
or to get regular updates on new articles, write to me:
sumeet [underscore] verlekar [at the
rate] berkeley [dot] edu
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