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It sounds like you are more fortunate that 99.9% of the world. Have a great day.
No offense but what you’ve said in your replies it sounds like your “why MBA” story wasn’t that strong. The “why MBA at our school” story doesn’t really have anything to do with building a school in your parents’ village—schools want to see reasons other than prestige that you need an MBA from them specifically, like skills, experiences, new perspective that you need etc. And seeing your comment “I’ll never being able to own my own firm without an HSB or GSB degree” makes me wonder if your app was missing a compelling “why” for them.
Bruh- is this like your first encounter with failure or rejection?
Given all the stats you rattled off, you’re gonna be living life comfortably. Check yo self
Maybe your writing sucked, or you came off as whiny
What you don't understand is that your skin color alone defines who you are and supercedes any "accomplishments" or "hard work"
I honestly don’t think you can take it for granted that you’d have better results if your ethnicity were different. I don’t think your stats are outstanding for some of the programs you are aiming for to warrant an interview.
This is coming from someone who was advised by consultants to apply next year because this year is much more competitive than usual. I have a perfect GRE and GPA, and went to H/S/W for undergrad. Still, I think it’s a crapshoot for top MBA programs.
Also don’t take it the wrong way, but the essays really matter and as far as your interactions go on this thread, you sound quite entitled. I’d count your blessings foe having what you do have during this time and try again next year.
^ this guy sounds so McKinsey it hurts
Subject Expert
I mean 730 and 3.6 are average overall for those schools and unless the sport is football/basketball/maybe baseball no one cares.
I'm ORM + international and even though it sucks for us, I understand why it is this way. If we had equal admit rates to other demographics, more than half our class would be asians and one reason why I'm doing an MBA is to get a diverse experience. I rather it be this way than asians flood MBAs.
I'm a very mediocre candidate (740/3.2/avg WE) and I didn't even think I'd get a T15 this year given the competition. I ended up with Fuqua ($) and pretty happy despite the odds.
1) UChicago isn’t a top 5 undergrad
2) Maybe it’s about the story you’re telling and not just your stats/ethnicity? Just a thought
Subject Expert
Sorry, but a lot of people apply with the social impact angle and it may be a bit overplayed... unless you have solid experience to back it up
I feel you - I know ppl are telling you your story isn’t right or you can’t take your success for granted. But what else could you have done? Not your own fault that Indians have better grades and you weren’t brought up broke
Ew
SC 1 - I am an Asian/Indian male from a T15 UG, 3.7 GPA, and 720 GMAT from MBB, and former athlete too! I got an interview at Wharton but denied at HBS/CBS. So I can totally relate to you. Let me say ta couple things: (i) I don't think demographics plays as a big of a role as you think (in other words if you were white you wouldn't be much better off) and (ii) yes maybe you are in a worse position than someone who is female or someone hispanic/black/comes from underrepresented geography but there are ways to overcome this through your recs/goals/story - you say its really good but maybe get a professional to look at it (formal ding analysis) and (iv) HSW are not the only schools that will be value added. If you want to raise funds from alumni you could even look at CBS, Tuck, Kellogg all of which you can get into!
Good luck OP, you’ll kill it! May be additional legwork with networking, but I’m sure you can leverage your existing connections for similar if not better results 🤞🏼
I’m like 30% considering reapplying next year. Will speak to a few ‘more trusted’ admissions consultants (who get booked really early and don’t need my business, less incentive to entice etc) next week to figure out my odds and then see.
Indian male here as well w/ GSB interview and HBS further consideration. 720 GMAT w/ Ivy Undergrad. Tbh, it was the story that got me anywhere close to getting invites at these schools along with my non-finance/consulting/PE background. I think more of your rejections had to do with being in a competitive pool from a non-race perspective.
Relax, you applied to two of the best MBA programs in the world. Even the best applicants have a 50/50 shot
Be careful not to confuse those metrics with your whole application.
GMAT score is only useful in determining whether you will even be considered for a school.
Then your job and qualifications will be taken into account, but only as part of a wholistic view of who you are as a person. Did you get involved with projects that would be unique to you ? Do your essays tell a story that is truly compelling ? For any top MBA program, it's not enough to have a good job and a great GMAT. You have to show that you are something else, with potential to be truly excellent as a leader, not just a professional.
Why don’t you try for INSEAD? INSEAD has a strong PE network and their alumni network is probably the most extensive out there.
Saying that a degree outside of HSW adds no value is horribly untrue. As someone who is at Anderson and rejected an M7 to be here, I caution you against speaking these thoughts out loud and encourage you to reframe your thinking and have a little bit more creativity. Have you tried talking to folks at Darden to see what paths to success have looked like there? Have you truly tried tapping their network now that you’re an admit? If you can’t quote stats, you haven’t done the research.
Now I also recognize this is FB and I also had my own complaining post last year, so I don’t fault you that. As a white male who got dinged from Kellogg just to see my direct report a promotion level down (Asian female whose recommendation letter I wrote) get into Kellogg a year after me definitely had me scratching my head and shrugging to the universe.
Coach
What schools did you apply to?
Coach
What’s your post mba goal?
Rip. I consistently see orm from state schools + industry jobs land m7s so honestly no clue why you didn't get an interview at the 4
As Indian male, you also compete with Indian from India, Singapore, etc. the cohort is much more competitive.Remember Warren Buffet got rejected by Harvard and went to Colombia. The current CEO doesn’t even have a MBA. If you stick around and have real talents, you will shine.
OP - your stats are good but you’re not walking on water so don’t peg it to be an “Indian male in finance” issue. Even with perfect GRE/760+ GMAT, 3.9 GPAs from ivies, great work experience ppl get rejected all the time from top 10 programs. In fact, last week I found out about my friends cousin who is a Princeton undergrad athlete, 730 gmat and got rejected from every top 15 program.
Stats get your foot in the door, no doubt. But beyond that, there’s a huge uphill battle on convincing adcoms why you’re a good FIT - don’t underestimate this last part. Fit is everything.
As for PE - Booth, Tuck, CBS are excellent schools to enter PE or social impact investing spaces. Stop thinking that HSW is gonna give you some golden ticket to success - it’s not. Great schools but it really doesn’t matter. I went to a top program (non-HSW and no, I don’t like using the m7 term because it’s made up bullshit) and the Stanford and HBS guys work right with me.