| Topic Name: |
Engineer thinking about MBA |
| Message Name: |
To McK Insider |
| Date Posted: |
01/29/2000 |
| In Reply To: |
First, I was really amused by the last posting "easy tiger." But you (original poster) asked a good question about the tutoring and grades. So, let me address them as far as I know (and I hope "Former Top 10 Admissions" and "Former McKinsey" can add to this):
Grades: I wouldn't sweat the grades too much. Like I said before, the grades will become less and less important. The top schools can cover the "required GPA" quotas pretty quickly. After that, it comes down to whether they think you will fit with the class.
I had a post-rejection interview with HBS where they told me I was pretty far above their academic mean, but that academics was the least of their concerns. Once they figure you're "smart enough" to get through the curriculum, that becomes an "academic point." (sorry for the pun). Beyond that, it's fit, leadership, philanthropy, etc.
Tutoring: I think that the tutoring is certainly a nice thing (no better or worse than running a marathon for charity). But think broader. This is my opinion, but I think what you have to do is demonstrate a mentality of "concern for mankind" and a willingness to continue working for causes that would help further the name of the school.
Visiting: It sounds like you are working pretty hard, so start visiting early. If you e-mail the Mgt Consulting Assoc on our web page (see students section at Columbia for club pages), and reference this note, I will get ahold of it and set something up for you at CBS. If you have time, add NYU to your list and think about heading out to Chicago for a bit.
Ignore the silly posts on this forum. There is less time than you think, so get your butt in gear, start studying, figure out which schools and why, get copies of their apps, yadah yadah yadah. You'll do fine. BUT, apply to a bunch of schools. It's not as easy to get in as these yahoos make it out to be.
From the little I know, I'd be happy to have you in our class here at CBS. Best of luck! |
| Message: |
McK Insider,
I am a senior in engineering and think maybe I'll want to pursue an MBA in the future. Here are my thoughts about getting into B-school if I still desire to do "engineering" work for my pre-MBA years. I just wanted to know if you agree with my strategy, as I want to know if it's a pretty good career plan. Basically I'm thinking I should go into either project engineering or applications engineering. Project engineering would give me lots of responsibilties and project management experience pretty quick. Applications engineering would give me a lot of client interaction and business-like experience. This is of course is a generalization and it kinda depends on the company and industry one works for. Anyways, lemme know if this sounds like a good plan. I think these two options would be better than going into R&D work unless I happened to come up with some awesome patent, but I wouldn't bet on that.
Do you agree that these two options seem to be the best road to getting into b-school?
Thanks in advance for the input.
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