The Fine Art of MBA Application

The Fine Art of MBA Application With nine (9) fully-funded offers, 5 out of which also included monthly stipends, from fourteen (14) applications to top 10 – 50 MBA programs in the US and Canada, I have learned that business schools' MBA application is a fine art that should be honed. If you are not new to Firmsconsulting, you will have heard Michael talk about how networking isn't different from dating. The same is true here. Now, before you call me Casanova (I assure you I am not) who courted fourteen different ladies, let me tell you a story. A story that puts the above in context. MBA Application: my first attempt Late 2018, I had applied to six MBA programs – Harvard (HBS), MIT (Sloan), Michigan (Ross), Toronto (Rotman), Washington (Olin) and Maryland (Robert Smith). I applied to HBS and MIT because I didn’t want to live a life wondering if I could have gotten in (looking back now, I guess I applied for the honor of getting rejected. hahaha). It didn’t take long for me to get a response – NO. Maryland, I suspect, didn’t think I was going to accept their offer after I told them about…

Analyzing Oct 2012 MBA McKinsey, BCG & Bain Placement

Throughout these analyzes, we will refer to a model we use to analyze clients. It may be useful to scroll down to the very last section to read an overview of the model. Big trends A big trend in this cycle was the outflow of traditional US-targeting clients going after foreign offices. This was a huge shift from last year. Fully, 67% of our successful clients placed in foreign offices. In fact, clients declined by a U.S. office were applying to Johannesburg, Dubai, Korea, Singapore, etc. and securing interviews, and ultimately offers. We are not saying foreign offices have necessarily an easier interview process, but the supply of quality candidates is lower. The PhD’s were a much larger group here. The number of females was sharply higher in our Sep/Oct client group. • Of the successful placements, 53% were female. • Unlike male PhD’s and male MBA clients, females were predominantly from the traditionally strong placement schools like Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Wharton, Stanford etc. • 76% of the 53% successful female placements originated from these schools. • That said, the majority possessed undergraduate degrees from largely unknown schools, to us, or foreign schools. Foreign students studying in the US dominated…

The Day To Prepare The Return To Consulting

"From the first day of working in industry she realized that management consulting is her true calling " Ali emigrated from the Former Soviet Union with nothing. Ten years later she holds undergraduate and MBA degrees, having achieved both cum laude with highest distinctions. She is a director in a Fortune 200 company. From the first day of working in industry she realized that management consulting is her true calling and is the best reflection of who she is. She aims to go back to consulting within a few years, after serving out her current role so as to depart on “good terms.” Between Sep 2013 and Sep 2014, Firmsconsulting is running The Women Premium theme. This article is part of our Sunday Routine series focusing on the theme by exploring the lives of some remarkable female clients in our program. *** RISE AND SHINE I wake up between 6-8am, depending on how late I went to bed the night before. The first thing I do is make myself a cup of green tea and I have it with few pieces of dark chocolate while reading the New York Times for about an hour. CARDIO, YOGA AND PODCASTS Next I…

Client Testimonials

MBA graduate on proper case preparation

My Michael Moment took place in my first session. I had had a long week working on a new assignment, coming home around 11pm every night and procrastinating my case preparation. For my first session at 9pm on Friday night I decided to wing it with no practice and I did not watch the videos. How bad could it be? Very bad. Michael stopped my session 5 minutes in and explained that it was clear I had not watched the videos or done any practising. He did it in a nice way and did not blame me for anything. He also explained that he gets a printout from of my video watching patterns so he knew what I did and did not watch, and which parts of the video I had skipped over. Yikes! He just explained that I needed to be better prepared or the sessions will focus on simple things I could learn by myself. We continued chatting for another 15 minutes as Michael suggested changes to my preparation and planning. Anyone else would have billed me for that time and accused me of wasting time. Michael did not even talk about that. We just cancelled the time…

Client Testimonials

Motivating MBA before McKinsey interview

I requested Michael to speak to me before my McKinsey interview. So, one day before the interview he tried to find time but could not accommodate me. At about 9:00pm, my phone rings and least of all I am expecting to hear Michael’s voice on the other side; I am surprised as hell, because Michael is available on Skype only. In his characteristic tone he says, “[Redacted] how are you”? And then goes on to say some of the most simple but profoundly motivating words for me. He says, “[Redacted], good luck for tomorrow. You have it in you and you can make it, you just need to believe in yourself. If you were one of the mediocre candidates then I would have said, have a good time at the interview, we will teach you the networking skills and attempt to get you another interview next year. But, you have the intellectual rigor needed for a McKinsey interview. All you need to go in is with extreme levels of self-confidence. And please do me a favor – Don’t talk to and listen to your friends, because they don’t know anything about what McKinsey wants in a candidate. And that’s why…

Client Testimonials

African MBA Graduate on values before profit

My Michael Moment came right at the beginning. As a South African MBA student the program was approximately R[Redacted]. That was a lot of money and equal to 25% of the yearly cost of my MBA program. It was a lot of money! It is a lot of money! It will always be a lot of money. I had applied late in the cycle and given the sum involved, I would need about 3 to 4 weeks to beg, borrow and squeeze it out of my parents – who thought I was certifiably insane to spend so much money on this program. The moment occurred when I wrote to Michael and asked if we could start before the payment was made. I knew it would be a no but thought I should ask. Michael’s response is pasted below and it is the reason I am such a strong believer in his views – well, that and I did get into MBB! Dear [redacted] We understand the funding challenges. We would be able to start the program before payment is made. We select clients heavily on values and ethics, and if there was any doubt you would not pay us, then…

Client Testimonials

MBA on a very counter-intuitive BCG strategy

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? The program was one of the best journeys of my life! Well before doing my MBA I wrote to Michael and asked for his advice. He recommended INSEAD or Ivey for the 1-year program and several of the US programs for the 2-year programs. He strongly encouraged me to consider the limitations of a 1-year program and that I would not have any room for mistakes. I signed up and went with Ivey. Big mistake? Hell Yeah! My grades were tanking by September and I did not see any way out. I was struggling to prioritize and decided to major in finance modules to show off my analytic skills. Bob Whites course was killing me. At this stage Michael gave me some very useful advice which changed everything for me and put me back onto track: 1) I should ignore consulting in the September recruitment and join the internal strategy team at a bank. Consulting firms apparently liked this profile and I could apply to McKinsey the next year in December – in about a year’s time. If I applied in September and was declined it would be hard to ever get…

Client Testimonials

Female MBA pivots away from BCG to join IBanking

My Michael Moment happened after my first try at MBB. I applied to all three firms and secured interviews at all three, but did not make it past the final round. I was obviously tired and frustrated. Bitter would be a better word since my class mates got in and they were poorly prepared relative to myself - my opinion but I think it is true. Michael’s first response was to brush off the failure and say we needed to regroup for the full-time hiring. I liked that he did not quit and pushed me to fix my development areas over the summer. I am pretty sure if Michael showed any hesitation about my skills, I would have quit at that point. This story does not end with me getting into MBB in September. It is not that kind of happy ending, but it is very happy. Michael taught me not to quit and to think very carefully about what I wanted to achieve. I still worked with Michael but we focused on investment banking and I ended up getting a coveted offer from one of the leading bulge-bracket M&A firms. In the economic environment at the time, that was…

Client Testimonials

Deloitte S&O MBA declines McKinsey for Corporate

I have many great moments of working with Michael but the most far-reaching moment occurred when I received offers from McKinsey and a Fortune 500 company to join as a strategy manager. I had been a Senior Consultant at Deloitte S&O in London and was wrapping up my MBA. I thought the decision was a no-brainer. All my friends were high-fiving me for getting into McKinsey – it was a bad year for recruiting and only a few people got in. Michael provided a new perspective for me. He pointed out that by going to McKinsey as an associate I was actually taking a step back because I had already been the Deloitte equivalent in a fairly good office. He also showed me – which he proved via a simple LinkedIn search while sharing screens – that the role I was offered as strategy manager was something I may or may not get after McKinsey, and if I did, it could only happen after spending about 2 or 3 years as an associate. He basically said that the strategy manager role is the role people take after working at McKinsey for a few years and I was being offered it…