Sunday, January 27, 2008

Application advice in exchange for donation?

Sometime last December I had an idea I actually want to somehow implement before next year's application season begins for the class of 2011. Unlike many applicants, I was fortunate to have a friend who already went through the application process and was willing to give me feedback on my essays. The majority of applicants probably doesn't have such resources - and hence some use admissions consultants. This means spending lots of $$$ (and many consider it to be unethical).

That's how I came up with the idea of providing a list of volunteers who give feedback (like my friend did) in exchange for a donation to a non-profit.

What do you guys think? I already asked a couple of friends I know in b-school and inquired on forums. Everyone thinks it's a fantastic idea - but unfortunately nobody seems to have time. Well I'm done with the application process and will be leaving my job in March. So if anybody needs feedback on their LBS essays in exchange for a donation then let me know :-) !!! Even better, if you belong to the lucky group of admits (or current students, alumni) and would like to volunteer then drop me a line too (regardless which b-school you're affiliated with).

Update: We are three volunteers now and therefore "live"! Horray, spread the word...
Update 2: Now we're 9... check our new website: www.MBAvolunteers.org

On another note, check this cool non-profit:
http://www.mbaswithoutborders.org
They match up post-MBAs with for-profit companies in developing countries as part of a consulting project. I emailed them to see if I could maybe join a project on a voluntary basis even though I don't have my MBA yet. I would like to do something like a pre-MBA internship somewhere in South America before LBS begins in August. As I wrote in an earlier post, I'll be leaving my job in Boston in March. First destination will be Brazil.

Update: Just got an email back, you need to be post-MBA to join a project :-(

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Post-MBA location

Last week some of the LBS admits from Boston met up. Was great meeting some of my fellow future class mates. We are planning on meeting up again next week since not all of us could attend last time. There was also an alumni who shared some info on LBS and working in the US afterwards. For those applicants who are considering working in the US after their MBAs, European schools are typically not the best choice. But according to the alumni, LBS does have an excellent brand recognition among recruiters in the US, in case you want to leave the options of your post-MBA location open. He is currently recruiting for his company (BCG) and will be interviewing 3 candidates from LBS for US offices. One interesting fact he also mentioned: Only McKinsey, BCG and Goldman Sachs tend to pay attention to degrees with distinction. So if you don't plan to work for one of these three (they also want your GMAT scores btw) then don't bother working your ass off like a maniac - nobody will care about your class rank.

Then I also heard about a very funny tradition at LBS: The Santa Pub Crawl. 400+ students in Santa costumes hitting the nightlife in London. Check some pix:
http://mbablog.london.edu/mbablog/2007/12/santa-pub-crawl.html

Sunday, January 20, 2008

After our MBA, when the $$$ are rolling in...

...lets not forget what some of us might have written in our MBA applications! Yes for the first years some might be busy paying off those loans, maybe then it's time to buy that nice house for the family. But at some point, wouldn't it be cool to do something good with all that money we'll (hopefully) be making? I mean before the MBA we all did our volunteering stuff to make that resume look nice, why not after an MBA as well? I wanted to introduce two guys (not sure if they got an MBA though :-) who did some pretty cool stuff with their money and their time:

John Wood (check his Wikipedia profile): He was a top Microsoft manager in the 90's, earning a shit load of money, when he once decided to go backpacking in Nepal. After seeing the poverty and visiting a remote school which had a few lousy books in its library, he promised to return and help out. The school director said: "Yeah of course you'll come back, like all the other tourists said..." A couple months later, he fulfilled his promise and returned with 3,000 books loaded on 37 donkeys. Soon later, he quit his job at Microsoft in 2000 and founded Room to Read which today supports 155 schools worldwide and has collected $33MM in donations to date.

Mo Ibrahim (check his Wikipedia profile): Mo made a fortune on the sale of his mobile phone company in Africa in 2005. With the money he made from the sale (estimated at $650MM) Mo founded the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which awards $5MM over 10 years and $200K for life after to any African leader who demonstrated good governance and leadership (such as handing off power after losing a democratic election). Through this "competition" Mo wants to promote democracy in Africa and hopes that African leaders might stop enriching only themselves instead of their countries.

Well maybe these are two extreme examples, but I hope I'll remember what I just wrote in my blog in a few years out.

Update: Thanks for the info mbabound, John Wood got his MBA from Kellogg.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Just made my deposit...

...of 1500 GBP to LBS! Can't wait to move to London and meet my new class mates. After 7 years in Boston I'm so looking forward to living in a new city....

On another note, my last day of work will be March 7, 2008. A week after, I will be leaving to Brazil with a couple of friends to go backpacking. After they return to Boston, I will travel North along the coast and try to find a nice place where I can learn how to kite surf. If anybody knows of good kite surfing spots in South America please let me know! I also plan on working somewhere in S. America for 1-2 months, maybe in some interesting business/industry or a non-profit, something like a pre-MBA internship.

Anyways, if you have similar plans (no matter which b-school you're attending) and if you want to meet up somewhere for some beers at the beach bar, drop me an email!
anselmino at gmail dot com

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

How I picked my schools…

So HBS, LBS, Haas and IESE might sound like a weird combination of b-schools, but I sure did my research and ended up with these 4 programs. In order of my preference of schools, here are my pros and cons:

1. HBS
Pros: Harvard was my top choice simply because of the brand. Who wouldn’t go there if they got in? I also liked that HBS was strong in General Management and Entrepreneurship (I want to pick Strategy and Entrepreneurship as my majors). When I visited I was also impressed by the current students and the class atmosphere – most students there are not of the arrogant / full of themselves type but are rather kind and helpful. Of all places, however, I was least passionate about HBS, simply because of the cons below.
Cons: The location – but don’t get me wrong here, I love Boston! It’s my second home. But after having lived here for almost 7 years I have the strong desire to live in a new city and experience something new while I still can. 7 years in the same place is way too long at this age. Plus, did you know that HBS doesn’t have an exchange program? That would have meant another 2 full years in Boston.

2. LBS
Pros: The city – I know the weather there isn’t the best, but I love places with diversity. I mean just take the subway there (excuse me, the "tube") and you will hear hundreds of different languages and see faces from around the globe. Now to the program, the same is reflected in the student body at LBS – almost 90% is international! I love this! Compare this to any top US b-school and you will find that most have merely 35% international students, many of whom have already lived in the US for several years. Another big plus for LBS is its brand – also outside of Europe, which is why a wide range of leading companies recruit there. And LBS has quite an impressive exchange program (plan to go to IESE for a semester if I can).
Cons: It is known that LBS is a top destination for people who want to get into Finance. Since I want to go into the industry (maybe a rotational program or strategic planning) I hope LBS has strong enough recruiting ties in this field. A last con: The city – because it is damn expensive.

3. Haas
Pros: If you had asked me 1 month ago I would have stated Haas as my clear #2 choice. However, that would have been before I went to London to check out LBS. I must say though that my preference shift to LBS has two causes: I have an admit from LBS (while I will most likely get dinged from Haas – no interview invite so far) and my Haas visit was last year in April (while my LBS visit is just a few weeks back). Also, while I was just back home in Europe for 4 weeks, I realized I really wanted to make my move back across the Atlantic – and going out west to California was clearly the wrong direction. Now back to the pros: So during my visit in April 2007 I was really impressed by the current students – the most laid back students of all places I’ve visited. One guy I was sitting with in class really fascinated me, he had tattoos and piercings all over (and made great contributions to the class discussion), which speaks for the diversity of characters at Haas. Another pro you can’t go wrong with is living in San Francisco with warm temperatures all year round. Lastly, Haas is also a powerhouse when it comes to Entrepreneurship.
Cons: Well I think I covered them under the pros. If you go to Haas, you will most likely end up in the Bay Area, which just wasn’t my plan I realized.

4. IESE
Pros: Of all programs it is probably the most similar to HBS (100% case method) which is no surprise because HBS helped found IESE and both schools still have a strong cooperation. This means a strong focus on General Management and Entrepreneurship. Another pro is definitely Barcelona, a great city to live in and like LBS it brings me back home to Europe. If I can, I plan to go on exchange to IESE, also because I always wanted to live in a Spanish speaking country and this would be a great opportunity to polish up my Spanish.
Cons: Opus Dei. Just kidding, the organisation (and your religion) has absolutely no influence on admissions at all (but many professors do belong to this bizarre club!). The reputation. While IESE is well known in Europe (esp. Spain) and South America, it does have a quite limited brand reputation beyond that. Also, I know this makes me sound like a lazy slacker :-), but I’ve heard from so many current students that the 1st year at IESE is just killer, leaving you virtually no time to enjoy other things like club activities, etc. A regular day involves 3 classes, then a mandatory class of Spanish, and then preparing 3 cases for the next day, which takes another 4-6 hours according to the students I spoke with. Sounds like work hard play little to me.

A fifth school that initially made it on my list was Kellogg. However, when I saw how many essays I would have to write for my other 4 schools and then looked at Kellogg's application I decided not to apply. I was initially interested in Kellogg for its strong community (Chicago GSB I felt was more like a commuter school) and I was just slightly more impressed with the current students there than at its local rival. But in the end my passion for Kellogg was not strong enough to keep it on the list. Another school I considered was ESADE in Barcelona, as a backup since I had no idea how my low GMAT would effect the outcome of my applications. Once I got the IESE admit, however, I canceled my informational interview.

HBS ding

So today is probably an active day for the MBA blog community, because Harvard released its R1 decisions. I got dinged! Which was of no surprise to me, since I hadn’t received an interview invite (a requirement to be admitted). I must say I was a bit disappointed when I read the message (even though I knew it was coming) but in my next blog entry above I will explain why getting this ding is perfectly fine with me. Before I forget, congrats to all of those who got accepted! Boston is an awesome place to live, you will love it.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

LBS extension on decision date?

Just one more thought, if you're thinking of getting an extension on your LBS decision date, they specifically write in the admit package that there are NO extensions (unlike with IESE, they were so kind to give me an additional 6 weeks to think things over). European b-schools seem to give little time, as I wrote IESE gave me 1 month from my acceptance date, and LBS is in the same time frame (accepted Dec 19, have to decide by Jan 25 by making a 1500 GBP deposit). US b-schools give you more time. Most R1 admits have until April to decide (3 months).

LBS yield

Quick addition to the post on LBS' acceptance rate: So last year for the class of 2009 (accoring to RusGirl's blog) the yield rate in round 1 was 72%. For the class of 2008 (according to Angie's blog) the yield was 75% for round 1. As for round 2, RusGirl didn't have figures but Angie's blog mentiones 59%. Because of the lower yield rate in R2 there are more offers of admissions than in R1 (220 vs. 140 for the class of 2008). Looking at the class of 2010, I can tell you that there are roughly the same number of admits in R1 than for the class of 2009 (which was 179 admits).

Either way, my estimate below of an overall yield of 65% sounds fair to me, maybe it should be slightly higher by a couple % points, lowering the acceptance rate to ~20%.

Links:
Class of 2009 R1 stats
Class of 2009 R2, R3, R4 stats
Class of 2008 overall stats

Thursday, January 3, 2008

LBS and IESE acceptance rates

First of all: Happy New Year! Before I grow old and rusty (and start forgetting), I wanted to share some stats on LBS' and IESE's acceptance rates. Both schools don't publish any of these. So during an informational interview, I was told by an IESE admissions officer that the acceptance rate of the class of 2009 was 17%, which is remarkably low and hard to believe. But it could be true, considering the small class size of IESE (210 students) and the competitiveness among Spanish and South American applicants for the bilingual track. As a comparison, both Harvard and Berkeley had acceptance rates of around 14% for the class of 2009. Now for London Business School, they received 2100 applications last year and the class size was 310. Assuming LBS has a yield rate of 65% , we can assume that LBS gave out offers to around 480 applicants which would translate into an acceptance rate of about 22%. That ain't too bad for a top MBA program!


Update: According to Veritasprep LBS has an acceptance rate of 20%. No source is given, they probably did the same simple math as I did...

Update: Check the comments to this post for more info on IESE's acceptance rate... According to BusinessWeek's 2010 Ranking LBS has an acceptance rate of 18% and IESE has an acceptance rate of 21%. No source is given.

Update: Check my post regarding LBS class of 2010 stats... The number of applications increased to roughly 2500, so using the math from above you get an acceptance rate of 19.7% (using a class size of 320).