I am writing Level II this june. I am from and engineering backgrnd. Just wished to see if some people can give advice. I eventually wish to go in I Banking and hence CFA etc. however this year I got into Carnegie Mellon (tepper) MBA. It is ranked around 15th or 16th by usnews and in top 10 by Wall Street Journal. But I dont wana be hung up on rankings I have to decide as to remain in engineering one more year and reapply for next year to a better ranked univ or take the offer now. (just thinking if it is possible to land in a bulge bracket I bank from Tepper) Any advice? Thanks
I think you were right when you said about not getting hung up on rankings. I think you should take it, do your schooling while the market is slow, and just do well at it. Carnegie is awesome, you should be proud.
Man, I would die to take up the CMU deal! I still have to give my GMAT and start applying to schools though.
Tepper is a pretty good school. I would be tough to turn them down.
Yes CMU is good, but known more for its engineering and also for its MSCF (masters in science in computational finance)…I heard from a friend doing MSCF there that last year 37 got I banking jobs in Quant type jobs. 17 got from MBA There is a beautiful 24 month dual degree which is like a boot camp but gives you both MBA+MSCF…But I did not even know about that till it was too late. Yes GMAT is a pain too, but much less than the entire application process of essays and recos and what not. Further if you are working in an unrelated engineering job and writing CFA which is unrelated to both applying to b school and the engg job, it does not get any more twisted!
me_here Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes GMAT is a pain too, but much less than the > entire application process of essays and recos and > what not. Further if you are working in an > unrelated engineering job and writing CFA which is > unrelated to both applying to b school and the > engg job, it does not get any more twisted! Thats me! and It’s going to be a pain to cook up those anti-stereotyped stories. btw I am a WannabeHBS
dinesh.sundrani Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Thats me! and It’s going to be a pain to cook up > those anti-stereotyped stories. btw I am a > WannabeHBS best of luck to you dinesh I also used to dream for a top 7 school. But amidst all this chaos, lets just say that my essays were shabby at best in most of the schools i apped to. My GPA, GMAT etc were all very high and i wrongfully thought that essays wont matter as my stats are so good. But guess what. Now my concern is to get a good job in NY in a bulge bracket I bank. It’s also a big investment, a huge loan looms on your head. I am being extra carefull coz I already have a MS in engineering and I am getting too old…
dinesh, after we are done with level II in June we should migrate to gmatclub.com and start studying for the GMAT.
maratikus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > dinesh, after we are done with level II in June we > should migrate to gmatclub.com and start studying > for the GMAT. maratikus - That was really my plan initially, when I cleared L1. But now since I am in the middle of L2 and I feel dead and burnt already. I am going for a 6 months ‘no-more-books’ break. I will be going for a mini-vacation every weekend (since parents are coming over) and probably would just do a WallStreetPrep premium excel modelling course (PROBABLY). So you might see me asking for those free coupons at AF sometime in Aug/Sept 
I AM TOTALLY BURNT, else who would postpose his MBA plan by an year?
no worries, dinesh. I’m sure you will tackle MBA when the time comes. Studying is getting to me too but can’t take a break yet. Good luck on your studies!
me_here Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am writing Level II this june. > > I am from and engineering backgrnd. > > Just wished to see if some people can give > advice. > I eventually wish to go in I Banking and hence CFA > etc. > > however this year I got into Carnegie Mellon > (tepper) MBA. It is ranked around 15th or 16th by > usnews and in top 10 by Wall Street Journal. But I > dont wana be hung up on rankings > > I have to decide as to remain in engineering one > more year and reapply for next year to a better > ranked univ or take the offer now. > > (just thinking if it is possible to land in a > bulge bracket I bank from Tepper) > Any advice? > > Thanks me_here, I came out of the undergrad business program at CMU several years back and I closely followed how well the MBA classes did for their job search. Tepper has a fairly strong reputation amongst financial firms and I know several that have gotten into FO I Banking, research, hedge fund, etc positions. Tepper will not be holding you back unless you truly think you’re Wharton/Harvard/Stanford material. That being said, Tepper’s traditional weakness comes with soft skills (leadership) and that has been shown by our lack of presence in top Management Consulting firms (McK, MCG, Bain, etc.).
Mcalamari, Thanks for the input. I think you are very accurate and make good points MBB is not very fond of CMU as per stats. I think part of the reason is that its rep is on the tech side and tech/ engineers are generally reputed to have quant brains and prob solving brains but speaking/ communication skills is not their strong forte. infact when US news ranks schools, one of the reason why Tepper slips a few notches is coz of this. MBB (mck, bain etc) and other consulting giants offer max salary+starting bonus. Key term here is “starting” Many people think that I bank jobs are highest. Reality is that I bank jobs have lower base pay and lower starting bonuses. What is much higher than consulting jobs is ending year bonus which is absent in consltng jobs…hence it appears that in rankings, this fact leads to tepper loosing on some brownie points. IBanks also have CMU as target coz of the MSCF program which is the best in US… MBA in itself is good but not top notch I just hope it can serve me good. I think CFA and MS in engineering (Qunat skills) should help boost my chances for a good internship. That done, 80% is done …coz final palcement is largely if not fully dependent on internship… MCalamari Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > me_here, > > I came out of the undergrad business program at > CMU several years back and I closely followed how > well the MBA classes did for their job search. > Tepper has a fairly strong reputation amongst > financial firms and I know several that have > gotten into FO I Banking, research, hedge fund, > etc positions. Tepper will not be holding you back > unless you truly think you’re > Wharton/Harvard/Stanford material. > > That being said, Tepper’s traditional weakness > comes with soft skills (leadership) and that has > been shown by our lack of presence in top > Management Consulting firms (McK, MCG, Bain, > etc.).
Do you mind sharing your GPA/GMAT, etc? Tough to get a gauge of what I need to get into my target school (assuming I decide to pursue, that is).
hello brother bilo GPA BS 3.9/4 (top 10 engineering school abroad) MS 3.75/4 (top 12 engineering univ in USA) GMAT 730 (97 percentile) 3 years work experience (work ex both national+international) writing CFA level II this June But dont make any inferences, coz being international, being male and being frm engg backgrnd, I was competing in the most competitive pool…So many with lesser stats did get in higher ranked schools than me but anyways, I posed them coz you asked. brother bilo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Do you mind sharing your GPA/GMAT, etc? Tough to > get a gauge of what I need to get into my target > school (assuming I decide to pursue, that is).
If I banking is a make or break for you,then I would wait and get my essays in good shape for the next year.You will be competitive enough in all the major schools but your essays have to stand out clearly. If you want to get into the creme de la creme banks then you have to be thinking about Wharton,NYU,Chicago and Columbia.There are other very good schools but these are the core I banking MBA programs. As a progressive CFA-AS THEY TERM IT LATELY,you will get your one foot in the door because this will surely serve as a differentiating factor. Having said that,If you don’t actually mind a blend of Corporate Finance and I banking search,then CMU is awesome.
hello addotwumk, Thanks for the input. I think you are very correct in your analysis. Actually I am not really hell bent on IBanking, but still want to remain close to it. Incidently someone else also mentioned a mixture of IB and Corp Finance to me before. Can you give me more info of what is the profile of such jobs and how much they pay etc. I appreciate it. cheers > If I banking is a make or break for you,then I > would wait and get my essays in good shape for the > next year.You will be competitive enough in all > the major schools but your essays have to stand > out clearly. > > If you want to get into the creme de la creme > banks then you have to be thinking about > Wharton,NYU,Chicago and Columbia.There are other > very good schools but these are the core I banking > MBA programs. > > As a progressive CFA-AS THEY TERM IT LATELY,you > will get your one foot in the door because this > will surely serve as a differentiating factor. > > Having said that,If you don’t actually mind a > blend of Corporate Finance and I banking > search,then CMU is awesome.
I have no idea why this post is in the Level II board.
Damn. Wish I didn’t have to make inferences, but I work in finance (bs in finance & mis), so I don’t stand out either. Only had a 3.7 undergrad and don’t expect to crack 750 on the GMAT. Still great, but now I’m wondering whether I’ll get into any of my target schools. me_here Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hello brother bilo > > GPA > > BS 3.9/4 (top 10 engineering school abroad) > MS 3.75/4 (top 12 engineering univ in USA) > > GMAT 730 (97 percentile) > 3 years work experience (work ex both > national+international) > writing CFA level II this June > > > But dont make any inferences, coz being > international, being male and being frm engg > backgrnd, I was competing in the most competitive > pool…So many with lesser stats did get in > higher ranked schools than me > > but anyways, I posed them coz you asked. > > > brother bilo Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Do you mind sharing your GPA/GMAT, etc? Tough > to > > get a gauge of what I need to get into my > target > > school (assuming I decide to pursue, that is).
maratikus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > dinesh, after we are done with level II in June we > should migrate to gmatclub.com and start studying > for the GMAT. Are you really going to spend much tme studying for the GMAT maratikus? I absolutely positively guarantee that there are no math problems on the GMAT you will fnd challenging. Just get one of the books from Amazon and learn all those stupid grammar rules and you are done. I’d be betting on > 700 in a week or maybe even immediately. BTW - I loved "reputed to have quant brains and prob solving brains but speaking/ communication skills is not their strong forte. "