Archive for the ‘Hall of Fame’ Category

HBS 2+2 Stats –from deep within their website :-)

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

HBS 2+2 STATS FROM DEEP WITHIN THE HBS WEBSITE
[quote]Class of 2014*
Admissions
Total Applicants 844
Admits 115
% Admitted 14%
Women 39%
International 27%
Countries Represented 17
Testing Information
Complete Range
of GMAT Scores 510-790
Average GMAT 727
Range of GRE Q 690-800
Range of GRE V 560-800
Average GRE Q 767
Average GRE V 679
Average GPA** 3.75
Educational Background
Engineering & Natural Sciences 50%
Humanities & Social Sciences 44%
Business Administration 6%
Undergraduate Institutions Represented 51

*These numbers are subject to change.

**Excludes GPAs not on 4.0 scales.

source: [url]http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile_2+2.html[/url][/quote]

HBS March WL letter: No one off WL til April 6th

Monday, March 1st, 2010

stop the presses, no news from HBS about the WL. Eileen Chang learns to put dates in these letters, unlike ones last year.

NO ONE WILL BE TAKEN OFF WL TIL APRIL 6TH!!!!!!!!!!!! 

March 1, 2010
 

Hello Everyone:
 

It’s Eileen Chang from the MBA Admissions Board at HBS. As it is the

first of March, I’d like to provide you with another process update.

Given that I had indicated in last month’s message that we will becommunicating decisions to as many of you as we can on April 6, I don’t really have anything too noteworthy to add this month. We are currently in the middle of reviewing round 2 applicants and begin conducting round2 interviews today. Some of you on the waitlist who have not already been interviewed may have been invited to interview this round.
 

The most common inquiry we received since our February update was concerning admission to other programs and the timeline of our decision process relative to the need to respond to other business schools. We will not be able to provide a decision to anyone currently on the waitlist before April 6. As a result, we understand if you need to make other plans and wish to remove yourself from the waitlist. Please do so

by emailing my colleague Dana Scalisi at dana_scalisi@hbs.edu.
 

For those who are wondering, the number of people who will be admitted from the waitlist will depend entirely on what we see in round 2. I hope to be able to share more information on this in my update next month.
 

Until then, thank you for your participation on our waitlist.
 Sincerely,

Eileen Chang

MBA Admissions

Harvard Business School

Soldiers Field Road

Dillon House

Boston, MA 02163
 

PE firms tell MBA’s: No Need to Apply, but please keep worshiping us

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

HMMMMM, CONFIRMS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG ABOUT ZILCH CHANCES OF BREAKING INTO PE WITHOUT PRIOR PE EXPERIENCE. SO DONT SAY THAT AS YOUR GOAL IN ANY B SCHOOL ESSAY UNLESS YOU QUALIFY. B SCHOOLS DONT LIKE UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE CLOGGING UP THEIR GRADUATION CEREMONIES.

from Wall Street Journal blog

PE Firms To MBAs: We’re Hiring, We’re Just Not Hiring You

There’s good news and bad news for business school graduates looking to secure a spot with a private equity firm this year, according to a panel of private equity professionals that spoke at the venture capital and private equity conference held at Harvard Business School on Saturday.

The good news is that after a virtual drought in 2008 and early 2009, private equity firms are starting to hire again. The bad news is that they aren’t hiring many MBA level positions.

“It’s really taking place at the junior levels or the senior levels,” said Sachi Gahan, a managing director with executive recruiter Glocap Search. “Most of my work is at [the] principal or associate [level], but very little at the senior associate [level]. There’s a big stack-up of talent in a lot of these partnerships.”

After private equity firms hired aggressively out of business schools during the boom years of 2005 to 2007, “Most firms are not in a hurry to get back to those levels,” said Ryan Harper, a vice president at Boston-based Summit Partners. However, he said Summit does plan to hire one or two vice presidents this year.

These days, deal experience is a must, as an analyst or associate at a private equity firm or through work at another organization, such as an investment bank or a consulting firm, panelists said.

“Give us a sense that you know what it’s like to work on a deal,” said Michael Berk, managing director at Boston-based TA Associates Inc., which also continues to selectively hire MBAs this year. “The hard truth is if you don’t have prior deal experience, it is very tough to get into TA and a lot of more established larger private equity firms.”

 

Shocking News!!! MBA’s still apply to Goldman

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

AMAZING HEADLINE OF THE WEEK

Goldman Sachs Still Shines for MBAs Who Ignore ‘Hype’ (Update1)

READ FULL STORY

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=agFgbCvM44FA

AMAZING EXCEPT:

 Nicole Zenel, an MBA student, has read the negative stories about Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s role in the financial crisis, its subsequent record profits and its decision to set aside $16.7 billion for pay and bonuses after receiving $10 billion from the U.S. Treasury.That didn’t stop Zenel from applying there for an internship.SHOCKED, SHOCKED TO FIND KIDS APPLYING TO GOLDMAN HERE.

Lousy post-MBA job market even impacts Stanford

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

good story fr. Stanford Student Newspaper at the link.

Stinky job market impacts even Stanford–kids there may now deign to show up at Investment Baking interviews. Nah. #MBA http://bit.ly/dzI9UN

The 50 top women in hedge funds

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

for those who love lists–all 50 can be found  here:

The Top 50 Women in Hedge Funds
By Yoree Koh

http://bit.ly/c8BLXrWhile the hedge-fund industry guards its secrets, it is widely known that it’s a male-dominated field with few women at the top. But female finance pros with a knack for innovation and entrepreneurship take notice: The Hedge Fund Journal is spotlighting 50 women in hedge funds who are tearing it up.

Released in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the list includes business principals and senior portfolio managers in high-powered positions and who have been industry pioneers.

The list comes on the heels of a recent report that found women-owned hedge funds consistently reported stronger returns, and even performed better during the financial crisis, than funds owned by men. The finding was based on a study by Hedge Fund Research, which tracked the performance of women-owned funds from 2000 to 2009.

Women manage an estimated 3% slice of the $1.5 trillion invested in hedge funds, according to Hedge Fund Journal.

Below are three particularly noteworthy women, the rest of the list can be found here:

1. Leda Braga, principal and portfolio manager of BlueCrest Capital. This college lecturer turned JPMorgan quant analyst oversees $9.6 billion in assets, making her one of the world’s top female portfolio managers. One fund she manages with firm co-founder and CEO Mike Platt gained 43% in 2008, making it one of the top-performing systemic funds.

2. Mina Gerowin, managing director of Paulson & Co. Gerowin heads an investing team from the London arm of the $33 billion hedge fund bearing the name of her former classmate at Harvard Business School — John Paulson. Before joining Paulson seven years ago, she was an ibanker at Lazard Freres where she got her hands dirty in international M&A and LBOs.

3. Elena Ambrosiadou, founder and CEO of IKOS. IKOS opened in 1991 as one of the first independent hedge funds in Europe. It has grown into a global shop with offices in major financial hubs and an asset base of about $1.5 billion. With over two-and-a-half decades of hedge-fund and business management experience under her belt, Ambrosiadou is recognized as one of the industry pioneers in Europe.

Write to Yoree Koh
 

Once more dear friends, onto the Waitlist: some tuff love

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

I’m on the R1 Waitlist at Kellogg.  My profile:

M/27/740/3.42 from top 10 public/5 yrs WE at Fortune 50 company

I passed Level 1 of the CFA last spring, held leadership positions in college and I just earned a leadership post at a non-profit, but got dinged w/o interview at H/S/W/MIT, and Booth.  My dad got his EMBA from Kellogg and my fiancee’s in N’western’s grad school of Ed.  I let Kellogg know about my new leadership post, but what else can I do to earn a spot in next year’s class?  Since I got dinged everywhere else, I’ve got everything riding on Kellogg.  Any advice on what else to do and how to communicate it?  Any take on my chances?  Thanks,


same advice i’ve already given 3,456 times on this thread. Have President Obama call and reco you, and if you dont know him go down the list of the most famous and influential people in the world til you find someone you do know–in most cases, that requires passing over millions of names, but you get the idea. if anyone you know, knows adcom, or has any relationship w. school, etc. have them lobby for you, including current students. beyond that, you need to keep up some diplomatic and measured back + forth w. them, to keep signalling interest, etc. and try to see if by delicate shaking of the trunk you can get something to fall out of the tree, like a meeting, etc. which could be kicked up by campus visit, etc. etc. NO RULES and EVERYONE ON THEIR OWN–that is what makes it exciting.

But dont let that throw you: biggest mistake of WL kids is doing too little. You need to be far-reaching and innovative and often ceaseless in thinking about this. I’ve seen longshot stuff pay off, including cold calls to SUPER bigshots w. whom caller shared nominal affiliation like same frat, town, org, religion etc. etc.

Round 3 speculations

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

What % of their total admits do top 10 schools admit in Round 3.

VARIES BY SCHOOL AND YEAR  BUT FREQ UNDER 5 PCT OF TOTAL CLASS. OFTEN EVEN LESS THAN THAT, E.G. 18 KIDS PERIOD. I’VE HEARD OF NINE AS WELL, AT WHARTON, A WHILE BACK. ALSO THE PERCENT OF TOTAL 3RD ROUND APPLICANTS ADMITTED IS ALSO USUALLY DEEPLY BELOW PERCENT OF APPLICANTS ADMITTED IN PRIOR ROUNDS. IN CASE YOU WERE HAVING A BRAIN STORM THAT, GEE, 18 ADMITS IS NOT BAD, IF ONLY 50 KIDS APPPLY. BUT IT IS USUALLY MORE LIKE 18 ADMITS AND 450 KIDS APPLY.

SCHOOLS ARE HUSH-HUSH ON ACTUAL NUMBERS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO LOW. 3RD ROUND IS ALSO WHEN THEY SOMETIMES TAKE IN FACULTY RELATIVES, OUTLIERS, AND COLLEGE SENIORS. IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING WHY THEY EVEN GO THRU THE  TROUBLE OF HAVING ROUNDS PAST ONE AND TWO.  YOU CAN NEVER TELL WHEN JOE MONEYPOTS MIGHT THINK IT IS A GOOD TIME FOR JUNIOR TO LEAVE REHAB AND ENTER B SCHOOL, AND SCHOOLS WANT TO BE READY.

ALL THAT SAID, MY GUESS IS, THIRD ROUND PERCENTS GO UP AS SCHOOL RANK IN TOP 10 GOES DOWN, W. H/S/W 3RD ROUNDS BEING MOST SELECTIVE ETC. ETC. IT COULD BE BY THE TIME YOU GET TO DUKE, DARDEN ETC., 3RD ROUND ACCEPT PERCENTS ARE NOT SO DRAMATICALLY DIFF THAN ROUNDS ONE AND TWO.

 I am wondering if I have a shot at Round 3.
I have very normal credentials.
720 Gmat/3.5 public school/8 years WE at Fortune 20 company with leadership experience.

MAN OH MAN, 8 YEARS WORK EXPERIENCE USUALLY SIGNALS YOU NEED AN EMBA AND NOT AN MBA, THAT COULD BE A CHALLENGE TO OVERCOME.  SAME PROFILE W. 3 YEARS EXPER. YOU COULD BE IN THE RUNNING AT A LOT OF PLACES FOR R1 AND R2 AND EVEN 3.

MIT Round Two Deferral, stats and speculation

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

I need to pick your brain for a moment. It’s about MIT Sloan’s deferral process. Is this process a new thing? (last couple of years?).

The thing is I was deferred to Round 2 AFTER an interview, which is very strange. I would have thought they would do this before but not after the interview. Now, I won’t ask you to guess why this happened to me (no way to really know) but I do want your opinion on something.

It is common knowledge on this board and elsewhere that MIT Sloan’s acceptance rate after inteview is very high, around 70% or so. Now, if this deferral is a new thing does this mean that their acceptance rate most likely has declined? Or do you think they still have that very high acceptance rate and instead of outright rejecting people they decided to defer some percentage of the 30% not accepted?

Any insight on this extremely excruciating process would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!


HMMM, a lot of Sloan practice seems new this year, at least what they are calling things. Deferred to R2 seems the new WaitList, and WL’s at most schools including H/S/W in effect means deferred to round 2, see HBS letter to WLers, posted above, where they say, well, nothing will happen to WL until Round 2 decisions are firmed up. So what is the diff? Did anyone in MIT Round 1 actually get placed on WL, or were there in fact 3 decisions, 1. admit, 2, ding, 3. deferred to R2. As to deferral after interview, dunno what diff that makes–lots of kids at schools w. selective interviews (HSW) put kids on WL who have been interviewed (in H case WLers have and have not been interviewed, in W, all the WLers have been interviewed, I think Stan may WL a couple of kids w.out inter, not sure).  As to your odds now? hmmmm, we are now getting above my pay grade. First, where are you getting the 70pct post interview admit rate??? I thought it was lower and several years ago, at a Forum, Rod Garcia gave numbers like 900 kids interviewed for like 380-400 admits (to yield class of 328) They may have changed this recently and interviewed fewer kids.

As to stats, lets say X is percent admitted after interview (if 70, well good, but let’s just say X), where X is just raw percent derived from total  number of kids interviewed and total number of   admits last year. On day you get interview invite, your odds are X, after you get deferred, what are your odds??? Assumming we do not have data about what happened to similar kids last year(e.g how many interviwed kids on WL were there, how many got it), it would seem to me, just speculating and no longer calculating,  that odds are now less than X, and sorta more in line w. odds of any kid getting off WL or deferred status.  You used to be part of the X group, but fact you were deferred now puts you new group, and halo effect of being graded an X grouper, at one pt, dunno if that is better or worse.  By hunch is, MOST kids in deferred group have been interviewed, or is there evidence contra to that???  Also keep in mind a new kicker, moving kids off WL or deferred status, is something of a wild card, depending on Round 2 numbers and quality, and yield of ROund 1. all of which move around a bit. IN some years, schools take x kids off WL, in others 1.2, or even 1.5 or 2 X –and in famous cases, in some years ZERO.  (e.g HBS 3 or 4 years ago). Another reason why odds for you are now longer X. Sorry, but that is the way I dope this out, based purely on the same speculation available to anyone. Unlike H and S and W, I dont really have a private, large,  and powerful database about MIT.

HBS Feb. 1 WL letter: D-Day now April 6th

Monday, February 1st, 2010

THE CHANG-0-GRAMS BEGIN.

LOOKS LIKE HBS WLers will be

waiting tit April 6th, at the earliest,

for any outcomes.

MBA Program
February 1, 2010Hello Everyone:This is Eileen Chang from the MBA Admissions Board. As it is the beginning of February, I wanted to touch base and provide you with a waitlist update.

We are currently reviewing applications from our Round 2 candidates and will extend Round 2 interview invitations soon. Some of you who have not yet been interviewed may be invited to interview in Round 2. If you have already been interviewed, you will not be asked to interview again.

At this point, the earliest we anticipate making decisions on our waitlist candidates will be on notification day for Round 2, which is April 6. We will not be making any decisions before then. We realize that April 6 is more than two months away, and we are sorry if this causes inconvenience for those of you who are facing other deadlines. We will try to make decisions on as many of your applications as possible on April 6, and I will have more information about this in my spring updates.

We understand that with this timeline you may need to make other plans before receiving a final decision on your HBS application. If at any time you decide to withdraw from our waitlist, please do so by emailing Dana at dana_scalisi@hbs.edu. For those of you who want to remain on the waitlist, it is important to keep your contact information updated, so please email Dana with any changes.

We are grateful for your cooperation and patience with our process.

Sincerely,

Eileen Chang
MBA Admissions
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field Road
Dillon House
Boston, MA 02163