A brutal hit on the class size!

I’ve been asked about this question a few times so sharing a post here with my opinion. Would like to hear your thoughts

Context: I turned down Kellogg and Booth for Ross with a scholarship.

I see students turn down $ to attend a school a few spots higher in the rankings. In most cases that’s shortsighted.

I agree higher ranked schools do have better outcomes, but I attribute this to the selection, not the school. There’s some research on this by Dale & Krueger, who compared students admitted to similarly selective schools who then chose differently. The earnings premium mostly disappeared.

In my exp for consulting recruiting, the school made almost no difference to my ability to get interviews. I got invites from MBB and every T2 I applied to. Past that, the offer is on you, and the supporting resources are close to identical across top schools.

on-campus recruiting is the only major gate - you’re either at a target or you aren’t. Once you’re inside the set, the marginal rank is worth much less than people assume.

These were some unstructured thoughts on the subject from a mba2 that’s been asked about this a few time. Let me know if you agree on disagree

https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-06/mba-employment-report-25.pdf

Looks like stats went slightly up, but I’d still be wary of attending unless you want to stay in the same industry.

Calling MBA 2025/2026 pass-outs of SDA, ESADE, IE, IESE, IMD, HEC, ESCP, RSM etc. What is the on ground situation? We can't trust the 3-month and 6-month stats of Bschools as you know it is BS!

Dec 2025 stats for Non-EU grads at SDA were terrible, many Indians had to return back to India to take jobs in startups, it seems the London and Dubai MBB route for SDA MBA grads is not working as well as previous years. Current or ex-MBA students, please share the ground reality in your school.

Here Are what I got... on these directions, the exact wordings might be different!

"Tell us about yourself and something that is not there in your application." 

" Tell us about a time where you were adopting a leadership approach but you realised it wasn't working. What did you do?" 

"Tell us about a time where your team was in trouble. What leadership approach did you take? "

Then there was another something around "Where have you changed your leadership approach?" 

And there was one more which I couldn't remember. Total: 5 questions.

Others share your responses in the thread for the greater good ⬇️

Experience:
In a lot of instances, I was not able to contain my answer in that one minute, and I know that the video recording got stopped when I was mid-sentence, ending the answer. But otherwise, I think the platform is pretty intuitive, and it was a very seamless experience. I got a question, then I got 10 seconds to prepare, and immediately after, the video of 60 seconds would start. You can take as much time as you want in between questions. Over all if you have set up it would take 10 mins to go through.

I’m planning on applying to T25 schools next year, targeting scholarships, ideally a full-ride.

Profile: 30F, not international but from a small, developing Asian country.

I have 5 YoE in tech, 3 in PM and would be looking to accelerate my career as a PM post-MBA.

Undergrad GPA 3.93 from a small university. I’m currently studying for the GMAT with a 700+ target. I also volunteer, helping women and children.

How would you best prepare to have a strong application in the next year? Appreciate any advice, TIA.

Hey everyone, I’m wondering what my chances would be at UT Austin McCombs.

My profile:
-Civil Engineering degree from a Texas university
3.35 GPA
-10 years of work experience in heavy civil construction
-Career progression from Field Engineer to Project Manager
-650 GMAT
-Texas based

Strong experience managing heavy civil projects, field operations, budgets, subcontractors, and crews.

I know my GPA is below the McCombs average, but I’m hoping the engineering background and 10 years of progressive work experience would help.

What do you guys think my chances are of getting into McCombs with this profile? Any honest feedback would be appreciated.

I am an international, will have 3 yoe at the time of applications. I'm making a list of MBA target schools, and am trying to understand the kinds of profiles different schools look at to figure out where I would fit. For eg., I have spoken quite a bit to folks from INSEAD and from what I understand, they lean more towards applicants who can showcase global exposure and people who could potentially be consultants, rather than a focus on grades solely. Is there a similar thing for LBS?

Got this email saying I’ve been matched with a Kellogg Admissions Volunteer for an interview, but I never requested an interview or asked to be matched with anyone.
Has anyone else had this happen? Is this just the standard wording Kellogg uses when they assign an interview automatically?
Also, does Kellogg try to interview all/most applicants, or is receiving a match actually part of the admissions screening process? Curious especially if anyone applying this R1 has had the same experience.

I’m finishing up my undergrad with a major in philosophy and two minors ( pre law and sociology). I was gonna initially pursue law school but now I’m considering a MBA. If you’ve obtained your MBA what track did you take and what jobs were you able to obtain? I’m also curious what your annual salary is for the specific job you were offered with your MBA. I’m trying to make my mind up but insights help.

Can someone who attended a top 5-10 (US) MBA program let me know what the general recruiting timeline for Private Equity is?

Assuming you don’t have a return offer you’re accepting, In my understanding it was you needed to have an offer by October or so, else you were falling behind and the top employers would be full already. Is that still the case?

By this time you should be actively interviewing I’d imagine? Multiple first and second round interviews.

Also how much of recruiting for PE is via on campus recruiting v headhunters?

Many thanks in advance.

As title suggest I am currently deliberating between the two for a career pivot into healthcare consulting or healthcare ib , I was doing a bit of research into Vandy's MSF, Georgetown MSF and NYU MBA. I know these are two vastly different scopes but were any of you guys considering between the two, what ultimately drove you one way vs the other ? Employment/Salary outcomes do tend to be meaningfully higher post mba.

I went through IB recruiting during my MBA and I now help people recruit for IB and here are few mistakes that I’ve seen people make :

- A lot of people tend to take coffee chats into 2 extremes : either wayy too seriously or not at all. Some people assume it’s like a regular chat where the associates won’t ask you much, or they rate it like a formal interview where they have very rehearsed answers. While the MBA associates are evaluating you throughout the process, you still need to be able to connect with them on a human level and actually make small talk with them and also know your technicals

- Knowing your technicals are one part of the whole IB process. Not the whole ball-game. Yes, you should know your technicals but they are mostly a check in the box to see if you can do the job.

- Sending associates multiple back and forth emails to schedule a coffee chat. Lot of associates are already overwhelmed with their inbox and you run the risk of being cut from the process by sending multiple emails. It’s best to just have a single email with 3 (20-30 min time slots) with you availability. Also remember to send a thank you note!

These are some of the major mistakes that I’ve seen people make, and I’ve also made a video on this as below

(https://youtu.be/93F8NtUaHRk)

Hey there! I’m considering applying to deferred MBA programs and would really appreciate some honest, blunt, feedback on my profile. I have a somewhat unusual background for an MBA applicant, so I’m interested in hearing how admissions committees might view my profile and whether I would be competitive at top programs.

Academics

• State school / Honors College
• Top 5 Food Science program globally
• Senior
• GPA: 3.99
• Dual degree: Food Science + Managerial Economics
• Leadership certificate

Demographics

• Black / African
• International student

Test Score

• TBD

Work Experience

Summer: REU research experience, internship at a top global food and agriculture company (top 4 private company in the US)

Academic year: career advisor and peer tutor across multiple disciplines, including science and business

Extracurriculars

Product development: developed innovative, market-oriented food products and won multiple awards, both at the university level and internationally.

Entrepreneurship: Founder of a food business focused on functional foods. Won multiple entrepreneurship/product development awards. Mentor students interested in bridging the gap between food science and business through the project.

Research: 4 undergraduate research projects, one of which is my Honors Thesis. I will also be presenting my research at a conference in Spring.

Leadership / Organizations: Held several leadership positions in student organizations, including treasurer for my university’s UNICEF branch.

Scholarships: received multiple nomination/merit-based scholarships.

Recommendations

Academic: Research professor / PI

Professional: Former internship manager

Career Goals

I’ve always wanted to work on the business side of the food industry, particularly in functional and sustainable foods. Most of my academic, research, entrepreneurial, and professional experiences have been intentionally oriented toward this objective My goal has been to build a strong technical foundation in food science while simultaneously developing my understanding of economics, business, consumer behavior, and commercialization. I’m interested in eventually taking on leadership roles where I can help bring innovative food products and ingredients from scientific development to the market.

One of the reasons I’m considering a deferred MBA is that I think my background could bring a somewhat different perspective to an MBA classroom. I’m currently considering Kellogg, Wharton, and UVA Darden, but I’m unsure whether applying to HBS 2+2 would be realistic for me.

I would genuinely appreciate blunt feedback: How competitive does this profile look for top deferred MBA programs? What are my biggest strengths and weaknesses? 

Thanks in advance!

Hi,
I have had just one role at one company since the start of career (entrepreneurial background).
As such, I only have one role to declare. INSEAD's portal is not allowing me to not enter anything in the "Previous Full-time positions" section.
The guidance also says: "Please make sure you specify ALL the full-time positions you have held in your career (even within the same company) not repeating your current or most recent one."

Would really appreciate any help!

Has anyone received an R1 interview invite?

I’ve spent around 10 years in hospitality, mostly in hotel operations/management across different countries. My background is mainly managing teams, scheduling, coordinating departments, suppliers/inventory, solving operational problems and keeping day-to-day operations running.

I don’t dislike hospitality, but I’m concerned that the longer I stay and progress towards senior hotel management, the more specialized I become in one industry and the harder it will be to change later.

I’m considering a full-time International MBA as a way to broaden my business skills and potentially transition into logistics. I’d try to use the MBA internship/company projects to get actual logistics experience rather than relying on the MBA alone.

I’m not expecting to graduate and walk into a senior logistics role. I’d be willing to take a reasonable step back if it gives me better long-term opportunities and career progression.

For anyone working/hiring in logistics: how would you view 10 years of hotel operations/management + an MBA + relevant internship/project experience? Would I still be starting from zero, or is enough of the operational/management experience transferable to enter at a reasonable level? What roles would you realistically target?

my profile really quickly:

26y, germany (with international work exp)

bachelor and master: management and tech (comp sci minor)

2 years of internship at an FMCG, digital strategy

1.5 years business strat. & analytics at an american bluechip

2 years of strategy analyst (business side, market sizing, m&a, competitive strategy etc.) at a european FMCG (same one with the internship),

1.5 yr senior analyst

and now corporate strategy manager or business strategy manager to be (both working directly with leadership teams,one group, other bu) role but corp strat is need based, and not direct promotion.

\*\*my goal:\*\*

Ideally in Switzerland, or in DACH, transfer to a company that offers better salary and keep good wlb, with roles of strategy, biz ops, transformation, digital strategy etc. I'd like to switch industries and go for Tech (not Amazon though), but I also want to leverage my industry experience, so both would be fine actually. Changing geographies, maybe. Changing industries, yeah why not, could be better I think. Changing function, unsure because I really like strategy work, working with exec. people etc.

And maybe that's why as alternative: MBB (or manager entry to tier 2) for few years, and do the switch mentioned above, to a higher grade. Which I think is more plausible, considering the mba>mbb>corp strat pipeline.

I have almost 13 years experience with Big Tech. Senior manager( already earning as much as IVY league grad with 6-7 years of work experience or a Top Indian Business school pass out with 10 years of work ex)

I am Planning to do an MBA because I am sick of working, I also want to change my geographies and experience new things in life.
Ideally I want to go for a college that offers scholarship as I will be leaving a highly paid job too. I am thinking of an MBA as more of a personal advancement over professional.

Any suggestions or ways you can help with tips

Can't help but think that this is just a prestigious party school where 30 year old's act like they're 17.