Berkeley / Haas - 10-25-2022 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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October 25, 2022 9:50am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, INSEAD, London Business School, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2023

Pre-MBA Career: Test Operations Manager for Mechanical Development of products for F150 mfg company

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, MF, Auto, Aerospace Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey , PWC , Ford , GM , Tesla

GMAT: 740

GPA: 8/10

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: US

Post MBA Location: US-Preferred but open to Europe/Singapore/India

Notes:

A long time listener.
A short summary: Mech Eng. Major at Tier 2 NIT in India. Masters in mech at Top 5 public uni with 3.96/4 GPA. 5 YOE at matriculation
I started as an Engineer and have slowly grown into an Operations role with 2 promotions, leading a team of about 30 blue-collar workers.
EC: Co lead of Automotive student club in UG, Helped initiate a tutoring program for technicians pursuing engineering courses(almost 4 years to date, still continue doing this), Tutor foreign nationals at local Adult education center (2 years), Coach soccer for kids.
Interests: Play soccer (part of local teams (not year round), Small sports medals in UG for soccer and basketball, pursue my love for cars since UG by working on them during weekends (limited with finances but plan on participating in auto cross competitions).
Goals: I want to stay within Auto/Mobility and try to impact the transition to clean tech in India or developing nations preferably. Short term I think consulting would be a good exposure to multiple functions and industries to help expand my perspective.
I have actually applied Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua, Ross (all 4 rejected from waitlist after interviews last cycle and all interviews done as of yesterday this cycle, I also had self initiated interviews at all except Ross) and Yale, MIT (waiting for decisions) in R1.
However, I would like to see what my chances look like this time. I think I do have better experience, more impactful projects over last year, with a promotion and also top performance rating for last year. However, given my demography I know that it's always going to be competitive. So 2 questions for the forum:
1. Do you think there is an uptick in international or Indian app volume? Seen an increase in Internationals in Co24 but overall volume seems down)
2. As a result I am planning on devising a R2 strategy. Would you suggest I go for more aggressive schools like Haas/HBS/Wharton/Booth or just focus on some targets like INSEAD/LBS or Darden(not sure if I fit there though) and safer schools like NUS/ISB?

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Show Comments (6) Last: October 31, 2022

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 Did you target round 1 last season, or round 2? Congrats on the Ross invite. Hopefully your interviews go well. I’m not sure there’s an uptick of Indian apps, what is Co24? I’d research all the programs you list, then alter targets once you get your Round 1 results? Being waitlisted last season, plus improvements for this season would suggest there should be some hope with these round 1 apps? Impact and growth at work is key. (0)

anon89159 Likes Earned: 22 OP here. Thank you Alex. It was a mix of R1 and R2 last year. With 2 WL in R1 and 2 in R2. All except Ross were on WL till June this year. Class of 2024 is what I meant haha. Correct I am looking at the non-US schools due to their consulting placements. For US schools, it's probably more of a moonshot with HBS and Wharton and adding some more M7 schools to the list. Haas clearly fits my goals with a focus on Clean Tech. What other considerations would you suggest for R2 selections? (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 I think you have a good list of targets in Round 1, so it’s really going to depend on those outcomes. Assuming you don’t want to wait another year, if R1 doesn’t yield an admit, you’d need to seek out some safety options. With fairly broad geographic flexibility, maybe 1-2 more top 16, Duke/Darden. Maybe Tepper is worth looking it. And 1-2 Euro-based programs. LBS, Imperial? (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2022/10/wire-taps-259-military-candidate-dings-at-harvard-and-wharton-waitlisted-last-season-waiting-this-season-stanford-or-bust/ (0)

anon89159 Likes Earned: 22 Thank you Alex and Graham for discussing this in the episode. Heard it just today. Just a few updates. Still waiting on Yale but unfortunately, Sloan was a reject. It does make sense that R2 school selection would probably depend on what happens in December, but I think I have some good direction. (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1696 Sorry to hear about Sloan. Best of luck, going forward! (0)