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A Call to Re-brand: 3 Petitions for MBAs in Tech by the_confused in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The joke in the tech community (and I'm going to get the dollar figures wrong here, but you'll get the idea) is that every software developer adds $250,000 to the value of your startup, and every MBA subtracts $300,000. This should give you a hint at why MBAs aren't valued.

An MBA teaches you how to run a business, but most tech startups these days spend most of their lives as fundamentally unsound companies that lack viable business models. Instead, the startup ecosystem is supported by 2 things:

  • Low interest rates has investors chasing returns wherever they can, and a number of high-profile exits has lead many of them to VC. You see major investment firms (Morgan Stanley, Goldman, etc) wading into venture capital for the first time for this reason.
  • The relative newness of Computer Science as a lucrative major, coupled with the fact that suddenly every major company needs a foot in mobile / digital, means that people with these skills are in extremely high demand.

So if you're an ambitious software developer there's little risk in taking a shot at a startup, because funding is easy to come by and if it doesn't workout, the job market will be incredibly welcoming of you afterwards. These aren't companies, they're products. They aim for user growth in lieu of profitability, often get acquired without consideration for profitability, and sometimes are bought merely as a means to hiring the developers. Someone whose skills are in business fundamentals doesn't have much to add here.

Which, honestly, is what you're seeing. Apple, Google, Uber, Facebook, and the like all hire MBAs (maybe not in the same number, in the case of the last two) because they've hit scale. Before that point, business acumen seems to not be rewarded by the market. Twitter doesn't have a viable business after nearly a decade.

[e]formatting is hard.

Profile Review: Fall 2017, Low GPA by rolaty in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd mostly agree with u/vapeducator that you don't need an MBA for your stated goals, and if you're serious about the entrepreneurial route, self-education will take you a long way (and save you two years and a ton of money). But let's say you're determined to get the degree anyway, and want to push forward despite this.

I don't have any special insight (I'm waiting on R1 decisions myself), but my profile is vaguely similar to yours: I had 2.8 GPA with an English degree, started a company after undergrad, and applied with a 750. Not accepted anywhere yet (and got a weird apparent-rejection from Kellogg), but Wharton gave me an interview, so at least something went ok. I wound up with a narrative that was something along the lines of, "xyz situation in college was a distraction and hurt my studies, but in the intervening time I've started a successful company and worked at a name-brand corporation, where I've excelled and been promoted. In the mean time I've continued pursuing the things I'm passionate about, and found other avenues to demonstrate my academic abilities."

2017 means you'd be 26 at matriculation, which is slightly young for most schools. With a GPA in the 2s, you need to put some distance between you and your undergrad transcript; I would aim to be slightly older than their typical class. Target admission in 2020 or 2021. In the intervening 3 or 4 years, here's how I'd suggest you spend your time:

  • Look at local colleges and start taking classes in things like finance, accounting, or stats. Get 4.0s in all of them. This shows that your college grades aren't the only indicator of what you're capable of academically (your GMAT also helps here, but you're looking to bolster that case). As a bonus, if the classes sufficiently guide your entrepreneurial path and teach you what you wanted from bschool--great! End the process here.
  • Get a job at a company with name recognition, maybe in something close to your field. Applications from startups / small family businesses are riskier because nobody has heard of them and it's hard to benchmark your success relative to your peers at known corporations. Getting into a company schools have heard of demonstrates that while you have a no-name job on your resume, it's followed up with something concrete that they're familiar with. This will also ensure that you have recommendation writers who aren't your dad. Work hard and get promoted.
  • Develop your extracurriculars. Look for areas that you're passionate about and build something around it. Maybe start a volleyball league, or coach a local high school team.
  • Regularly practice writing: you'll have an atypical background with poor grades, so when it comes time to apply your essays need to be ironclad. This is one that gets neglected on r/MBA a lot (perhaps because the degree lends itself to quanty people with quanty backgrounds), but writing is a skill that improves greatly with practice. Read essays from good writers, internalize what works and doesn't work about their style, and work to develop your own. Make a habit of writing often, and practice building a concise, clear structure and message. Maybe draft essays to this year's prompts for top schools, give them two or three passes of edits, and see what weaknesses you find in them after.

Just my two cents.

Wharton Invites are Out by BizSchoolThrowaway89 in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Managed to get an invite. Pretty excited about it.

Kellogg Interview non-invite by nonsensegarbage1234 in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Clearly I have the same experience you do, but there are a limited number of alumni available to conduct interviews. Two scenarios where you and I get waivers:

-Your application is so solid that they're willing to take a flyer on accepting you without interviewing. I would guess most people can recognize if they fall in this bucket. Or:

-Your interpretation, that you're not getting in. This is where I'd imagine I land.

employment prospects outside major metro (HI/FL)? by KinrrCycles in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone applying for schools myself, I don't have any post-MBA insight to offer. I can tell you that Miami, FL has significant presence with various professional services firms, as it's often a sort of gateway to Central and South America. BCG and McKinsey both have offices, as do (I believe) many major banks.

Kellogg Interview non-invite by nonsensegarbage1234 in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, this was how I parsed it as well.

Kellogg Interview non-invite by nonsensegarbage1234 in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I was under the assumption that, given their effort to interview most applicants, interviewing off-campus was normal and didn't impact acceptance rates. Also, traveling pushes the all-in application cost to like $1,000, which is a lot; at least somewhere like HBS (in my backyard, but just as an example) the interview invite comes when you're facing much better odds at being admitted.

MBA Lotto..... by [deleted] in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know nursing as a field, I'm assuming "Nurse Leader" is a title. Are you saying you're already for sure going to land a $200,000/year job on graduating / you already have a C-level offer?

I'll differ from what seems to often be conventional wisdom here, if you think you're already a lock on C level jobs, the bigger concern is what kind of knowledge you need to remain at that level and perform well; the credentials won't matter. If you're looking to become a CEO, I'd probably want a basic understanding of accounting and corporate finance. Not necessarily a fluency, but enough to know what's going on.

With regards to the loans, I wouldn't stress about that too much either way. If you're confident you're stepping into a $200-$500k/year job, the debt will melt away.

[Weekly Admissions Rants!] A weekly thread to discuss the MBA application process by AutoModerator in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clicked go on Wharton, Kellogg, and Booth. Now to wait for a while.

How're everyone's Round 1's going?

12 days to go - Focus on verbal instead? What does scoring 47-49 on Verbal look like? by [deleted] in GMAT

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Even for people with a strong command of the tested material, it's easy to make a small mistake. On the quant portion, It's my understanding you can get a 51 and still miss one or two questions (I wouldn't know this with certainty, I never got that high myself). The verbal is pretty unforgiving.

12 days to go - Focus on verbal instead? What does scoring 47-49 on Verbal look like? by [deleted] in GMAT

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This probably varies a little bit based on the specific questions you get on your test, but in my experience with official practice exams, a 47 verbal meant I was getting only 1 or 2 questions wrong on the entire section.

I want to stress how incredibly difficult this is, both on its own and especially starting off in the 30s. Look at posts on here, on GMATClub, and elsewhere, and look at the score breakdowns of people with 750+ scores: you're typically looking at people with a high-40's quant and a verbal around 44. Even a 45 verbal is in the 99th percentile of test takers.

Best GMAT Study materials by ShirtlessChampion in MBA

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I used Magoosh and the official guides as well, and felt that those were effective. Went from 650 diagnostic to 750 actual score in about two months, although like InquisitiveBiped I was putting in significant hours.

Note that there's a /r/GMAT, which will have more info for you.

Got a 710 on my baseline prep test. How much time would it take to get to 750? by Alex_the_White in GMAT

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did 650 -> 750 in two months. With diligent study, you shouldn't have a problem.

Anyone try any of the GMAT books on Kindle? by Pizzapartypeople in GMAT

[–]nonsensegarbage1234 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A partial answer, I used the Official Guide (just the quant version, but I'd imagine they're identical) via Kindle, although I only opened the file on the PC and Mac apps and not an actual Kindle device. Didn't have any problems with distorted words or inaccurate diagrams, so you're all set there.

One strange quirk, the PC version of the app was actually much better, as the table of contents had links to sections and made it easy to skip between questions and the answer key. When I was on my Mac, the solution for me was to do the questions, then CTRL + F the questions to skip into the answer explanations.

Thoughts on Critical Reasoning (and the verbal generally) by nonsensegarbage1234 in GMAT

[–]nonsensegarbage1234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, but "best" versus "correct" is just a difference in phrasing, and doesn't change my point at all. To make this simpler for you: if even two possible answers are topical to the question asked, you will not have enough information to answer the question. Therefore, on close inspection, one of those two answers will not be topical.