Aspiring MBA applicants, I am a recently graduated student at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester. I understand for most international students choosing to do an MBA is probably one of the biggest decisions of their…
Aspiring MBA applicants,
I am a recently graduated student at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester. I understand for most international students choosing to do an MBA is probably one of the biggest decisions of their life. Having myself been through the process a couple of years ago, I understand how daunting the entire admission process can be and hence would like to pitch in with any assistance I could offer.
I would make a sincere and honest attempt at answering most of your questions and would try to refer you to the appropriate sources whenever the need arises. Please be advised that all the views I share are from my personal experience at Simon.
Good Luck!!
-Santosh
15/11/2011 - Update
Off late there have been a lot of private messages and I want to reiterate that I won't be answering any of them unless I deem it absolutely necessary. But please feel free to post them on the thread and I will answer them as soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Aspiring MBA applicants,
I am a recently graduated student at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester. I understand for most international students choosing to do an MBA is probably one of the biggest decisions of their life. Having myself been through the process a couple of years ago, I understand how daunting the entire admission process can be and hence would like to pitch in with any assistance I could offer.
I would make a sincere and honest attempt at answering most of your questions and would try to refer you to the appropriate sources whenever the need arises. Please be advised that all the views I share are from my personal experience at Simon.
Good Luck!!
-Santosh
Hey Santosh,
Thanks for the thread.
Can you please enlighten on Simon's strengths in management consulting domain. What type of consults came in this year and what profile they offered. How many consults were open to internationals and eventually each took how many internationals.
It'll be great if you can post a small brief on your profile and your specialization in MBA ..
Cheers!
Emin3m,
Simon has traditionally been known as a Finance school, but over the past couple of years it has been making great progress in consulting and marketing fields. Prof Tilson, who was earlier with McKinsey along with the consulting chair have been introducing new courses to make the students job ready. Certain classes provide the students an opportunity to consult for a company like Xerox, Kodak, Harris which every year lead to atleast a few internship offers.
The big ticket companies that hire from Simon are Booz Allen and Deloitte consulting. Deloitte has traditionally always hired atleast two internationals from Simon. I believe this year they have hired two full times and three interns (all international). Though we are not yet a core school for McKinsey or BCG, career management center has been making efforts in this regard. We have quite a few Simon Alums in these companies who are always more than willing to talk to you and make references. Most companies hire MBA's in an associate role.
As far as my profile goes I am an electrical engineer by education, worked for a year and half as a techie before starting a construction firm with a couple of friends. Have close to five years experience before coming to Rochester. Though I have an MBA in finance, I have taken as many strategy classes as finance. Post MBA, I am working with an early stage venture fund based out of Rochester.
Thanks,
Santosh
Hello
I'm a prospective Fall '12 applicant to MBA - Finance programs in USA.
I've taken the Revised GRE and the scores would be out in November 2011 (P.S. - GRE scores are accepted by most B-schools now)
I've done my Bachelors in Business Management with a majors in International Finance from University of Mumbai.
JP Morgan Chase - Mumbai - 1 year of work exp in IB.
Nomura International PLC - London - 1 of the only 2 Indians selected amongst 1000's for a 6 months internship.
Morgan Stanley - Mumbai - 4 months in IB.
Had to leave Morgan Stanley to handle family business as my father fell terribly ill, and I being his only son had to take over and handle the business, and plan to do so until I fly for my MBA next fall. Handling and growing the business quite well, in spite of it being offtrack(Interior Designing)than my previous work experience in IB & education. Can this be highlighted well in my essays and work as a +ve point for me?
Will have total of 3 years of work exp by Fall 2012.
Very active with a few NGOs & other community services. excellent extra curriculars and co curriculars too.
Can you please suggest me B-schools in USA that match my profile.
Thanks for your help in advance and also for taking the time to read this. (I just realized that I might have been verbose).
Hi Rohan,
Rankings should not be the only criteria while choosing a B school. It's essential to understand your strengths and future career goals and pick a school that closely aligns with those goals. As such you are the best bet to come up with an ideal list of schools.I can only help you with some general details and share my personal experience about the Simon MBA.
Some top US Finance programs: Chicago Booth, Wharton, NYU Stern, Harvard,Columbia, Duke, Simon, Ross. But for most top finance programs your 3 year experience is on the lower side, but a well crafted application should give you a good chance in any of those schools. It's essential to look through the school websites and determine the schools that accept younger applicants. Simon in particular is very favorable to younger applicants and every year admits a certain percentage of early leaders(candidates with less than 2 years of experience).
Your profile is different from other Indian applicants and should help you stand out. Most adcoms are looking for transferable skill sets and if you can project your leadership qualities and career progression over the 3 years, you stand a good chance.
Coming to Simon MBA, it's one of the top 10 Finance programs in US. It's known for its top notch faculty, strong alumni network in the Financial industry and expected return on investment. The fact that its home to two of the most prestigious academic field journals in management: Journal of Financial Economics and Journal of Monetary Economics, should itself speak for the strength of the program. I have personally gained a lot from the Simon MBA.
Good Luck !! Feel free to get back if you need any further assistance or additional information.
-Santosh
Hello
Thanks a lot for the quick revert. Well I'm not really even considering looking at the rankings and then taking a decision based on it.
My future goals post MBA are to establish myself into Corporate Finance/ M&A; on the Wall St. I'm considering Simon as 1 of my options.
Had a few general questions, was wondering if you could throw some light.
How is the program in terms of course content, job prospects & ROI?
What is the average GMAT/GRE of admitted students? If you don't mind revealing your GMAT score too (just to get a fair idea)
What kind of employers hires a typical Simon MBA grad? I Banks, PE firms, VCs, Consulting, Big 4?
Your previous educational & professional background whilst applying to Simon. (Hope I'm not getting too personal).
Which other universities had you applied to, along with Simon? Did you apply through a counselor?
What is the entire tuition fees like?
What is the class size like?
Sorry to bombard you with so many questions.
Regards
Hello
Thanks a lot for the quick revert. Well I'm not really even considering looking at the rankings and then taking a decision based on it.
My future goals post MBA are to establish myself into Corporate Finance/ M&A; on the Wall St. I'm considering Simon as 1 of my options.
Had a few general questions, was wondering if you could throw some light.
How is the program in terms of course content, job prospects & ROI?
What is the average GMAT/GRE of admitted students? If you don't mind revealing your GMAT score too (just to get a fair idea)
What kind of employers hires a typical Simon MBA grad? I Banks, PE firms, VCs, Consulting, Big 4?
Your previous educational & professional background whilst applying to Simon. (Hope I'm not getting too personal).
Which other universities had you applied to, along with Simon? Did you apply through a counselor?
What is the entire tuition fees like?
What is the class size like?
Sorry to bombard you with so many questions.
Regards
Hi Rohan,
The course content is very relevant and closely reflects what you encounter on a job. Simon has been consistently ranked among top 5 for ROI. Average GMAT is 677 and the middle 80% ranges from 630-710. I had a GMAT score of 730 though you don't need to worry about me anymore :).
Citi, Rothschild, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte FAS regularly hire from Simon and this year Goldman Sachs was back on campus after an hiatus to hire an intern. Simon's strength lies in Corporate Finance and you will find Simon alums in senior financial positions in almost all major companies. As far as VC firms,I know of atleast three students from my batch who are working with early stage funds. PE is a different ball game and honestly I don't think anyone gets hired directly from campus into a PE firm. Almost everyone at PE is either a lateral hire from the firms M&A; or consulting teams.
In one of my earlier responses on the thread to Emin3m I have mentioned my profile(read post #3). For specific information about employment and program details please go through the attached document and the link Simon Graduate School of Business MBA and MS Programs.
No, I didn't use any counselor for my MBA applications.
Cheers,
Santosh
Hi Rohan,
Hope you are doing good......thanks for starting the post for Simon. Well, I too would be appearing for the new GRE in mid Nov. Will be applying for B-schools by Jan'12. Can you let me know what all material have u referred for preparing for the new GRE.I am not able to find much apart from Barrons which is not sufficient. Would appreciate if you can let me know your email id.
Wish you all d best for your applications.
thanks,
Hi Santosh,
My queries are as follows:
1. How is the competence of the undergraduate school factored in and how it is weighted against the undergraduate academic grades? (I passed out of a permier college in Delhi University, where selection is through a very rigorous process and selection rate is 1 on 90/95).
2. How is the GPA calculated for Indian students, given that most Indian universities give %age?
3. How it is determined whether a certain %age score in a particular UG degree is good or not?
Looking forward to your response.
Thanks !!
Hi Santosh,
My queries are as follows:
1. How is the competence of the undergraduate school factored in and how it is weighted against the undergraduate academic grades? (I passed out of a permier college in Delhi University, where selection is through a very rigorous process and selection rate is 1 on 90/95).
2. How is the GPA calculated for Indian students, given that most Indian universities give %age?
3. How it is determined whether a certain %age score in a particular UG degree is good or not?
Looking forward to your response.
Thanks !!
Hi Rishab,
Honestly this a tough one but will try my best. In most schools your GPA will be based on the performance of the previous students from your particular college/university . From what I know - they maintain a database of the different colleges and every year populate that database with students from that college. Based on the performance of your seniors at that particular school they determine a conversion factor for "%" to GPA.So in a way your GPA for admission purposes would depend on your "%", your seniors "%" and their GPA at the particular US school.In cases where they are no previous students records they use a base conversion factor. Most Schools in US are very well aware of the premier institutes in India and are given due consideration.
Rishab this is how things generally work but each school's process could be entirely different, so the school's admission team would be your best bet to answer this question. But remember that your UG % is just a small part your entire application process.
Good Luck!!!
-Santosh
Hi Santosh, Here is my profile.
Appearing for GMAT on 11th of October.
I have done my BCom from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics with 75%
Have also done my Mcom from Mumbai University with 71%
I am a Chartered Accountant by Profession with articleship experience of 3 years from Deloitte Haskins and Sells and also a mid size CA firm.
I have also cleared Level 2 of International CFA.
I had scored 82% in 12th and 91% in 10th.
Post my qualification I have worked with National Stock Exchange(NSE) for 6 months and now handling my family owned financial services company.In total I have work experience of about 1yr 3months exclusive of my articleship experience. I have also teaching experience with a few of the local classes in subjects like Tax and Costing(not sure whether this would help or not).
I was also a part of my college Fest UMANG and have take part in various extra curricular activities at school and college level
Can you please tell me as to what GMAT score do i need if I want to do MBA from top 30 colleges preferably (any location would be fine) and will my work experience with my dad's own financial service firm would be a a disadvantage as it is not a brand name.
Can you Please guide me that should I try for SIMON Accelerated MBA option of January, Is it a disadvantage that you cannot take up an internship?
Is it a very well known Brand name in MBA in Finance or should I try for some other Universities.
And can you please help me whether I will be eligible for any Scholarship or not?
Post MBA I would like to get into Private Equity or Valuations or Start something of my own.
Thanks a lot. Sorry if it is too verbose.
I am keen on SIMON because want to start as early as possible and SIMON offers me that by Accelerated MBA in January and application is still open I guess for the same.
dhwani88 SaysI am keen on SIMON because want to start as early as possible and SIMON offers me that by Accelerated MBA in January and application is still open I guess for the same.
Hi Dhwani,
Yes, Simon is well known brand and consistently ranks among the Top 10 for Finance. Just to give you an heads up the deadline for Jan admit is Oct 15. You need to start on your application asap if you wish to meet the deadline.
Typically for an Indian to be competitive at a Top 30 school you need to have a GMAT of 700+. Its good that your CA experience will differentiate you from the pool. Even if you have a GMAT of less than 700 you can still make it to the Top schools as long as the rest of the application conveys brilliance.Though it would never hurt to have a brand name on your resume, the adcoms are more interested in your career progression, leadership abilities and the specific roles you performed. In a nutshell your achievements are more important.
An internship is always advisable especially for career switchers. The federal regulations only prevent you from doing a paid internship, you are more than free to take up an unpaid internship. Also the Center for Entrepreneurship offers a few intern positions where you get to work with start ups and are also eligible to get paid as a school employee. Scholarship will be purely based on the strengths of your overall application. Traditionally Jan admits have more average work experience than Sep admits. But Simon always reserves few spots for Early leaders(
One thing I would say is Simon would fit nicely with your profile as it is very strong in finance and accounting. Also if you decide to wait till next year you might want to look at MS(Finance) programs, which will give you an option to work at an IB or VC firm as a pre MBA analyst post graduation. Once you gain couple of years of experience you can get your MBA and be well positioned for the PE career.
-Santosh
hi Santosh,
My profile
GMAT - 610(Q43/V31/5) goofed up 
TOEFL scheduled nxt week
Work-ex : 13 months as of now..add another 9 months till july
done my B.E in 2008
done my post graduate diploma in banking
I am into retail banking operations.
I want to continue in retail or commercial banking post MBA. Simon is where i am looking to go forward to more than any other school.
The concentration of Operations management services along with finance is wat made me to apply to simon.
are there any students with this profile in current batch of students?
wat do u think r my chances of getting in..
hi Santosh,
My profile
GMAT - 610(Q43/V31/5) goofed up
TOEFL scheduled nxt week
Work-ex : 13 months as of now..add another 9 months till july
done my B.E in 2008
.
Hi,
Well I am not sure about the current student profiles. The adcom team would be your best bet in this regard. Your chances would depend on your overall app package but based on your profile you will be considered an early leader
Thanks,
Santosh.
Hi Santosh
Thank you so much for starting this thread and providing some wonderful insights on the Simon Admission procedure. I have received a Skype interview invite from the AdCom and just wanted to know about the kind of questions that are asked in the interview? Any tips or suggestions will be extremely helpful as well! Thanks
-Naithy
Hi Santosh
Thank you so much for starting this thread and providing some wonderful insights on the Simon Admission procedure. I have received a Skype interview invite from the AdCom and just wanted to know about the kind of questions that are asked in the interview? Any tips or suggestions will be extremely helpful as well! Thanks
-Naithy
Hi Naithy,
In general the purpose of the interview is to gauge
- If you are a fit for the school and can you contribute to the incoming class
- If you as an individual would benefit from the Simon experience
Though the specific questions can vary, the interview can usually be broken down into 3 segments.
Seg 1: First 5minutes getting to know the applicant and making them feel comfortable. Usually you will be asked to walk through your resume during this time.
Seg 2: Next 20 minutes, Starts of with the ST & LT goals. Your conversation with the interviewer would drive the next set of questions but you can usually expect to discuss specific leadership instances, extracurriculars, voluntary work, career progression and international experiences. Just be aware of the fact that the interviewer doesn't read you essay's before hand so make sure to be detailed in your conversations.
Seg 3: Last 5 mins, wrap up. This is your opportunity to ask any questions regarding the program or the possible next steps of the interview process.
The Adcom is very friendly so think of the interview as another opportunity to showcase your talents. Be relaxed and genuine.
Good luck.
Thanks,
Santosh.
Thanks Santosh! I couldn't have asked for a better response! 😃 And the interviewer is actually an alumni so hoping it will be less nerve wracking!
Hi,
I too applied for Simon in round 1. Can you please tell me when did u submit your application ???
I still havent received any update..