The Fuqua (pre-)Application – Duke initiates contact!

By Randy Zwitch - July 8th, 2009 Category: CCMBA 2010D| Fuqua Application

An interesting “feature” of the GMAT exam is that before the test, you are asked which schools you intend to apply to, so that you can electronically submit your test results.  After taking the exam, you are given three choices:

  1. Submit the results to your school(s) of choice immediately after the test session, but before you know the results (free)
  2. Don’t specify where you will be applying up front, find out your test results, then submit  to the school(s) of choice (additional $ per school submission)
  3. Cancel the test (no one finds out the results, results purged from record, waste $250 and 4 hours of your time)

I’ve never been one to second-guess myself, so for both sittings I chose the free option and submitted my test results.

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…And then there were two

By Randy Zwitch - July 6th, 2009 Category: CCMBA 2010D| Fuqua Application

With my GMAT score in place, and four business schools remaining on my short list, it was time to do some research to determine which school(s) to apply to, and in which order.  As I learned from my test taking fiasco, without proper preparation and research you can spend a lot of time, effort and money and get very little to show for it.

Rather than rely solely on school rankings such as those published by BusinessWeek or U.S. News & World Report, I decided to thoroughly research each program, starting with the school website.  Here’s what I learned:

Wharton (UPenn) – The first collegiate business school, claims to have the largest business school faculty and alumni network in the world.  Program takes 2 full years, offers no scholarships, and segments students at admissions into “fellows” program if under 30, requiring additional sections on the application.  Classes meet every other weekend in Philadelphia.  Total cost:  $156,600

Stern (NYU) – Program takes 22 months to complete, classes meet every other weekend in NYC .  Applicants must have at least six years work experience, with an average of 14 years experience and 38 years of age.  Total cost: $137,000

Fuqua (Duke) – School ranked #1 by BusinessWeek for intellectual capital, a proxy for faculty quality.  Program takes 16 months to complete, August 2009 – December 2010.  Rather than meeting every other weekend in fixed location, program broken into six terms with five overseas residencies: London, Dubai, Delhi, Shanghai, and St. Petersburg.  Average student age: 30.  Total cost:  $115,500

Columbia – Program takes two full years to complete, and like Wharton, no scholarships or grants available.  Students average 10 years work experience, 32 years of age.  Classes meet Friday-Saturday in NYC, 86% of students live in local NYC metro area.  Total cost: $144,000

From my research, I immediately ruled out NYU.  From their description of the “average” student, it was clear that the “Executive” part of their EMBA program truly meant upper levels of management, rather than a description of the program delivery.  I also eliminated Columbia, as continuous travel to NYC would be quite taxing and expensive.

That left Wharton and Fuqua as my two remaining schools.  Wharton, a top-notch school in my backyard.  Fuqua, a top-notch school with classes around the world.  With two remaining schools, the stress was already mounting:  I had chosen them, but would they choose me?

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The dreaded GMAT, part 2

By Randy Zwitch - June 29th, 2009 Category: CCMBA 2010D| Fuqua Application

As I wrote in part 1, there were two pieces of information that I learned from my first pass through the GMAT.  First, I needed to spend another $250 to re-take the exam (I didn’t need that new iPod anyway).  Second, and more importantly, I need to actually study for the exam!  Lucky for me, there is a mandatory “cooling-off” period of one month between test attempts. /sarcasm off

I scheduled my re-take for 35 days after my first sitting, to give myself motivation to study for exam.  And study I did.  Not only did I do every problem in the GMAT study guide, but I also took both Computer Adaptive Tests provided by MBA.com.  If you’ve never taken an adaptive test before, they are extremely difficult to gauge while you are taking them.  You must answer each question sequentially, and the test “adapts” to your level of brainpower.  So unless you are doing extremely poorly, the test will seem difficult while at the same time making you feel like you are doing well.

In my case, the feeling of doing well was short lived.

After spending untold numbers of hours studying, $500 in test fees and 4+ hours twice to take the actual exam, I was only able to improve my test score 60 points the second time to finish at 650.  While 650 is better than average, if I was to be admitted to a top business school I had my work cut out for me.

BTW, while I have no doubt that the GMAT proves “something” about B-school candidates, I don’t believe it measures propensity to be successful in an MBA program.  All that studying the second time showed me was that there is an underlying pattern in the questions; with enough practice, the questions just become another type of formula to memorize, then forget after the test is over.

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