What schools have traction with i-banks?

I ran across this graph for recent analyst hiring by a major BB IBD for North America. It's interesting how much of a chance the 'little guys' actually have.

B-School Bell Curve

Although curving grades is nothing new to most university students, there is something special about how the curve works in most graduate business schools. For starters every class is curved, the guaranteed average for any class is a B+, and in my school 8% of the students will be in the C range. Considering a B average is needed to graduate this seems a little harsh. But the law of probabilities works its magic and most b-school have retention rates above 90%.

For students not used to curving it takes a little getting used to. For instance I knew my intro to finance course in the summer would be just short of a cake walk and to top it off, it had a take home midterm. So with some mild studying the day before and a 8pm to 1am writing period I was feeling confident of an A+ test. And that's I got - on paper. On the curve my low 90 was curved to a B+; it looked like I was in the big leagues now (never fear, the final went swimmingly).Of course there was rumors of "team writing", and I did get a crucial fixed income question wrong, but the fact remained, if I was going to be grabbing the grades I wanted, I needed perfection.

But perfection is hard, so lets put our stats hats on and think about strategy!

The B-School Bell Curve
Using some of the metrics that I have heard thrown around I can approximate my schools curve to something similar to below.

The mean is a B+, it is normally distributed and 8% of the students get a below a B-. There is also a top line percentage quota which I hear is flexible. Regardless because there is a firm tail quota and a fixed mean, the school must have to apply different multipliers to different students grades. In other words if the curve is a bit bi-modal and there is a cluster near the top (as it often is), the penalizer for each grade off perfect would be large to push students down the curve, while weaker scores would receive boosting multipliers. This is where the strategy comes in.

The statistics tell us the curve is going to push you towards the mean whether you are above or below it, so you will be helped in courses you're weak, and hurt in courses your strong (relative to your peers). Thinking about this logically a student who was in 4 courses and got 4 paper grades of 80% would under-perform a student who got 4 paper grades of 60%, 70%, 90%, 100%, assuming their peers performed the same in each class on paper. This is because the 60% and 70% grades are going to receive a curve boost, while all 80% grades will be penalized. The conclusion: be an outlier.

Now we need to drop the assumption that your peers will perform the same in each class, because they won't. With some observation you should still be able to employ the statistical intuition developed above; you need to kill the exams where you think you already have an edge in the class, and this examination-annihilation can occur to some extent at the expense of studying for exams in classes you think you're not top dog. 

The other interesting facet of curves is they implicitly discourage peer-to-peer help, as it is in each persons interest for their peers to bomb tests. Thankfully we are all here for jobs at the end of the day, so there is a equal incentive to help out a classmate - they just might be giving you a job in 5 years. 

Unfortunately no-where in my stats output does it say anything about the usefulness of blogging in midterm season.

A perspective on applying to MSc Business degrees, right after a business undergrad

40 years ago a relatively small part of the population went on to study after high school, now it is the norm. Because having an undergrad is the norm, firms are having to get pickier on how they select their candidates. They do this by raising the minimum GPA, establishing dedicated recruitment campus, and starting to hire more Masters students for Analyst positions. In another 40 years you might need a Ph.D. to grab those elusive top paying jobs. Here is a road map on how to make the Masters choice today.

Motivation
If you are considering more education after graduating your business degree you need to settle on your motivation. Do you want to get a MSc to break into a top firm? Or do you want to work towards a Ph.D. and teach someday. Each path needs a masters, however each path needs a much different education, and its time to choose which path is right for you.

The GMAT
This was the achilles heal of my applications, I did not prep enough. If you are serious in pushing into a top b-school you need a GMAT score in the 700's with a balanced quant/verbal split. For most of us in North America, we have done the better part of the last 10 years with a calculator in our hands - the GMAT is all by hand. If you've been reading business publications like the economist then you've already prepped for the verbal, but if not, verbal scores are the slowest to improve. Buy a book, take a prep course, allocate 100 hours, do what you need to become 90th+ percentile.

The Search
When you have your GMAT and can ballpark your GPA you can start setting your sights on schools. Generally if you are anywhere in the median 80% you have a real shot at making it in. Use b-school ranking lists, and understand how they are calculated. Most ranking lists incorporate incoming GMAT scores, exit salary, and % students placed 90 days after graduation, but each has their own take.

If you are focusing on getting hired, it's these ranking lists you need to look at, along with asking / looking at who recruits on campus. If you know your dream job, may as well go to the school that they recruit from. If your looking for research heavy programs for a Ph.D. you'll need to follow an entirely different screening method that I don't know anything about.

Quantity or Quality
I chose to focus on only three schools and spend a lot of time tailoring each essay to exactly what the school was looking for. Some choose to do the scatter-shot approach which makes sense statistically but remember you need tailored on-line recommendation letters for all these schools. Make sure to apply to at least one school that is out of your league. When you get into all of your schools, the "what if" thought often nags at you a bit. Of course also have a backup school for the worst case scenario. I strongly recommend applying in the first round because that is where most of the scholarship money is handed out, and it works best with the "eager for success" story you're going to need to tell.

Your Brand
The nice thing about business schools is that they are businesses. When you graduate you are their product, and when you are applying you are their supply. Everything you need to know about how to tell your story to get in, you can get by thinking about what they want from you when you get out. Namely, they want you to get a great job that has a really high pay so that you can boost their rankings, give lots of money back to the school when you make it big, and help following graduates land at the same firm. So in the essay's interview ect, focus a lot on how the education at this school is going to allow you to achieve your dreams. Focus on the particulars of that school, what about it specifically will give you wings ect. Also talk a lot about what you can contribute to the class, b-school is all about team so you can't be to "me me me" when talking about your candidacy. You are already a business student so your landing potential is high, it's just communicating it all and showing the admissions team you're [school name] material.

Interview Prep
Besides the advice above I would practice the common questions a lot with willing profs and friends, especially if your not a great public speaker. A lot of applicants will publish the questions they received on-line, grab what you can, but know all the general ones too. The behavioral questions need to answered genuinely, talk with friends and family to flesh out your real strengths and weaknesses and think about your 'story' around them.

The cut above
Just like dating a real 'catch', getting into b-school is all about going the extra mile. By the time I had my offer I was engaged in about 8 different email conversations with different people in admissions and in the school, asking about different facets of the program and the post graduation opportunities. Don't be annoying, be eager. When the admissions team sits down and opens your file you want positive mind share with as many people as possible before they start going over the quant aspects of the application. I strongly believe that if you can get one person to fight for you, you're in, even if your GMAT and/or GPA was sub median 80%. Networking is really respected at b-school and using it to get into the program will just underline why you will likely score the great job when your actually enrolled.

If you can get a job you are happy with out of undergrad you're setting yourself up for the much more practiced approach of 3 years work experience then MBA. The MSc is a gamble on jumping the que a little bit, delaying real life one more year, and grabbing a top job away from a would be candidate at a top tier undergrad school. But with a CFA you likely won't need an MBA anyways so it's really just compressing the inevitable Masters into one year and getting it out of the way!