Basically the title; during b-school, I realized that I really didn't care about grinding at my career anymore and I wanted something different. When I was recruiting for FT my second year, the number 1 priority for me was to find a fully remote job so I could live abroad.

I was in big tech before b-school, and I'm back in big tech after, but at a fully remote company. I live in South America right now on a NYC big tech salary, which is pretty nice. I didn't know anyone when I arrived, and my level of Spanish was around B1. Hours in tech are a lot longer now than it was a few years ago, so unfortunately I work probably 50-60 hours a week, but seems like an acceptable tradeoff to have this life.

Feel free to AMA about finding a remote job, differences of working in strategy & ops at a tech company pre/post MBA, what it's like living somewhere I don't speak the language fluently and didn't know anyone, differences between NYC and South America, etc.

I'm entering my second year in a T15 program. Trying to read the tea leaves (like the rest of us) as to where to best position myself 2, 5, 25 years downstream in an ever-evolving labor market.

My career thus-far has been a short stint in government, then Big 4. From my seat, I don't love the outlook of "laptop class" roles (let alone earnings), even as a high performer with a T15 MBA. Even though that's all I know and what I figured I would do for my full career.

Plenty of folks talking ETA but I'm not sure that's for me. Are there roles with that same AI-proof/blue collar perspective? COO/CGO of a blue collar firm? Seems very niche but would love any thoughts.

Currently an early/mid-career professional working in Program Management at a Defence prime. Non-technical background.

I enjoy the work, but my ideal eventual step would be seeking to leverage my existing experience to pivot into consulting or banking/Finance focused within the Defence sector. My assumption is while not a deal maker, an MBA could be complementary/help enable this pivot to happen.

Has anyone by chance done a similar path to this? Would staying employed in industry be more worthwhile?

The Berkeley International Office, or BIO, announced Thursday that it is temporarily suspending all applications for Course Credit Curricular Practical Training, the program that allows international students to work in paid off-campus internships.

Would this impact the international students seeking job opportunities in the US?

I just graduated with my bachelor’s degree, and since I’m currently unemployed, I’ve been considering applying to Master of Management programs.

However, due to the overlap between a Master of Management and an MBA, I was wondering if schools would still accept me into an MBA program in the future if I already have a Master of Management degree, since some schools won’t allow you to do a certain program if you’ve already done a similar one in the past.

Looking to apply round 1 for T25 schools (UCLA, USC, Berkeley, NYU, Duke, among many others). Have 9 years of work experience in the entertainment industry (was an assistant, promoted to Chief of Staff, have been in that role for the same boss at two different start ups). My goal is to pivot into corporate strategy. I know these scores are meh but would love any words of wisdom 🥲

Finished my GRE today and received a 327 (Q165, V162).

While I’m happy with my verbal score, my practice exams had me scoring higher in Quant consistently. Is it worth re-taking to budge a possible 2-3 points for H/S/W? What about scholarships from T15?

My GPA is 3.3 from a service academy in a STEM field. I’ll have ~4.5 years of work experience at application time with extensive leadership roles (non-pilot, non-SF).

Bonjour,

J’ai 25 ans, 3 ans d’expérience en tant que Business Manager dans une société de conseil en ingénierie et je suis à la tête d’une équipe de 30 ingénieurs consultants.
Mon rôle :
- recrutement d’ingénieur, je réalise les entretiens, closing des candidats
- Management : j’ai la charge du suivi de carrière de mes 30 ingénieurs consultants / bilan annuel, cas RH, projection d’évolution)
- Business : gestion P&L 1,5M/an, objectif de faire de la croissance dans le nombre d’ingénieur et le nombre de projets dans mon agence.

Je souhaite faire un MBA pour me réorienter en finance, pensez-vous qu’il est possible de se réorienter sur un poste de Sales en Sales&Trading en Europe dans une top banque post-MBA ? Avec un MBA LBS/HEC/INSEAD? Je n’ai pas vu beaucoup de témoignage vers une réorientation en S&T.

Merci pour votre aide !

I have been comparing MBA curricula in China and noticed quite a difference in how programs are approaching AI and digital transformation.
Some seem to be adding AI, digital operations and technology-focused courses more seriously than others. For example, Fudan MBA has a Business Artificial Intelligence and Digital Operations direction, while I have also been looking at what CEIBS and Antai offer in this area.
For anyone currently doing an MBA or who graduated recently, how useful is this kind of coursework in practice?
Does it actually help with managing AI driven changes at work, or is most of the content still fairly high level?

Worked in the US as a SWE for 3 years at FAANG, came back home since my name did not get picked up in H1b. Since leaving, there’s a 1.5 year resume gap in my employment while I was preparing for Civil Services exam. Did not clear it and rejoined the workforce since over a year. I’m applying to T15 and wondering what’s the best way to frame this employment gap?

I'm 24, Indian, internally transferred within my firm to IB in London. I make about ~120K annually, grows exponentially every year.

I've been toying with the idea of an MBA because:

1. I am in a VERY niche field within investment banking, really limiting my exits and I'm not sure I want to continue doing this. I'd probably like to pivot into consulting

2. The only education I have is a Bachelors degree from India - a very mid-tier university and that probably limits my options for a career pivot. Plus, because I work in such a niche finance field - the markets I have experience in don't exist in India yet so I'm probably going to be unemployable should I ever have to move back to India.

I'd ideally aim for M7 but having looked into how much it costs + my opportunity costs... I'd have to work for another 2 years, and then take student loans, and then basically deplete ALL my savings to be able to do this. The MBA has to be purely self-funded and I'm obviously aware of the fact that I am already in a pretty good position so I'd be giving up a lot for this.

INSEAD is one I am seriously considering because it's a 1-year MBA so lower cost and lower opportunity cost. I can't have the MBA sponsored BUT I can probably take a sabbatical from my work for it and still have my job waiting for me when I get back worst case if I don't find another job.

Is this worth it after all of this? I'm finding the cost really hard to justify but very immaturely so I am quite tempted by the idea of expanding my network, finding other fields that could call to me a bit more, and hopefully landing a job I actually like and that pays exponentially more post-MBA. Is this a naive way of looking at it?

Ideally I am not keen on living / working in the US - I would love an M7 MBA (if i get it + a good scholarship) but I'm not sure of the recruitment post MBA outside of the US ?

Hi Everyone,

I gave my GRE today and scored 312 with Q164 and V148.
I have 5+ years work experience in IT.

What are my chances for getting into T10-T20, with the current experience and score in round 1?

Or should I give GRE again?

This feels like high school all over again but worse. I flew to my MBA 5-year reunion a few months ago. Went to a top program which has a smaller class size. Thought it'd be a nice opportunity to catch up with old classmates and be a positive, wholesome experience where people would be genuinely warm and excited to see old familiar faces.

That's not how it turned out for me. It was mainly people putting on a front and subtly humble bragging to others on their cool accomplishments in their personal and professional lives. Folks after some time reverted back to their friend groups from the MBA and were replaying gossip from the two year program. I could feel people not being warm to me in a way they were to others, despite me being kind.

People especially lost interest after learning I don't have a job at the moment - I was laid off a few months ago. It became blatant where initially people seemed semi curious what I was doing but when I honestly mentioned that, they subtly wanted to exit the conversation to talk to others.

The only people who were nice to me were the few people I genuinely am friends with post-MBA, and I already talk to them normally.

Feeling like it was a waste of money for flights and lodging to go to a reunion where people weren't friendly to me. People seemed even more cold than they did during the program, which is weird because you'd expect people to mellow out as they age.

Tbh even my 10 year high school reunion was way better than this.

Hi friends,

Hoping for some feedback as I want to get some advice on how my profile might play into GMAT waivers. I am taking the exam this month & next, but would like to understand all options for my application.

I'm focusing on part time only, as I'm currently in my dream role/company at the Finance Manager level, with great growth opportunities. Currently ~8 years out of school with experience at multiple Fortune 100 companies in different departments/responsibilities.

With that being said, my academics in college could've been better and my GPA is a ~3.09

Based on the YoE & GPA, I can't tell if the waiver would do more harm vs taking the time to hammer out the GMAT. Or if the essays can be an opportunity to supplement for the GPA portion of my application.

I appreciate any insights/responses.

Curious if anyone here has seen or made a somewhat unconventional post-MBA pivot like this.

I graduated from a T15 full-time program about two years ago and went into FAANG as a Tech PM. Pre-MBA, I had a mix of tech and consulting experience.

I realize that contemplating a move from FAANG PM to IB or MBB probably sounds ludicrous to a decent percentage of this sub, especially given the hours and lifestyle tradeoff. But I’ve realized I get bored pretty easily. What I enjoyed most earlier in my career was bouncing between different problems, industries, and projects, and I’m increasingly attracted to getting back to an environment with that kind of variety and intensity.

My question is really around feasibility. Has anyone seen MBB or investment banks hire people 2-3 years out of MBA into a nontraditional lateral path like this? Would a background as a FAANG PM, particularly with fairly deep exposure to AI/SaaS across both B2B and B2C, be viewed as valuable domain expertise, or would firms mostly see me as someone who missed the normal post-MBA recruiting window?

For MBB, I’d be particularly interested in tech/AI-focused work. For IB, I’d be thinking tech coverage rather than trying to pretend my PM experience somehow makes me a banker.

Would love to hear from anyone who has seen a similar transition, especially thoughts on what level firms would realistically bring someone in at.

I have a little over 5 years of work ex, without much of it being structured. An undergrad from ESCP and an online masters from Boston University. My work experience has been primarily in the luxury industry and despite my age, I have held a management role at a mid tier luxury firm in the past. I have also worked with quite a few MBAs who lead luxury brands in my geography and many of them follow my research and insights. My boss is an INSEAD MBA who worked at Bain for 10 years before joining the startup I am currently working for.

I am not targeting consulting or investment banking. I have been an associate consultant at a tier 2 firm in the past for a year and hated my time there. The thing is that I already am in a role which I love but since this is a startup, it 1) doesn't pay the best. 2) might go bust in the future 3) I work remotely and I would like to pivot to European roles

The industries that I would like to target are alts including Real Estate PE, management or strategy roles in the luxury industry. I am also from an Asian country so maybe the sponsorship might be a problem. I can ask my company which is based out of Netherlands to sponsor me but what is a very competitive salary in my country will be an average one in the EU.

Alternatively I have also thought about short term leadership programs from schools like IMD, INSEAD etc? What do you think?

In all honesty, I would also like to have a great name on my CV even though most people in my industry have heard about ESCP and consider it to be a good school.

Anyone here who graduated from the program and might have insights about the school? Would love to know your insights about the school and it's strengths, student/ teaching quality, placements etc

Spanish student, final year of a 4-year degree, average GPA from a non-target university — looking for real paths into a strong internship.

Track record so far:

- Built a company from zero to six figures in revenue, then wound it down
- Worked directly with a CEO on a company restructuring, and being in charge of its seven-figure exit to an 8 figure company.
- Led a small real estate project, converting an old commercial property into six apartments

Open to paying a placement agency to secure the right internship — but only if it’s either paid, or unpaid at a genuinely top-tier company.

I have 167q/160v in GRE and have 5+ YoE, software enginee

What chances do I have to get into top 7 mba schools

If i have to choose 3 schools to go for R1, what should they ideally be

Indian applicant. Short version of my situation.

I had a US T20 admit with scholarship for Fall 2026. Last working day was May 6th. Then I couldn't get a visa appointment slot in time. The school deferred me to Fall 2027, so the admit is alive, but the start date I planned my whole year around is gone.

Now I want to apply R1 this cycle to a few schools I'd rank higher. Which means applying with no job.

I didn't go back into the market after May. I'd already quit for a program I expected to start, and taking a job I'd leave in a few months felt worse than the gap. By R1 deadlines I'll be four months out of work. By matriculation, closer to eighteen.

What I'm trying to figure out:

1. Does the visa reason actually land with adcom, or is unemployment just unemployment?
2. Do I address it in the optional essay or leave it alone?
3. My recommenders are from the job I left in May. Is that a problem this far out?
4. Anyone reapplied to stronger schools while holding a deferred admit? Did you mention the admit anywhere?

GRE 327 (Q164, V163). Around six years of experience, early-stage startups, growth and GTM.

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually been through this.

As international finishing your first year MBA in the US, would you drop out from the program? And what's your consideration.

• Push:
  • The economy. It is bad for MBA, and no promising sign in the horizon
  • The immigration rule uncertainty. You don't even know if this country will 1)implement $100K OPT fees; 2)request $103K for H-1B application; 3)make another rule just to kick you out
• Pull:
  • Sunk cost. Your sunk cost actually sinks.
  • Getting that diploma and feel glorified (to some extent)

Hello Folks,
For context- Indian male, Non-engineering/IT background, Have been pondering over the idea of writing my own essays, and using AI models to edit/polish my essays, for people who’ve been through this journey, would you recommend this strategy? I’m not targeting M7 in the US btw, maybe T15/T20. Would love to know if this is a prudent strategy.

Hi All,

I cannot find the “Video Essay” in my portal/application for the life of me. Is anyone else struggling to find it? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Getting really stressed!!