Something I've been thinking of a bit the last couple of days:

I received an interview invite from NYU. I have no intention of attending, but have considered using an NYU admit as leverage for getting some $$$ out of schools I've been admitted to. I would still have to go to NYC and spend a vacation day, though chances of an admit are pretty good after interview. However, I don't know if my heart would fully be into the interview since the school no longer excites me.

To make things more complicated, I have a friend who has a very similar profile also applying R1 -- Indian US citizen, engineer, better GPA, 720 GMAT -- who absolutely LOVES stern and is freaking out about not receiving an invite yet.

So given my situation, should I withdraw or go through with the interview? If I withdraw, will that help his chances (if the answer to this is yes, then I will def withdraw)?

Thanks!

Every spot that is filled is one less spot for your friend and for the rest of the applicant pool. It seems like you listed more negatives than positives about going through with the interview, so I would say to throw that interview back out to the rest of us (I am biased since I am also waiting to hear from Stern about an interview).

It would be amazing to be done with the process at this point, so I would run with it and enjoy this time knowing that you are good to go with your top school!

I don't think money from NYU will leverage any of the top schools. They probably will be have fun in NY and pick one of the many other qualified people they have on the WL.

Unless the other schools you were accepted to are in top 10, I would seriously reconsider Stern. If you really have no desire to be there than let them know now, otherwise think about it and think back to why you applied there in the first place. What if they offer you a full fellowship or once there you realize that it is the right program for you after all? I'd suggest that if there is still a little desire to go there then you should muster up the excitement and go to the interview. As a last resort like you said, if nothing else you can leverage it with the other schools. I highly doubt that if you withdraw your friend will all of the sudden seem great to adcom.

You're not doing anything illegal and your reasoning makes sense, especially since you already spent time and money on your stern application. but if you feel guilty about your friend this is the wrong place to ask for unbiased advice.

To all the I-bankers out there. What are you plans for leaving and collecting your bonuses? I work at a mid-market firm with a June 30th year end that pays bonuses at the end-July / early-Aug.

I have not told my firm that I'm leaving and given market conditions I'm fearful that I will not be able to work something out with them in terms of paying my bonus.

Any ideas on how to approach this problem? Or should I just accept the fact that I will be leaving my bonus (no matter how big or small behind) behind and leave on my own terms.

Not sure about your firm, but most of the I-banks pay bonuses between end Jan. and mid-March. If you leave before that time generally you forfeit it. Personally, haven't heard of any pro rated bonus. When I left my previous job in July I never collected any bonus, but the new firm I joined more than matched what I lost by offering guaranteed bonus for the rest of the year. My advice to you is to volunteer in the next round of layoffs and collect severance and unemployment benefits.

Most firms pay in winter for associate+ levels and pre-MBA kids in the summer.

I'm in similarly situation and since b school start in Aug I've thought about just work till end of July for the bonus (little there is this year). If you actually volunteer for lay off do u risk ur admission since there will be a gap in employment?

Also will they actually lay you off if they know you're leaving anyways?

I used to work at a mid-market firm. When I decided to leave for my current job, I was up front with my bosses and got my full bonus paid in July.

In my situation, they were grateful for the time to plan for my departure and happy with my performance, so they were willing to be fair about compensation.

On the other hand, the higher-ups at investment banks are used to analysts/associates leaving with little/no notice, so it's not like you will permanently be burning bridges with any of them, as long as they are somewhat cognizant of reality.

In most cases, the senior guys are understanding if you tell them you are going to b-school. It is not like you are leaving to go to another bank or firm. Do you have a lot of accrued vacation? If you have good/nice/cool MDs, you could tell them sometime in late spring and then when you are ready to leave, use all of your vacation days until the money hits, so you are technically employed as of the bonus date but are really on vacation. This is what my colleague did, but he had like 25 days accrued so it made sense. You also still have health insurance and are making income.

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I always used to laugh when I read the Kaplan book on GMAT taking strategies - one of the things the book says is that it's crucial to 'have confidence' & the other is that you've got to 'have fun' with the test...Initially I had neither.

Have fun? Ok then?! It didn't feel quite as fun as dancing all night or a ski or scuba-diving vacation though did it? I suppose initially it felt marginally more enjoyable than a game of sober Russian roulette...

Be Confident? After 15 years out of education, the prospect of this exam terrified me. It's the most important component of your Biz school application that you can affect in a very short time pre-application. So initially I had zero confidence & I think that really affected me.

My main fears were:
1) After 15 years out of academia I wasn't up to this kind of test
2) I hadn't done any real math for 20 years (in the UK you don't have to take any quantitative subjects in your undergrad degree) - the verbal section looked OK but the math section really FREAKED me out.
3) My early years of excess & my mental inactivity in my current work had destroyed all my brain cells!!!

For these reasons & because I'm more of a 'jump right in' kind of guy, I ended up taking the test several times & went up over 100 points (the test is $250 a pop). I did also found all the study materials & practice tests very useful. I ended up with a 'respectable' 610 with 5.5 awa.

Since I've cleaned out a lot of mental cob-web in the last 5 years, i've spent 2 years studying for my MBA (focusing particularly on quant subjects) & I'm far more confident academically now, I now harbor a secret desire to re-take the test simply to try to get a higher score (pathetic really!)

But realistically you do reach a point of diminishing returns. The first 100 point jump was relatively easy (I think that's why all the prep courses promise a jump of 100). But after that gaining points starts to get increasingly difficult. Otherwise you could just keep studying 'til you got an 800! So I'd say around 650 is where I'd top out...

If you're an undergrad or about to graduate Do the test NOW, whilst all this stuff is still fresh in your mind - the test scores last 5 years. Also try to take some classes in subjects that probe you in the areas in which you're weak. You don't want to go through what I did! (even though I doubt you'll wait til you're 36 'til you get your MBA).

My 610 got me into schools like Boston University, William & Mary & Northeastern. Dartmouth recommended that I re-apply & assigned me an applications 'mentor'. I'm pretty sure they wanted me to re-take the test & re-do my entire application, but I'm afraid I didn't have the patience or self-belief at the time to do all that work simply in the hope that they might accept me a whole year later.

There is a major idiosyncrasy of this test - How come the average score keeps going up? Is it because the tests are getting easier or the test-takers are getting better or for some other reason(s)? When the test began in 1954 the average score was 500 with a standard deviation of 100.

The average actually fell until 1984 when it was 460. So a 540 score in 1984 must have been roughly equivalent to a 650 today. When I took the test (almost 5 years ago) the average was 520 with a standard deviation of 113. Now it's 535 with a standard deviation of 120.

It makes sense that the standard deviation keeps growing. As increasing numbers of people take the test, the number of really high & low scores increases. But why do the averages keep growing up? This also explains why the test scores needed to get into MBA programs keep rising too. Can anyone explain this trend? If so please let me know? See below for further discussion on this topic. Anyhow, if you're about to take the GMAT, GOOD LUCK TO YOU & remember 'have fun with it'. One day you may, like me, actually want to take it again just for the hell of it (well probably not)

http://gmatclub.blogs.com/blog/2004/06/the_gmat_averag.html

Final thought:

1) I conquered my fear of math & now I really enjoy all the quant stuff - Just think, someone like me who was 'lousy' in math majored in Finance & got a good GPA in their MBA. I'm sure you can do the same!!
2) If you can rid yourself of the kind of performance anxiety I had (You can always take the test again) you'll do much better & (ideally) you will actually have fun with it. You might even end up, like me, wanting to take it again just for the hell of it (well probably not.....)
3) If you, like me, you don't get that stellar 700 score, you can take heart - I've heard of people accepted into Harvard Business School with 600 & a host of other top 10 schools in the low to mid-600's. As one of my Professors said, schools take a lot of other factors into consideration - such as life experience, work history, Undergrad and/or grad GPA's...