Beat The GMAT

briangtsmith · Wed May 20, 2009 8:12 pm

Hi all!

I've decided to apply to an MBA program, and was aiming at the following schools: USC, Georgetown, Emory, Duke, and Vanderbilt.

I graduated from The George Washington University with a 3.20 GPA in International Affairs, concentrating in East Asian Relations and having studied abroad at Tokyo's Sophia University. I am proficient in Japanese.

By the time I apply, I will have had 2.5 years of experience. After interning during college at The Ritz-Carlton, I started as a hotel manager for Disney and was part of the re-opening team at The Plaza hotel in New York. Now I am working for a real estate company hoping to acquire the skills necessary to build my own hotel. Outside the office, I have a role on a nearby condo board, representing my company's investors in property issues.

I feel and MBA will help me gain a better perspective on the global economy and the proper quantitative/financial skills necessary to start my own company.

My practice GMAT's have been between 640 and 690...do I have a shot at my schools of choice?

In advance, thank you for your assistance!

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Paxton Helms - Kaplan · Thu May 21, 2009 8:59 am

Hello and thanks for your question!

First things first, do you mean Univ of Southern California or South Carolina?

My quick take is that these are all probably going to be reach-ish schools for you, with Duke --which is heavily quantitative-- being an especially long reach. Vandy, Emory, and Georgetown are all very solid programs but Emory would probably be the easiest for you to get into.

Looking at the elements of your profile, I would say that your work experience is probably the strongest element of your profile, especially since it dovetails nicely with your professional goals and your extra-curricular activities. The problem with your experience is that you dont' have enough of it to offset other areas.

My concerns are that you need to be on the upper end of that GMAT scale to off-set the fairly low GPA. That GPA will matter less if your IA degree was strong in economics or if you have more work experience if GW is known for not having grade-inflation (tests: did you do well in terms of class rank? were you a member of an honor society? did you graduate cum laude or with other kinds of honors?).

Bottom line: to be competitive, now you need to hammer the GMAT; to be even more competitive, you need to hammer the GMAT and get another year of work experience.

Does this answer your question?

Paxton

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briangtsmith · Thu May 21, 2009 1:41 pm

First, thank you so much for your response!

That's the answer I was anticipating- I was extremely involved in college, taking on leadership roles on both a University level as well as with my local Knights of Columbus group. Through each, I put together a number of fundraising concerts and breakfast events, in addition to always having an internship. So while I was excited about and interested in my classes, they were not my only focus.

To combat this I was thinking about taking an accounting or finance class this summer. While I took and scored well in a number of economics classes at GW, my accounting background is weak.

Finally, I meant University of Southern California.

Thank you again!

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Paxton Helms - Kaplan · Thu May 21, 2009 2:06 pm

I think taking classes is almost always a good thing and definitely a good thing for you. If possible, take:

- Macro
- Micro (calculus-based, if possible)
- Accounting (VERY important if you don't have a background in this; if I hadn't taken accounting before UCLA I would have gotten my head handed to me)
- Calculus (if you need it)
- Statistics (please don't take "elementary" statistics --b-school statistics is a good bit more advanced)

I know it sounds like a lot but it is very helpful. Also, an undergraduate course at a four-year is probably better than a course at a community college, though --if you are in the DC area-- NVCC would probably be a fine choice.

One question: why the one West Coast school? That often raises a red flag for me. Not in a bad way, mind you, it just that it makes me wonder why do you have an outlier?

Let me know your thoughts--

Paxton

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briangtsmith · Thu May 21, 2009 2:13 pm

University of Southern California is particularly intriguing to me for multiple reasons. I love the idea of their "PRIME" program (work abroad in Asia), strong real estate development program, and heavy recruitment by companies I admire. I have a strong interest in Japan, have lived and studied there before, and would love to get some work experience there if possible (which, through PRIME, would!) Furtheremore, USC is supposed to have an outstanding entreprenuership and real estate reputation- making it, in my mind, the perfect fit. Now I just need to make sure they agree!

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briangtsmith · Thu May 21, 2009 2:14 pm

Oh and thanks again!

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Paxton Helms - Kaplan · Sat May 23, 2009 5:59 pm

Happy to help. For the record, all of the reasons that you mentioned for interest in USC also apply to UCLA. The UCLA brand is super-strong in Asia and Japan, in particular (stronger than in the US).

Given your Asia focus, I strongly recommend considering UCLA, and not just b/c I went there.

Cheers (and thanks for the shout out)--

Paxton

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briangtsmith · Wed May 27, 2009 1:55 pm

All,

Just to update- I signed up for a graduate level financial accounting course at SUNY: Stony Brook today. Hopefully, I'll get an A and, considering my average undergraduate GPA, improve my candidacy.

What do you think?

Thanks again!

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Paxton Helms - Kaplan · Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:12 am

Sounds like a plan.

If you have time, the "suite" that I recommend that people take is:

- Macroeconomics
- Microeconomics
- Calculus
- Statistics
- Accounting
- Introductory Finance (if possible)

Cheers--

Paxton

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