Ask mbaMission

Hello, please evaluate my chances at some top schools

Age: 28 at matriculation.

My Achilles heal is my GPA. I have a 3.21 from BYU, studying food science and nutrition. I am taking two additional classes right now - Calculus and Microeconomics, I am on track to get A's in both of them.

WE: Almost 3 years at matriculation for a large ingredient and flavors company doing product development. No direct reports but I've continuously been given higher profile projects to manage as well as bigger clients. I've managed development projects through to production for companies such as McDonalds and OSI, Arby's, Nestle, Tyson etc.

Also I had an internship with Nestle for the last year and half of my undergrad as a quality analyst. I worked in a production plant doing projects for hazard, sensory, and microbiological analysis. Its not formal work experience, but I think its pertinent because together with my current work experience I have a pretty deep understanding of my industry. I worked 20-25 hours per week and also trained incoming interns.

GMAT: 750

EC: 2 year LDS mission to Central America, fluent in Spanish. According to Whartons website, they also count this as full time work experience.
During college EC's were ok, I was active in a couple clubs, intramural sports, and church service.
After college: also pretty good, various church service positions including current leadership position. I'm also organizing and leading a service project for a hospital in Ghana.

Post MBA: hopefully leverage my project management and problem solving skills to work for a top consulting firm. Eventually I may move into management for a company such as Nestle or General Mills.

What do you think of my chances at:
Wharton
Chicago
Kellogg
Tuck
UCLA
Cornell

Not sure how I hold up for admission at these schools with my low GPA, I'm hoping that my GMAT and the extra classes will help with that. How do you think my work experience will be viewed? It is technical, chemistry based work, but it also involves a lot of team work and project management, as well as client management.

Thanks for your help.

Hello rjkaufman, thanks for your question.

I wouldn't go so far as to call your 3.21 GPA an Achilles heel! It won't be the strength of your application, but it is only slightly on the low side. Your extra classes will help mitigate the GPA, as will your GMAT score.

Your competitiveness will really rest on the quality of your leadership experience both in and out of work. Have you influenced an organization, driven results, taken initiative? Moreover, you need not officially manage people to have demonstrated leadership. If you can translate your chemistry-based work into how you solved business problems, that would move the needle. Your post-college extracurricular activities sound promising, in this regard. College and older experiences tend not to factor in as much - some programs ask specifically for experiences within the past 3 years.

In terms of your post-MBA goals, the more you can cohesively tie together your past and present with your future goals, the more persuasive a case you will make. Think through how to tie together product development to business school to management consulting to a consumer products company. What motivates this career arc?

I think Wharton, Chicago, and Kellogg will be slight reaches, but worth trying. I think you'd be more competitive at Tuck and UCLA, with Cornell being the safest choice you list.

Best of luck!
Brian