Ask Stacy Blackman

Lisa,

Thank you so much for the time and I appreciate any insight you might have on how my chances look in getting into Wharton, Harvard, MIT or Stanford with my profile.

UGPA: 4.0 in Accounting, Graduated Summa Cum Laude and Valedictorian of the Business School (University of Missouri-KC), two time recipient of Future Professional Success Scholarship

Masters GPA: 4.0 in Masters in BUsiness Taxation - USC, Ranked # 1 in Graduating class, Graduate Fellowship Awardee , Commencement Speaker and Recipient of Outstanding Acedmic Achievement award

GMAT: 710 (V:41, Q:46, AWA: 6)

I have a CPA license and scored an average of 96% in all four sections of the exam (Financial accounting, regulations, business environment concepts, and audit)

WE: Currently CFO of printing company in LA, previously worked as consultant in International Tax for Big 4 firm, 3 years of WE @ date of application

XC: Worked for Kaufmann Institute in helping underprivileged kids puruse higher education among others.

Pls. let me know how my chances look and what I need to do in the next few months to improve. Thank you very much.

Thanks for the reply Lisa..
I am planning to retake the test in month of may 2009 and i am interested for Fall 2010 batch. Please tell me when should i start applying to the colleges...

Hi Lisa and Stacy,

I appreciate your availability and prompt replies to others in this thread.

I just took the GMAT and got a 730. I thought this would be high enough for any school, but have read mixed opinions online. Do you think this is a high enough score? I should add that my GPA is a 3.43 from the University of Michigan (Econ major).


Thank you in advance for your opinion.

Hello ma'am

I am Madhur Gupta, a student from India. I have done the best commerce course, B.Com(Honours), from the best Indian university, which is the Delhi University. But I have a low overall percentage of about 55% (the highest in our university goes to around 72%, so you could call it a gpa of 9). I am not sure about wether I should go for acquiring a work-experience of about two years, or doing a rigorous course like CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst), or preparing for the Civil Services Exam (which requires a rigorous, 1 year, 12 hours-a-day study of disciplines like general knowledge, economics, and psychology, to qualify). Which course do you think should I take to make my B-school application a more competitive one? I am especially confused about the third option (the CSE option), because if I don't get through the exam, then I would't be awarded any certificate or anything, which might allow me to show to the B-school selection committee, that I spent that year doing something productive. Besides this, I do not posess any extracurricular, or social-work record. I can participate in debates and half-marathons (as I run a distance of about 15 kms. daily. What else extraordinary do you think I should try to do? Also, I have been scoring around 780 consistently in mock GMATs of various institutes. Do you think I can make it to a top-5 B-school? Please grant me your valuable advice. I shall be very thankful to you.

Thank you.

Hi Lisa ,

I am Planning to apply for fall 2010 admission. By that time I will have working experience of 3.5 Years , Including 1.5 Year during my BBA , but the experience was not internship , just a normal work on a clerical level.
last 2 Years I am working on the Lower Management level.

I have a GPA of around 2.8 , which was unfortunately caused because of studying and working together, I had to work by that time to pay for an university. can this be a justification for this low GPA? also i am working hard to score 700+ in GMAT to balance the low GPA.

I am aiming to apply somewhere in top 20. what do you think about my case?

Hi Stacy,

I'm trying to be realistic with myself here. I have a 2.9 from a third tier state school, will have attained about three years full time experience by the time I start B-School (working as a financial analyst for an industry leading firm) and I'm an African American male. I have decent undergrad on campus extracurricular activities, however none since graduating. I have not taken the GMAT yet. I also worked full time as an undergrad.

I really would like to go to USC or UCLA. My second choices would be Bentley or Fordham. However, I can't shake the desire to shoot for at least one top 10 school. My mentor, who is a former professor and will also be drafting my letters of recommendation, is a graduate of Columbia. She is also leading several alumni initiatives including raising funds for the school. So I'm considering making Columbia my "super duper longshot" school given her connections and my desire to go there. However, I question whether or not it's worth even trying given my profile.

Given the above I have four simple questions.

1) What GMAT score would possibly give me a chance at Columbia given my profile and strong essays.

2) Same as question as above, except applied to USC and UCLA.

3) Are Fordham and Bentley low enough safety schools (assuming I score about average on the GMAT) or should I go lower.

4) I cannot even begin to afford the kind of consulting your firm offers. However, the GMAT and essays are the only things I can do anything about, so I'm focusing my energy there. What are some more cost effective alternatives to writing better essays and putting together a better package besides books.

Sorry for the long post. I appreciate your time and consideration.

Gouman

I am curious your thoughts on if I should retake the GMAT. I scored a 680 (Q42, V41). 3.8 GPA in finance and 3.5 years working experience at a top consulting firm.

I want to apply to Ross, Darden, Johnson, Haas & Kenan Flager. Should I retake the GMAT or am I in the ballpark?? Thank you.

Hi,
I am looking to begin applying for schools this fall to begin an MBA Program in Fall, 2010, and I am struggling with figuring out where to apply and where I can get in. My specs are as follows:
When I will begin school, I will have had 2.5 years of professional experience at a large multi-national high-tech corporation in Human Resources, and will have international experience with the company. Company well-known/respected.
GMAT: 690 (42v/42Q) 6.0/6.0 AWA
GPA: 3.38, undergraduate business degree from Michigan State University (Human Resource Management), graduated in 3.5 years.
As undergraduate, was very involved in extracurriculars. Was founder and president of scholastic Business Organization, research scholar in business school (published articles with professor, attended conferences), member of student government, and worked for 2 years for state government in HR role (part-time).
Will get letters of recommendation from 2 different HR Managers at my company.
Speak Spanish and English, interview and write well, am female.
My downfalls are my work experience, and not stellar Quantitative score.
I want to know what my chances are of getting into the following schools specifically:
U Chicago
Northwestern
U Washington
Indiana

And if you can think of any schools that may give me some sort of research assistantship, also schools that focus on HR. I just don't know where to even begin applying, and I don't want to waste my time applying to top-tier schools if I don't stand a good chance of being accepted. Thanks!!!