Is it worth applying to NYU Stern's Round 3 with my stats? The past week or so has been a scramble to get everything for my application together to meet the deadline for Stern on Jan. 15 since retaking the GMAT on Dec. 30. While working on essays I've ended up spending countless hours on admissions blogs, message boards, etc. and am now starting to second guess my candidacy and am debating whether I should hold my application until R4 or even R1 of next year in order to allow additional time to boost my profile.
For a little bit of of background on me: I'm coming from 5 years working in public relations, integrated marketing and social media and would like to attend Stern to transition into a brand management/brand strategy role. Received a 3.6 GPA in undergrad from a top UC school but majored in communications so my quantitative coursework was minimal. While I scored a 700 on the GMAT, I was only in the 61st percentile for Quant so I worry I don't have any way to prove to admissions that I'm capable of performing in heavily quantitative classes.
At this point I wish I'd better prepared and had taken outside coursework to prove my quantitative abilities, but it's too late to do this now for R3 or R4. Is stating in the optional essay that I'm taking an introductory finance class or two this semester enough to convince admissions officers of my commitment and potential without being able to show them the grades to prove it? Am I better off retaking the GMAT and applying R4 (Stern's final round) than submitting my app now?
The other option would be to hold my application until R1 of next year to allow time to retake the GMAT, take outside coursework and conduct additional campus visits to get even more acquainted with the campus. This is not ideal given I'm at a good turning point in my career and hate to delay business school by a full year, but wanted to get a sense of whether applying at the moment is even realistic or if it's too much of a long shot to even make it worth my time.
For a little bit of of background on me: I'm coming from 5 years working in public relations, integrated marketing and social media and would like to attend Stern to transition into a brand management/brand strategy role. Received a 3.6 GPA in undergrad from a top UC school but majored in communications so my quantitative coursework was minimal. While I scored a 700 on the GMAT, I was only in the 61st percentile for Quant so I worry I don't have any way to prove to admissions that I'm capable of performing in heavily quantitative classes.
At this point I wish I'd better prepared and had taken outside coursework to prove my quantitative abilities, but it's too late to do this now for R3 or R4. Is stating in the optional essay that I'm taking an introductory finance class or two this semester enough to convince admissions officers of my commitment and potential without being able to show them the grades to prove it? Am I better off retaking the GMAT and applying R4 (Stern's final round) than submitting my app now?
The other option would be to hold my application until R1 of next year to allow time to retake the GMAT, take outside coursework and conduct additional campus visits to get even more acquainted with the campus. This is not ideal given I'm at a good turning point in my career and hate to delay business school by a full year, but wanted to get a sense of whether applying at the moment is even realistic or if it's too much of a long shot to even make it worth my time.
