The Application Process

Hi, I'd like to get a temperature check on my profile and list of potential schools. If anyone could give me some feedback it'd be much appreciated.

Age 29
School: UC San Diego
GPA: 3.24
B.S. Management Science (an Economics BS degree)
Minor Computer Science
My first two years of school were a bit rocky (mostly <3.0), as I bounced between a couple potential majors and adjusted to find my fit in college life. In my second two years I had settled on my major, and I showed great improvement earning above a 3.5 in all but one quarter. Overall, I worry about my final GPA, but my transcript has some excellent examples of quantitative success and a general upward trend. I graduated with an "honors" distinction (above a 3.5) in Economics.

GMAT: 730 (96th percentile), Quant=47 / Verbal=42, AWA 4.5
Solid score, though I had scored a 740 (Q47,V44) and 750 (Q49,V44) on my two official GMAT practice exams. I studied by simply taking practice tests once a weekend for 6 weeks. I could probably improve slightly with a retake after more study, but wonder whether it is worth the time, effort, cost, and risk.

Work Experience: 6 Years working at the same tech startup in retail (where I am currently). Started as an analyst when the company had about 25 people. Worked as an analyst in sales/marketing areas for around 4 years, moving up in responsibility, but sideways in title. Company grew to about 75-100 employees, but mostly in other departments. Two rounds of layoffs stunted our growth as well, preventing potential paths of advancement. Two years ago, I transferred to the finance department with a sideways title change to Business Analyst and worked alongside the Director of FP&A doing all of the company's budgeting, planning, and analysis. I wasn't really happy working just in finance and was hungry for a bump up in title/responsibility, so I applied internally for an Account Manager position (back in sales) and was promoted about a year ago. For the past year I've been in that role, performing well, but now looking towards business school as a potential way to shift careers slightly and move to a high-tech consumer products company as a Product Manager or something similar.

Extra curriculars: Honestly, nothing really impressive in the way of leadership or even team participation. I love photography and maintain an extensive "portfolio" of my work online, but I've never won competitions or anything.

Planned applications--I'm planning to apply to these schools in R1 & R2:
UCLA, USC, Berkeley, Stanford, Duke

Alternates--currently thinking about maybe two of these for a January app if needed:
Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU

Am I stretching a bit with some of these choices?

My two top schools are Berkeley and Stanford, since I live in the bay area and would prefer to stay where my wife already has a job. I'd like to maximize my chance at these two (which would suggest applying round 1), but I've read advice that suggests waiting to apply to your top choices until you've been through a few apps already and essays and thinking are more refined. Any recommendations as to the order of application?

ggibson,

Bravo on the GMAT. Clearly you are a bright applicant.

Let me give you some feedback, straight-up.

Many of your targeted schools are at the top of the rankings, and I feel that your gpa from an OK school, together with the absence of a strong extra-curricular, combined with your lack of promotion at work in one functional area will raise some red flags. You have moved around internally, but perhaps have not advanced as much as some of your MBA competition.

I think you should take a shot at a few top schools, but you need to look farther down the rankings if you want to have a better chance of an acceptance. Your two top choices are real stretches and USC is a strong possibility. The bottom line is that having a few red flags really puts you in a tough position at the very top schools. One is surmountable, but having multiple issues makes it real hard.

Thanks very much for your reply, Alex, and I appreciate your candor.

I do realize that some of these top schools may be a stretch for me... I'm trying to gauge how much of a stretch. I don't want to waste my time with impossible applications, although I've been advised to approach an MBA with a "go big or go home" type of attitude. To me, continuing to work and possibly re-applying next year seems to be a reasonable "Plan B" versus, say, a degree from San Francisco State. Thoughts?

Getting back to the top schools, in shaping my applications to Berkeley, Stanford, and/or Duke, what might these schools typically want to see for me to overcome my red flags? (also, please let me know if any of these would be a waste of time)

Hi,

Given you are 29, you don't want to be in a position to be re applying as there is some age bias in the process. So swinging for the fences is OK, but I would think you would want to get into a solid program now. And SF state is not what I have in mind, though I think you were trying to be funny.

Look, your GMAT is solid, and you did wind up with a 3.5 in your major. I would think that at schools like USC, UCLA, Darden, Ross, Cornell...you will have a better chance than Stanford or Haas.

And of course your essays will be critical.

Thanks again, Jon and Alex!

My current plan is to apply to USC, UCLA, and Berkeley in round 1. I think if I get my app in to Haas in R1, that will be my best shot at a local school.

My choices for round 2 are still somewhat undecided, though I am now researching the schools you mentioned and some others. Part of my difficulty in deciding where to apply is having little understanding as to how the selectivity and enrollment of these schools will affect my chances (like comparing Harvard's large size to Haas, but both schools have similar acceptance %).

Thinking about how programs would resonate with my interests, are there schools that would be particularly good for finding employment in the technology sector?