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?
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?
