Your GMAT score and GPA combo will be tough to sell at these schools.

Par702 wrote:I am excited at scoring 680 on the first shot and I think I can get to 720 on the next shot if I can work on my timing. But I keep hearing that there is not much of a diff between 680 and 720. Any suggestions? And even if I did get a 720, do I even have shot with my crappy undergrad GPA?

My target schools are (in order of priority):

Harvard / Stanford (probably not even going to bother applying)
UPenn
Columbia
UC Berkeley
Kellogg
LBS

The difference between a 720 and 680 isn't anything to sneeze at. Go for it if you think you can get it.

What are your post MBA goals? How did you arrive at that list of target schools? It's okay to apply to those schools, but understand they're reaches based on your stats alone. Have you considered any other schools such as Duke, Darden, Johnson, UCLA, etc? These are all fantastic schools and could also help you reach your goals, depending on what they may be.

Jim - Thx for the tip. I sure am aware that they are going to be an extremely hard sell.

Bschool2013 - thanks for the vote of confidence. I am doing well in my career at this point and I want to use the time in school to further my long term goal of being a real estate developer in Africa. I currently work in the hedge fund industry so I have operational level understanding of how to account for money but I don't know how to make investment decisions and real estate. So my MBA goal is to cross tracks into the real estate finance world. I came to the US 11 years ago with no friends or family and have worked my way up the ladder since. MBA or no MBA I will achieve my goal, the MBA will expedite my route and make it more efficient reduce the number of potholes on my journey.

The reason I have not considered the other schools is primarily due to the focus on real estate. UPenn, Columbia, Berkeley and Kellogg have good real estate concentrations which is exactly what I need. Additionally, I prefer to remain in a larger city so my wife can transfer internally with her company which has offices in most major cities. And finally, I am doing extremely well in my career, up to senior management next October which means if I am going to spend the 2 years in school without any income, they ought to be the best of best regardless of my shortcomings in my GMAT or GPA. I am just not good at taking tests and my career performance surely reflects my real abilities.