briangtsmith wrote:Hi all!

I've decided to apply to an MBA program, and was aiming at the following schools: USC, Georgetown, Emory, Duke, and Vanderbilt.

I graduated from The George Washington University with a 3.20 GPA in International Affairs, concentrating in East Asian Relations and having studied abroad at Tokyo's Sophia University. I am proficient in Japanese.

By the time I apply, I will have had 2.5 years of experience. After interning during college at The Ritz-Carlton, I started as a hotel manager for Disney and was part of the re-opening team at The Plaza hotel in New York. Now I am working for a real estate company hoping to acquire the skills necessary to build my own hotel. Outside the office, I have a role on a nearby condo board, representing my company's investors in property issues.

I feel and MBA will help me gain a better perspective on the global economy and the proper quantitative/financial skills necessary to start my own company.

My practice GMAT's have been between 640 and 690...do I have a shot at my schools of choice?

In advance, thank you for your assistance!

briangtsmith wrote:I was extremely involved in college, taking on leadership roles on both a University level as well as with my local Knights of Columbus group. Through each, I put together a number of fundraising concerts and breakfast events, in addition to always having an internship. So while I was excited about and interested in my classes, they were not my only focus.

To combat my somewhat average GPA, I was thinking about taking an accounting or finance class this summer. While I took and scored well in a number of economics classes at GW, my accounting background is weak.

University of Southern California is particularly intriguing to me, with it's PRIME program (work abroad in Asia), strong real estate development program, and heavy recruitment by companies I admire. It just seems right. I know it's not an easy program to gain admission to though, so hoping to gain any advantage I can.

Thank you again!