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What Top 15 schools should I target?

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What Top 15 schools should I target?

by thought » Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:05 pm
What are my chances/what top 15 schools should I target?

I took the GMAT this morning with a seriously unbalanced result, Q42 (63%), V45 (98%), overall 710 (92%).

I'm an African-American male with a BA in Economics from Morehouse College (3.28) and a minor in Mathematics. I also participated in a non-degree summer program for minorities at Duke where I took four graduate level introductory economics classes with a 3.0 average.

I know my quant. score is lackluster but I consider myself a pretty quantitative guy. I taught high school math for a year at Phillips Academy immediately after college, then taught SAT Prep for several months in Shanghai. For the last 2 years or so, I've worked at a web analytics/digital intelligence firm that utilizes a consultative approach, with a promotion from analyst to associate (more client-facing) occurring after the first 15 months.

During college, I received several merit-based awards including induction into the greek letter economics honor society and a full academic scholarship. I was also recognized as my team's MVP for 2008 at my job. I've also been very active in community service, tutoring and mentoring minority youth in my city.

I am interested in breaking into consulting after an MBA and want to target mostly top 15 schools. Taking the GMAT again is almost 100% out of the picture for me but I think it makes sense to cross-off the quant. heavy schools from my list including Wharton, MIT & Chicago. The funny thing is that I took the GRE in late 2004 and scored 770(87%) on the quant. there. Can I submit these scores as well?

Mainly though, I'm wondering if, with a profile like mine, it makes sense to cross these schools off my list and also if there are any schools in the tier that it would make sense to target (I think Fuqua makes sense).

Thanks!
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Re: What Top 15 schools should I target?

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:32 pm
thought wrote:What are my chances/what top 15 schools should I target?

I took the GMAT this morning with a seriously unbalanced result, Q42 (63%), V45 (98%), overall 710 (92%).

I'm an African-American male with a BA in Economics from Morehouse College (3.28) and a minor in Mathematics. I also participated in a non-degree summer program for minorities at Duke where I took four graduate level introductory economics classes with a 3.0 average.

I know my quant. score is lackluster but I consider myself a pretty quantitative guy. I taught high school math for a year at Phillips Academy immediately after college, then taught SAT Prep for several months in Shanghai. For the last 2 years or so, I've worked at a web analytics/digital intelligence firm that utilizes a consultative approach, with a promotion from analyst to associate (more client-facing) occurring after the first 15 months.

During college, I received several merit-based awards including induction into the greek letter economics honor society and a full academic scholarship. I was also recognized as my team's MVP for 2008 at my job. I've also been very active in community service, tutoring and mentoring minority youth in my city.

I am interested in breaking into consulting after an MBA and want to target mostly top 15 schools. Taking the GMAT again is almost 100% out of the picture for me but I think it makes sense to cross-off the quant. heavy schools from my list including Wharton, MIT & Chicago. The funny thing is that I took the GRE in late 2004 and scored 770(87%) on the quant. there. Can I submit these scores as well?

Mainly though, I'm wondering if, with a profile like mine, it makes sense to cross these schools off my list and also if there are any schools in the tier that it would make sense to target (I think Fuqua makes sense).

Thanks!
Hey, I am also an AA male. You may want to reconsider taking the gmat again. I have a friend at Fuqua and he told me a 730 and above would make you highly competitive for a full tuition fellowship. If you are definitely not taking it again, then I would say apply to Fuqua because you will probably get in.
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by Paxton Helms - Kaplan » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:34 am
Hello and thanks for the interesting question.

A few thoughts:

- Overall, I think you have a really solid profile. I like that you have an econ / math combination as your major / minor and that you were inducted into honor societies (a useful "proof" of academic excellence in the era of grade inflation). You also have international exposure, client-facing work experience, and community service. If there is any issue it is that you might have limited work experience and --as you mentioned-- the oddly low quant section of the GMAT.

- On the subject of the GMAT, as a former GMAT instructor I would say...don't worry too terribly much about it. 730 is a great score and what admissions committees know is that a lot of doing well on the quant section is just memorizing stuff like triangle ratios, etc., that you either know or you don't. You have demostrated math chops in other ways so I think you're in the clear (if you had a 630, it would be a different story, of course...).

- I don't know that you absolutely have to cross the quant-heavy schools off your list (among that group, by the way, I would include Duke; similarly, I'm not sure that Wharton is quite as insanely quantitative as you might think).

- The real question to me is what do you want to focus on in business school? You do seem quant-oriented so maybe strategy (which is really just business economics) would make sense. That would also make for a smooth transition into consulting... Speaking of which, maximize your client time at work and try to get as many people working under your direct supervision as possible.

- In terms of what other schools to apply to, that is a tough question to answer. As I have pointed out in other posts, there are many criteria to consider:

- Location (e.g., UNC vs. UCLA vs. Dartmouth vs. Indiana)
- Size
- Teaching method (case vs. lecture)
- Culture (e.g., Harvard vs. UCLA vs. Columbia)
- Urban / Suburban / Rural
- School specialization
- Chance of free money (i.e., fellowships, merit scholarships, etc.)
- Big university or small university? (e.g., UCLA or Darthmouth?)

I really want to emphasize that if you are thinking about tippy-top programs (which I think you correctly are) RANKINGS STOP MATTERING in a very real way. It is much more important to think about what kind of experience you want and where you want your colleagues and network to be over time.

Is this helpful? Let me know if you have further thoughts or questions.

Paxton










I am interested in breaking into consulting after an MBA and want to target mostly top 15 schools. Taking the GMAT again is almost 100% out of the picture for me but I think it makes sense to cross-off the quant. heavy schools from my list including Wharton, MIT & Chicago. The funny thing is that I took the GRE in late 2004 and scored 770(87%) on the quant. there. Can I submit these scores as well?

Mainly though, I'm wondering if, with a profile like mine, it makes sense to cross these schools off my list and also if there are any schools in the tier that it would make sense to target (I think Fuqua makes sense).
Keep me in the loop about your thinking and let me know if you have any more questions.

Paxton



Paxton Helms is an MBA admissions consultant for Kaplan Admissions Consulting. He earned his MBA from UCLA and specializes in helping clients that are applying to top twenty and "reach" programs. He can be reached directly at [email protected].

To begin working with Paxton immediately, follow this link and request him specifically: https://www.kaptest.com/GMAT/Admissions- ... lting.html
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by thought » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:50 am
Thanks osirus0830 & Paxton for the very helpful comments.

I'm more satisfied with the score as I think about my overall how I can differentiate myself elsewhere in the application package.

I think the next step in the process is to research the schools thoroughly so I can more easily separate perceptions from reality, to your points Paxton.

And, osirus0830, fellowships & scholarships are definitely top of mind but the plan is to sit for the LSATs in September so I'm not taking the GMATs again until after that, if at all. After hearing from both of you and others, I think that, on balance, the 710 should be competitive for both overall admissions and merit-based free money. We'll see though.

Thx again.

Any thoughts on submitting GRE scores in addition to GMAT scores?
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