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Evaluate one more profile...pretty please?

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Evaluate one more profile...pretty please?

by morepower4me » Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:48 pm
Hello Stacy, thanks in advance. I really appreciate what you do here!

I am a white 24 year old male, and graduated with about a 3.4 from WP Carey business college (ASU.) I just took my GMAT and received a 690, but it was broken down as 39Q (59%), 44V (97%), and 6.0 essays.

I will be applying for Fall 2008, and at that time will have 3 years post college work experience and 4 years if you count my senior year at ASU.

I started as a financial adviser/stock broker and did that while finishing school, and then a few months after moved into a service role with a very large mutual fund company.

I am working on my volunteering part currently, but anticipate being above average in that category, I have some excellent leads and opportunities to make measurable differences in my community.

Interesting things about me...I am a triathlete, and will be competing in my 1st IronMan in November (just after 1st apps are due...), and was the youngest guy in my old firms history to pass my series 7 (20.)

I am looking to apply to U of Chi (Full or Part), Northwestern (full or Part), Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth.

2 questions for you.
First, what do you think my chances are?

Second, in my current job, (which is providing phone based service to customers and brokers) I have an opportunity to move to a position where I would be helping new hires in their initial training, as a resource, with the possibility of becoming a 'Team Manager' as the months progress, or, there is a new position opening in a department that just moved to my site dealing more in IT, primarily with a company that provides software service to most mutual fund companies.
Neither role has any subordinates. Is their an advantage in applying from one position vs the other??

Thank you SO much for your help.

Brian
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by morepower4me » Wed Jul 25, 2007 6:10 am
Please?
Stacy or Amy, or anyone who knows more about this than I do (which doesn't exclude many people...)
:)
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by Amy » Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:16 am
Hi morepower4me,

I would choose the position that fits most strongly with your future goals, both immediately after your MBA and in the long term. There's no objective advantage or disadvantage to either, just choose strategically.

Your academics are decent and I think you certainly have a chance at those schools, though I might expand the list to include a few safety schools. I might be slightly concerned about your lopsided GMAT score - I'm surprised your quant is relatively low with your background. Other factors that may be important are whether you have been promoted at work (especially ahead of schedule) and what kind of intiative you have shown both at work and in your extracurriculars that can demonstrate your potential as a leader and manager.

Good luck!

Amy
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by morepower4me » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:48 am
Thank you so much for the feedback Amy!

If I am still trying to get into the top schools, what else can I do?

I feel that I can put together a strong volunteering effort, and one that can show leadership outside of work. I have been in touch with quite a few organizations and have found some opportunities that would really let me showcase my abilities.
As I am putting about 15 hours a week into that (painful) Ironman triathlon training, do you see any advantage to continuing that? My thoughts were that it would make me 'unique' and show dedication to a goal, but frankly swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112, and running 26.1 is not any more fun to me than doing a 'short course' one like I have been, and that time can be better used to volunteer. To clarify, while I haven't been doing the training for the sole purpose of getting into an MBA, my personal reasons aren't strong enough to overcome the opportunity cost of more volunteering if the admissions people won't see the advantage.

Lastly, since I have a Quant weakness (evidenced in GMAT breakdown and from undergrad grades) do you see an advantage in taking math classes?
My local community college has a "Quantitative Methods of Business" that I can take on-line and I am sure I can do well in it. But, it is an undergrad class, and I have already taken Calc 1 and 2 during Undergrad.

Do you think this would this be enough to convince the Admisson folks I am worth the gamble?

Thanks SO MUCH!!
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by Amy » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:45 pm
Hi morepower4me,

If you've only taken the GMAT once, it might be useful to try again after more quant study. A statistics class may help also, I don't think you need calculus if you took it in undergrad. Quantitative methods for business could be ok, but I would think a statistics class would be a bit more robust.

I would not bother spending a lot of time on an athletic pursuit that you don't enjoy in order to get into business school. At most it will be a fun personal fact about you, and volunteering is much more important.

Good luck!

Amy
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by morepower4me » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:41 pm
Thank you Amy, it is VERY much appreciated.
On your advice I have decided to reduce my athletic pursuits and focus more on volunteering.

In my current position, a move to that resource position in training is feasible, but much more isn't. It still does not have any direct subordinates though, so my leadership would be almost all outside of work. Will this pose an admissions problem if my outside of work contributions are great?

Also, on the Quant section. I am anticipating that getting a high A in the "Quantitative Methods of Business" class at the local community college would require about an hour of study a day. Would I be better off spending that time to study Quant and retaking the GMAT? I feel I did as well as I could based on the math questions I received (brutal...) but I am sure if I locked myself in a room, I could improve. As I have already put 6-9 months into GMAT prep, classes, books, should I just cut my losses and apply as is??

Would your answer change if I wanted Kellogg and UChi full-time?

Thank you again!!!!!!!
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by beny » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:51 pm
I am not an expert, so use my advice with your own judgement:

I've learned from speaking with current and past applicants that you need to know why you want to do a program full- versus part-time. One girl I spoke with applied to most schools full-time and applied to Haas part-time. When she had her Haas interview, the interviewer grilled her on, "Why part time?" She left the interview with the realization that she did not actually want to do a part-time program and withdrew her application to Haas.

That said, I don't think you should apply to a program full- versus part-time with the expectation that one program will be easier to get admitted to than the other. You need to realize your reasons for applying for a part-time program and be able to sufficiently defend them.


Regarding GMAT and academics, you need to compare yourself to the average and range of your target schools. Since 690 and 3.4 is only slightly lower than the average at many of the top schools (and within the 20%-80% range of all of them), you could probably skate by with these credentials. However, you would need to compensate your lower academics with other strong parts in your application. If you are just "average" all around, you would probably need a higher than average GMAT/GPA to be admitted.

If you haven't tackled your essays yet, I would suggest looking at those. I am only applying to HBS, so I can only speak about those essays. If an idea doesn't immedietly pop into your mind, ("oh, I did this once, and it had this result, and it will surely impress the adcom"), then you probably need to consider what will be the strongest part of your application. If you have amazing examples for your essays, I wouldn't prioritize on re-taking the GMAT. If you don't have exemplary essays, yes, a high GMAT score would aide your application, but still would not guarantee admission. If you can't identify one area that would certainly outshine all other applicants, a top-school is probably an unrealistic reach.

Again, only my opinion. Stacy or Amy can probably help you better.

Best of luck.
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by morepower4me » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:58 am
Thanks Beny, I will take all the help i can get!!

Beny or others, I have just found out that my GPA is 3.19 (or 3.33 major GPA.) I don't know how I could have been off on that... but I am.

What does this change? I have given up on HBS, but UChi, Kellogg, Yale & Dartmouth are still my top 4, and preferably full time. Does this force my hand on the GMAT issue, or is it still overcome-able with killer essays and volunteer work?
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by beny » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:58 pm
All I can say is that with your current GPA and GMAT score, it will raise a red flag for admissions. Red flags, although not the most pleasing things in the world, still don't guarantee a ding.

Like Amy mentioned, I'd work on a list of safety schools. The top schools are pretty competitive...
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by Amy » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:08 am
Hi morepower4me,

If your GPA turns out to be a bit lower than you expected, taking a class and getting an A may be very helpful for you. This is a method to build an "alternative transcript" that can show adcomm you have matured since college, are serious about school, and can do the work. It may have the added side benefit of improving your GMAT score.

I agree that it's important to have strong experiences for your essays. I find in working with clients that most people have great experiences, but sometimes have a hard time identifying them and seeing them as essays. That's where professional help can be very useful.

Good luck!

Amy
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