The Application Process

Hi,

I've lurked and searched this topic a couple of times, but could not find an answer that completely answered my questions.

I'm almost 24, one year plus out of a public ivy, with a job doing medical device (orthopaedics) sales (one of the big 4). Former college athlete as well.

Anyways, I was thrown into the fire my sophomore year in college with my grandfather passing away. I've always been involved with his real estate business (rental properties), but once he passed, I took over. I ended up improving occupancy rates, while liquidating some assets, and eventually closing the business for good, all over the span of three years.

My question is, combined with my age and lack of non-family business experience, would it be advised to work in sales another year or two to increase my chances at a top 10? My GMAT is 740 and gpa is a 2.9 (pre-med like an idiot). Combined, my work experience is over three years, but I'm not sure if adcoms will think the same way I do.

Thanks.

my opinion is that another year of work experience will help your chances, but more b/c it puts your GPA farther into the rearview mirror than it offers more chances to learn things. a 2.9 GPA is very low. even with a decent GMAT, many adcoms will have concerns about your ability to complete the coursework. Furthermore, your job in sales will be looked upon as non-analytical, so the more you can do to offset any concerns about analytical intellect, the better.

there's no harm in applying but it can be time consuming. perhaps one approach might be to find a range of schools (even 1 or 2 outside the top 10), take some classes now to build an alternative transcript (make sure you ace these), and apply one year from now for the reasons cited above.

just a thought...hope that's helpful,
-james young

I would advise waiting and building up some more work experience while you take a quant course or two to show that you are in a different place now vs undergrad.

And there can be some harm to trying this year, as reapplication is not always so easy. When you reapply, you generally have to show some material growth in certain areas (getting a raise, getting a promotion, turning that volunteer activity into a board position...)and that is not always easy to achieve in a year. So I would wait and build your case!

Good Luck!