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Please Evaluate: Engineer 630-GMAT, 2.67-Under 3.8-Grad NYU?

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Please Evaluate: Engineer 630-GMAT, 2.67-Under 3.8-Grad NYU?

by BPositive » Sun Apr 26, 2009 3:18 pm
I'm 26 years old (4.5 years experience), and currently working as an engineer at the corporate headquarters of a major pharmaceutical company in NJ. I have a solid history of promotion and good leadership experience for my age.

I received my Bachelors in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University with a very unimpressive 2.67. I'm not proud of my undergrad, but I'm graduating with my Masters in May 09 from Stevens Institute of Technology with a 3.8 in Mechanical Engineering. Not sure if anyone has heard of Stevens outside of NJ, but it has the reputation as a pretty good engineering school to people in state.

I recently took my GMAT and got a 630 - 32 Verbal/44 quant, but I know I can do better. I had 2 minutes left by the second to last question on the quantitative section, got so involved in answering it that time ran out without answering the last 2 quant questions. I heard the GMAT penalizes you for not finishing, around 30-50 points, so I think if I were to have guessed on the last 2, my score would have been better. Plus, I was so shocked and angry that I didn't finish the quant, that I finished the verbal with 17 minutes remaining, so I should have taken my time more.

What are my chances of getting into NYU Stern, part-time given my current GPAs and GMAT. Does my graduate GPA help to offset my undergrad GPA? What GMAT do you think I would need to be competitive? I spoke to admissions at Rutgers Business School and am pretty sure I can get in there. I know Rutgers is nowhere near NYU, but is is RBS highly regarded? Will an NYU MBA have much more impact in my career than Rutgers if I would like to remain in the engineering field?

Thank you in advance for your reply.
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by HelenF » Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:28 am
Hello BPositive

(Great name, by the way)

Your GPA from your Masters will help to off-set concerns raised by the GPA from your Bachelors. You should also consider presenting any mitigating factors around your undergrad GPA (eg illness, other significant personal issues, workign full-time to support yourself, etc) if relevant.

630 is in Stern's 80% range for GMAT in the part-time program, although at the low end of it. So while I wouldn't say it's a score that will stop you getting in, you will need to make sure that everything else about your application is strong and well presented.

As far as Rutgers vs Stern goes, if you're looking at a specific industry, and possible a specific location, you need to look at those specific dynamics. Identify the sort of job and company you want to be in straight out of an MBA. Where are those companies hiring for those jobs? Do your target schools have students who move into those sorts of positions. Where do you see yourself furtherout? How have the people who are in those sorts of positions now got there? Maybe more relevantly, where are the people who are headed for those positions coming from (this one can be tougher to find the information on). If you're expecting/hoping to have the support of your employer in this endeavour, talk to relevant people in your company about how they see the respective merits of the programs - think about talking to your manager, your mentor if you have one, people who are in the type of role you aspire to, recruiters who hire to those sorts of roles. All of that should help to give you the sense of which of the schools will best meet your needs, and you can then make your decsions about where to apply and the steps you need to take.

Good luck with everything

Helen
Helen Foster | Veritas Prep Admissions Consultant | www.VeritasPrep.com
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by Paxton Helms - Kaplan » Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:15 am
Hello! Your profile is interesting and I do have a few thoughts:

- A 630 GMAT combined with an undergrad and grad engineering degree raises a red flag for me. The GMAT (in contrast to say, the GRE verbal section) gives more weight to quant performance than verbal. So, even assuming that you got 50 points back, I don't think that it is unrealistic to expect you to be over 700 on the GMAT. But, even assuming that you are in the 680 range, that makes a lot more sense given your educational background.

- Given that you have a graduate degree, I would not stress too much about the undergrad. Yes, Stevens is not super-well known, but my guess is that you did the degree through your employer. You can simply say, "I went to Stevens b/c that's where my employer sent me and did well."

- What is most appealing to me about your application is your solid work experience. If you have been systematically promoted and are more then 3-4 years out of undergrad, that says very positive things about you and will be very appealing. In my experience, work can trump bad grades and GMAT; but, rarely do grades and GMAT trump bad work experience.

Finally, and this goes to mindset more than anything, you really should be looking beyond just NYU and Rutgers. Think very carefully about what kind of program you want and then apply to a number of programs (say, five or six) like it. When folks apply to just two schools and they are very different, that often raises an eyebrow: why just those two? how were they chosen? and how seriously committed to business school is the client?

Good luck and please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Paxton
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 BPositive » Sun May 03, 2009 5:35 am
Helen and Paxton

Thank you both very much for your replies. I greatly value your opinions, and I've been thinking about your questions very intently few days.


Helen: You bring up a very valid and relevant point about industry and hiring pool. I would like to stay in the engineering field, within the pharma industry, eventually moving up into engineering management or business planning.

I know Rutgers has a well respected name in pharma, but I think that while my intended career path is in a pharmaceutical company, it seems more related to general management due to my limited interaction with actual drug product.

I know of a number of MBAs in my area. It appears to be mixed as far as top 20 MBAs and non-ranked MBAs and what position they're in. I really think it depends more on the person than the weight behind the name on their degree.

It's interesting that the older people in my company don't think it's as important to have a high powered MBA while the younger people do. Perhaps that's the materialistic viewpoint of the younger crowd showing through.


Paxton: Thank you for your insight. If I applied to NYU, I would retake the GMAT. I was only considering NYU and Rutgers because those appeared to be the 2 bigger name schools in the area with part-time MBAs, since many others in the area offer EMBAs. Are there others I should consider?

I know NYU definitely has the edge in terms of Finance, Wall Street and Accounting, but I do not intend to go into those fields. However, NYU is perennially ranked and that must carry significant weight with employers regardless of what industry. Will a NYU MBA command a higher salary and more respect from employers just because of the name?

I attended a Rutgers MBA open house yesterday, and was incredibly impressed. The resources that the school has to offer, the programs, the professors and the industry ties were top notch. They recruited top professors from the top 10 schools as well as the MBA program exec director from Emory to raise and promote the program.

I think the big advantage NYU has is the name, and the higher quality of students that would be my classmates, which would result in more higher level discussion and better networking.

Do you think the NYU Stern name would send my career path on a higher trajectory, or would a Rutgers MBA be just as effective?

Helen and Paxton - Thank you both for your help, your assistance has been much appreciated.
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