Can you post what made you special (ofcourse I mean in your opinion how were you different)

AG

You'd have to ask the admissions department that. Probably a combo of work experience (started and manage my own real estate firm), recos (one of the most succesful developers in the area), and purpose statement (I have a very clear sense of what I want to do post-graduation and I'm a published author, so my writing's decent, I hope.) Being legacy probably didn't hurt either.

Hi,

I have similar qualifications as yours. I have a GMAT of 680 and GPA of 4. I am 27 years old and with experience in consumer products industry. I held positions from analyst to manager of an entire region and MIT did not give me admission for 2008 class. I am also the first generation of inmigrants and I was the valedictorian of my undergrad in Industrial Engineering.

Since MIT does not give feedback I was thinking in retaking the GMAT until reach a 710 but now that I read your story I am not sure.

I will re-apply this year but in the first round.

Any help will be welcome.

Congratulations for your achievement.

Regards,
Jimat

are you talking about the MSRED program or Sloan? Reading back, I might have been unclear, but I applied and was accepted to the MSRED program at the Center for Real Estate, not Sloan.

Question for you: What kind of GPA/GMAT/work experience did your classmates have? With a GMAT of 690, I believe I am a bit ahead of the curve (I was told the average GMAT is about 650), but I am concerned about the quantity of my work experience (3 years of CRE finance at a top 15 US bank), and GPA (2.9 from a competitive college). Since the average age of MSRED students is 29-30, I assume most people have more work experience. Also, I can't find any statistical information on GPA. Your thoughts on my chances would be appreciated. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the program in general since you just finished up.

Work experience was all over the board, from construction to LIHTC specializations to Finance and Development. I heard somewhere that the GMAT avg. was in the 670 range, but I can't verify. They have reduced the class size this year and I think they're going forward with smaller class sizes for the foreseeable future, so not sure how different the range for this year is. One of the guys this year had a 750, but not sure if he's an outlier, or just representative of increasing competitiveness. If you have significant experience, I don't think undergrad GPA gets weighted nearly as heavily as what you've done in the real world, and I think the onus is on you just to tell a compelling story about the kinds of deals you've done. For the most part, nothing but good things to say about the quality of teaching and my classmates. They really put the workload to you hard first semester, and the job placement services are a joke compared to MBA programs, but apart from that, I think it's a great place to get your education. Best of luck, and if I can be of any more help, let me know.

Thanks for the info. It's very appreciated.

To follow up on your point about telling a compelling story about the kind of deals I've done, are you referring to the application essay or something else (an interview, for example)?

[insert name here] wrote:Thanks for the info. It's very appreciated.

To follow up on your point about telling a compelling story about the kind of deals I've done, are you referring to the application essay or something else (an interview, for example)?

Application essay