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Profile evaluation - GMAT: 680, low GPA

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Profile evaluation - GMAT: 680, low GPA

by Josepher » Tue Feb 14, 2012 6:16 am
Hi,

I'm looking for some feedback for my profile and the probability of being admitted into a couple of top schools.


Undergraduate Studies
School - University of Toronto
Degree - Business
GPA - 2.36

GMAT
Total - 680
Quantitative - 49
Verbal - 34
AWA - 5.0

Post-undergraduate Work Experience
Industry - Finance (one of the Big Five banks of Canada)
Function - Information Systems
Number of months - 43

Target programs
Stanford - Full-time MBA at GSB (and possibly MS Bioengineering joint program)
UC Berkeley - Full-time MBA at Haas


I have considered many other business schools, but Stanford and UC Berkeley are my definite top choices. Without going into detail and from the raw data above, what are my chances? My focus is marketing and brand management.

I applied this year but got dinged at both Stanford and UC Berkeley; however, I did get admitted at another UC MBA program. Right now, I'm debating if I should hold off and aim for my top picks, or settle with what I've been offered. My decision is based on my chances at Stanford and UC Berkeley.

Any feedback would be great.

Thanks!
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by MBAApply » Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:21 pm
Sorry to hear about the dings.

To be honest, Stanford is a long shot for you, even with a higher GMAT (they really really like high GMAT scores). The majority of the folks at Stanford come from top tier undergrads (not saying that UofT isn't "top" but a disproporationate number of Canadians who end up at places like Stanford, HBS or Wharton tend to be from McGill, Queen's and Ivey, since all three schools tend to send more people to the feeder industries like top tier consulting and investment banking in New York, London, HK and Toronto). Also, Stanford is a stretch for anyone simply because it's 1/3rd the size of HBS, and yet it's applicant numbers are about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of HBS' (and so many of them are high caliber folks from around the world). As such, they can be much more picky about whom they want, and as such, they tend to focus on applicants who worked in front office positions (those in revenue generating groups or groups whose activity is a core activity of the business). For a bank, it would be those in investment banking, sales/trading, asset management (and in any financial services, it would be those whose function is finance). For consulting, it would be consultants. For technology companies, it would be the engineers working on the company's revenue generating products. Given that you are in a support function at a bank, they're simply going to opt for plenty of other candidates who are in front office groups. Only way you have more of a shot at Stanford with your kind of background is if you did something truly unique and exceptional (i.e. being a nationally ranked Olympic caliber athlete, playing junior hockey, working actor/model, etc.).

Haas is more of a possibility - but not with your current GMAT score. There are more than enough folks of a similar caliber as you applying there, and even if you had the strongest essays, they will more likely take other applicants with stronger numbers (so long as their essays are decent).

If you're going to reapply to Haas, you need a high GMAT score.

So that's what it comes down to. If you're reasonably confident that you can score a 700 at a minimum and ideally a 720+, you may want to tak the risk to reapply.

But it also depends on which school you got into this year. If it's UCLA, you should just go (since that caliber of school is in range - it's not a safety school for you but one where you had reasonable shot of getting in, i.e. the folks in the program are not of a different caliber as you). If it's another school like Irivine, Santa Cruz, etc, then you may want to take the gamble to retake the GMAT, reapply to Haas, and add a few more schools in that range to you list (such as UCLA, Ross, Darden, Duke, NYU, Cornell, Yale).

Good luck
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