Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Thank you for your help and any advice/recommendations you could offer would be appreciated:

1) Participate in a rotational program at a major Bank in credit risk management (work two distinct roles for one year each in loan monitoring and financial analysis). Currently have 24 months of work experience, but by Fall 2012 will be closer to 38
2) 710 GMAT score (quant: 47 verbal: 39 awa: 6)
3) Undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University, majored in psychology with a minor in entrepreneurship with a 3.8 GPA
4) I am a part of the women's leadership development organization at my comapany; volunteer at a school and homeless shelter about 1-2x/month
5) No important certifications
6) I would like to go to a top 10 program ideally and would be happy going to a program in the top 20. Target Schools: Kellogg, Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, Duke
7) My post-MBA goal is to work for a smaller entrepreneurial company and eventually start my own business.
*As a side note I am a 24 year old female

- Are my target schools realistic given my background?
- What do you see as my greatest strengths and shortcomings in regards to my application?
- My length of work experience seems to be on the lower end for most of my target schools. Does this make me significantly less competitive, or should I still apply?
- Is there anything I can realistically do in the next couple months to bolster my chances of getting into one of these schools?

ahsgirlie87,

I would probably need to know more about your profile to answer your questions confidently, but based on what you gave me, I would say that HBS and Stanford are not realistic. You could potentially get into one of the remaining schools (Haas least likely, Duke most likely), but it would depend on the depth/quality of your leadership stories and any differentiators you may have that you didn't mention (e.g., distinctive personal/family material etc.). There is probably not much you could do in the next few months to strengthen your application other than, say, improving your GMAT score or getting a promotion.

Most schools are fine with applicants who have 3 years of work experience. Your only disadvantage is that you are competing with older folks who, because they are older, have more impact/leadership to talk about. So you may want to make a big push over the next year in ramping up your leadership material and apply next year, though of course you could apply now and then reapply next year if no school comes through for you (no stigma against reapplicants).

Hope this helps,

Thank you for your advice- that's a tough pill to swallow. Do you think an improved GMAT score alone would make me more competitive for Harvard and Stanford? As I am still a pretty young applicant I would not be heartbroken if I didn't get in anywhere this year. Thank you for your help!