Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hey there,

While your undergrad institution isn't as highly ranked as some others out there, your GPA is still great and helps compensate for it. It doesn't erase your undergrad institution, but it makes it far less important. Between your GPA and GMAT (and CFA), you clearly can handle academic rigor. Probably more so than most given your CFAs. So unless there is a reason we would use your undergrad institution as a part of your story, it really shouldn't be a big deal.

Overall, your profile is interesting. You've gone the inverse of most people and that's kind of cool. Most do something very corporate related and then try to give back in their free time. You, on the other hand, make an impact every day at your non-profit position and work on the side to help others achieve their professional goals. The story has within it all the necessary themes but can be conveyed in a fun way.

If your goal is to remain in the non-profit sector, a couple of schools definitely come to mind including Yale, Haas, Columbia, and Ross. I think all of these schools are, to varying degrees, within reach and realistic schools. If you wanted to throw in a stretch school or two, look to Stanford or Kellogg. If you're looking to expand your skill sets in Finance and Strategy, then I think Columbia and Ross are better programs than Haas and Yale but both Haas and Yale have stronger non profit programs. Essentially, there's a balance here. The good thing is all of these programs give you strong, general programs as well so in the event you want to go out of non profit, you have that option.

In summary, I think you're pretty aligned with the 7 - 15 schools. Above that, you're looking at stretch programs but I think you shouldn't rule them out.

Bhavik

Our pleasure - good luck and feel free to reach out as you go through the process!

Bhavik