Hey nbriody87 -- short answer -- YES!! You definitely seem to have what it takes to get into a top school like Stern or CBS.
Now, before we get too far ahead of ourselves... there's obviously a lot of competition for these programs, and the biggest issue you will face is that you're just very very young right now for an MBA. Both Columbia and NYU have a preference for more experienced candidates. About 4-5 years of work experience is standard for these two schools. You've only been working for a year. We've seen candidates have difficulty getting an offer from many schools without more significant career progression under their belts.
Your academics and your GMAT are totally fine and you're definitely on the right track with your current career, but the lack of work experience may end up being showstopper for you. This is even more true for Columbia Regular Round - we'd be slightly more optimistic if you were asking us this question in light of a Columbia Early Decision app. Here's a post from awhile ago on the differences:
https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/08/ ... ption.html
There will be lots of guys "like you" applying - finance guys, who went to good schools and studied econ and then went to Wall Street. It's tougher to stand out in the January rounds, and you will have more competition now than if you were to wait till next year's Round 1/ED cycle.
It's actually not that long to wait - though I'm sure, sitting here right now and wanting to go to bschool, this will sound like an eternity!
But if you hold off for next year, what that means in reality is that you can start working on your Columbia essays *in May* and submit the app in the first of summer -- and possibly get an answer back within six weeks or so. With their rolling admissions, decisions can come quite quickly when applying so early. So, in like six months from now, you could potentially have an acceptance to Columbia's class of 2015 in your hot little hand.
And... the advice you're also not likely to hear: You'd have plenty of time to retest the GMAT.
We already said your GMAT score is absolutely fine, and it is. It would be "more fine" for an Early Decision app, since it's less competitive in the earliest rounds. *However* based on what we said about lots of guys "like you" - you should consider testing again to raise the score. Sometimes there's an expectation that candidates who are coming from a finance background should do even better than the average on the GMAT, since they theoretically work with numbers all day long, right? This is even more true if you're planning on staying in finance after bschool. A higher GMAT score, in the 720-730 range, would help you stand out. This alone won't compensate for the relatively fewer number of years of work experience that you'll bring, but it'll help - and it'll also show that you're serious about this whole bschool thing.
The way the schools look at it, if you're really young, then sometimes they're just like, "Meh. This kid can wait. He should do more. He's not proving it enough." And then you're a reapplicant, and that sorta sucks. (Both NYU and Columbia are open to reapplicants, but it's always a bummer to be one.)
OK, so that was a lot of rambling miscellaneous tripe. Hopefully there is something of value in this mess of an answer! If you have questions for us, holler and we'll circle back again.
EssaySnark
