Dear Gammacad,
Thanks for your post!
You clearly have a unique background in the healthcare/medical equipment sector. My basic thoughts are below:
1) Academics. Your 3.1 from a state school (Penn State?) is clearly below the average for admitted students to leading MBA programs like Stanford (more like 3.6+). Of course, on the bright side, Physics will be perceived as a difficult major. You also may be able to explain some of what happened via an optional essay. The fact that you are presently enrolled (part-time, I presume) in a master's program at a top school - and earning a 3.7 should help your case as well. Finally, your GMAT of 720 is respectable (right around the average for the very top MBA programs). I'd be curious to know the breakdown of your GMAT result as well as how many times you've taken the exam.
2) Work Exp. I had some trouble following your career path as you described it, but if I understand things correctly, it looks like this:
-Physics teacher (3 years)(first job out of college)
-Oncology equipment company (1 year)
-Co-founder, oncology equipment company (x years?)
-Founder, software company in oncology space (x years?)
-"research experience" (2 years)(when?)
By my count you could have as many as 7 years of experience or, if there is overlap here, as few as 4+ years... Obviously, you will need to work on presenting these steps/changes in a very coherent way, to ensure that your admissions readers can see the logical progression, etc. Readers may also wonder why you might leave to attend school if your ventures are progressing.
3) Goals. Your goals seem to be to continue in the medical space as an entrepreneur. This sounds feasible as long as you can be specific about what your plans are for your current ventures and exactly what you hope to do in the longer term, etc.
Your Questions
1) Will my professional experience and masters program make up for my poor undergrad GPA?
>>The masters degree and decent GMAT score will certainlly help in this area - but nothing will 'erase' the 3.1 GPA entirely. Your professional experience is not used to measure your academic aptitude - e.g. the two areas are viewed separately.
2) Is my GMAT competitive enough to get me into Stanford?
>>Your score is right around the school's average, which means that it is certainly sufficient. Having said that, there are many other factors at play here. For example, you didn't comment on outside activities/hobbies/community service - these are key components of any successful application to a leading school like Stanford.
Conclusion
In short, my sense is that you presently have a below-average academic profile, interesting work experience (albeit somewhat complex in terms of moving around a lot), solid goals, and a question mark in terms of other talents/activities. Without knowing more, it's hard to say whether this is sufficient for admission to Stanford, but at present it sounds like it could be a bit of a reach. [Note: If your goals are really grounded in healtcare and entrepreneurship, you may want to take a close like at Wharton, Kellogg, HBS and MIT as well.]
Feel free to send your resume to
[email protected] to have a free session with one of our counselors and learn more about the best approach for you to take as you prepare your candidacy.
Best of luck,
Graham
