My chances at top 20 schools? 680 GMAT, Low GPA, no work exp

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I was wondering if anyone could give me a profile evaluation! Much appreciated.

I am looking to apply to top 20 ranked schools and am wondering if I even have a chance with no full time work experience and a lacking GPA.

::High School::

I was alright as a high school student (3.4 GPA), however I was unmotivated in my undergraduate career. Some things to note: I was the Vice President and Treasurer of my Associated Student Body in HS -- Junior, Senior years respectively. I was also a national commended scholar for the PSAT. I believe I can reference these strengths in a lot of my essays, as my college career is not as strong. The high school in which I attended is a strong private catholic preparatory school on the Peninsula in the Bay Area.

::College::

In college, I started my undergraduate career at a school I had a hard time adjusting to, which led to my transfer from that school halfway through my undergraduate career. Needless to say, my grades suffered and it was always hard to pull up my GPA. It is on the lower end (3.0), however, if given the option to interview as part of my application - I think I could really impress anyone. I am a personable guy and feel that my face to face skills is one of my strengths.

::Post-College::

Since I have been out of college, I have had one full time job that lasted a month in which I did customer service for a start-up company in Palo Alto, CA. I quit the job because it paid close to minimum wage with no benefits, and started to study for the GMAT instead. Another thing to note was that I went to Beijing, China after college graduation for 6 months to study at Peking University under their intensive language program - for international students wanting to learn/enhance Mandarin. I can speak Mandarin fluently, however, writing/reading is a bit tougher for me.

Currently, I am volunteering at my alma mater high school in my spare time, along with taking care of my 80 year old father who is in need of care these days.

::Profile::

Gender: Male
Age: 22 (23 in October)
Applying for: Class of 2011
GMAT: 680 (V35, Q48)
Undergraduate GPA: 3.0 / 4.0
School: Loyola Marymount University in LA (Transferred from Univ. of Washington)
Major: Finance (Business Administration)

I have no work experience other than the few internships I've done in college and the one month stint out of college. One internship was for the marketing team of a local bank in San Francisco. The other internship was a management internship for a non-profit, relatively large sized hospital / health group in the Bay Area, CA.

I would be able to get an excellent reference from my previous employer at the non-profit health group.

In terms of what I want to do with my MBA - I would like to get into investment banking or hedge funds. I believe that I am a person that can network well and keep relationships between my firm and my clients. I believe I can deliver the performance they are working for and I am extremely motivated to succeed in my career.


What are my chances at some schools such as:

Stanford
Columbia
Harvard
Northwestern
UCLA
UC Berkeley
USC
Chicago
Penn
Michigan
Carnegie Mellon
NYU
UVA
University of Washington

I feel that most of them will be reaches for me. I don't know for sure though. If they are all reaches, can someone recommend school(s) closer to what I am fit for? How badly do my chances go down that I have no work experience?

Would improving my GMAT to say, 700+ make me more competitive / put me into a position to be considered for these schools? What if I got a 750?

If I left anything out, please let me know. I wrote this quite quickly.

Thanks.
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by Ashim88 » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:03 am
I don't think your chances are very high....seeing as an undergrad gpa of 3.0 is usually the bare minimum requirement for many b-schools.

In your case, I would rack up a solid 3 years of work experience, and make them count! Your chances of being admitted will be much stronger for ranked schools #15-20(I'm estimating)

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by Tani » Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:32 pm
The advice to get three years' work experience is sound. Schools' desire for experience is not arbitrary. The top schools recognize that a significant portion of the learning in any MBA program, particularly in one that uses the case method, depends on both the quality and the diversity of the students engaged in the dialogue. With no real business background you would have little to contribute to the discussion and therefore little to contribute to your classmates' learning experience.

Also, your own learning will be greatly enhanced if you have hands-on business experience to relate to the classroom work. And, you will have a better sense of what you want to gain from your MBA studies and why. Your own investment in time and money will be greatly enhanced if you bring professional knowledge and experience.
Tani Wolff