Profile Eval of Non-traditional Applicant

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Profile Eval of Non-traditional Applicant

by ls413 » Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:39 pm
Hi Everyone,
I am planning to apply to a full-time program for Fall 2012, and I was hoping that I could gain some insight into my chances of admission into one of the top 15 schools. I am particularly interested in NYU, Northwestern, Columbia, U Chicago, UCLA, Wharton, Berkeley, and Duke.

I have 5 years of work experience, and I currently work in the licensing and product development department for a non-profit educational organization. I have a 3.69 undergraduate GPA, and I graduated magna cum laude from a top 15 university with a double major in Film & Media Studies and English Literature. I only took one math course in college - Statistics - in which I received an A.

I am scheduled to take the GMAT in 2 weeks. The scores on my recent practice exams have ranged from 640 - 710. My verbal score has always been higher than my quant score; my quant percentages have ranged in the mid 50 to low 70th percentile, and my verbal percentage can be from 93 - 99th percentile.

As a non-traditional applicant with limited undergraduate quantitative coursework, I am concerned that I will not be able to get into one of the schools mentioned above unless I break 700 on the GMAT. Is it possible that my background can work to my advantage if this happens? Will my interesting work experience, high GPA, solid essays, and the fact that I can bring a different perspective to the class make up for a less than 700 score?

Any insight is much appreciated :)
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by DanaJ » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:59 am
Hey ls413, I think you'd get more educated replies if you posted your questions here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

One remark though: you'll have to prove quant mastery one way or the other! Put all your strength in scoring a 80th percentile+ score in quant, especially for quantsy schools (and Finance powerhouses) like Chicago and Wharton.

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by Stacy Blackman » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:36 pm
Hi ls413,

I agree with Dana above. Although there are a lot of factors that will go into your application (work experience, personal essays, letters of recommendations, etc.), because you had a limited amount of undergraduate quant studies, business schools are going to be looking at the quant score on your GMAT.

Remember though, at most schools the GMAT score is self-reported on your application, so you can always take the GMAT test again. Business schools will focus on your highest score.

Hope this was of help.

Stacy
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