Opinion on my chances...

[ama2rm]

Hi Stacy, Hi Amy,

Thank you for taking the time to provide such feedback.


Am involved at grassroot level with work with refugees and displaced women and children. Organized local support group for first time mothers as I found it very lacking and in need of support myself.



My main concern is that though I have been involved in various leadership roles and been able to participate in and be part of a lot of personality development activities, a lot of it is not recent. My work has been steady and I have some great achievements to name.

My goal is to do an MBA from a top ten school with emphasis on leadership and decision making. These are the school I am applying to: what do you think my chances are? Do you have any suggestions? Do I need to re-assess my choice of schools?

Kellogg
HBS
Yale
NYU
Cornell
Darden

McCombs.

I really appreciate your advice. Please let me know.

Thank you.

[Amy]

Hi ama2rm,

From the information you have given it sounds like you could be competitive for the top 10. You have some very interesting material.

When you say you haven't been involved recently, do you mean in extracurricular activities? It sounds like you have done a lot, how many years has it been since you stopped being involved?

Good luck!

Amy

[ama2rm]

Hi Amy,


That was quick! Thank you!

After my baby came along, the support group and some grassroot level work for a child organization was all I had time for outside of work.
I would say that I have not done as much in the last three years.

My GPA also concerns me.

What is your suggestion for my application? What are your suggestions for my schools?

Thanks Amy!!

[Amy]

Hi ama2rm,

I understand your concern about your undergrad GPA, but taking your entire academic profile into consideration it looks like your grad GPA was quite a bit higher and that your GMAT is also quite strong. It might be a better use of your time to start getting more involved in extracurriculars where you can show leadership again.

I think your school choice looks feasible for you in terms of competitiveness. You have a nice range of schools. Every business school should give you leadership and decision making skills, the question is whether the school has the right programs and coursework for your long term and short term goals. You didn't mention what your goals are, but I think application decisions should be largely based on where you want to end up. As well as practical concerns about which city you want to live in, whether the class size is comfortable for you, reputation of school, etc.

Good luck!

Amy