Profile eval

[future_mba]

I am going into my senior year (International Business major, Spanish minor) at a small, state school (about 5500 students). I have a good GPA (3.9) and GMAT (720, 89% Quant, 88% Verbal). I have also been working full-time at a bank during the last two years and will continue working full-time during my senior year. I started out as a teller and was recently promoted to a position as a financial services rep. Because I've been working full-time I haven't taken time off to do any internships. I am a little bit older than a typical college senior (24 years old) because I took two years off between high school and college to do volunteer work in Mexico for my church. Other ECs include: marketing director (junior year) and president (senior year) of my school's international business club, and some intramural sports. I plan on applying to Harvard and to Yale's Silver Scholars program, as well as several others. What are my chances of being accepted into a top program? How much importance do those programs place on the undergrad institution attended? What kind of things can I include in my application to make it stand out?

[Bryant@VeritasPrep]

You won't have any trouble proving you are smart, since your GMAT and GPA are so good. Your shortfall will be professional work experience, and despite the fact that you worked at a bank during college, you won't get "full credit" for the employment in the eyes of an adcom, since they are looking for full time professional work that has been progressively responsible and substantial enough to have given you experiences you can relate to your classmates which will help them solve business cases in class. Without knowing exactly what you did at the bank, I am assuming it was not high finance or managerial in nature. You have a great foundation for b-school, but your best bet is to get out in the "real world" and work somewhere you can put a few notches in the belt first before applying. In the old days, b-schools would take a handful of folks straight out of undergrad. It's not completely unheard of now, but is very very rare. To answer your first question, yes, where you went to school can make a big difference especially if you are coming to a school with very little professional work experience. Remember that when you graduate from b-school, you will also be competing with your classmates for jobs, and guess what? Those hiring companies are also going to favor students who have some impressive professional work experience. You are not all equal when you are bestowed the MBA--your background and accomplishments will be critical in landing that important first post-MBA job. Do yourself a favor and go work somewhere interesting and challenging for at least a couple of years--your GMAT score is good for five years, so some of the heavy lifting is done when it comes time to apply. Good luck.

[future_mba]

Thank you for your reply. I realize that getting some work experience outside what I have done at the bank will be important. I've noticed that a lot of top programs offer deferred admission for college seniors though. Stanford, for example, lets you put on your application if you plan to matriculate in in 2010, 2011, or 2012 if you are currently a college senior. Would I have a shot at getting accepted into a school with deferred admission or are these spots typically only given to those who have outstanding undergrad resumes (2 or 3 internships, 4.0 GPA, etc.)?