Consultants - Profile Eval of a Non-Traditional Applicant

[ls413]

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 am a female with 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 should probably also mention that I have never taken Calculus.

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 scores have ranged in the mid 50th to low 70th percentiles, and my verbal scores are typically between the 93rd - 99th percentiles.

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 and have a high score on the quant section. 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 score that may be below 700 and that skews toward verbal?

Any insight is much appreciated Smile

[essaysnark]

Hi ls413,

You've clearly done your homework and have a good sense of how the MBA adcoms look at things. You're thinking about this stuff the right way.

Breaking a 700 on the GMAT is, of course, always ideal, but it's not necessarily critical for you -- depending both on the school, and on how well you do on the quant side of the test.

The fact that you got an A is stats in college is good, and your overall GPA is impressive. We like the double major a lot too, though of course it wasn't in quant-heavy subjects. Your academic record will still be appealing to many schools since it shows that you enjoy school and are willing to work hard. Plus, some schools really appreciate the liberal arts candidates, to help them balance their class.

We can't offer much more here without knowing at least a rough sketch of career goals, since that will help us see which schools are a good fit. You're painting with a broad brush to include this list of schools. The one on the list that would be toughest to break into if your GMAT is <700 is probably Berkeley, however Berkeley may also like your specific "non-traditional" background, as it fits their mission.

We'd be pretty confident you could find a spot in one of these schools provided your GMAT is >650 and that it's well balanced (quant/verbal). If your score is mostly made up of verbal, then it may be problematic.

You could always take a calc class this summer -- not in order to boost your academic record per se since the GPA/transcript is strong, however as you already mentioned, you've never really done this type of math stuff before. Taking calc now would not only show the adcom that you're serious about taking this next step for your career in getting the MBA, it could also help counter any quant weakness on the GMAT, and plus, it would likely be very very useful for you in bschool itself.

We've got a discussion of the "low GMAT" question available on our blog here: https://essaysnark.blocked/2010/06/ ... -gmat.html .

We've seen plenty of "non-traditional" candidates get into these top schools with <700 GMATs when they bring high GPAs, and when they have clear career goals that show why an MBA is necessary. Career goals are often the biggest challenge with the "non-trads". Make sure you can express why you need an MBA based on what you plan to do next. It will help you tremendously in this process.

Good luck with it!
EssaySnark

[ls413]

Thank you very much for the encouraging response! I am giving serious consideration to taking a calc class this summer to solidify for the adcoms that I am capable of doing the quantitative work.

And yes, I will be sure to elucidate clear career goals in my applications. I am looking to stay in the industry of licensing and product development, so I am hoping to benefit from a strong marketing program that will allow me to develop the "hard skills" that cannot be learned on the job.