Requesting profile evaluation

[YTG]

I am an African student wishing to apply to the Wharton school and U. Chicago Booth. My GPA is 3.89 and my GMAT score 710 (Q49 V40). If I couldn't make it to these top schools, I would be interested in Cornell and Duke universities. Please provide me some advice on how how competitive my profile is in these schools. I am an affiliate member of the ACCA (UK), and I will have a total of twelve years work experience on September 2012, my intended date of matriculation. However, only 3 years of post BA experience. I worked as an air traffic controller in Ethiopia (East Africa), and after graduating with a BA degree in Accounting and Finance,I have been working as a senior auditor, and I am expecting promotion to the position of deputy Audit Manager this July. My best favorite school for my MBA is Wharton. How strong is my profile both for the Wharton school and for the other schools I specified above?

I would appreciate if Ms. Stacy could answer my query.

P/S After completing my MBA i wish to pursue an investment banking career.

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi,

Thanks for your post. Given the information you've shared I think it's fair to say that you can indeed be competitive for admission at Wharton and Booth. While your GMAT score is a bit below average at both schools, I am not concerned about it given your undergraduate GPA as well as the quantitative nature of your job.

It sounds like you have had some interesting jobs/roles over the years and you may wish to reference some of these experiences (air traffic controller) in your essays since not only could they help you stand out in the applicant pool, you may also be able to offer a unique perspective in the classroom given your experience.

I do suggest adding a few more schools to your list and perhaps balancing your list out with some programs ranked in the top 15.

Best,

Stacey

[YTG]

Hi Stacey, thank you for your reply. I am now a bit concerned about my computer skills. I have trainings on MS Word, Excel,Access, and Peach Tree Accounting, and I routinely use the first two programs. Currently, I am wondering whether I need further trainings on SPSS, Oracle, PowerPoint, a more sophisticated accounting software (e.g. ACCPAC), and some programming courses (c++, Java and Visual Basic). I believe that these courses would assist me not only during my stay in a grad b-school but also in my post MBA career (ideally investment banking). I would like to hear your opinion on this matter. Do you thing any of these courses would strengthen my profile? Are any of them considered redundant in my case? If I had limited time budget, which courses do you think were more important?

Hearty thanks for your helpful comments.

YTG

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi YTG,

You ask a great question. Bschools don't ask for and most simply assume that applicants have basic knowledge/skills in Microsoft office products. Don't worry about your ability (or lack there of), I can assure you that not everyone heads off to bschool knowing how to make a pivot table or build a power point deck (I personally admitted applicants to Tuck without these skills). You'll learn these skills along the way.