Profile Evaluation

[Mysterio2525]

Hey stacy wondering if you can evaluate my profile.

Attended Phillips Academy in andover for high school
Economics degree from NYU
3.1 gpa
700 gmat (48 Q 38 V)
2-3 years work experience for a boutique retail firm on wall street, where I was an account executive/financial advisor. I helped train new employees as I progressed and learned from the partner who was very leadership orientated. We also participated in Investment banking ventures in whiich we raised capital for new companies looking to either expand their market exposure or looking to go public. Worked for merrill lynch , morgan stanley, and northwestern mutual while in college. Also worked for an ad agency ad venture capitalist firm although those may be less apllicable.

My extracurriculars are lacking becuase we did work long hours, but i assume that can be said for a lot of prospective students. I have voluntereed for a hospital in the past, been a member to a poetry club, like playing sports and poker.

My top choices are Columbia, Kellog, U chicago, NYU.

What are my chances? What is my best approach?
Would appreciate any help, thank you.

[Stacy Blackman]

Your GPA is below average for your target schools. Beefing up the extracurriculars (FIND time to do something) will be important to help differentiate you. You might consider some alumni involvement with NYU. Your work experiece sounds solid; you should emphasize any progression (were you promoted?) and leadership activities. Perhaps you can initiate more leadership initiatives this year. The poetry club sounds interesting - I would be interested in hearing more about that. How did you do in your quant classes in undergrad? A calculus class now might be a good idea, to help prove your academics. The schools you are looking at could be a bit of a stretch with your GPA, but if you can show that you are a strong leader with a lot of focus and potential, it is certainly not impossible.

[Mysterio2525]

Thanks for the reply, i figured my gpa would be my weak point. Extracuricular work can be done and I will try and work on that. The poetry club was just a once a week meeting, pretty informal. I did not take any strict quant. classes in undergrad, i took the bc calculus exam in high school so that filled my math requirements. i did take statistics and some highly math oriented economics class, a class on pricing forwards, futures, options, an urban econ class that dealt with a decent amount of math, and i also took two game theory classes. I will try and stress the leadership roles in work, although no formal promotion (the only promotion was to become partner) , i was put in a leadership role amongst my division. I am also looking at Haas, Cornell, Tuck, University of Illinois, Washington University. Do you consider these schools a step below or on the same level, with regards to the admission process.

[Stacy Blackman]

Illinois and Washington are definitely not as competitive.
Haas and Cornell may be a good middle ground.
Coming up with a well balanced list will be important. If you include a few from bothe groups you will be in good shape. Of course, from there it will all come down to strong recs, essays, interview.