Is it worth the applications?

[transfer9858]

Hi, Thanks for your time. I was wondering if my profile is worth applying to top mba programs. Thanks


- Im turning 21 in June.

GPA - 3.7 economics from no name private school.

Gmat prepping for now- aiming for 700+

work experience
I scheduled all my classes at nights on the weekdays, from 6-10... So I have been working full time now this year and will continue until business school. I hope to graduate this august or January 2013 and apply this coming september to business school.

A) I have been working at a real estate investment fund for 8 months now and plan to continue. Focus on evaluating properties, specifically distressed complex units. Learning how to determine and evaluate different deals. This is my current full time job.

B) Summer internship at international law firm as an analyst researching hedge fund disputes.

C) Volunteering with sexually and physically abused children. Ran a camp in Germany for 70 abused kids and 30 counselors. Have been volunteering for same organization for few years. Have thrown 2 fundraisers( 1 a year) raising 10-15 grand each.

D) In 2010 I started a non profit- Don't want to get to specific. Non-profit is in the volunteering sector in developing countries.


My goal is combine real estate and volunteering. In the future, I want to continue real estate investment while also developing my non profit. My main goal, besides for continuing real estate, is to start building gated communities in developing countries where they lack any sort of security. I am hoping with an MBA, I can make it happen in a faster and more efficient way . I want to study real estate and non-profit management.


My target schools are Stanford, Harvard, Columbia (possibly early decision), UCLA, wharton, or Yale.

Not sure if I should apply to these programs and if I would even be competitive. Any recommendations or tips would be amazing and thank you so much again for your time.

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi,

Thanks for your post. Can you tell me the reason that you wish to go to business school so soon after graduating from undergrad?

Thanks,

Stacey

[transfer9858]

Hi- Thanks for the help- and I would prefer not to have a break in my career.

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi,

Thanks for the additional information. Getting into bschool right out of undergrad even with some full time experience under one's belt can be very challenging. While statistics do show that pretty much all bschools admit students right out of school, it is a very small number. Even HBS who loves a younger applicant created their 2+2 program after recognizing that two years of full time experience is valuable for classroom discussion, post graduate hiring, etc.

While I can't even begin to tell you the odds of successful admission at the schools on your list, I can tell you that you will need to be very convincing in your goals essay for each school. You need to be sure that your future goals come across unattainable without an MBA. If the adcom thinks for a moment that continuing to work for a couple of years will yield the same results they won't admit you. Make sure you have solid goals and solid reasons, simply saying you don't want a break in your career isn't enough.

Best,

Stacey