Chances of getting into GSB/HBS for next year Round 1?

[ohheythere]

Hi there,

I'm a first-time applicant looking to get some feedback on my chances before hunkering down to prep for the fall admissions cycle. Applying to only top 5 schools (GSB, HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, then mix between Tuck/SOM/Haas/Sloan/Booth, possibly thinking about MBA/MEd or MBA/MPP programs at GSB/HBS.

ACADEMICS
-Undergrad Duke, 3.84 in humanities, PBK, Magna Cum Laude, award for outstanding major, finalist for campus-wide faculty scholar award (minimal quant)
-Graduate degree in education (MEd) earned concurrently during Teach for America

WORK/LEADERSHIP (5 years)
-Focus on ed experience
-High profile school district
-Teach for America
-Best in class non-profit consulting firm (think sister to Bain)
-Currently at edtech startup; significant growth in leadership/responsibility, managing a team
-Actively involved in undergrad alumni network, co-chair of reunion committee
-Active fundraiser for local ed nonprofits

TESTING
-Never taken GMAT, but took GRE two years ago (V 164 / M 157 / AW 4.5); suspect quant will be a challenge

I feel confident about work experiences/leadership, but nervous about low quant experience/scores.

Thanks a ton for your help!

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hey there,

So this post is going to be a little shorter than I think you'd like and I'm going to apologize in advance for that. The reason is you need to take the GMAT first. For example, if you're worried about your quant score and get a 650, then your profile shifts considerably. But if you knock it out of the park and get a 750, well then the picture changes. Does that make sense?

I will say this, however. Your overall profile is pretty strong from a diversity and impact perspective. I don't know exactly what all you've done but given the information you've provided, I'm sure there are some really strong experiences in there. So what I would say is, for the moment, don't worry about schools. Continue to work hard in your professional and extracurricular pursuits but crush the GMAT. That's all you need to be working on for the next few months. Once you have a score in hand, then let's talk about chances and schools, sound good?

Bhavik