Need help with B-school selection @680

[PrateekParekh]

Hi,
I scored 680 in GMAT and I have 5 years of work experience. I have worked in filmmaking and engineering. I'm a software professional. My undergrad is 3.0+ GPA. I'm looking for one sure-shot college. Is W.P. Carey, Arizona or Terry College, Georgia a safe college for me? What other colleges?

[[email protected]]

Hi PrateekParekh,

A 680 is a fantastic score (it's right around the 85th percentile overall), so you should apply to any Business Schools that interest you. Since the process of applying to (and ultimately attending) Business School involves a big investment of time, money and energy on your part, you really should think about what School best fits YOUR needs (and not just which School would be likely to accept you). There are a variety of questions that YOU have to answer about what you want out of an MBA and the parameters that are important:

1) Is there a particular company that you want to work for or industry that you want to work in? Certain degrees are more appropriate than others if you have a specific career goal.
2) What do you want your MBA to do for you?
3) Do you want to go to School full-time or part-time?
4) Are you willing to relocate? Are you comfortable with working through a program that is primarily online?
5) Are you going to be applying for scholarships?
Etc.

Once you've determined what type of Program you want to attend (as well as the other variables involved), then you can start to research and narrow down the possibilities.

There is a Forum of Admissions Experts on this site that might be able to offer some additional perspective. You can find them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[PrateekParekh]

Hi Rich.C,
Following you advice, I have done more thinking. I want to eventually go for consulting and my budget is around USD40000 for studies. I want to do full time MBA. I find the following programs very suitable but need to understand if I can make it to these colleges given my profile and score:

1. W.P. Carey, Arizona
2. SUNY Buffalo
3. NUS Singapore
Please let me know your thoughts.Which one is a SAFE college and which one is Difficult/TRY?
Thanks again.

Hi PrateekParekh,

A 680 is a fantastic score (it's right around the 85th percentile overall), so you should apply to any Business Schools that interest you. Since the process of applying to (and ultimately attending) Business School involves a big investment of time, money and energy on your part, you really should think about what School best fits YOUR needs (and not just which School would be likely to accept you). There are a variety of questions that YOU have to answer about what you want out of an MBA and the parameters that are important:

1) Is there a particular company that you want to work for or industry that you want to work in? Certain degrees are more appropriate than others if you have a specific career goal.
2) What do you want your MBA to do for you?
3) Do you want to go to School full-time or part-time?
4) Are you willing to relocate? Are you comfortable with working through a program that is primarily online?
5) Are you going to be applying for scholarships?
Etc.

Once you've determined what type of Program you want to attend (as well as the other variables involved), then you can start to research and narrow down the possibilities.

There is a Forum of Admissions Experts on this site that might be able to offer some additional perspective. You can find them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[[email protected]]

Hi PrateekParekh,

Since you're ultimately asking Admissions questions, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[Kaneisha Grayson]

Hi PrateekParekh,

I would definitely recommend you apply to Arizona's MBA this year as they have the Forward Focus MBA program, which provides a full scholarship to all admitted students (not sure if it will continue beyond this year): https://wpcarey.asu.edu/mba-programs/fu ... curriculum

The deadline for international students is Feb 1, 2016 and the final deadline is April 1, 2016. Go for it!

I love that you have the combination of being a filmmaker and engineer.

I recommend you apply to the following combination of schools: (I used U.S. News MBA ranking, but you can choose one that you like best)

2 Dream Schools (ranked top 10)
4 Mid-Range Schools (ranked 11-25)
3 Safety Schools (ranked 25-30)

Remember that the competitiveness of your profile is not based solely on your GPA and GMAT. Your essays matter a ton, and can make a big difference in moving you from the Maybe pile to the Yes pile.

Come check out The Art of Applying to see if we might be a good fit for your application process! https://theartofapplying.com.

Best of luck!
Kaneisha

[GeneralEducation]

Hi,
I scored 680 in GMAT and I have 5 years of work experience. I have worked in filmmaking and engineering. I'm a software professional. My undergrad is 3.0+ GPA. I'm looking for one sure-shot college. Is W.P. Carey, Arizona or Terry College, Georgia a safe college for me? What other colleges?

Hey Prateek,
You have decent profile with 5 years work ex and average GMAT. It is interesting to see your involvement in film making being software professional. Please mention more about your post MBA career goals and which sector you want to get into, this will help us to narrow down few more colleges for you. I feel Terry and W.P Carey as safe options for you based on GMAT. For assessing your chances for top B-schools visit this tool https://goo.gl/qIq4Wu

[Michael@VeritasPrep]

I think that is a reasonable list of schools to be applying to. You might even want to apply to a few higher ranked schools. Think of Indiana Kelley or Georgetown. What do you want to do after graduation? Where do you want to live? This will have a big impact on which schools I would recommend to you.