720 GMAT 48Q/40V profile evaluation

[adam.attas]

Hello!

I decided this summer I was going to apply to business school after working for a couple years in consulting. I'm a 27 year old male and I just took my gmat on monday and was able to score a 720 with a 48 quant, 40 verbal and a 6 on the IR and am applying round two. I received a BS in chemical engineering and an MS in Engineering Management from Johns Hopkins University and was a varsity athlete for two years. I worked for Deloitte for 3 years in technology consulting and accenture strategy for over a year, so about 4.5 years consulting experience. There are two aspects of my profile that I worry about

1. My undergraduate GPA is a 3.2. My chemical engineering major GPA was a 3.46 but my overall GPA is lower than many of the school averages I'm applying to. I got A's or B's in most of my chemical engineering classes, but it took me until my 2nd semester of my sophomore year before I could really get going. I was able to recover from academic probation and finish my last two semesters with a 3.5 and a 3.88. Received an A in thermodynamics, B+ in transport 1 and 2, B+ in kinetics, etc. I hope these grades demonstrate I can handle quantitative coursework.

My masters GPA also is a little low: a 3.43. I took classes in the environmental engineering department which were again pretty rigorous.

Hopkins is notoriously known for it's rigorous academics and within the school itself, a 3.2 in chemical engineering is probably above the class average in what is one of the most demanding majors on campus.

2. While my work experience is good, I'll be compared to many of the consultants in the pool. Accenture doesn't sponsor the way Deloitte and other firms do. I've also been on many long term projects in the federal space where it is hard to quantify the long term impact of the work because the project life cycles are so much longer. Many other consultants have more global work experience and I've worked in a more niche field and have not had the ability to rotate around and do a lot of projects.

The schools I'm applying to are as follows:
MIT
Wharton
Duke
Yale
Harvard
Dartmouth

I'm interested in studying entrepreneurship and innovation and want to work in tech product management. I'm considering replacing Dartmouth with another school like NYU or Kellogg so if you have any suggestions they would be welcome!

Best,

Adam

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your post. Nice job getting a solid GMAT score. I would say you've done a good job at assessing your profile.

Broadly speaking I'd say you have the following strengths...

-solid GMAT
-reasonably strong work experience
-strong/challenging undergrad and grad school major (schools will recognize that)
-demonstrated quant/analytical ability
-athletics

Potential challenges include:
-GPA though I'm not as worried about it as you sound; and you can address the initial challenges an upward trends in the optional essays
-as mentioned, when stacking up against other consultants it's possible some will have more definable accomplishments and/or global experiences
-any volunteering/community experiences?
-tiny bit of potential confusion about your path-- chemical engineering, to consulting, to tech product management

In terms of schools, you've definitely focused on some of the most selective out there!! And it's a fairly long list if all for R2 (??).... you don't want to sacrifice quality of your apps just for quantity, fyi. In terms of looking at NYU or Kellogg, Kellogg's acceptance rate would be slightly higher so you could consider that. On your list Yale & Duke would be the closest to 'reasonable', with the rest still being a bit challenging even with your profile being pretty solid... so just all good to keep in mind! Good luck!