760 GMAT, 3.97 GPA

[Oregon08]

Sure, that looks good as a headline, but in reality, what are my chances of attending a top 5 program?

760 GMAT
3.97 GPA
BS in Accounting from University of Oregon (ranked about 100th nationally as an undergraduate institution)
Honors Business program member with top 35 students in class.

I'm joining a Big 4 firm as a financial auditor and might apply to join an MBA program with 2.5 yrs of W/E and a CPA designation. I also worked for two years during college as a part-time manager of newspaper carriers, which actually was an invaluable position for personal enhancement (even though it was part-time).

So, any thoughts? Thank you.

[MBAApply]

If you don't have any substantive non-academic achievements, then you'll still be a stretch at schools like HBS, Wharton, Stanford. For schools like Chicago, Columbia, Kellogg, Sloan and Tuck, it'll come down to how well you execute your application as well as how well rounded you are (i.e. if you're just a numbers guy and aren't able to show that you've got strong interpersonal skills and experience, you'll be a stretch).

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

[Oregon08]

Thanks. To clarify, I scored 99th percentile in the Verbal section and am definitely not a "number cruncher" only. I consider myself much more of a general businessperson with good instincts, not just a book and number guy. I've completed both a marketing and an economics internship. I also volunteered for three years as a youth mentor at my church.

So going forward, what sort of recommendations do you have as far as "substantive non-academic achievements" that might be a positive in the eyes of a place like HBS?

[MBAApply]

Think of sports and arts.

NCAA D-1 athlete (team or individual sport)
Nationally ranked athlete (Olympic trials, that kind of stuff)
Pianist who's won numerous regional, national or even international competitions
Filmmaker who got his/her indie feature into the festival circuit
Political/social activist who has won recognition in the form of notable press, awards, and commendations

In other words, having some sort of extraordinary talent and getting recognized for it - but obviously not enough to make it full-time consistently (otherwise they wouldn't be applying to b-school). In other words, we're not talking Michael Phelps, but the guy who was good enough to make it to the US Championships but couldn't quite make the cut on the men's Olympic squad, or the filmmaker who managed to get his film into film festivals, but wasn't able to turn that into a full fledged career. Or the guy who played on the PGA tour for a bit.

Of course not everyone has this, but most people at HBS and Stanford have pedigree - they went to top schools and work at employers that are hard to get jobs at (Goldman, Google, etc.). If you don't have this, then you should have something like this. And while there are folks who have neither at both schools, they are in the minority at these schools - and they were lucky.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com