GMAT:640,640, 710 Final - what school?

[chetanxc]

Hi
I wanted to get your advice on what schools are a good fit for me, and whether my current selection makes sense. Description of my profile.

GMAT History: 640, 640, 710 (awful split - Quant 60%, Verbal 99%). AWA 6 throughout.

Work Experience (excluding internships during degree):
2 years - advertising industry, Client Servicing role
3.5 years (by fall 2013): McKinsey & Company, US Healthcare Analyst

Degree: B.Sc. Biology and Biotechnology, Minors in Chemistry & Economics - University of Windsor, Canada

GPA: 3.2

Locations: India - first 3 years, Costa Rica - "mentoring" and helping to set up new Junior Analyst team in Costa Rica.

Hobbies: Writing (won McKinsey India's Annual Best Blogger award), reading, backpacking, chess.
Community service: Limited - recently started heavily in Costa Rica through McKinsey's new underprivileged school outreach initiative, roughly 5 hours every 2 weeks. Helped arrange McKinsey-Rotary Cub Blood Donation camp every 2 months in India prior to this.

Nationality: India

Strengths:
- Work experience with McKinsey (2 distinctive performance awards/ Distinctive annual review rating), US healthcare expertise, strong references (none at Partner level, however).
- Diversity, worked in Canada/India/Costa Rica. Learning Spanish, can speak fluent english and Hindi. Worked in biotech labs, advertising, and research and analytics for McKinsey. Worked on site with large hospital system client in California.
- "Mentoring" team of Junior Analysts in Costa Rica. No official Team Leader designation as I'm too junior.
- Strong communication skills.

Weakness: Multiple GMAT, low quant score in GMAT and degree, low community service, comparatively less hobbies compared to some of the top applicants I've seen.

Schools I'm targeting (avoiding finance schools, apart from CBS):
Aspirational:
1) Berkeley Haas dual MBA/Masters in Public Healthcare - have McKinsey associate's (consultant) strong reference who is a Haas Alumni lined up for this.
2) Duke Fuqua MBA/MPH
3) Columbia (not sure about this) MBA/Pharma Management
4) Michigan Ross MBA (Healthcare focus option)
5) Virginia Darden MBA/MPH (spoken to Alum, CEO in PepsiCo who will help with essays but can't refer as we haven't worked together)
6) Tuck - not sure about this, Darden alum felt I should apply
7) INSEAD - not too keen on European schools but would love to go here if I get in

Finally, my predecessor in my exact same role went to Kellogg, and somebody recommended Wharton for its best in class healthcare track, don't know if I should include since they are finance schools.

2nd choice, would like to go to:
Cornell Johnson, ISB (India)

I don't know if I'm over reaching, do I have a shot at these schools? I want to meet first round in August/September, so I can't apply to all, maybe 3 for first round and 3 for 2nd round.

Do you think I should include lower rung schools? I am taking an online Business Statistics course from Cornell in July/August which I will try to ace to demonstrate quant skills, I know I'm decent at Quant i just panic on the GMAT.

Please let me know what you think, should I give the GMAT one more solid shot (thinking of getting math tutoring), are these schools ok? Any other schools?

Regards
C

[rachel]

Hi! One of the most important things in pulling together your business school application is looking for ways to differentiate your experiences from everyone else. When reading over your profile, the fact that you are working in Costa Rica caught my attention - and made me think how many other applicants would have that professional experience. I would say not many, so that works in your favor. As for your GMAT, schools only look at your top score, so they will focus on the 710. It's a competitive overall score, but it is low on the quant end. If you thought you could give it one more shot, I would take it again.

As for your overall candidacy, I would look for ways to highlight your professional accomplishments, not responsibilities. Even though you aren't leading a team, there may still be ways for you to showcase your leadership - by way of giving examples of how you took risks or initiative, or made decisions. Also, you still have time to look for some extra-curricular activities to add to your experiences. I would seek out activities where you can make an immediate impact.

In terms of the schools you are targeting, I think that you have a chance at a top-tier school, but you also might want to consider adding a few less competitive schools, too.

Best of luck,

Rachel Beck

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