Profile Evaluation (720 GMAT)

[cpkelley5]

Hi - could you please evaluate my profile?

Background Info
- Graduated in 2009 from a decent state school - majored in finance with an overall GPA of 3.78 (major GPA: 3.95)
- Held multiple leadership positions on campus (officer in my fraternity, on the interfraternity council, officer on the student investment fund)
- Was admitted to one of the top honorary societies on campus - 1 of only 11 people a year (out of 6,000)
- Was admitted to a special leadership program (32 students a year) - included special coursework / community service

Work Experience
2009-2010 Financial Consultant at a Big 4
2010-2011 Investment Banking analyst at a large, but not very prestigious bank
2011-2012 Sr. Director in Corporate Development within a $1.5BN Financial Technology company (a subsidiary of one of the largest banks in the country); I work closely with senior management of both companies, analyzing potential m&a and strategic partnership opportunities; routinely work with our European team; decent amount of domestic and international travel; haven't closed any deals yet, but lots of good stuff in the pipeline

On the board of a local non profit

GMAT - 720 (Q46 V44)

I would obviously like to go to the best schools that I could get into, however, I'm not sure whether I have the profile for an HBS or Stanford. What are my chances at a top 5 school? Where do you recommend I look? Also, should I consider retaking the gmat since my score has quite the range (quant - 73%; verbal - 97%)?

Thanks in advance!

[mili]

Hi! Looks like you’ve been pretty busy since college - and that’s a good thing. I’d need to know a little more detail about your non-profit board role and level of activity, but overall it seems like you’d be competitive at a top school. That said, I wouldn’t say that your profile screams HBS or GSB - these schools look for candidates that are true self-starters - -people who create opportunities for themselves and others in different spheres of life (work, community, extracurricular). That’s definitely not to say that you wouldn’t get into one of these schools though - - your academic, professional and community profiles are a good start for these schools, but you’d have to demonstrate how you are different from everyone else applying to these programs (as they all have very similar profiles to yours).

As for the GMAT, the only thing I would say here is that the weaker quant score is a bit out of alignment with your finance/quant background - it could slightly raise an eyebrow from the adcom. We generally advise people aiming for top schools to try to get at least an 80% on each section. 73% is close, but again, with your quant background, seems a bit strange. If you think you can pull the quant score up, then it might be worth retaking, but honestly it just depends on your risk threshold - it’s definitely not a deal breaker.

Good luck!
Mili


http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)

Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter

[cpkelley5]

Mili,

Thanks for your reply. Do you think my work experience, the fact that I've jumped around quite a bit, will be an issue when applying?

[mili]

That really depends on your career goal. If you can weave a story that explains your career transitions as a logical lead-up/preparation for your ultimate career goal, then it shouldn't be an issue. If you don't really have a narrative to explain the quick transitions, then it could be slightly negative. Also depends on your degree of responsibility in each role - if you can show that you are moving up and taking more responsibility and leadership each time, that will help. You want to show that you are either moving closer to your goal, or that you are moving to the top. Your transitions are somewhat logical - all within finance, from consulting towards an in-house corporate role. Hopefully you are able to fit this story to tie in with your career goals, and then it shouldn't be an issue.

[hill.ryand]

Hi, I have a quick question. I just took the GMAT and had the same subscore breakdown, but slightly different percentile ranking.

I got an overall 730, with a Q48 (78%) and V41 (93%). I'm thrilled with the overall score but slightly worried that my 78% in quant will be hurt me. I have a liberal arts and non-profit background, so I don't have a strong math transcript to make up the difference. I really don't want to take the GMAT again since I am happy with my overall score but wanted to get anybody's thoughts on the percentile situation.

[mili]

Congrats on the great score! Generally we do recommend that you aim for an 80th percentile or higher on each section of the GMAT, so your quant score is just on the border. You're correct that it'll likely confirm any suspicions that you are more of a 'poet' than a 'quant', but there are other ways that you can demonstrate your quantitative proficiency without retaking the GMAT.

Obviously you could retake the GMAT, but given that it's already almost August and you said you really don't want to retake it, and given that you did get quite a great score, I wouldn't recommend this route (it's a personal decision and depends on your level of risk tolerance, but I don't think it's necessary).

I do recommend that you enroll is a supplementary quant course (statistics, accounting, finance) at a local accredited university and try to score an "A" grade. Also, depending on what you do for a living, you could ask your recommenders to highlight your analytic capabilities (even if it's non profit, there's probably something he/she can point to to show your analytic strength). I think that if you do these things, there wouldn't be any concerns about the quant.

Good luck!
Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)

Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter

[hill.ryand]

Mili,

Thank you for your thoughtful post. I think I am going to do a separate thread to give you more details about my background. However, as a quick question about what you wrote in this thread, would I need to enroll in those supplementary quant courses before I apply or just something I should do before I attend a B-school? Thanks!

[mili]

Great - I look forward to learning more about you! I would enroll in them before you apply so that you can write an optional statement letting them know that you've enrolled. That way they'll know that you are taking the process seriously and are doing everything you can to show you can hang with the quants :)

Best,
Mili