Profile Evaluation

[mitpyro]

My profile is as follows:

Nationality: US/Chinese
Current Age / Gender: 32 / Male
Undergraduate: UC Berkeley, BS Mechanical Engineering
GPA: 2.4
GMAT - haven't taken yet, but from practice tests, I'm very confident about something over 720, just not sure how much higher
CFA: level 1 passed, awaiting level 2 results
All As in supplementary classes taken from UC Berkeley Extension last 3 years: Microeconomics, Statistics, Intro to Financial Accounting, Basic Corporate Finance, Intermediate Corporate Finance,

Extra-curriculars: Unfortunately, no extracurriculars.
Work Experience: 3 jobs since undergrad; worked for a technology startup out of college doing professional services for them and helped with fundraising until the dot com bust ended that run; tough finding a job in that environment, so settled for a software QA job at a security software company a year later and worked my way back up to senior QA and did some on-site client support; current job senior QA at a successful high tech company and have led a number of projects in the last couple of years.
I'm pretty sure I can get great recommendations from all my superiors past and present.
It took me awhile, but I'm very confident I want to work in finance, either in corporate finance or asset management. I love spreadsheets and working with numbers and would love to work as an analyst of some sort.

I'm really concerned about my really low undergraduate GPA due to my poor choice of major, my age (I know I'm over the hill by bschool standards, but I've always been a late bloomer), and my lack of extra-curriculars.
Since I'm considered old, I really can't afford to wait to apply another year, so I'm thinking this is my only shot.
Would my classes from the last few years and my CFA test performance offset the low gpa?

I'm shooting for the following schools:
Wharton, Sloan, Haas, Tepper, Ross, Anderson, Chicago, Kellogg are in consideration for reach schools
Not sure how far down I need to go for safety schools?
I'd consider going to Marshall, Cornell, UNC, UT Austin, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin. Will I need to reach all the way to San Jose State?

Thanks for your help in advance and I really appreciate your time!

[mbamission]

Hi Mitypro,

Thanks for writing and sharing all those details. There is no clear-cut formula for admissions at any schools, so it is tough to predict how each school will react to your age and college academics. You should definitely use the optional essay to proactively mention your performance in the supplementary classes and make the case that college was several years ago at this point and you have learned/matured a lot since then.

It also sounds that your varied work experience could provide you with some good anecdotes on leadership and managing through change.

I think you need to make a very strong case as for why an MBA makes sense for you now. You will want to dig into further detail as to why you want to work in one of the fields you mention, beyond just a comfort with analytics. A solid essay for you will involve clearly linking your work experience to date with your future goals, and showing why an MBA can help connect your past to your future.

In terms of school selection, with a 720 GMAT and solid essays I think schools like Marshall, Wisconsin and Notre Dame could be within range. If you are comimtted to beginning a program in the fall, regardless of which one, then I would encourage you to look into the next tier of schools as well, as it is impossible to predict how each school will evaluate your GPA and age.

Best of luck with the process!

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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