Profile evaluation

[junaidzaheer]

Hello,

I took my gmat this weekend and I got a bit stressed with a score of 680 as I was expecting to do better than that. I got a Verbal of 78 and Quant of 77. I was reading this forum and I figured I'd ask you guys for an advice.

Now I have graduated from Michigan State University with a undergad degree in Electrical Engineering and a GPA of 3.98. I am also graduating with my Masters in Engineering Management from University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a GPA of 3.96. I was pursuing my Masters part-time while working at Johnson Controls as a Power Electronics Engineer. I have also worked at Motorola for two years as a Product Development Engineer and have a total job experience of 4 years. Along with my credentials above, I am also very active as an Alumni at Michigan State University. I am going to strt serving as the youngest MSU alumni to serve in the Michigan State University College of Engineering alumni board. I am also an international student, who worked part time for 25 hours per week while going to school at Michigan State University.

I'd like to get a feel for where I stand with my application at Harvard/PENN/MIT/Booth/NWU. You advice will certainly be helpful whether I have a good chance for applying at thee schools or should I work towards improving my GMAT score.
 

Best Regards,

Junaid

[mbamission]

Hi Junaid,

Thanks for writing in and sharing these details. Your academic record is certainly impressive, and while I understand you want to raise your GMAT score for these top-tier schools, you do have a very balanced score -- which schools like to see -- so if you are not able to raise it significantly, don't lose hope!

From your description, I really have a very narrow view of what your candidacy is all about, so it's tough for me to get too specific with my thoughts. My initial reaction is that these schools fall under the "reach" category for you. I would want to see more extracurricular activity unrelated to college/alumni events, and of course get a better grasp of why you are seeking an MBA at these schools.

I would suggest targeting 1-2 from your list, and then diversifying with other top-25 schools.

Best of luck!
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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[junaidzaheer]

Thanks the response Daniel. Out of the five schools, which schools would you best recommend given my profile?

Also, what do you mean by extracurricular?

[mbamission]

Hi again,

My gut reaction out of that group was to go for MIT. By extracurricular, I'm referring to your non-work activities -- anything volunteer-related or that demonstrates leadership outside of your core job description.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (14 individual school titles)

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter