Profile evaluation

[tamar.jaffe]

Hello,

I was hoping I could receive a profile evaluation.


GMAT: 700 (44Q41V)
Undergrad: Top 40 Finance BBA 2007 GPA 3.23(cum.) 3.54 (major)*
Post Grad Work: August 2007- Present. Senior Management Analyst at a "Big Four" Consulting firm in DC. Was promoted after 1 year, received top percentile reviews in both of my annual evaluations. Received an award for excellence with the company which came with a monetary bonus.
Can get excellent reviews from Executive level employees as well as mid-level managers at current firm.
EC: Was the CFO of a small student group advocating aid/gov't response in Darfur. Intramural sports & Fraternity.
Interned at Smith Barney twice.
EC Note: I plan on joining finance related EC orgs in the upcoming months as well as doing a lot of community service with my GF.

*Discrepancy in Major and Cum. GPAs is attributable to starting off as Pre-med and switching after 2 yrs. Worked really hard to finish degree on time (this was difficult since very few pre med credits could be applied towards the finance major and as a result, I took twice as many core classes at a time as my peers).

Future plans:

I want to enroll in a top 25 full-time program fall of 2010 at which point I would have just under 3 years experience. My target schools are as follows:

UVA (I am a Virginia Resident)
Columbia
Duke
Cornell
Yale
UCLA
USC
Georgetown
UNC

Do I have a decent shot at any of these? Or should I retake my GMAT? My Quant score was towards the lower end of my range judging from my scores I obtained from the CATs . I know there is a chance I could do a lot better if I studied more. I only studied for about 10 hours on verbal and my practice exams indicated that sentence correction was my only weakness (which is relatively easy to improve). My girlfriend really doesn't want me to take them again as the studying has been impacting my social life. Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[mbamission]

Thanks for your question.

While it's always difficult to judge just from a quick profile, it seems like you have picked schools that you would have a reasonable chance at. Depending on your recent extracurriculars and of course on your essays/recommendations, Columbia might be a bit of a stretch but is still worth applying to. (Columbia is the most ambitious school on your list, so you might consider applying early decision in order to increase your chances) You have a credible explanation for the GPA discrepancy, which you can address in the optional essay, but you should know that a 3.23 is not a devastating gpa. Without knowing the breakdown of your scores it's hard to advise specifically on how much re-taking the GMAT would help; top schools generally like to see 80% in each of Verbal and Quantitative; if your Quant score is far below that it may make sense to re-take it.

Sincerely,
Jessica Shklar
MBA Mission

646-485-8844

Website: www.mbamission.com
Blog: www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: www.mbamission.com/consult.php

[tamar.jaffe]

Hi Jessica,

Firstly, thank you so much for your insight. With regards to my quant score, I received a 44Q which equates to a 70% for this particular sitting. I have looked at past percentiles for a 44Q and saw 70-75%. Would this be considered significantly below the 80%? My verbal was 93% @ 41. The 44 in quant was the bottom of my range of 44-48 (from practices). I think if I bought an 800 level book, I could raise this score marginally, but I am not sure if it is worth it.

Thanks,

[mbamission]

Hi Jessica,

Firstly, thank you so much for your insight. With regards to my quant score, I received a 44Q which equates to a 70% for this particular sitting. I have looked at past percentiles for a 44Q and saw 70-75%. Would this be considered significantly below the 80%? My verbal was 93% @ 41. The 44 in quant was the bottom of my range of 44-48 (from practices). I think if I bought an 800 level book, I could raise this score marginally, but I am not sure if it is worth it.

Thanks,

Unfortunately there's no science to this process where I could say X score will keep you out but X+3 won't. I don't think 44 is significantly below. More importantly, if you don't think your score will improve significantly it's probably not worth it. (If you thought you could increase your score a lot, I might answer differently). But you are taking a slight risk because both your Quant score and your overall GPA are slightly outside the range. Again, neither of them is devestating, and even together they're not devestating. But they do increase your risk a little bit, especially for Columbia, which will make you want to put slightly more emphasis on the quality of your essays, etc.

Hope that helps!

Sincerely,
Jessica Shklar
MBA Mission

646-485-8844

Website: http://www.mbamission.com
Blog: http://www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: http://www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: http://www.mbamission.com/consult.php

[tamar.jaffe]

Thanks. I think the absolute most I could raise it would be 30 points. I am just going to cross my fingers and apply early to UVA for fall 2010 as an instate resident.

Thanks!!