Questions about profile

[sdmchne]

Hello,

I just took my GMAT, and got a good score, a 760, 47 Quantitative, 47 Verbal. My GPA is good too, 3.67 (I got a 3.96 my Junior and Senior years, I got my act together my junior year of college). I've graduated college in 2005, I'm 25.

My concerns are that I have a couple weaknesses. First of all, I really have no business background. I went to school in Washington, DC, studied politics, and have spent my whole career out of school on political campaigns, and the past year and a half at a political consulting firm. Going along with that theme, I really don't have a strong quantitative background. I didn't take any math courses in college to speak of, and the ones I did take were early on in college, when I didn't do so well, and I got B's and B+'s.

Basically, I'm a non-traditional candidate with some pretty good numbers. I think I have a good story to tell, with some good leadership experience, but the fact is that my background is not that of most students admitted to the top business schools.

So my question is, how much do the scores really matter? I don't think I'm a guaranteed admit at HBS or Wharton, but at what point would my scores pretty much guarantee admission (assuming the rest of my application is competent)? I'm shooting for the top schools, like HBS and Wharton, but I want to make sure I apply to some safety schools so that I know I'll get in somewhere.

Would schools in the 10-20 range, like Georgetown and Texas be good safety schools for me?

[MBAApply]

There is no such thing as guaranteed admissions based on GMAT scores alone within the top-30 schools.

Anyhow, I don't think you need to worry about your lack of quant. Your GMAT is enough of an indicator that you should be able to handle what's thrown at you in b-school.

Focus on the applications.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com