Request Evaluation, 680 GMAT, 6 yrs exp, Naval Officer

[DavidC713]

Hi there!

I just took the GMAT, and scored a 46Q, 37V, 680 total. I wouldn't say I did great, but I would go so far as to say I did decent. I have no doubt if I take another 2-3 months I would be in the 700's, but due to real life time constraints I need to get my applications in for the Spring/Summer programs now.

I would like to know if these scores, combined with my background, are likely to be competitive for my targeted programs, namely Duke, Indiana, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and University of Maryland. I am only going for online/distance programs due to my work commitments.

My post MBA goals will most likely to be to transition to the civilian sector, most likely in general management or a CFO type of track.

Background.

1. Lieutenant, US Navy - 6 years. Primary specialty is Naval Aviation, with plenty of leadership experience (see below).
2. BBA in Finance, University of Notre Dame 2008, 2.72 GPA.

Resume Excerpt.

Professional Summary

Professional leader and manager with six years of experience. Accustomed to leading in high stress environments while maintaining focus on the task at hand. Adept at operational risk assessment and advanced decision making skills. Capable of innovative leadership in performing multiple time-critical tasks while continuing to work towards long range goals consistent with the organizational mission and vision.

Skills
- Personnel management
- Operations management
- Leadership under stressful conditions
- Complex problem solving
- Results-oriented
- Risk assessments

Work History
- Liaison Staff Officer 04/2014 to Current
[Redacted due to public forum]

- Patrol Plane Commander, Patrol Squadron FIVE, United States Navy 01/2011 to 02/2014

Qualified in both the P-3C Orion and the P-8A Poseidon aircraft and qualified as Patrol Plane Commander. Flight duties included detailed mission planning, advanced decision making under pressure, and leadership of a ten person aircrew. Completed a demanding split site deployment to Sigonella and El Salvador, and another arduous deployment to Kadena, Japan.

- Ground Safety Officer - Supervised five personnel and managed the traffic safety, occupational health, and industrial hygiene programs.

- Air Frames Branch Officer - Oversaw 22 personnel in the air frames repair shop, including managing qualification and advancement records, resulting in 60% of Air Frames sailors advancing in rate, as well as four new Collateral Duty Inspectors and five Collateral Duty Quality Assurance Representatives.

- Assistant Administrative Officer - Managed eight yeomen in providing administrative support for a 250 member squadron, including the completion of over 115 Fitness Reports and Evaluations, 30 awards and the rewriting of 25 squadron instructions.

- Tactics Division Officer - Led 15 personnel in the development and implementation of new tactics and exercise plans. Managed the squadron's participation in several large scale military exercises and synergized operations, intelligence, and communications with the Tactical Operations Center.

- Naval Aviator, Patrol Squadron THIRTY, United States Navy 05/2010 to 01/2011
Received training in the P-3C Orion aircraft with an emphasis placed on furthering the practical application of Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Operational Risk Management (ORM) as well as advanced decision making skills under pressure.

- Student Naval Aviator, Training Wing Four, United States Navy 05/2008 to 05/2010
Winged as a Naval Aviator in Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance in May 2010. Training in flight school included an emphasis on CRM and ORM, including multiple case studies on positive and negative examples of resource and risk management.

I appreciate any insight folks might be able to provide. Thanks!
Dave

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your experience and resume highlights. You have a lot of positives-- strong leadership experience; team work skills; ability to thrive under pressure; international experience; undergrad in finance, etc.

The biggest potential weakness I see so far is your GPA at under 3.0. That is a tough one. Your GMAT helps mitigate that to a certain degree, but just a heads up that if a question was to come up over your candidacy, the GPA would likely be the cause. It's never a bad idea to take additional coursework and get 'A's more recently where feasible, but I understand that could be tough for you. Admissions to the online MBA programs is generally not quite as competitive, and average GMATs for example tend to be lower than the full-time programs, so you may still want to go for it and see what happens.

Kelley is ranked top-online - MBA according to US News. Still actual average GMAT is less than 650; but average GPA is 3.3. Kenan-Flagler is made up of over 20% military as of last posting so could be a good fit as well. I am not up to speed on Duke having an online option? But overall sounds like a good school list to apply to.

In general what I always recommend to military applicants is 1) make sure you can extract from your experiences examples of how you have developed leadership, teamwork, how you've managed people and projects, etc. And 2) important! be sure you clearly make a case for WHY you need and want the MBA! Do your research and some planning so you can explain what your goals are and why you need the MBA to reach them.

Good luck, keep us posted on your progress and questions!

[DavidC713]

Jen,

Thanks for your response. Duke's program is called the "Cross Continental MBA", and has approximately two months of residency requirements spread out over the course of the program, with the rest of the program delivered via distance learning. Duke is one of my top choices, but the time away from work is looking like a hard sell with my boss.

I've already spoken with the admissions offices at both Duke and University of Maryland, and neither seemed to overly concerned about my GPA. I'm still unsure of what UNC and Indiana's responses will be to my transcript. Like you said, taking additional course work to raise my GPA isn't looking like a realistic option for me. In order to take advantage of some military funding options, I have to finish my program by December 2016, which means starting Spring/Summer 2015.

What are your thoughts on the 680 GMAT? I was actually very excited about it given the most I've had to do in six years is some mental multiplication, but then I googled it and saw quite a few people disparaging their sub-700 scores.

Thanks again for the insight, I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Sincerely,
Dave

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi Dave,

Ah, yes the cross continental program at Duke, gotcha. Yes you would normally work during that program as well. ;) Lots of great international experiences to be had during it.

Good to hear that so far your GPA hasn't been a source of too much concern (though sometimes it comes down to that final admissions decision and how you compare to other applicants, you never know what the final consensus of the committee is and sometimes initial conversations are pretty positive as schools do want you to apply and be interested in the school... not raining on the parade as it IS a good sign that so far everyone has not been concerned, just throwing a note of caution not to write it off completely. ;) ). As for the GMAT, 680 IS very respectable, congrats, and should help to a certain degree balance any concerns about the GPA as it is a more recent indicator of how you might handle the academic and quantitative rigor of b-school. You're right, there is a lot of desire to get above 700... but it really depends on where you are applying and what type of program/s. Top ranked full time MBA programs tend to average about 720 among matriculating applicants, so pretty high. Part-time and online programs tend to have averages a decent amount lower, and really you want to look at the average at the school/s YOU are interested in and compare.... I believe you are in good shape for the schools you mentioned with the 680.

Yes definitely keep us posted and let us know how else we can help!