when to do an mba + profile evaluation

[When2Go]

Hi,

I would appreciate an evaluation of my MBA candidacy
- GMAT: 680 (Q44, 70th; V40, 90th; W NA).
- GPA Undergrad: 3.3 in Business Admin from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. A clear negative in my transcript is that I failed Calculus in my first year. I did do average/above average on all other math and statistics courses after that. A potential positive is that during my undergrad one of my 2 concentration areas was taken fully at the MBA level. My GPA in this MBA concentration was around 3.7, which was about average for the MBA students at McGill I think.
- GPA Grad: 3.8 in Liberal Arts (similar to Cont. Ed Masters in Business in the US) from a top private university in Pamplona, Spain. I graduated in a bad economy, and earned a this fellowship which covered my tuition room and board, travel, etc. for 2 years. I was able to teach a university class and work with students, start 2 unique education programs, and learn Spanish.
- Work Experience: 3 years at a software startup in Spain. I joined the company when it was about 10 people working out of a factory office and had just received some government funding to grow. We are now 100 + employees with an office downtown and full VC funding. I work in Product Strategy and have clear accomplishments and learning experiences.
- Personal Profile: 26/male, born in the United States, of Indian decent. Speak English and Spanish fluently, have basic Bengali and French. Due to education + work, I have lived in Canada for 4 years, and Spain for the last 5.

Here are my question topics:
1) Target US Schools: What would be some good target schools in the US if nothing changed in my profile?
2) When and What Country to Apply: With my personal situation, I can either get in to a Spanish or UK program now or next year, or wait 3-4 years (until age 30) and apply to the US or anywhere. During my life, I expect to live in the US, UK, and Spain. Applying this year, I think a 680 will be enough for IE and IESE in Spain; and Oxford or Cambridge in the UK. I fear that my 680 in 4 years will be like 70th %, applying will be even more competitive, and my age would factor in negatively. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
3) Retake the GMAT: What is the difference between a 44 and 46/47 on Math? I have read about the need to have an 80th%, but my math 44 is 70th%. I maxed out on Verbal, but have haunch that I panicked and got the first question wrong on math. Is it 100% advisable to take the exam a 2nd time at the risk of getting a much lower score? To fix my weakness in math, I intend to take a Calculus course before applying.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[MBAApply]

If you're confident you can score higher on the quant with little effort, retake the GMAT if you can. Regardless what you score on the 2nd attempt, the schools will take the higher score so there really is no downside if it's just a 2nd attempt.

From what you wrote, I think you're on the right track in terms of schools: Oxbridge in the UK, and the Spanish schools in Spain. Keep in mind that US schools are going a little younger, so you really shouldn't be waiting until you're 30 - in fact by then you will be on the older side (around 10-15% are 30 or older at most top US schools now). For the US schools my hunch is that you'd be competitive for schools in the USC/UT-Austin/Georgetown/Indiana/Purdue/Rotman/Ivey/Queen's range, with schools such as NYU, Yale, Cornell and UCLA being stretches. All of this is irrespective of your GMAT score (i.e. even if you score a 700+ my hunch is that it won't drastically change your chances from your current score of 680, unless the score was like 760+). The biggest hurdle for you is trying to show why you need yet another business degree at this point given your educational background - you have to convince the adcom that there's got to be a lot more than just the credential.

Good luck

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

[When2Go]

Thanks again for this feedback. Based on my personal situation, I see that it is better to do UK or Spain MBA at age 26 vs. US MBA at a Tier 2 school at 30. As well, doing the GMAT again is only worth it if I can get at the 760.

You do raise an awesome point I had not thought of....why do the MBA after an undergrad in Business + some additional business coursework?
*Networking: I know the MBA for me is about meeting some people who I could potentially start a business with + meeting some great VCs or contacts for later on.
*Learning: There are clear entrepreneurial finance and marketing principles that I am lacking.

Lastly... (Question)
*Before I do another startup, I see working at a major consulting firm or big industry player as a great learning experience + street cred toward VC money later on. I also think the MBA could be my only shot in to their applicant pool. If this is the clear reason to do the MBA, would you still suggest it? Are there other ways in to their applicant pool? I suspect the investment will be around $85.000 - $130.000, all included where I am looking. Also, is there a big difference between the 1 year and 2 year programs? IE, Cambridge, and Oxford are 1 year, IESE is 2 years.

[MBAApply]

All of what you said could reasonably work; it comes down to how you tell your story. It's no different than a job interview process where someone asks "why do you want to work here?" -- there's only so many reasons and most interviewees will cover similar themes, so it's a matter of how sincere, specific, articulate, and convincing you are.

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