Retired Moderator
Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Status:Darden Class of 2013
Posts: 1768
Given Kudos: 37
Schools:University of Virginia
Re: 730 (Q49, Q40) Female
[#permalink]
31 Dec 2010, 00:27
Hi there, your GMAT score rocks. Also, as you probably know, being a female and a minority will help you on your application (no offense here). You didn't state what your goals are after MBA, so I can only really give you suggestions based on what you've written. You mentioned that the schools you're applying to/have applied to accept quite a small number of students. If that's the case, look at Columbia and Wharton, both of which accept a huge number of students (but of course, the number of applications are quite high for both these schools). Without knowing what you want to do, I can't really say whether you should or not apply to HBS, Kellogg, or Sloan. However, you have to realize that your GPA is the handicap number here. 3.06 is not bad, especially the fact that you've gotten that at a top university; however, it's not the best GPA out there either. You'll probably want to discuss about this GPA in your application, whether it is due to immaturity, academic rigor (hope this is not the case), or just have a 40-hour job that you need to keep up. Whatever it is, don't leave the adcoms guessing why you have a 3.06 and the next application has a 3.65. Given your stat, you really should be able to gain admission to McComb. UCLA tends to have a higher average GPA, but it's more do-able than Stanford GSB, whose dean proudly stated that undergraduate academic record is one of the absolute most important aspects of the application (not sure why, but says the director). Haas, of course, is a great program, but also tend to admit students with high GPA. If I were you and wanting to apply to a couple more schools, I personally wouldn't gear up for HBS, Sloan, or Kellogg, mainly because you've already applied to two (Haas and Stanford) schools with super high average GPAs. HBS, Sloan, and Kellogg are three top b-school programs in the States and all are extremely hard to get into. Personally speaking, I would suggest schools more in the ranges of top 10 to top 15, schools such as Duke, UMich, and UVA.