Please advise,

Personal Profile:
-GMAT score = 700 (Q48, V38)
-Undergrad GPA = 3.1
-Double majored in Electrical Engineering and Accounting from a top 5 electrical engineering school (U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
-Minored in Computer Science
-Certified Public Accountant (CPA) (Non-practicing)
-3 years work experience as a consultant for a big 4 accounting/consulting firm
-Fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese (chinese dialect)
-Conversational in Spanish and French
-Graduated with 200 college credits while it only takes 128 to do so
-Studying for the CFA (hope certification will increase my chances of being accepted)


Can you please let me know what are my chances of being admitted to the MBA programs at Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, or U. of Chicago. I have been backpacking for 3 years including 1 year studying Spanish in Spain and 1 year studying Mandarin in Taiwan so I have been out of the job market for quite some time, but on the other hand, the travel has given me great international experience. It was my first attempt at the GMAT and I'm confident that I can improve my score to 730-740 with better time management during the test if the higher score would help my chances at being admitted.

I don't plan to start the MBA program for another 1.5 years so is there anything in the meantime that I can do to increase my chances of acceptance. By the way, I will still be backpacking until I get into an MBA program so I cannot do any long term volunteer work.

Do you think I should even bother with the application process with my current profile? Do I stand a realistic chance at my choices of schools.

I'm Asian and male also so that's not going to help.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Chi

Your GMAT is competitive. Your GPA is a little low, but the CPA and CFA probably compensate . My main concern, if I undertand your post correctly, is that you worked for 3 years and have been backpacking around the world every since. While I am sure that is a fantastic experience, I am not sure how schools or potential employers will consider it especially when compared to applicants who have been working for those same 3 years. Or perhaps worked for 2.5 years and backpacked for .5 years. At this point in time, to improve your chances, I woud say get a competitive pre-MBA job and yes assume some responsibilities in a community service role. From an admissions perspective, you have already benefitted from the int'l travel. I am not sure that from an admissions perspective an additional 1.5 years of travel experience will be valued as much as 1.5 years of work experience. In fact I doubt it.

Sorry, because I don't think that's what you wanted to read.

Good luck!
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Accepted.com
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