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Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
Posts: 364
Own Kudos [?]: 182 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Location: Canada eh
 Q50  V41
Send PM
SVP
SVP
Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Status:Trust Experience, Trust Success
Affiliations: U. Chicago, Johns Hopkins, AIGAC
Posts: 1796
Own Kudos [?]: 192 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
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Re: Hello Everyone [#permalink]
StartupAddict wrote:
pbodine wrote:
StartupAddict wrote:
Hello everyone :) I've been studying for the GMAT for a few weeks now. I got screwed for my undergrad and went to an impossible geek school, which was unfortunate (read 0 women). Anyways, I wanted to redeem myself by getting a top notch business education from, as it currently stands right now, either Haas, Stern, Columbia, Stanford, Sloan. Perhaps even IESE. I've read through the forums a lot and find all of the advice you guys give very helpful! I'll be contributing lots in the next few weeks as I prep. I currently have 4 books, GMAT for Dummies, Kaplan, Barron and McGraw Hill. Surprisingly, GMAT for Dummies was a good introductory book :) My GPA is very low, but its frustrating because at my school its good (you only need a 60 to stay in! Class averages are 59-65). Here is my profile:

Undergrad major: Math (Computer Science / Combinatorics & Optimization)

GPA: ~70%, scales to about 2.6-2.8 GPA. I went to 0 classes and only studied the night before the final :-)

Work experience: 2 years (4 months each, Researcher at a graduate school, 3 startups, Morgan Stanley, my own company).

I'm currently running a web startup where I have 3 developers and a designer. Most of the work was done by me, but they assist me. It's a very big site and takes tonnes of time!!!

I also do track & field - 15 hours/week, plus I run, swim, bike, etc.

Languages (spoken): English, Polish, German, French, Russian, Ukranian/Serbian (conversational)

Currently learning Cryllic and brushing up on French/Russian. The more languages the better!

As for the GMAT, I'm scoring pretty well. I score above 50 in both verbal and quant regularly, but I'm still going to study another 2-3 months, I'm in no hurry. Plus I need to get a high enough score so the schools overlook my **** average.. which I admit was because I could care less about marks ( I kept myself busy with track, businesses, travelling, languages, etc... unapplicable classes on complexity classes and graph theory are dull in comparison =P ).

Anyways nice to meet everyone! Talk to you all soon.


You will need a 700-plus GMAT and a decent extracurricular/community profile to gain admission to the schools you mentioned. No more than four months at each position will also raise red flags, so I would encourage you to lower your sights in terms of your target schools.


Thanks for the reply Paul. The work placement were part of the coop program at my school, I didn't quit or get fired; they were merely 4 months to begin with :-). What else do you suggest I work on? I'm currently scoring well into the 700's on practise tests, and I have a lot of entrepreneurial experience, including running a startup that I incorporated on my own initiative and have employees etc. I have a friend who owns a computer store, another who owns a nutrition store, another who owns a bar, and I help them with business decisions/advertising, so I have small business experience as well. Lots of languages, lots of extracurrics, I'll have a high GMAT (740+), lots of entrepreneurial experience, if I get into berkeley or stanford I'd want to throw on their track team, I don't know what else they're looking for...... I'm also more of an entrepreneur, I don't like the corporate bullshit and the politics, so I'd be setting the tone towards a VC/startup route. Also despite a crappy average, which is actually good from my department/school, I managed to do 2 hard degrees, do track, did 6 workterms abroad (2 years of experience), work on startups, etc. I even trained with the WR holder in Hammer, along with a few other Olympians, and may make the Polish national team in the next year. All the while dealing with extenuating family circumstances. So I did more than your average student with a 4.0 GPA.

I'm aiming for Stanford, Haas, NYU, Colombia, MIT, perhaps Wharton/Chicago/Harvard but I'd prefer to go to the above mentioned schools, especially Stanford/Haas as they're close to silicon valley. Would I stand a good chance, or would I have to gain some other type of experience or get a bit older (I'll be 24 soon)?

Thanks!


If you get a 740 GMAT you will stand a decent/fair not a "good" chance at all the schools you mentioned, except Stanford and HBS where very few applicants have even a fair chance. You seem to be doing the right things, but you are also relatively young, making the odds tougher for you. That said, if you get dinged you can just reapply a year or two later when you'll be all the stronger.

Good luck,
GMAT Club Bot
Re: Hello Everyone [#permalink]

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