Hi there,
I think your profile is very interesting. Let's break it down:
Academics. As you're aware, your undergrad GPA is quite low. I would suggest that you address this in an optional statement and take responsibility for your immaturity during undergrad (it's a pretty common story!). Point to your GPA as evidence of your analytic capability. I would suggest taking courses in accounting, statistics or finance if possible to show that you can do well in the classroom -- but if you don't have time, you don't have time.
Professional experience: I think your experience, while non-traditional, is very strong. Especially the recent experience as a GM and business partner. Entrepreneurial experience goes a very long way and I think you'll have a lot of strong leadership stories for your essays.
Extracurricular: I didn't see much mention of extracurricular activities - this would appear to be a gap in your profile.
Community work: Seems like you've been involved in an ad-hoc manner in community leadership activities through your church, but not much more than that. Is that a fair assessment?
I think your school list is pretty thoughtful and that you've got a good shot at McCcombs and Cornell. Darden and Stern are great target schools - definitely a possibility that they would overlook your GPA in favor of your GMAT and strong professional experience. I think that it's worth adding one more school in the reach category - Sloan or Columbia or whatever you choose.
The recommendation letters sound good -- I'm not sure what your other options are though! The business owner is an obvious one, but it might make sense to have someone else at the company (a peer?) write a recommendation instead of the woman you worked with on the music events... but it really depends on the depth of the experience and relationship. Difficult for me to say without additional details and options.
I would probably pick either entrepreneurship or general management as your career track. Saying you want to go to a big company and then start your own just isn't a very logical story given that you've already had a lot of entrepreneurial experience. Pick one and build the story one way or the other.
You can include that information about your salary in the optional essay - that would be fine.
Hope this helps!
Mili
Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
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