isharmaur wrote:
Thank you in advance for taking the time to look over my profile! The schools I am considering applying to are:
Wharton, MIT, Northwestern, NYU, UCLA, Duke, U Va, UNC and USC
Female, 27, grew up in India but am now a U.S. permanent resident
GMAT 710 (92% overall, V99%, Q61%)
GPA: 2.75 with a degree from a top 15 undergraduate business school
Work Experience
I will have 5 years of experience (at the time of application) working for an entrepreneurial women-owned consulting company in Washington, DC. I have been promoted every year, reaching a project leadership position in 1.5 years and a management position in 3 (most of the other individuals at my level are in their mid-to-late thirties). I have managed over a dozen projects related to housing and housing finance for a range of government agencies with responsibilities including managing timelines, profitability, resource allocation, team performance, issue resolution and deliverable formulation and delivery. And I managed one project in particular, including day-to-day client relationship management, that resulted in the company winning a prestigious national small business award from the government agency involved.
Extracurriculars
I was Treasurer of two campus organizations for three of my four years in college. My junior year of college, I was selected through a competitive hiring process for a position as a Resident Assistant. Since college, I have helped the company I work for set up a Project Management Office and delivered company-wide training on the competencies, tools and techniques we developed. I am currently leading an effort to re-design the compensation and benefits structure for the company and improve employee retention.
Short-term goal: Work for one of the top five strategy consulting companies after my MBA to gain additional experience and exposure to other industries and companies.
Long-term goal: Transition to general management at a consumer products company that has a significant investment in/focus on developing markets.
UG GPA:
While there really is no excuse for my UG GPA, the primary contributor to my low GPA was one very bad year. I was struggling with being away from my family during a difficult time for us all, the demands of being a Resident Assistant and effectively living where you work, and my extracurricular commitments, and my GPA suffered. My GPA before that year was a 3.2 and my GPA my senior year was a 3.5. To help demonstrate that I can handle the coursework of a challenging MBA program, I have been working on building an alternative transcript for the last year or so. I have taken Business Statistics, Managerial Finance and am currently taking Calculus with UCLA's Extension program and have gotten/hope to get As in all of my classes.
I would really appreciate your assessment of my chances of getting into the schools mentioned above, and any thoughts on additions to or subtractions from the list.
Even with the alternative transcript, given your
low quant score and your GPA, I think you are aiming too high with your school choices. Most of the schools on your list would be stretch programs. You would have a more competitive profile at
UNC and
USC. Of the stretch programs, consider applying to Duke and Darden. They support your goals and are
slightly easier to get into.
Best,
Linda