720 gmat, where to apply?!

Question

1) Basic demographic info: 
26, M, French

2) Educational Background: 
master's degree in mechanical engineer (2nd tier French school) 6 months in Germany as an exchange student
GPA: don't know, I tried to figure an equivalent and came up with almost 3 
GMAT score: 720 Q47 V41, AWA: 4.5

3) Work experience: 
Job: Manufacturing engineer in automotive industry for 3.5 years (hired from internship and promoted once)
Duties: project leader, technical stuff (design, procurement)

4) Extracurriculars: 
Not too many. have been involved with habitat for humanity since April (build team and family selection committee)

5) Short/Long term goals: 
Consulting / general management in the US or Europe

6) Schools: 
London Business School, HEC Paris, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown

Please help me, I'm not sure if I'm targeting the right schools. Are they within my reach? or am I dreaming? Also I'm looking into 1 or 2 more schools to apply to and I don't know which ones to pick? Elite? near Elite?

I would really appreciate your input! Thanks!

bakfed · Answer

First of all, you won't have to convert your grade into the U.S. standard (GPA); it'll ask you to leave it as reported on your transcript. Having said that, I'm not sure exactly how you got those U.S. schools on your list; it's kind of all over the place. Before I suggest some other schools, you should really sit down and consider where you want to work: US or Europe. Once that's settled, you then aim at the schools. If you absolutely don't have a preference, then I guess you can try a few b-school in US and in Europe. In the States, look at Duke Fuqua, Michigan Ross, and Virginia Darden, all three are pretty much considered "consulting-feeder program". Northwestern is going to be harder, but not impossible. I believe the other two US schools are more of a safety. Fuqua, Ross, and Darden are more like sweet spots for you.

bseb · Answer

Thanks for your reply. I know that I won't have to convert my grades, I just wanted to give you an idea of what my undergrad results were. Maybe I should have given more details about how I chose my schools. First, I'm married. So all the schools located in small towns where my wife would not have good job opportunities are out of the question. She also vetoed a few schools that she just doesn't like, mostly in the South and the Midwest (don't ask me why...). So basically, the schools left are CMU, Georgetown, Emory the ultra-elite schools and some of the elite schools. You're correct I'm not quite sure yet where I want to work. I'll make my decision when I know what schools I got into.
My school breakdown is as follows:
Dream: Northwestern, LBS
Reachable: CMU, Emory, HEC Paris
Safety: Georgetown?

Unless I'm mistaken, I thought that all of these schools had a good general management program. I guess I'm just not sure if the range of the schools I want to apply to is too broad or if I should focus more on one cluster in particular.

jordanhendrix · Answer

I think what bakfed means is that you have LBS/Kellogg than CMU/GTOWN/HEC/Emory

There is plenty of room for things in the middle, G-Town, Emory and CMU are pretty much on the same level. I wouldn't call either safeties but they can be towards the bottom of your list.

bakfed, hit it on the dot, you have to have more schools in the 8-14 range, UVA ROSS DUKE etc

I would advise you do the research first, applying to a school you might not actually want to go to is not a good idea.
Find the schools that fit you and your wife's needs first then apply!

bseb · Answer

Thanks jordanhendrix. You're right I don't really have any middle ground. I spent some time this afternoon doing some research and the schools that seem to be the most interesting are UCLA, NYU and maybe Haas. Since NYU and Haas are very competitive (Haas has the second lowest acceptance rate after Stanford I believe) I think that UCLA may be a better choice. It also seems to place well in consulting.

720 gmat, where to apply?!

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