Hi All, I really want to get into a top 25 MBA program...for obvious reasons. Below are my stats. I'd love to hear any thoughts regarding my chances. 670 GMAT (taken once) 2.95 GPA from Villanova School of Business (#13 in nation). 3.2 over the last 2 years. 3 years of work experience in strategic planning with a large online retailer. Promoted twice, 1.5 years of management experience. Selected as one of last year's 25 high potential employees (out of 5,000 employees). Management experience Here are the schools that I'm planning to apply to: Columbia UNC (Kenan-Flagler) Notre Dame (Mendoza) Georgetown (McDonough) Boston College (Carroll) What does everybody think?

I think you have a great shot. If you get that GMAT up above 720 or so, you may be able to crack into the top 10/15, too.

I'm hoping you're right From what I have seen/read so far, my rankings are: 1) Columbia 2) UNC 3) Notre Dame 4) Georgetown 5) Boston College What do you think? Do you agree with how I have the programs ranked?

Depends on your plans post MBA. Only you can rank your preference of schools. With your stats, I'd say you have a solid shot at UNC, ND, Georgetown, and BC. Columbia is a serious stretch.

Other relevant info: - I want to study finance and entrepreneurship - I hope to make a career change into venture capital - I have a family friend who is an undergrad professor at Notre Dame. He has agreed to write a letter of recommendation for me.

I agree with highwyre. UNC may be on the tougher side, but I think the rest are in range (excluding Columbia, which would be a Hail Mary).

If you are interested in VC, you may want to look into UT-McCombs. This is all hearsay, but I keep hearing Austin is a huge hotbed of start-up/VC activity. If so, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to be in that area. Also, I'd say McCombs is a peer school of UNC-KF.

I've lived in Austin and agree, there's a great start-up community there. Finance is a broad function, do you have certain industries you'd rather work in? Do you know where you'd like to live post MBA?