just starting the process...assess my chances

Question

I'm looking to apply for fall 2012 and am curious what you think my chances are of getting in to top tier schools. I've only just started looking into what b-schools look for, so sorry if I'm including unnecessary information...

3.9GPA/Magna cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa with Econ/Psych double major from Northwestern University (graduated '07)
Previous masters in social and quantitative psychology from UCLA (top 5 program)
By the the time I would matriculate I will have had three years work experience in a Southern California/Bay Area based venture capital fund. I started out as an associate and was promoted to Venture Partner after 1 year
Just started studying for the GMAT but got a 800 Math, 670 Verbal (both 95th percentile) on the GRE so I should be able to get a good score with adequate studying
Previous leadership experience includes president of Operation Smile chapter at NU, VP-Standards of my sorority, president of my residence hall, etc, worked for a year between undergrad and grad school running a social psychology lab overseeing 20 undergrad research assistants, ran a psych lab while in graduate school overseeing 10 undergrads, TA while in grad school with excellent reviews
A little light on the ECs right now: sing in a professional level choir and volunteer once a week at a homeless luncheon. Could prob increase if I knew what kinds of things would be beneficial to my application

Thanks in advance!

bakfed · Answer

Honestly, you have the numbers and will have the number of years of work experience to back you up. You seem like the perfect finance type of person who wishes to get an MBA. Just make sure that you express your leadership roles, your ability to work with people, and your reasons to get an MBA, and you should be fine. You didn't specify what you want to do (or I missed it?) post-MBA, so I won't recommend any schools. However, you should be in the runnings for some top b-schools in the states.

EBM · Answer

Looks like a very strong profile--you just need to be solid on your "why MBA?" pitch and what your career goals are. Those factors will also help determine what schools you apply to.

I wouldn't recommend picking ECAs based on what you think will look good for AdComs--they're likely to see through that kind of self-serving behavior. Pick some activities that interest you and be very involved with them--don't be a mile wide and an inch deep on things, have a few big interests where you show a lot of involvement, leadership, devotion etc.

blg529 · Answer

Yeah I forgot to post my post-MBA plans...hoping to go into brand management in something like CPG, retail, luxury brands. Having seen different exec roles from the board level at a number of different kinds of companies (I serve as an observer on a number of boards), I feel the role I'm most interested in would be marketing strategy for a consumer-oriented brand. Having not researched programs in depth yet, I'm tentatively interested in Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, and USC. I have to at least try to stay in a major city as I have to factor my husband's career in my ultimate decision.

I don't really plan to pick up ECAs just to please the adcomm, but if I need to do more then I would find things that I enjoy/are meaningful to me that would also look good on a resume.

I don't really plan to pick up ECAs just to please the adcomm, but if I need to do more then I would find things that I enjoy/are meaningful to me that would also look good on a resume.

EBM · Answer

Since you mentioned marketing and brand management Kellogg would be the obvious answer. But really, you could do what you want at any of the schools you listed. With the exception of USC and UCLA, you basically named 7 of the top 8 or 9 American MBA programs. Based on your profile you should be very competitive for pretty much any top 5/top 10 school. Then it becomes a matter of fit and where you want to live.

saeedt · Answer

High chances, very high. Just, you didn't say anything about SOP. I recommend working on it from now to have a strongly worded, penetrative SOP by then.

just starting the process...assess my chances

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