Hello all,
Hi NJackson40, happy to help you by reviewing your profile. Will answer below.I was hoping you could evaluate my profile and help me decide where to apply. My current rough list of target schools is: Duke, UT Austin, Foster, Vanderbilt, Michigan.
Profile:
- White male, 26
- Work at Merrill Lynch as an advisor and analyst for a Global Institutional Consulting and Private Banking team
- GMAT: 680 44/38 (this is a retake and improvement from 650 and honestly about the best I think I can do right now)
This GMAT is just right on the bubble- should be enough to get considered but if you could squeeze out just a bit more on the quant side it would be even better. Have you considered using a highly targeted, short term tutor like Noodle Pros? https://www.noodlepros.com/ A few hours are supposed to help a lot more than regular classes or programs- give it a thought as I think it could help your case- especially at a place like Ross where they tend to accept from higher GMATs.- Undergrad BBA double major in Finance and Management 4.0 from a state school
This helps a lot as it shows you can do the work- and schools will not be taking a double hit on GMAT and GPA- Solid recommendations
- Volunteer work: on the board of directors of three non-profits (one very large well known NP) and the VP of Development for one of the boards
- Want to transition to a role in either Marketing or Consulting (I have previous marketing and sales experience from a company I started and sold in college).
I'd stick to marketing as consulting likes high GMATs....at least I'd stick to the marketing story for getting IN to an MBA program...- First generation college student (don't know if that is actually useful or not).
Always good to mention- can definitely be a help as it shows you had to navigate more of this path on your own and did very well.Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Is my school list good? To many stretches? Not a legitimate stretch included?
So I would say your best odds on this list are Foster and Vanderbilt. I think Fuqua could be good too- but I would have suggested you apply in the early action round and do a visit and show the school some love....UT Austin you have a good shot also but the higher GMAT would help, I think your GMAT could make Ross toughest. I would add Kenan-Flagler and I'd also look at Kelley-
I would have added Wisconsin for marketing but since they are teetering on whether or not to keep the full time MBA program not sure I'd send you into that right now. I think you will need to go deep in showing strong interest to the programs you want most- and that,
along with great grades and strong work, can help you get over the GMAT hurdle. If you are planning to apply R2 you better get busy-
but if you are waiting until next year R1 then I would say put a plan in place where you prioritize more GMAT study, make campus visits and do more career research to better articulate your post MBA goals and then you will be ready to shine R1. If you want to try for R2 now- then start TODAY- and in either case having a consultant help you avoid pitfalls in applications could be very helpful.
I had a client with a background similar to yours and we got some good results working together. I'd also suggest you look at SMU if you have interest in Texas as you might present well for scholarships there. Happy to discuss your situation in more detail in a consult-
here's the link for that: https://stratusadmissionscounseling.com ... b-visitor/
And if you decide you want to do R1 next year we could do an early advantage program this spring- where we spend about 5 hours between now and next spring reviewing all aspects of your profile- then we make a plan for how to shore up all weaknesses so that when you apply you really have the complete package they are looking for. Happy to talk more about that on a consult as well.Thank you in advance,