Profile Evaluation

Question

Hi Paul/Linda - 

I'm just getting going with my GMAT studying and want to know what threshold I need to target (680, 700, 710+) to round out my profile and be competitive at my targeted programs.

Summary profile is as follows: (sorry for the book!) 

 Personal : 24 (plan on applying for fall’09 – so will be 26 going to school), caucasian, male. 
 
Academic  – dual concentration: Financial Management, Accounting; minor: Psychology. Major GPA: 3.5, overall GPA: 3.2 (my weak point). Weak grades on the transcript relate to 1st/2nd year and non-quant courses. 

 Extracurricular  (while in school, to help mitigate low gpa) – Worked 3 jobs to put myself through college (debt free) including a position as a Resident Assistant (“RA”), multiple clubs, volunteer work, intramural sports, ran an eBay business, etc.  Post-grad : I'm currently a member of Habitat for Humanity in SF and I've participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program sponsored through KPMG. Also, a friend and I are in the middle of designing a product for a web-based start-up (a bit hush-hush at this point)- has potential! 

 Professional  – Past: Spent 1 year working in corporate finance with a large public utility in the Controller’s Organization (6months SEC reporting group, 6months budget/forecasting group).  Current position : cash-flow underwriting in a leveraged finance group that caters exclusively to middle market private equity. (full credit underwritings – company/industry write-ups, extensive financial (LBO) modeling, ~60-70hrs/week). I’ve been at my current role for 1 year now and am up for a promotion to Associate in January (about two years ahead of all my Analyst peers). Considering transferring to our London office to get international experience, but that’s not guaranteed. 

 Certifications  - After I take the GMAT (probably December, to give myself enough study-time), my boss wants me to go through the CFA program. Will this certification help my application, even if I’ve only completed 2 of the 3 levels by the time applications are due? I’m also eligible to sit for the CPA exam. 

 Post-MBA  - Use my LBO/M&A experience in a Strategy/Planning group with a very active (pursing numerous strategic acquisitions) company - no specific industry focus yet (hope to narrow it down by application time). 

 Recs  – Bosses love me. No issue with getting solid recs from co-workers/bosses that have top tier academic/professional backgrounds. 
 
Essays  – I feel fairly confident in my creative writing abilities and don’t have concerns with the essays. 

My biggest concern is that I am setting my goal a bit too high. I’d only like to attend a top 15 program (specifically - Stern, Fuqua, Kellogg or Anderson), but don’t want the embarrassment of my bosses writing me recs to then get dinged by everyone. In your professional opinion, what are my odds and with what GMAT will I be competitive?

Accepted.com · Answer

jjsd509, Apologies for the delayed reply; first-round deadlines swamped me. Your profile is both strong and distinctive, especially given your age. You are definitely headed in the right direction and I wouldn't change a thing. Because of your age you may have an issue showing substantive leadership at work, but your startup and extracurricular stuff may come to your rescue there. So no red flags, no major weaknesses. To get into Kellogg, Stern, and UCLA, you should aim above 700; for Duke you get could by with ... a 690. :-)

But you don't need to do much better than 700. Of course, a mammoth score like a 750 would probably help you in a non-minor way, but 700 is good enough and the difference between a 710 and, say, a 730 for you would be negligible. Anything below a 690--given your GPA and questions raised by your youthfulness--would just open doubts. Hope this helped.

jjsd509 · Answer

Hi Paul - 

Thanks for your thoughts. Sorry to be bugging you during your busy season. I'm not in a rush, so please feel free to take your time with a response. 

I'm curious if you're being overly optimistic or if you really do think I have good chance at those schools? I won't be offended with a negative response, I promise! To be honest I thought being white, male and working in Finance would throw me into a pretty competitive, non-diverse, pool with a bunch of overachieving ibankers in NYC. 

I signed up for the Manhattan GMAT class to hopefully stay on track to pass the 700 hurdle. I'm curious if you have suggestions on how to make my profile/"story" stand out a bit more? I have a couple of years to build my profile (professionally and personally) before heading off to school and am willing to do what ever is needed! 

Thanks again!

Accepted.com · Answer

jjsd509,

You have things going for you that other 'common' applicants don't: like putting yourself through school, entrepreneurial experience, interesting extracurriculars, and good self-presentation skills (so far as I can judge). You don't need to do specific things--just continue what you're doing: ramp it up gradually. Leadership and impact are obviously very important, followed by distinctiveness, which can come from many things, like extracurriculars, overseas experience, etc.

Good luck,

jjsd509 · Answer

Hi Paul -

I am the original poster... I ended up getting a 690 on the GMAT. I'm pretty disappointed, considering I was score between 720-770 on the GMAT Prep practice tests. Anyways, 690 is sort of an iffy score to me. After a lot of thought I was considering applying to Chicago, Northwestern, NYU, and Columbia, but want to know if I need to retake the GMAT to have an above average shot. I recognize that all of those schools are extremely competitive, so 690 may be a killer (combined with my 3.2 gpa).

Note: all professional/extracurricular/etc originally stated are the same and I did get the promotion I was expecting. I probably won't apply for another 2 years (hoping to catch the upswing in the recession and a less competitive applicant pool).

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks.

Accepted.com · Answer

Were both your scores above the 80th percentile? If so, then you could still aim for those schools.

jjsd509 · Answer

Yes.

48 Q - 85th%
36 V - 80th%

That is skirting the edge though. Money/time isn't too big of a concern if it's the difference in me getting into one of the stated programs. I was scoring in the 48-50 range in quant in all my practice tests and 36-44 in verbal. I just wanted to know if it'll be a waste of my time if I'm only going to marginally improve my score to say a 700-720.

Thanks for your quick response. I received the email notice about your response (explaining my quick reply!).

Accepted.com · Answer

The two 80th+ percentiles will be reassuring to the schools, but if you haven't taken the GMAT more than twice and/or if you plan to wait to apply in fall 2009, then you might want to take one more shot at raising that score. At the schools you're targeting every little bit helps.

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