Profile Evaluation

Question

Hi! I'm trying to determine how strong my candidacy is...here's my profile:

Me: 23 year old African-American Male
*Will be starting at Tulane University Law School this fall; intend on pursuing J.D./M.B.A. if I can get a score good enough to secure a large (read:full) scholarship to freeman biz school.
Academics: 3.2 Business Administration/Management 
GMAT: 600 on first prep; signed up for Princeton Review and will be starting tomorrow. 
Work Experience: 3 years of management experience in undergrad. Actually handled financials, attended regional meetings, etc... hands on stuff. 1 year as office manager at my mothers medical practice.
Extra:Lots of community involvement and extra curricular activities, D1 athlete (NCAA regional qualifier), LA native.

I suppose my work experience can either be viewed as a good solid foundation or nothing at all when compared to some of you on this site. My leadership record is strong throughout undergrad; I was an officer in many campus organizations, and held a leadership role on my track and filed team. I would really just like a solid guess at what type of score I'd need to get the scholarship I want. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

PaulBodine · Answer

candyman26,

There's a lot to like in your profile. I'm afraid I don't know what GMAT score Freeman would need to give you a full ride, but given that their mean GMAT score is about 654 and they give "only" 14 full scholarships to an entering class of about 100, I think you should get as close to a 700 as you can.

Hope this helps,

candyman26 · Answer

Thanks pbodine! You've actually confirmed my guess. I've wondered though; if I score 700+ would I be "wasting" that score on Freeman? By that I mean would I be better served to take advantage of my option to defer my law school admission for a year and evaluate whether or not I could get into one of the top B school programs?

PaulBodine · Answer

I was thinking the same thing myself but didn't want to spoil your plans. :-)

I do think you could do "better" than Freeman, fine school that it is. But you'll want to get over that 650-660 threshold at a minimum. --Paul

candyman26 · Answer

Haha no need to bite your tongue, i'm good at taking criticism...

Doing "better" than Freeman has actually been my biggest concern; I ran it by my family and friends, but they think I'd be crazy to forgo law school to go to any B school even if it were Tuck, Darden, Harvard, etc....

I actually came into this whole process planning to go for a dual degree at UVA or Cornell, but my lsat score (1 point over Tulane's median) didn't make that possible. I got into a few schools that had better ranked programs than Tulane on both sides, but just wasn't comfortable at either place.

The biggest thing here is that my savings + my law school scholarship + a full scholarship at Freeman = an MBA and a J.D. with 0 debt. That is a big thing to get over.

We'll see what happens...certainly aiming for a 660+ and I'll definitely put in the work, but you know how these things go

PaulBodine · Answer

The cost factor is understandably important. If you do get the higher GMAT score, you could maybe reconsider your options at that point.

Best of luck to you,

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