Hi,
Thanks for your patience and very sorry for my delayed response. Thank you for a fairly thorough description of your profile, experiences, and background. There are a lot of positives in your potential MBA application:
-strong work experience (quantity & quality)
-leadership roles
-teamwork
-international experience
-slightly less traditional background & degree
-so far your goals sound solid and seem to fit in with your past experiences, (you would just need to further make this case more solidly in the essays and interview)
Based on the info you provided, no glaring weaknesses per se, but several questions would come up in the admissions committee’s minds, chief of which being: do you NEED the MBA?? So your main priority in your application would be to create a compelling case for why you need the MBA, why your goals make sense for your career and the MBA, and why NOW. The GMAT is respectable, could be stronger to help you stand out more from the crowd, fyi.
The unknowns and deciding factors will really be the application essays (and eventually interview if you get to that stage) which we cannot comment on at this point obviously, but those will be key for you.
As for schools, based on the list you provided, and very GENERALLY: Stanford especially, and Harvard & Wharton would be your ‘stretch’ schools for sure. There is no strict ‘line’ or cut-off as you move down the list of competitive schools, for example Kellogg, MIT, Columbia etc are almost as competitive as Harvard/Wharton. If you have a look at the US News & World Report MBA rankings, you can scan average GMAT scores down the list and for the most part as you look down the list the competitiveness for the admissions process is reduced slightly the lower you go down the list. On your list, Mccombs & Rice would likely be least competitive, next tier up possibly Yale & Duke, but again it’s a sliding scale.
What you DO want to do is research these schools more, as there are a lot of differences among programs—what is a given school known for, in terms of specialties and strengths but also student culture and philosophy, frequent recruiters, specific types of projects and programs, connections, etc. Read the websites carefully, review guides about the schools, get in touch with current students and alum, read blogs, and visit if possible for any. Most people find they have enough time to apply to 3-4 schools, but many more than that and you are often sacrificing quality for quantity, as each application requires tailoring and a lot of time.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Mili
Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
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