MBA PROFILE
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 27
GMAT: 710 41V 45Q
GPA: 3.0 Overall (2.5/3.5 1st half vs. 2nd half)
Major: Eonomics Minor: Business -from top 60 U.S. University
Work experience: Worked in family beverage business. Areas of work consisted of Sales (recruited new businesses/distributors while retaining longtime customers), Dispensing Equipment Installation, Beverage Manufacturing, Creating Marketing Material, and Billing/Collections for the last 4 years.

Other Highlights:

Designed custom websites for 5 restaurants throughout the area and currently maintain them. Learned HTML, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL as a result.

Traded my own portfolio for the last 4 years and currently programming my own algorithm in C#.

Extracurricular: Volunteer once a month at a local school to help underprivileged kids.

Currently on the Events committee for Emerging Leader Society in my town. Creating Networking Events for local professionals and Fundraising Events to help underprivileged children in the surrounding area.

As far as my future plans post MBA, I am drawn in two different directions, Brand Manager and Financial Manager. I think it may come down to which schools I apply(and get accepted to) to decide my career’s future.

I am targeting a Full-time MBA and would love to find a school in the top 15, but not sure if it is a waist of time. I plan on applying this Fall and really want to stay in the eastern U.S.

SCHOOLS: Yale, Johnson, Boston University, University of Connecticut, McDonough, Babson


Really need some outside perspective on this …. is my head in the clouds? Should I add any schools to this list?

Hi edge327,

From a key metrics standpoint, your profile is, on the whole, fairly average. Lower GPA with a higher GMAT, etc. HOWEVER, that said, it's your work experience that caught my eye! Before I get into the rest of my response - I don't think your head is in the clouds. On the contrary - I think you're a little too grounded.

Between your family business experiences, ad hoc services/occupations, and variety of other interests/pursuits, you have the makings of what could be a very compelling story. Now, granted, it would have to be done well because otherwise it could look rather all over the place. But, if you could put forward a compelling case that is tied together by a logical progression that is influencing where you are looking to go, you could customize it to a variety of programs. On a side note, you will need to pay closer attention than most on how you play with your recommendations because there will be some restrictions as well as optimal ways to highlight the proper messaging.

It seems to me, and I apologize if this isn't the case, that the list of schools you have put together don't all quite belong together. I understand you are torn in terms of direction as well as rank but I believe there is significant room for improvement in selecting the schools based not only on career and geography, but a host of other considerations.

Without knowing additional detail and having a very candid talk about your profile, where you're headed, and what makes you tick, it would be difficult to recommend some schools. That said, I would love to help you talk through that process.

At the very least, I hope this helps you expand your search and be slightly more aggressive! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out.

Bhavik
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Whoa. I feel like i just read my own bio (other than the working for a family business)... and i'm programming my algo in python.

Cool. Let me know how you do - it looks like we have very similar profiles.

EDIT: what exactly do you mean by "Financial Manager"

You mean corporate finance?

Edge

Well done on your GMAT, and a solid family business experience is not on its own a handicap vs a more traditional job. Rec decisions can always be a bit challenging there but no worries.

Yes your gpa is low, but is it far from a debacle and the back half trend can definitely help.

I would agree with the Bhavik that there is too much distance between your school choices and you may not need to look as low down the rankings. Or at least you can target a few more better programs. How about NYU, Darden, Tepper... (some of these may be out of your geo sweet spot but they are still "east").

I would be happy to discuss your situation in greater detail.

Good Luck,
Alex
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Thanks for all your input guys, it's really appreciated. I'm definitely going to do some research into Darden/Tepper/Stern. How's that line go? "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" haha. I was initially hesitant to look at anything close to that ranking area due to my gpa but trying never hurt. Thanks for the reality check!!!

My current perspective (although its constantly evolving)
Dream/reach schools: yale/cornell/darden/stern/tepper
Range schools: georgetown/unc
Good Value schools: bu/bc
Crossing off Babson for now since I don’t see myself going the route of the entrepreneur and although Uconn offers great value, I dug a bit deeper into their stats and didn't see myself where I wanted to be after graduation.

You both hit the nail on the head. Due to the fact I'm surrounded by family for prospective recommendations I've worked hard to branch out and take some initiative outside of my workplace, although it's still going to be hard to manage not having any recommendations from my place of employment. I have secured some Recs through my volunteer and event planning efforts which hopefully can offset that. Would a company lawyer whom I've worked with closely over the last year have any sway?


Thanks and Good Luck on your journey! Will update as I go. Glad to hear I'm not the only one starring at a computer screen all night haha. Yes corporate finance is the direction I definitely want to head in. That being said I think I have better opportunities for success attending a top 15/20 school vs top 50 from beginning to end if I take that route. I would most likely adjust my career path to brand management for anything outside top 20. I think this list is going to have to shrink or else I have a lot of apps to fill out.