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rjthomas21
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Joined: 31 May 2011
Last visit: 05 Nov 2013
Posts: 7
Own Kudos:
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Location: United States
Concentration: Finance
Schools: Fuqua '14 Kellogg '14 HBS '14 Booth '14 Wharton '14 CBS '14
GPA: 3.99
Schools: Fuqua '14 Kellogg '14 HBS '14 Booth '14 Wharton '14 CBS '14
Posts: 7
Kudos: 5
Profile Review - GMAT 730, 3 Years WE @ Big 4 09 Jun 2011, 10:06
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I was hoping to get some feedback about my profile and a few specific questions.

Age - 25 (26 at matriculation). White, American Male.
GMAT - 730 (48Q, 42V, 6.0AWA)
Undergrad - 3.97/4.0 for both Finance and Accouting degrees (from a top SEC school)
Graduate - 3.9/4.0 for Masters of Accountancy, CPA licensed (from one of the top public schools for MACC)
Work Experience - 3 years (at matriculation) of Big 4 Accounting experience on the audit side (Technology and Finance companies)
Extra-cirriculars: Limited unfortunately
Schools: Chicago, Kellogg, Columbia, Harvard, Wharton, Duke, Emory (back up)

I was hoping to get some insight on my potential at these schools.

Also, I understand that my extra-cirriculars and work experience (only 3 years) are my weaknesses at this point so I'll need to try and beef these up/address them in my application somewhere. But are they significant weaknesses or something that I can downplay by addressing them in my essays. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to improve this area?

I didn't study very much for my first try at the GMAT (at all) and was thinking about taking it again with a month or two of studying in an attempt to boost it even higher. But from what I've read it really doesn't matter once you hit 730. A 780 won't be that big of a difference and I'm better off applying my time elsewhere. This is still correct, right? Do most schools have their essays and admissions applications available for me to start working on those?

Any other thoughts/tips/suggestions?

Thanks!
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bakfed
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Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Last visit: 12 Oct 2022
Posts: 1,768
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Status:Darden Class of 2013
Schools:University of Virginia
GMAT 1: 660 Q44 V37
Posts: 1,768
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Profile Review - GMAT 730, 3 Years WE @ Big 4 09 Jun 2011, 11:35
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rjthomas21
I was hoping to get some feedback about my profile and a few specific questions.

Age - 25 (26 at matriculation). White, American Male.
GMAT - 730 (48Q, 42V, 6.0AWA)
Undergrad - 3.97/4.0 for both Finance and Accouting degrees (from a top SEC school)
Graduate - 3.9/4.0 for Masters of Accountancy, CPA licensed (from one of the top public schools for MACC)
Work Experience - 3 years (at matriculation) of Big 4 Accounting experience on the audit side (Technology and Finance companies)
Extra-cirriculars: Limited unfortunately
Schools: Chicago, Kellogg, Columbia, Harvard, Wharton, Duke, Emory (back up)

I was hoping to get some insight on my potential at these schools.

Also, I understand that my extra-cirriculars and work experience (only 3 years) are my weaknesses at this point so I'll need to try and beef these up/address them in my application somewhere. But are they significant weaknesses or something that I can downplay by addressing them in my essays. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to improve this area?

I didn't study very much for my first try at the GMAT (at all) and was thinking about taking it again with a month or two of studying in an attempt to boost it even higher. But from what I've read it really doesn't matter once you hit 730. A 780 won't be that big of a difference and I'm better off applying my time elsewhere. This is still correct, right? Do most schools have their essays and admissions applications available for me to start working on those?

Any other thoughts/tips/suggestions?

Thanks!
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730 is good enough for any school, and you couple that with your almost perfect undergrad GPA, your academics is more than fine (I don't think a 780 will make schools feel that you're any better than what you have right now). To me, you have the perfect blue-chip resume. Great grades; awesome GMAT score; great work experience. I think you have a shot at all the schools you listed, and of course, while almost all of the schools you mentioned are top of the top, you still have a shot. I don't really think you need to consider Emory at all in this case (depending on what your post-MBA goal is). The hardest thing for you to do is to break free of the traditional "finance" side of an applicant and really discuss who you are in your application. By looking at your scores, AdComs know that you're capable of doing the work. But what they'll be even more interested in is the side that scores can't tell - your leadership skills/initiatives, your responsibilities, your personality, and generally speaking, who you are. This is where essays come into play. If you can execute on your essays, I think you have a shot to at least one of the schools you mentioned (excluding Emory already)...unless you run into some string of bad luck.