Strategy on reapplying?

Question

Hello All,

I have a GPA of 3.0 and GMAT of 660. I have 4 years of work experience.
Last year, 2009, I visited Booth, Kellogg, NYU, and Columbia. Applied to all four, only got interviewed by Kellogg. Didn't get accepted to any.

This year, I am thinking of reapplying, but wasn't sure if the re-application is a good idea? I do have improvements in my career with specific experiences to talk about, mainly on the entrepreneurial side.

Also, I only want to submit a few quality applications. Should I squeeze in the application for Round 1 or is it wiser to prepare for Round 2?

Knowing that B schools evaluate not soley on GMAT, should I still retake the GMAT while preparing for the apps?

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

shaselai · Answer

i think you should either lower your school expectations - maybe 10-20s or retake gmat or both. those schools you listed are all hard schools and your grades and gmat are below average. I would definitely get gmat to 700ish to have a better chance. you are correct on gmat not being the deciding factor but your gpa not that hot either..

mohater · Answer

Unless you're a non-traditional applicant (military, teacher, non-profit, etc.), I'm with shaselai.

With your stats, you either need to REALLY stand out or get something up. Your best bet is your GMAT score. Also, apply to some top schools outside of your list (Ross, Tepper, Duke, etc.).

Have you reached out to students/alums to review your application?

iZaku · Answer

Thanks for the advice, I agree.

I am looking at the Yale School of Management for Round 2 and perhaps UCLA Anderson for Round 2 as well.

There's nothing I can do for the GPA, but I could get my GMAT to above 700 by end of November.

I have my own company since 2006, so that is my work experience, as the president of a company. However, I do not necessarily want to apply for the entrepreneur focus,but instead on the investment banking side. The reason for this is because I want to learn more about IPOs, and I want to make my company "go public", raise capital for expansion into more locations in both the United States and Asian countries.. My company's daily activities focuses on consulting and student services for international students. What do you guys think? Any opinions are welcome.

shaselai · Answer

i think the work exp is certainly unique. but yale and anderson both are pretty gpa/gmat hungry though. If you can get your gmat to 700 then that is definite plus... so are you applying to only 2 schools now or reapplying to the others for r2 as well?

PadawanOfTheGMAT · Answer

If you improve your GMAT to 700+ and write solid essays backed up by top recommendation letters, they will definitely be looking forward to count you as one of their mba students.

Remember you're applying to one of the best schools in the solar system, so expect fierce competition.

iZaku · Answer

Thanks for the advice, I didn't know which schools are/are not GMAT/GPA hungry. I wasn't sure if reapplying to these top schools would be a good idea or a waste of time, unless I am able to show significant improvement in my work experience and also improvement on the GMAT, Im thinking the result wouldn't differ than 2009. Think I should pick at least one of the 4 (booth, stern, kellogg, columbia) to reapply to ?

The interview at Kellogg last year went well, it was an off-site interview with an alumni. It was probably the GPA or GMAT that didn't get me through, although I did explain well in the application that the GPA was low because I started this company while in college.

shaselai · Answer

you gotta check the college site for stat breakdowns - that will give you an idea of the mean grades.

iZaku · Answer

thanks. I'll probably do 2 applications for round 2. recommendation letters I will update from what I used from last year. Perhaps 1 for round 1 if there's time. Testing GMAT in 2 weeks.

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