Profile Evaluation: 710 (Q49, V39), 3.65 GPA, weak work experience

Question

Hi, thanks for taking the time to evaluate my profile. I was wondering if I can get an honest opinion about my chances in getting into the following schools:

Berkeley
UCLA
USC
Yale
NYU

Here is a more detailed look at my profile:

GMAT: 710, Q49, V 39, IR 7, AWA: TBD

GPA: 3.65 (but majored in political science and minored in chinese studies). I managed to get cum laude and high honors in my major (required an honors thesis).

Undergrad: Nothing special but my school did like to brag it was a top 10 public school.

Work Experience: 3 years at a small business doing underwriting and administrative work (think real estate, insurance, mortgage). I plan to apply in R1 next year (2015) so I should have 4 years of experience by then and 5 years by the time I matriculate. The thing is that I work at a family owned business with about 25 employees so I am afraid this won't be as impressive as applicants who worked at a fortune 500. I can demonstrate an increase in responsibilities and might even get a promotion to manage a department of about 4 people soon. But even so, will my application be hurt because I worked for such a small company?

Extracurriculars: Don't really have anything after college but in college I won a fellowship to do a summer research program, worked part time, and got high honors on my honors thesis. I also had a scholarship in college that put me in a scholar's program where I was paired with a mentor and worked on leadership abilities like public speaking.

Career Goals: Right now I work in the underwriting side of things and have tiny exposure to the financial side (bond trading and hedging that our company does via another investment firm). Right now the investment firm does all the hedging for us but I do work with them by supplying daily reports so that they know what to hedge. I want to either move to that side of the business or something more finance related. I believe I can craft a convincing essay and justify my desire and ability to career switch.

Other: I am a first generation college student and Asian-American male if any of that helps.

My main concern is my work experience and the lack of quantitative coursework. I took AP calc in high school, 2 econ classes in college, and 1 stats class for political science majors. Do you think I should take one or two math classes at a CC prior to applying to strengthen my application. Also, what are your thoughts about my work experience?

Lastly, I would like some input on getting a merit scholarship in the mentioned schools. Just wanted to know my chances for that too. Thanks again for your time.

MAC · Answer

Hi fgale08,

Thanks for your message. I reviewed your profile similar to other candidates' profiles when I worked as part of a top 5 program's AdComm.

I would encourage you to apply to the schools which you shared - Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Yale SOM, and NYU Stern. However, please do not limit yourself to just these. Given your background and your experience in a family business, there are other programs in the top tier that will also be attracted to your background.

Your GMAT score is a solid score and falls within the competitive range for some of the top 10 schools based on our experience last year. Your GPA will further strengthen your profile given that it is a 3.65/4.0. I congratulate you on this, as it is not an easy task to achieve this GPA during one of the most challenging times in any student's life - in the midst of the transition from a teenager to a young adult and especially at a top 10 program. I have worked with many candidates over the past 6 years and this is the number one challenge I observe. However, your discipline and a strive for excellence managed it beautifully.

I understand your concern for overall work experience. At the end of the day, the quality of work experience is more important than the quantity of years. Candidates with prior experience in small family businesses are accepted in top 10 programs. You will just need to effectively communicate your personal and professional background, along with your aspirations for business school. Make sure that the other aspects to your applications are produced with unwavering quality.

This aspect of your professional background will be further supported by your experience in underwriting, hedging and trading. I would recommend that you continue to gain more exposure to that side prior to b-school if it interests you.

I hope this helps you. If you would like to further speak directly with our consultants who are former admissions committee members or our recent admits at any point, please visit https://macapproved.com/free-evaluation/

Best wishes,
Sue and the MAC Team

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fgale08 · Answer

Thanks for you response! It does put me a little at ease. As for applying to the upper tier schools, in your experience, do you usually see many applicants with similar profiles to mine get accepted at a decent clip? I just want to make sure the number of schools I apply to are manageable and I can devote the time and effort needed for each application.

Instead of applying to mostly 10-15 schools and one or two top 10 schools, should I apply to equally to both tiers? I would cut a few 10-15 schools out and replace them with "dream" schools in round one:

Wharton
Kellogg
Berkeley
UCLA
Duke

Do you think this list is a good strategy and smart allocation of my time?

MAC · Answer

Hi fgale08,

Thanks for your message.

Yes, I see them get accepted but its not necessarily due to their profile. It is how effectively and completely they have shared their background along with their future aspirations to the AdComms. This is validated by the many online posts in which candidates who come from competitive backgrounds with high GMAT scores and GPAs, are denied from a top-tier program. Alternatively, you will see candidates with a 520 or a 2.9 GPA be accepted by a top program. I find that many candidates do not share their personal, professional and academic background effectively across their applications.

As for your question about applying - it is not uncommon to apply to 8-10 programs across the top 20 programs. Basically, my advice is to apply to as many schools as you have the energy for and stay within your application(s) fee budget.

Wharton, Kellogg, Berkeley, UCLA and Fuqua are all great programs - definitely apply to these and put your "best foot" forward!

I hope this helps you. If you would like to further speak directly with our consultants who are former admissions committee members or our recent admits at any point, please visit https://macapproved.com/free-evaluation/

Best wishes,
Sue and the MAC Team

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Profile Evaluation: 710 (Q49, V39), 3.65 GPA, weak work experience

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