Kaiser's Situation

Question

I recently took the GMAT and scored a 700 (Q42,V42). I know it doesn't count for much, but I scored a perfect 6.0 on the writing portion. In any case, I am a somewhat non-traditional candidate at 34 yrs old with 8.5 years of work experience. I went to high school in Latin America, but am not part of an ethnic minority, despite the fact that I often identify myself as bicultural. I then majored in Spanish and German at a very average private college and finished with a GPA of around 3.2, taking very few business or quantitative type courses. However, this was 12 yrs ago. I also hold a MA in Spanish literature and linguistics from a better than average state school, where I was awarded a teaching assistantship. Upon graduation I taught K-12 for 4 years. I then became a corporate trainer. Next, I held two mid-management level jobs during a period of 3 years. One of these was at a start-up company where I managed outsourced vendors and traveled to Latin America fairly regularly. I left my last job just before the economic crash in order to relocate. Not having found a management level job I decided to go back and get an MBA. I am currently only working part-time as a GMAT and GRE instructor. I also do some freelance translation work. Finally, I am a stay-at-home dad several days a week (at least until I begin school), but this is not something I advertise. As an "oddball" candidate what is the best school I have a shot at attending?

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Without knowing where you want to live/work post-MBA and what you want to do post-MBA, I have no idea what schools you should go for.

kaiser · Answer

Well I relocated to the Phoenix area about a year ago, so I have applied to Arizona State University and Thunderbird. Thunderbird has offered me a 50% scholarship and I have yet to hear from ASU. However, neither of these schools seems all that elite and I would like to shoot for a few schools outside the Phoenix area. Ideally, I would end up working on the west coast, if not in the southwest. I am most interested in the prospect of studying finance and working for a consulting firm or in banking. With a GMAT of 700 I guess I am unclear as to how good my chances would be if I applied to schools that list median GMAT scores of 700, 710 or 715. For example, I have read that top schools may list average GMAT scores of 710, when in fact you need scores closer to 750 to have a realistic shot at admittance. Is this the case? If so, which schools could I target...top fifteen, top twenty?

AlexMBAApply · Answer

It's not about your GMAT score beyond a certain threshhold (700+).

In any case, if you're interested in investment banking or consulting, you really should target the top 16 schools ideally. And if not that, then school in the top 30 such as Texas or USC where coming out of there you have access to middle market banks and smaller consulting firms (and/or working at a Big 4).

kaiser · Answer

I'm curious as to why you did not mention Arizona State University, since I've already applied there and I'm seeing that they're ranked 29th in the country. Wouldn't this fit the criteria you mentioned?

kaiser · Answer

By the way, I did get an acceptance and a small scholarship from ASU today.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Congrats on the scholarship and offer. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about ASU, but you'll have to check the career placement reports - not sure whether the regional investment banks or consulting firms recruit there or not.

Kaiser's Situation

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