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AAA03840
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What are my chances? need advice for USC and Yale 26 Apr 2020, 10:51
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Hi all - I plan to apply to both USC and Yale Full time but have major doubts about my profile.

Please note that I have not taken the GMAT yet. I took a practice test and score In the 600s :(

I am an international student from Africa who graduated with a 3.1 GPA from a state school in 2016 after transferring from a community college - 2 years at community school then 2 years at state uni. I worked part time throughout college in order to help my parents pay for school (which is why I went to a community college first), so I was juggling that + leading a couple of student associations at my uni - I was very involved in the uni community.

Professionally, I founded a startup in college while working part time and studying. Ran it for 2 years, raised some money for it, won awards/scholarship for it at my uni, and then after graduating I ended up leaving the project and went to work for a hedge fund in which I stayed for 3 years (promoted once), and now getting international experience in Europe for a startup.

Prob also worth nothing that I first moved to the USA in High school w/o my family. My sister and I moved alone hoping for better education/future and neither of us spoke english or had family here. We had to figure out...

What do you think? My target schools are USC and Yale.
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BradyMVP
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What are my chances? need advice for USC and Yale 26 Apr 2020, 11:11
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I think if you can get a 680+ the sky is the limit. 710 and you may end up at a M7. This will make up for your low GPA and will parallel the story of working to support your family while paying for education. Kudos to you. If I was you, I would see if I could add some volunteer experience during the covid pandemic.

As for dipping your toe in the water with GMAT-600+ is a great baseline. If you can spare $1000, get the manhattan books-you’ll get access to their site to keep you on track and six mock tests. Hang out around here, some incredible resources on here. Once/if you get to q46, pay for Target Test Prep ($100 a month) you’ll get through it in a month or two. Pay $200 for the extra practice exams and advanced questions from GMAC. So for $1400 you’ll have all the material you need. The rest will be on your study efforts/natural intelligence. I am of the opinion that with a little elbow grease, anybody can score a 650. Getting to 700 is a different story but certainly within the realm of possibility for almost everyone

As for verbal. Become familiar with the major SC rules, do not waste practice questions if you haven’t covered the sub-subject matter of a particular question 2x over. SC questions are scarce, and it’s not like quant where non GMAC sources are sufficient.

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What are my chances? need advice for USC and Yale 26 Apr 2020, 15:01
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AAA03840
Hi all - I plan to apply to both USC and Yale Full time but have major doubts about my profile.

Please note that I have not taken the GMAT yet. I took a practice test and score In the 600s :(

I am an international student from Africa who graduated with a 3.1 GPA from a state school in 2016 after transferring from a community college - 2 years at community school then 2 years at state uni. I worked part time throughout college in order to help my parents pay for school (which is why I went to a community college first), so I was juggling that + leading a couple of student associations at my uni - I was very involved in the uni community.

Professionally, I founded a startup in college while working part time and studying. Ran it for 2 years, raised some money for it, won awards/scholarship for it at my uni, and then after graduating I ended up leaving the project and went to work for a hedge fund in which I stayed for 3 years (promoted once), and now getting international experience in Europe for a startup.

Prob also worth nothing that I first moved to the USA in High school w/o my family. My sister and I moved alone hoping for better education/future and neither of us spoke english or had family here. We had to figure out...

What do you think? My target schools are USC and Yale.
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Hey AAA03840!

You have quite the background. I would target a GMAT in the 680+ range to put yourself in good shape for Yale, USC you could get away with something closer to 630-650. That being said, your profile will come down to how well you tell your story and the type of influence you could have on others.

I would also expand your list of schools a bit. What are your goals post-MBA? Happy to connect to discuss your candidacy further - feel free to reach out at scott@personalmbacoach.com.

Regards,
Scott