Applying to Bschool, here's my profile hit me the hardest you can

Country : African country Background: Telecom Engineer in Telecom Regulator 2 years exp (managed only interns) Academics: Studied at public local engineering school. we don't have rankings but i received merit scholarship and graduated with good gpa even if in my first years i had disastrous grades GMAT: 620 (i think i should retake it) TOEFL: 105 Volunteering teaching high school student entrepreneurship Target's: Stern, Wharton, Columbia, Kellogg Cmon hit me

14 Comments
 

You need to get 700+ on the GMAT to have a realistic shot at some of those schools and even then, I don't see your chances as more than 50% at most. You should research some past posts on this forum that outline the general profile of people getting into those top MBA programs.

Middle 80% gmat scores:

Wharton - 710-750 Stern - 680 - 760 Columbia - 680 - 760 Kellogg reports avg of 717

Source: taken from each school's class profile page

 

Thanks for replies guys, Thanks i probably will retake GMAT, but i wonder how public sector is viewed by the adcoms? how can i show them that it was quite competitive to get into (1 out of 140) also is their any previous alumni of these schools here? i have little concerns about financing, i'm worried since i can't pay tuition it may affect my chances

 

A girl i know applied and got into Duke we got similar profile, and my post-goals are traditionals obviously MC but would maybe consider IB PS: i'm not black why it has to do with anything? do you imply that if i'm white i have lesser chances?

 

If you're white your GMAT/GPA has to be considerably higher to have the same chance at admissions as if you're a URM. I would be doubtful that you would count as a URM.

 
Best Response

False information. As a black African who is matriculating this fall in a top school I can authoritatively say that black Africans do not get URM treatment. Africans are generally grouped into one bucket and compete amongst themselves. I would argue that for top schools (top 5ish - give/take) competition is as intense as white individuals. the vast majority of Africans (90+%) who are in top schools have either solely developed market experience or a mix of developed market+African market experience. The latter obviously being preferential.

If you fall into neither bucket(i.e only experience is working in Africa), you need to have solid stats (700+GMAT, gpa above average and work exp in blue chip companies in blue chip roles) to get into a top 5.

It does not look like you have developed market experience. IMO I highly doubt you will get an interview from Wharton. If you up your GMAT to 650+, you could target the likes of Duke,UVA, type school, 680+ Yale/Stern/Kellogg type school and with 700+ you could target HWS.

Good luck!

 

I sincerely doubt that you're going to change from a top 20 applicant to a top 3 with just an additional 50 GMAT points. While you may be quoting the Average GMAT for these schools, the other factors that they look at also scale with selectivity. Not saying that you shouldn't shoot for a high GMAT, just saying that I don't think it matters quite THAT much.

As far as African-African (As opposed to Africa-American), its an area that I'm not familiar with (at all) but would be curious to see stats (e.g. avg gpa, GMAT).

 

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