Business School Chances

Hey everyone,

I wanted to get some insight on where I would stand in a few years and what I could do to increase my chances. Here is my background:

Age: 22 (White Male)

Nationality: American

Undergrad: Complete non-target (01/2019-12/2021) BSBA-Marketing 

GPA: 3.44

GMAT: 750+

Occupation: Marketing Assistant (Hospital-Healthcare), Launching a clothing brand this summer.

*Plan on working in healthcare for a year, then transferring to work in a F500 retail company as as a merchandise administrator-> Assistant Buyer in a year’s time. (Puts me at 2.5 years of business experience at the start of the fall application)

Languages: English (Native), French (Advanced, near Bilingual), Russian (Advanced), German (Intermediate)

Hobbies: Skateboarding, Snowboarding, Wakeboarding, Golfing, Running, Strength training, and Freestyle Motocross. 

GPA sucked but I worked part-time and at one time I had two pt jobs going for a few months. Plus I took 15 credits a summer and 18 for three semesters 

Schools I want to apply to go into investment banking:  

  1. HBS

  2. Yale SOM

  3. MIT Sloan

  4. UCLA Anderson

  5. Kellogg

My “Why not” choices:

  1. Wharton 

  2. GSB

Let me know what you guys think. I have no extra curriculars besides coaching cross country every fall voluntarily for my old high school. I’m also in the works of a marketing publication with one of my old professors if that means anything. Also, should I stay in healthcare until b school or try to break into a good buyer gig. Thanks!


 

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You got a 3.4 in marketing and a 760 on your GMAT? How?

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

With your intellect, a 3.8 in marketing would seem appropriate - what happened?

I still think you have a shot at HBS, but you will have to demonstrate leadership potential in your essays.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

My major GPA was a 3.5, but I almost competed an Economics minor & International Business major. I only needed 6 credits and international experience, which my study abroad plans got butchered from COVID. All my marketing classes were A’s though nonetheless. 

 

If I had to do it all over again I would 

1. Start with quant

2. Download the Magoosh GMAT app and watch all the math videos over the course of two-three weeks taking rigorous notes to lay a great foundation to bust out practice problems. 

3. Crank out 700 quant problems they give you on Magoosh and watch the video explanations on ones you got wrong or guessed. 

4. Study MGMAT quant and do practice problems..

5. Pick up a couple recent OG’s and do all their practice problems. (By this time you should be able to quickly identify what the problem is asking for and ultimately how to solve or simplify it)

6. Repeat the same for verbal. Some will say this is overkill but it works if you’re willing to spend 15-20 hours a week on it for a couple-few months. 

 

its unclear how strong your work experience is, which is really the primary factor influencing your chances. GPA and GMAT are solid for M7 imo.

work experience sounds more aligned to T15 unless you go to a TOP retail company and absolutely crush it, get fast promotions, exec recommendations, etc

your list of hobbies is pretty irrelevant and extracurriculars are lacking - coaching isnt awful, but ideally you would get on a charity board or something, or at least do some "leadership" oriented volunteer work

your schools dont make any sense for investment banking - top IB MBAs are: Wharton, Columbia, Booth, NYU, Cornell. doubt an IB goal is going to get you far at HBS or GSB either. depending on work experience per above, I would expect you to land either in the Columbia/Booth tier or NYU/Cornell.

from the schools you picked I think Yale/UCLA are most in line currently, maybe Kellogg/MIT if you make the improvements above

 

Thanks for the response. The top retail company I’m going after is a sporting goods company (should be easy to guess from that). I agree with you on extracurricular’s, mine are lacking very much so. Not so sure how to go about it yet. Also, thanks for mentioning Cornell, just looked into their business school this week. Employment for IB is pretty great, not gonna lie. Real question is UCLA Anderson vs Cornell Johnson? Feel like you can’t go wrong with either.

 
Most Helpful

Came here to pretty much say exactly the same thing as Arbjunkie. 

But GPA is still a big factor in the application process. Here's why:
1) Rankings - Top schools care about rankings. The higher they are on per-say the US News rankings, the more applicants they attract, and the more money they make. GPA and GMAT are factors that influence the rankings heavily. 
2) Academic preparedness - GMAT/GPA are two factors that influence this section. GMAT shows if you can handle the MBA coursework. GPA shows how you were as a student. If you were facing financial/health issues that affect your GPA - the optional essay should be used. 

In respect to work experience - I 110% agree that we cannot tell how your profile is without a complete work experience breakdown. Prestige of the company/Role/Achievements/LoRs make a huge difference as well during the application process. No matter where you work try to take initiative and work on meaningful projects. Show great progression within the rankings of the firm. 

The one thing I disagree with on arbjunkie is you having a shot at Yale SOM. It is a T10 school that is fairly new when compared to other MBA programs, as well as fairly heavy weighted University name. Yale SOM is really known for putting a great amount of emphasis on GMAT and GPA - hence their average for both are higher than some of M7s as well. 

UCLA is not an IB school. Cornell/NYU should be your target with your stats. 

As per Cornell vs UCLA? Cornell has a streamlined process for IB, but thats really about it. UCLA is mainly a tech school given its location. 

Here is a breakdown:
Finance Schools: Wharton, Booth, CBS, NYU, Cornell
Consulting: Kellogg, Tuck, Darden, Fuqua
Tech: Ross, Haas, Anderson, USC
All-rounders: HBS, GSB
*Missing schools like SOM and Sloan are kind of like all-rounders but a tad bit low. Sloan is also known for Tech being on east coast, but is a strong school for literally anything - Consulting/Finance/etc... SOM is known for non-profit, but fits in the same realm of MIT. 

 

Going to offer an unfortunately less optimistic and differing opinion than the other users:

Your profile is below average for the schools you are targeting. Your GMAT is great, but unfortunately that is the only thing about you that really stands out. The thing that is hard to to quantify but definitely a pattern at the top school is that undergrad institution is an important factor considered by MBA admissions. A 3.44 GPA is not terrible in itself, but from a ‘complete non-target’ … that combo is going to really count against you. Couple this with the fact that you’re a white male whose hobbies are as cookie cutter as they come … your chances drop materially. Your work experience would similarly be considered pretty average or even below average for the types of programs that you’re looking to apply to.

I hate to say it, but unless you have some amazing element of your application that isn’t mentioned, I think there is a real possibility that you get denied from most, if not all of the schools that you’ve listed.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

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