Thanks for taking the time to give me your opinion in regards to my chances for getting into Wharton/Lauder, HBS, or stanford.

My dream program is the Wharton/Lauder program. I also am really set on Wharton because of the great Health Care Management program that they have. I want to do the Lauder program and also the Health Care Management program as well. I have talked to Wharton an they say that this is possible, however, no one has ever done both programs before at Wharton. I am going to graduate Medical School in April of 2009 and want to eventually work in the international business aspect of medicine.

Education:

-Medical Student at a top 40 medical school. Will graduate in April of 2009
-Undergrad: 3.7 GPA at a state school, graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry

GMAT:
-680 (Q 42, V 40) 86th percentile overall

Work Experience:
-Have been working as a cardiovascular research analyst for two years in a division associated with my medical school
-Worked at Dannon Inc. for one year. Was a research analyst and product consultant
- spent two years in Brazil as a church/service missionary
(yes I know, meager work experience but I am essentially a full time student)

extracurricular involvements:

-In undergrad was on the school curling team. We won the national championship in 2004.
- on the medical school admissions committee
-President of numerous clubs and interest groups at the medical school
- Manager of a local homeless medical clinic
- elected member of the medical school curriculum and promotions committees
- went on a medical mission to serve the people of Ecuador

Awards:

-awarded numerous scholarships in undergrad and medical school
- awarded numerous research grants throughout my research career

Publications:
- published 3-4 scientific papers

Patents:

-currently awaiting approval of a submitted patent request of which I hope to market in the future (5 years)

Interesting personal facts:

as mentioned above, lived in Brazil for two years, won the national championship in curling, will be graduating medical school in a few months.


My GMAT was a bit disappointing as I was expecting a 700+ score. Do you feel that a 680 will keep me competitive for the Wharton/Lauder program? Will the fact that I am going to graduate medical school soon prove to the admissions committee that I can handle business school? Should I retake the GMAT? Does the fact that I will be graduating from medical school greatly increase my chances to get into the healthcare management program at Wharton? What can you and your consulting group offer to better my chances at admittance?


Thanks for your help and I look forward to your reply

In short, it's not about whether you have the brains or not for b-school, but whether your heart truly is set on business. That's the biggest challenge you'll face -- convincing an adcom that your desire to enter business is far stronger than your desire to leave medicine (however strong that desire to leave may be).

As for Lauder, Healthcare, and the MBA at Wharton - it's the plain vanilla MBA portion of the application that will dictate your admission (i.e. the admissions decision is driven by your ability to get into the MBA program regardless of whether you're doing Lauder or Healthcare -- the MBA is the first hurdle).

Not much more I can say here other than to go ahead and give it a shot. You have the goods, so it just comes down to whether you can convince the adcom that a business career is really for you (and how an MBA will help you get there aside from the obvious fact that it's a credential).

As for what I do, if you're interested in my services just contact me offline.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com