Hi, I was hoping you could evaluate my profile. I think most of my application is very strong with exception of my GMAT score.

Female / White / 26
Undergrad: University of Michigan Undergrad Business School; 4.0 GPA (All A- or better in finance, accounting, econ, and stats classes with the exception of B+ in sophomore year economics and B- in freshman year calc).
Work experience: 2 years investment banking at top firm, 2+ years at $5Bn+ private equity fund in NY.

I have a lot of experience in education / mentorship as well (starting a company that addresses education is a post business school goal). I have extracurricular activities relating to this (mentorship program in college, teaching in africa, etc.). I also have spent a lot of time in analyzing education sector in both of my finance jobs.

I took the GMAT right after I graduated college without taking a GMAT prep course and scored a 650. I took it again last year after taking manhattan gmat and studying a substantial amount on my own and only scored a 680. I scored nearly perfect on the verbal, and not as great on the math.

I'm hoping to highlight analytical skills in my essays as I know this will be a point of weakness in my application. I got a
4.0 at Michigan and have had two finance work experiences, so
hopefully that helps a bit, but I still know it's a point I will need
to address in both my essays and letters of recommendation.

I want to go to Harvard or Stanford and was planning on applying first round - I'm not sure if I should take the risk or try to take GMAT again and apply second round. I'm not sure I can get my score up much higher as I felt as prepared as I could have been going in the second time...

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Hi nlamia,

Thanks for writing in. You certainly seem to have some unique experiences that will help with your essays, and although you don't specify your post-MBA goal, if it is in education than you will also be able to write about taking a non-traditional post-MBA plans.

You are right that your GMAT is a point of weakness and your undergraduate coursework and finance experience should speak to that. If you are not confident that another shot at the GMAT will raise your score to the 700+ range, then you may want to go ahead with those first round applications. HBS and Stanford are obviously very competitive so you will need to make a compelling case as to why they are good fits for you and also point to the evidence that you are capable of performing MBA-level math.

Best of luck,
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (14 individual school titles)

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter