Profile Evaluation

[TexasFinance]

I was hoping to get a profile evaluation to see how realistic my target schools are. I am planning on applying for Fall 2016 admission to Harvard, Wharton, Booth, Stanford, and University of Texas.

Here are the basics on my profile:
1)Graduated in 2012 with business degree with finance emphasis with 4.0 GPA out of a large texas public school
2)730 GMAT on first try (49Q,40V)
3)work experience in corporate finance in multiple different roles at Fortune 1000 company since beginning of 2013.
4)recent local volunteer experience with multiple groups

Please evaluate my profile and let me know if there are other schools I should target to be safe.

Thanks

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi,

Thanks for posting. Congrats on the GMAT, solid performance.

So on the plus side... great GPA; solid GMAT; work experience sounds good so far (schools would dig in more deeply of course); you obviously have quant skills and experience; and the volunteering can be a small plus.

No major weaknesses stand out at this point per se... you'll have slightly fewer years of full time work experience when you apply than the average, but not dramatically so... just means you should definitely have strong answers to 'why do you need the MBA?'; 'why now?'; and 'what will you do upon graduation?' (which are actually important for ANY applicant to be able to answer anyway). You will also want to focus on sharing the QUALITY of the experiences you do have, and show how much you've learned and experienced even in a few years.

Things look good so far, so ultimately I believe the final decision will be further influenced by the following factors...

-your leadership experiences and examples
-progression and recognition on the job
-your story of 'why' (the MBA; why now; why each school is a great fit for you)
-your essays in general-- how you show who you are and what you'll contribute to the program (in addition to the 'whys' mentioned above)
-your recommendations
-your interview if you get to that point

Based on all of the above and how you stack up against the other applicants, you could have a shot at some of the top schools you mentioned. If all goes well Austin should be a fairly reasonable goal, and if you are looking for more 'safe' options as you mentioned, they'd likely be options ranked roughly in the 15-30-ish range or so.

Good luck on the process and let us know how we can help!