Right off the heels of a great weekend of wine tasting and Vietnamese pho, I had a call with an MBA admissions consultant that got me thinking about some things.
1) Should I retake the GMAT? So I'm quite pleased with my 730 and would avoid taking it again at all costs. I'm thinking, though, that perhaps taking it again if I can score 760+ might do even more to help me offset my lower than average 3.0. But taking that test is an energy drain. I don't even want to think about the amount of commitment it would take for me to ensure at least a 30 point increase. There's also a chance that I could score lower than a 730 on my second attempt. I know most will tell you that the difference between a 760 and a 730 is negligible when it comes to admissions, but it might not be the same in my case.
2) Should I look at some more safety schools? There's no doubt about it at this point. I'm going to B-school whether I go to an M7 or not. There's a good chance that I'll get rejected from the top schools due to age and gpa. I had already decided that I was perfectly content with going to USC Marshall and have done a lot of research on it, but perhaps there are other schools that are good fits for me that I have overlooked. To that end, the consultant recommended that I look at Ross.
3) Should I take more additional courses and where should I take them? I'd already planned to take four courses before applying (one is currently in progress), but the consultant says that 3 is actually more than enough and taking them at a community college is fine. This is a relief considering how much the courses at the Cal extension school cost.
That said, I'm thinking I'll apply to 6 schools total (that seems like a lot and is subject to change). I've broken my list down into three groups: Reach, Reasonable, Safety. The lists are long now and I'm hoping to whittle them just by reading about the schools online and talking to alumni...
Here are my reach schools with comments
Kellogg -- One of my good friends from undergrad went here and she loved it. She's two years older than I am and when I grow up I want to be her. lol. But she did give it a glowing review and I would love to move to Chicago. Although they've been trying to get away from the reputation, I'd love to take classes from their marketing profs. They also place a lot of their students in Consulting so I'd have the flexibility of staying in marketing (I will blog about that in a subsequent post) and transitioning into management consulting.
Chicago -- I've got to do research on this school. The same friend who raved about Kellogg did not like Booth. She felt it wasn't enough of a a consulting school for her. The admissions consultant recommended I take a look at it, so I will. Outside of the rankings, I just don't know much about it.
Stanford -- I loved my visit to Stanford. But I have a feeling that even if I were a stellar applicant with no blemishes, applying to Stanford might be a waste of an application fee. The program is so small and they reject so many well qualified and dynamic applicants that it seems almost like a crap shoot (at least from the applicant's perspective. I am sure that the admissions committees have plenty of rhyme and reason behind their decisions).
Wharton -- After scoring a 730, I told myself that I'd take a look at Wharton. I'm liking what I see so far. It would afford me the same flexibility that I'd get from Kellogg and it'd be in a city other than Boston. From my research, it also seems as though they are more apt to take an "older" applicant (I'll be 28 when I apply), but I need to do more research to determine if it's in my top 2 or not.
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