Calculating Your Odds Of Getting In

Ms. Biotech

  • 730 GMAT
  • 3.5 GPA
  • Undergraduate degree in business and psychology from UC Berkeley
  • Work experience includes five years as a financial analyst split between two Fortune 500 companies
  • Extracurricular involvement on the Executive Committee in my sorority and a year as a volunteer with a non-profit post college, but nothing right now
  • Goal: To transition from finance at a tech company to product management or business development at a biotech company. Currently working toward a biotech certificate through an extension program to boost my biotech exposure. Believe the MBA will help to facilitate a double transition (industry & function).
  • 27-year-old white female

Odds of Success:

Northwestern MMM: 40+%

Harvard: 20% to 25%

Wharton: 30%

Stanford: 10%

Chicago: 40+%

NYU: 50+%

Sandy’s Analysis: A 3.5 at Berkeley and a 730 GMAT with two OK-ish sounding finance jobs in Fortune 500 companies is a solid profile for Kellogg, Booth and Stern—even without all your biotech certificates and plans to be a product manager in biotech. So I think your chances at those places are in-line, and all you need to do is get your story clear, and reasons for MBA in line, and sound like you really want to go.

Wharton takes and rejects stories like that. It is just more selective. Ditto HBS and Stanford, but a lot at all schools will depend on what companies you worked for and how hard they back you, and if they are interesting. I once worked with a profile similar to this, but the applicant (female) worked for a leading defense contractor, and that twist — dealing with such an alien culture,both the dudes in the company and the clients — was enough to get her into HBS, along with a strong record at a tier two school and solid 700+ GMAT, and strong but not knock-out extras.

I’m not seeing Stanford here, just not enough clout anywhere that would interest them.  Saying you want to work for biotech is a plus, but not a door opener. And schools are often suspicious of career switchers. So don’t count on that to tilt the scale too much, and if played badly, e.g. you sound burned out at current job and dreamy about biotech being the White Knight that is going to rescue you, it could backfire.   I’m no expert on Biotech companies, but they may demand more than a certificate for a product manager gig, especially as an initial hire.  This is dicey—you might do better just saying, as you suggest, that  you want an MBA to go  into business development for a growing tech company, with a possibility of Biotech being one ‘space’ which interests you.  Business development is more close to your finance background, product manager in Biotech sounds like you really have to know a bit of science, and even if that is not true, many adcoms may think it is true, and distrust your motives and realism.   If that certificate program is thorough, and well known, I might change my mind.

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