Handicapping Your Business School Odds

Mr. Android

750 GMAT (Q48, V44)
3.8 GPA
Undergraduate degree in computer engineering from San Diego State
Work experience includes half a year at a large database company developing customer-facing software and two and one-half years as a software developer on device security at a major Android manufacturer
Extracurricular involvement is mainly a devotion to physical fitness
“I plan on looking for some extracurriculars related to business that I find interesting.”
Goal: To move into operations management
23-year-old white male (will apply in two years when 25)

Odds of Success:

Stanford: 20% to 25%

Berkeley: 50+%

UCLA: 50+%

Columbia: 30% to 50%

MIT: 40+%

Sandy’s Analysis: You would be a solid applicant at Berkeley and MIT because they are not brand sluts the way Stanford is. They are stats sluts, so you are slutty in the right way: 750-3.8 is quite the va-va-voom figure for those boys. UCLA should take you on stats alone if you can convince them you want to go. Columbia is also a stats happy hooker, although why you want to go there is a mystery.

As for Stanford, your stats are still impressive even there, but you are on the wrong side of tracks (especially for a white boy), you need to develop a champion who can pull a string there, or else you just become another white guy from a boring, no-name company, with big stats. Boring work? Well, device security is boring to them.

Sure we all need it, but locksmiths aren’t getting in to Stanford either, unless they are female locksmiths who have invented devices to keep out male chauvinists –digital chastity belts? And your lack of even more mundane extras ain’t helping there.

“I plan on looking for some extra-curriculars related to business that I find interesting.”

Dude, you got that one backwards. You need to find some extracurrics that are NOT related to business. Stanford likes your full-time job to be Blue Chip and your extra-curriculars to be granola — if not kelp. You seem like a smart and sweet young guy. You need to find someone out there in Silicon Valley who can open the Stanford door for you. Look at it as a reverse-engineering security problem.

LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: What Are Your Chances of Getting In