Handicapping Your MBA Odds: Ms. Non-Profit, Ms. Software Engineer, Mr. IT Health, Ms. Burger King, Mr. Big Three

Mr. IT Health

690 GMAT (43Q, 41V)
3.2 GPA
Undergraduate degree in sociology and public health from a Southern Ivy (think Vanderbilt, Duke)
Work experience includes one and one-half years as a business analyst at a major health IT company, leading projects for several department heads and executive leadership; was marketing analyst at a healthcare marketing firm, currently a project manager for a two-year-old telemedicine company leading marketing and process improvement initiatives; also spent a summer in AmeriCorps Vista in food stamp outreach
Extracurricular involvement as president of the Sociology Majors & Minors Association in college; developed and implemented mental health training program for student-run free clinic while in school; launched a street psychiatry program at Vanderbilt Medical Center with a med school professor and consult psychiatrist that led to a $300,000 investment from the medical center and creation of a Homeless Health Services division; founding mentor at accelerator for high school students to create social enterprises
Goal: Transition into corporate strategy at McKinsey, Bain, or BCG or a major healthcare company
25-year-old Latino male

Odds of Success:

Harvard: 10% to 20%

Stanford: 10% to 15%

Duke: 40% to 50%

Sandy’s Analysis: You are competing in the URM bucket. Your 3.2 GPA is a real stumbling block to you at a Harvard or Stanford. The 690 GMAT is okay, but you should retake the 690 because it might help your Hail Mary pass at Harvard and Stanford. And if you want to be a consultant at McKinsey, Bain, or BCG, your GMAT score counts at those places. Unfortunately, this is a situation where the difference between a 690 and a 720 is real.

To summarize your work experience, you’ve had three jobs. The good news is they are all kind of healthcare-related. The bad news, maybe, is that these companies sound a little flakey, even though the health IT company was major. That would help. A marketing analyst at a healthcare marketing firm sounds like they are handing out fliers in parking lots. I apologize if that is not the case. And you are currently a project manager at a telemedicine startup. Does it have VC funding? How many people work there? Is it something your sister is doing out of her bedroom or a serious company with 100 or more employees? All that is important when you work for a startup.

Still, all this does add up, and so do your extracurriculars. You are a likable, activist guy with an interest in mental health. I think you might be able to get a job at M/B/B, if you go to a business where those companies hire people. And I think you could use the MBA to land a job with a major healthcare company.

With your 3.2 GPA, you probably aren’t getting into Harvard or Stanford, unless you can explain it away, or unless you can get a 790 GMAT, or unless your medical school professor can pull a string. You’re correct to avoid the No Mercy schools like Wharton and Columbia. They are going to be less impressed by your good deeds and will just focus on the 3.2 and the 690.

The places that could be interested in you could be Tuck, if you got there and formed a bond with them, and Kellogg because of the marketing. Kellogg is where you belong. God is pushing you toward Kellogg. Your dreams can come true there and you are a natural fit. You identified Duke but you should also consider Darden. Vandy is a good choice and can lead to a job at a major healthcare company. And you can make a case for going to Vandy because you have a lot of contacts there. Rotman strikes me as crazy because it’s in Canada and they have a different healthcare system.

My tough love: Retake the GMAT. Take it two, three, four, or a thousand times. It has become that much of a bogeyman. Nobody cares how many times you take it.