MBA Handicapping: Who Gets Into Columbia With A 750 GMAT (Yeah!) & A 3.4 (Boo!) This Guy?

You’d think it would be smooth sailing for someone who brings a 750 GMAT score to the MBA admissions game, especially if that person’s first choice school isn’t Harvard, Stanford or Wharton. Well, think again.

In this episode of Fridays with Sandy, HBSGuru.com founder Sandy Kreisberg thinks this dude needs to do three things to make the cut. Michael grew up with seven years of international school in Shanghai, moved to Maryland at age 15, and has done three internships while majoring in finance and supply chain at the University of Pittsburgh.

He did summer stints with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, BAE Systems, and the National Community Reinvention Coalition before graduating in 2018. He now works as a senior operations analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. His post-MBA goal is to transition into consulting at McKinsey, Bain or BCG, with an eventual objective of doing a start-up. His two targets: Columbia Business School and NYU Stern.

Sandy puts Michael through a typical mock admissions interview and dispenses some tough love advice that would be helpful to many candidates. “It’s better you hear it from me than from your interviewer who dings you.” says Sandy.

If you would like to participate in a future Fridays With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and John here.

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