MBA Handicapping: How Powerful Is A 750 GMAT At Kellogg, Booth, Stern & Ross?

What are your odds of admission to the MBA programs at Kellogg, Booth, Stern and Ross with a 700-plus GMAT score?

You would think pretty good, right? After all, in Arun’s case, he brings an impressive 750 on his MBA application, a score nicely above the class average at all four of his target business schools.

It’s certainly a strong start to a successful MBA applicant, even one like Arun who is a digital marketing manager at an e-commerce brand that creates and sells fragrances that range from scented candles, to perfumes for Indian consumers. Arun also has worked at a self-founded marketing agency that assisted small and medium businesses in increasing their revenues through digital marketing.

CALCULATING THE ODDS OF SUCCESS AT TOP MBA PROGRAMS

He has a 3.2 GPA on his bachelor’s degree in computer science which, of course, puts him in that unenviable category of a male engineer from India, the most over-populated portion of the elite MBA applicant pool. Yet, his degree is not from an IIT or similarly prestigious university.

His post-MBA objective? “My short-term goal is to work as a management consultant with McKinsey, BCG, or Bain,” says Arun. “I aim to collaborate with big brands, learn about their complex problems, and help solve them. This experience will provide me with insights into various industries and the challenges businesses face, bringing me closer to my long-term goals to start a company that helps people worldwide lead better lives by addressing their most significant problems.”

In this episode of Friday’s With Sandy, HBSGuru.com Founder SANDY KREISBERG assesses Arun’s odds of admission at his target schools and provides some valuable advice that could shift those odds in his favor.

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

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