Just Jim

You have inpressive stats, for sure. A 3.99 in a difficult subject like engineering at a top 15 U.S. university is super solid. So is your GRE score of 335, which is five points above the class average of 330. Deferred admissions is a bit of a black box at Stanford which accepts only 6% of its applicant pool to begin with. The school doesn’t publicly disclose the size of the deferred applicant group or its acceptance rate. To get in, you have to boast a strong academic background (which you clearly have), impressive extracurricular experiences (which it is not clear if you have because I don’t see any signs of leadership in your list of extras), impact through internships (which is unclear though you have done a pair of highly selective internships) and work experiences, and personal aspirations. I think your goal to gain leadership position in the energy industry sounds like a good one. Add this all up and I would say it’s all encouraging. But the lack of transparency around Stanford’s deferred admission program makes it highly difficult to be too confident here. That’s why I will more than triple the overall odds for you but would be hesitant to mislead you by being too positive.

Hi Just Jim! This is Talon Rindels, Sr. Admissions Consultant at the MBA Exchange. I’m impressed by what I can see in your profile… you appear to be quite the go-getter! I’m guessing you may be looking at deferred admission and there are certainly a lot of unknowns with it at schools like Stanford, Kellogg, etc. right now, I think you have a decent shot of being one of the few and proud to get accepted as a deferred admit. Your incredible GPA (what pesky class ruined your 4.00?!!?) from a top school, two internships at top firms, solid GMAT score, and lots of extracurricular involvement make you a top candidate in my book! You seem to be knowledgeable in the Energy industry with which you want to enter post-MBA, but I’d love to hear more about what specifically you see your role being… as it’s a bit vague right now. I encourage you to talk to folks in the industry so you can speak even more intelligently about what type of leader you see yourself as and what your unique impact could be to help ensure you craft a super tight story in essays (if you haven’t yet applied) or the interview in the future. I see really good things in your future…

Hello Just Jim! Thanks for posting. Krista Nannery from mbaMission here and oh boy do I like your GPA! Looks like you’ve had some great internships and I love that you’ve got the oil job locked down. Here’s the thing though…even for 2+2 programs, I am not a fan of one-school strategies. They are just so risky, especially if the only program on your list is GSB. To John’s point about the mysterious of deferred admissions at GSB, see if you can track down some people in the program right now. Pepper them with questions and see what you can find out. It might help you gauge your chances a bit better. (But remember it’s really hard to compare yourself to anyone in this process. You truly can never really know anyone’s story.) I’d recommend adding at least two other deferred admissions programs to your list…you seem to have the stats, the background, the work experience, and the extracurriculars to give yourself a decent shot at this. But just give yourself multiple chances by applying to more than one program please!
So…giving you low odds for GSB because it’s GSB, but add HBS, Wharton, Yale, Sloan etc etc and I think this might be a positive process for you.