Mr. Liberal Arts Military

Mr. Liberal Arts Military: Emily here, Master Consultant at The MBA Exchange. My guess is you have a wonderful story about your path through the small rural liberal arts environment at Middlebury and into the military, which you’ll want to bring into your application essays. I’m sure you have excellent examples of leadership and teamwork from your time in the Marines. But even all those positives will probably not be able to outweigh the 2.9, which is quite low for the schools on your list. The 680 also will not be at the top of their range. You could consider a broader range of schools, retest, or even consider other kinds of programs rather than the traditional full time MBA. Johnson, for example, has some unique options which still give you the Cornell Johnson network and name brand but higher odds of acceptance. You’ve got so much to offer your future business school classmates–I’m sure with some additional steps, you can find the right school for you. Good luck!

Hi, Mr. Liberal Arts Military, this is Julie-Anne Heafey from mbaMission. There’s a lot to like about you from what I can decipher in your profile — military applicants are highly valued in the admissions process and taken very seriously. I’ve worked with many military applicants to Tuck (and others on your list) and I’m worried about your stats. A 680 is low there, and combined with the 2.9, that is probably going to be a problem. Any chance of retaking the test (or trying the GRE)? Also – I recommend 2 things around mitigating the low GPA – 1) use the optional essay to give context without making excuses, and 2) take something now in a pre-MBA quantitative subject that will convince them you can handle the coursework. I also want to understand your goals – consulting is great for ex-military guys, but what kind of role would you take to “assume control” at the PE firm? Wouldn’t you want/need some banking experience? I’d love to understand that path a little better. A logical path and your connection to your family’s firm if it’s notable could help you in the process…but it has to make sense. I like your list of other schools, but even at those programs, you’ll still need to execute well on everything described above. Best of luck!

Hi Captain, this is Melisa from Stratus Admissions. Thanks for writing in and more importantly for your service to our country. It sounds like you’ve some good leadership experience and your athlete experience and military background will be attractive to schools. However, you will have to overcome your GPA and GMAT. Based on your junior GPA of 3.75, you’ll want to do an optional essay to explain what happened in your senior year – and as important what you learned from the situation. And unfortunately your GMAT is below the median for all of the schools you’ve listed. Not knowing how many times you’ve taken the test, I’d suggest taking it again or potentially looking into the GRE to see if you were able to do better on it. Some schools have as high as 20% of students applying with a GRE. And I’d want to know more about your course work at Middlebury – specially any quant courses (hopefully taken with the junior year GPA in mind?). With all this said, you will really need to sell your uniqueness to admissions (you mention having stories of adversity) and would suggest you think through how these stories. Your long term goal of entering the family business could pull you out as unique. Overall, I’d love to understand what is behind your goals, dig deeper into why consulting post-MBA. Do you want to focus on the operational or deal side of your family’s PE business? I worked with another military client who was able to draw some very powerful stories of leading and learning through his military experience. In the end, without an increase in stats, you are really going to have to sell admissions on what you can bring to the class. With an increase of 20 points or a commensurate GRE, I think you put yourself in range with Johnson and Fuqua. Reach out if I can help in any other way.

Applicants are in your demographic bucket with much stronger stats. It’s worth keeping in mind that your stats aren’t competitive for any of these schools. Expand the list to include around T20-T25. Consider retaking the GMAT or switching to the GRE.

Only thing harder to swallow than the low GMAT is the low GPA

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