Mr. MD

No matter what your background, a 630 GMAT score is a non-starter at Columbia unless you are or were a prof-football player or a world class cellist who has played Carnegie Hall multiple times. So you really need to get that score close to 700 to be a legit candidate a CBS. Columbia really cares about GMATs and is over indexing the text in its admission decisions. It’s a really good sign, however, that you graduated in the top 10% of your med school class, though we don’t know which school that is and that is an important piece of information. If it is a top school, that would help a lot. If you can’t be convinced to take the GMAT again and get your score closer to 700, you can also do two other things: 1) Apply to CBS for the January cohort. The acceptance rate there is much higher and you would have at least a shot, 2) Apply to Vanderbilt’s Owen School. It’s probably the best MBA for people with healthcare backgrounds who may want to enter the healthcare field later on, including from a VC or PE point of view.

Hi there, Julie-Anne Heafey here with mbaMission. You’ve put in a lot of work to your MD, and kudos for graduating in the top 10% of your class (where did you go, I don’t see the grad school name?). I see two critical issues for your application. The first is that you’ll really need to demonstrate how your past and current experience are going to make you invaluable for your future employer. I don’t see enough on that in your profile, but maybe you have great experience in a hot area for startups that would be clearer if I knew about your specialty and/or the startup you’re at now (though you haven’t been there very long). VC and PE firms are small and incredibly tough to break into…often, investment banking experience tends to be a prerequisite (esp. for PE), so I’d look at your target firms to see if they hire folks like you without it. If not, what is your Plan B? Second, I’m worried about your low GMAT and low undergrad GPA (and a little bit about you unnamed medical school). You are well below the CBS average of 727 GMAT and 3.6 GPA…you can’t do much about your past GPA, so focus on raising your GMAT score. I’d also expand your list of schools – only having one (top) school on your list is a high risk proposition…so expand your scope to include other business schools with good healthcare programs that can give you the investor perspective you seem to want to build but post profile GMAT averages closer to your score. You’ve set your sights high, so have some backups. Best of luck!

Mr. MD (or perhaps I should just say ‘Dr?’) – Susan Cera, Director of MBA Admissions. I’m intriqued by your medical background and short start-up experience. For the CBS full-time program, your stats will be a non-starter. I don’t know where you are located but perhaps if CBS is your dream school, an alternative program, part-time or EMBA, might be an option. For those, adcom will be a bit more forgiving on the stats.
If you want to transition to PE/VC, you likely will need to develop your financial skills through a stint in IB since PE firms typically don’t hire directly from MBA programs unless you have previous PE experience. Assuming you want to stay in the healthcare space, consider expanding your school list for other programs with healthcare resources and alumni. Consider Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, WashU, UCLA.
All the best!