Mr. On The Road

Hi Mr. On the Road! This is Talon Rindels, Sr. Admissions Consultant at the MBA Exchange. You seem like a straightforward guy, so I’ll give you my brutally honest opinion. Your chances at a Tuck or any full-time top MBA program is slim to none. I think we could overcome your 3.4 GPA will the right story and yes, I’d tell you that you simply have to get your GMAT or GRE score up, but, quite honestly, I think your age is unfortunately the thing you have most against you. That said, I’d encourage you to consider executive MBA programs, where you’d be among company closer to your level of maturity, let’s call it. 😉 Now, in applying to executive program, I’d still absolutely recommend getting your GMAT or GRE score up. You need to illustrate some level of academic ability to enter these types of programs and I’m not sure your stats are indicating that quite yet. Clearly, you’ve been a successful entrepreneur, but adcom needs to see more than that in your profile. You also haven’t mentioned anything more to your story outside of your business success. What is your passion/involvement outside of building businesses? Painting a holistic story about you are at all hours of the day (not just as work) will be key to getting accepted, even at an E-MBA program.

Hi, Mr. On the Road, this is Julie-Anne Heafey from mbaMission. I fully respect the incredible hustle of entrepreneurs, and it seems like you’ve done very well for yourself. I also like your tell-it-like-it-is approach, and I’m pretty up front myself, so I’ll give you my unvarnished opinion… It sounds like you’re aware of some of your hurdles. I actually think your GPA, while not ideal, is still workable – we see more problems at under-3.3. Depending on the situation, you might even be able to mitigate that with extra coursework pre-MBA or an optional essay if warranted. The GMAT, however, is a bigger problem – exactly zero people in Tuck’s latest class had below a 620. In fact, if you take a closer look at the average and the range, you realize that low scores have got to be few and far between at Tuck – it’s got a high average (723) and a small class…meaning that every score that’s lower hits it hard. Now normally, I’d say – retake or try the GRE, but actually I am also wondering about a 3rd issue you didn’t mention – your age/experience. I do think Tuck is “friendly” to older applicants, but 36 at time of application is definitely on the mature side for an MBA program, and a few things on your timeline are a little fuzzy for me – like where your 10 years of experience fits in, whether you did something before it, when you sold your company, and what you’ve been doing since then and will do till your time of application. Basically, it seems like a lot of challenges to overcome for a very selective school with not-very-many seats, so I’d diversify your list beyond Tuck if possible. You seem like a New England guy. Have you thought about Olin (Babson), a program truly geared for entrepreneurs? They have multiple programs that might work for you – FT, PT, Exec MBA, and even a hybrid with no GMAT requirement. Check it out…and good luck with your search, wishing you the best!

Mr. On The Road – Thanks for posting your profile! Susan Cera here from Stratus. Having reviewed applications at Duke Fuqua for ~10 years, I’m going to get straight to it. While your entrepreneurial drive is evident, your stats will be a drag at any top tier full-time program. With your years of work experience and where you are in your career, you need to be very clear about why NOW is the right time for you to get an MBA. What, exactly, do you need from an MBA? I encourage you to take a look at EMBA and part-time programs that will put less emphasis on your stats. In fact, most would be glad to have a conversation with you to discuss your fit with their program. Given your ties to NE, you might take a look at MIT Sloan Fellows, Yale EMBA or IE Brown Executive MBA.
All the best!