Mr. Salesman

Let’s start this off by saying I really like your choice of target schools. They reflect thoughtful consideration of your stats and background and pretty much insure that you will be successful at several of your options. That’s important because I often find that candidates have unrealistic expectations by applying to Harvard, Stanford and Wharton when things simply fail to line up for an acceptance at those elite institutions. Your success at a Fortune 500 company in medical devices–an increasingly critical industry in our economy and one that will assume greater importance–is really impressive. Your raw scores are pretty much in line or slightly below your target programs. Your handicap is clearly where you earned your undergraduate degree (it’s just not very selective) and the fact that you are in sales. I have nothing against sales, but many admission officials often discount people in sales. The truth is, everything in life involves sales and bringing in revenue for a company or organization is the single most important function. It is literally the lifeblood of a company. Some tough love: If you really want Duke, you better show them the love and perhaps take the GMAT again to pad your score by 20 more points. Fuqua’s class average of 705 is just a bit more than your score. But I think your GMAT score becomes more important because of where you got your degree in marketing. It could make a big difference to you. That would also help you at Darden and probably Cornell. Good luck to you!