<p>I have a Bachelor's in Business with concentration in Real Estate and Land Development and a minor in Finance from California State University (CSUS) with a GPA of 3.4. I've been working in the field of commercial real estate for 2 years and hold SOIR and CCIM designations (considered to be the most prestigious in commercial real estate). I also hold a contractor's license and have built and sold several residential homes. </p>
<p>Some random facts about me:
*I have swam varsity swimming in High School.
*I was the primary graduation speaker in High School.
*I have had a very successful business for the past year building and selling residential homes
*I have worked with companies like Amazon and IBM in developing interactive media projects since the age of 16.
*I have also built several websites and done various work for churches and some non-profit organizations in the field of graphic/new-media design.
*I am very fluent in Russian (born in former Soviet Union).
*I have gone on a missionary trip to Russia. I have also been a councelor in a Christian camp here in US. Furthermore, I am rather involved with my church.
*I can get very many letters of recommendation from the professional as well as the academic sectors.
*I am 20 years old.</p>
<p>Questions that I have are as follows (in no particular order):
1. Will my age be a factor (be it negative or positive) in the application process?
2. Will the fact that I had 3.2 GPA in Community College (prior to transferring to CSUS) be a major factor?
3. Will the fact that I only had a 3.45 GPA in High School be an issue?
4. Are letters of recommendation really a big deal?
4. Is Stanford/Berkeley very stringent in regards to extracurricular activities? On the same note, could any of the above things listed be considered as extracurricular activities? Do all of such activities have to be activities performed very recently (will things like my varsity High School swimming count)?</p>
<p>Finally, do I have a chance to get into Berkeley (Haas) or Stanford for an MBA? I am particularly interested in Stanford. What should I do to increase my chances?</p>
<p>We need to know your GMAT score (if you've already taken it) to give you good estimates for the MBA programs at these schools.</p>
<p>To get in these programs its really a role of the dice.
-You also have diversity requirements and other things they base their
selection on.</p>
<p>The question they're asking is why is this student coming here?
They mostly target seasoned professionals with goals
If you can convince them of this you have a good shot.
Its also based on the quality of your experiences
From their standpoint, your representing them when you get out. </p>
<p>The GMAT is also another issue because you'll need 690-750. </p>
<p>Your strengths
-You have a good background, GPA, and experiences
Weaknesses
-Your only 20 and they look for seasoned, mature professionals
-The average is like 5 years post-graduation experience</p>
<p>I would think your gpa and your undergraduate schools will be negative factors.
You should definitely try other schools.</p>
<p>A 3.4 from a CSU is really going to hurt. Your age will be a negative factor. However, you have some interesting things going for you. If you can get a mid 700 GMAT it's worth a shot, but you should focus on some lower ranked schools. Stanford is the hardest B school in the Country to get into and you'll be competing with lots of 3.9/750+ from ivies and other top schools.</p>
<p>Well, I agree that Stanford is out of the question, but we have to consider that the UCs do sometimes look at the Cal States as feeder schools and so might consider admitting one or two. I would think a 3.4-3.5 GPA with about a 715 GMAT (which is still 99% level) might get this person in if they were four years older. Heck, I got into the UCLA MBA part-time program (only 60 students admitted each year) a long time ago with a 3.6 from a Cal State and a 693 GMAT. (It was off the waiting list, though)</p>
<p>To me, the age is the biggest factor. Only 20 and wanting to go straight through to a top MBA school with no previous work experience is a killer. The school wants seasoned people so the people can speak in class about real-life experiences in the workplace. Since you don't have that, it's kind of the kiss of death for admission at this time.</p>
<p>Oops, not sure how I forgot to include my GMAT. My GMAT is 740, so hopefully that should work for me more than it would against me.</p>
<p>Thank you for your guys' honesty. I have been giving this some thought and I think I will try to get some more things behind my belt before applying. I will try to publish some articles I've written. Another idea that I had in mind is that I will also try to contract with Stanford on a new-media project "pro bono" and hope that they accept. Finally, looks like I need to try my best to get friendly with a faculty member from Stanford. :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
To me, the age is the biggest factor. Only 20 and wanting to go straight through to a top MBA school with no previous work experience is a killer. The school wants seasoned people so the people can speak in class about real-life experiences in the workplace.
[/quote]
I've never given this a lot of thought, since I was looking at this more from a perspective of them thinking how great it would be to have such a young MBA graduate (perhaps even free publicity), but what you said would definitely make sense. Still, however, there are quite a few undergrads I know that are going straight to reputable schools with very little work experience. Maybe this will fly as well.</p>
<p>Thank you and I will let you guys know how this goes. :)</p>
<p>All of the B school web sites give the average number of years they want between undergrad and grad. At the top school it seems mostly to be 4-5 years of work experience.</p>
<p>Well, your 740 on the GMAT is sure to make some of these schools think twice--that's EXTREMELY impressive--especially at 20.</p>
<p>If you are totally sure you want to go to MBA school at this time, I suggest you work really hard on your essay and apply to all of the top 10 schools. You'd probably get in at least one of them--and if not, then you can always say in a few years from now that you are still interested--and that you already applied and are reapplying. That's got to show that you are passionate about this. </p>
<p>P.S. The other thing you might do is see if you can stay at your school--Cal State--for another semester or something and take some classes you can get "A"s in to boost the GPA. Tell them you want to start on a Masters in Engineering or something. Apply back to your other top-notch schools for the MBA program either after finishing the engineering masters or after taking a few classes instead.</p>
<p>When you apply to the other schools, if anyone asks, just say you didn't think you were getting the level of education you thought you would need from the Cal State Masters' program. But, like I said, get the classes in--so the GPA looks better--especially in Master's courses.</p>