<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm new to this forum - I'm a recent college grad planning to take the GMAT in a month or two. I'm only planning to apply in at least a year or two, but I'm trying to figure out in advance which 5 schools I should send my GMAT scores to. </p>
<p>This is the first time I am taking the GMAT, so I'm not really sure how I'll do - I'm aiming for at least 720+. I graduated from a top ivy league and had a high GPA, working for the next few years in finance. </p>
<p>Prime factors I'm considering for my MBA are overall experience, networking opportunities, rankings and financial aid - I'm a little confused because rankings seem to change in every source and by year, and financial aid is something I care about as well. I'm still trying to research on the school websites, and any advice would be very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Saying you went to a top Ivy, worked in finance for three years and shooting for a 720 GMAT gives people no info about you to suggest any schools. If you are looking to go into IB/HF/quant stuff, Wharton, UChicago, Columbia would probably have the best focus. For consulting/general management, Harvard, Wharton, Tuck, Kellogg would probably be the best. Kellogg is probably the most renowned for marketing and Stanford, Berkeley, MIT have more students interested in Tech. Not to mention the differences of campus environment and the fact that Harvard and UVA teach 100% based on case method vs other schools using various combinations of case and lecture approachs. </p>
<p>Besides talking to people and confirming stereotypes of schools, I would suggest a book I read before applying to MBA programs called something like "Insider's guide to the top 10 business schools" which had one section for each of the 10 schools, which were (at least for the version I had) Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, Tuck, UChicago, MIT, Columbia, UMichigan, UVA, written by recent grads.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info and I'm sorry that I was unclear. Since I'm applying only after at least a year or two of experience but hope to send my scores after taking my GMAT in the next few months, I wanted to take a preliminary look at the schools and which ones are ones that I may be able to consider, given my background.</p>
<p>When it comes down to actually choosing which schools to apply to, I will hopefully have a better idea of what I'm looking for. As of now, I hope to do non-profit work, finance or government after business school. I'll get the book you suggested, thanks!</p>