kevin007

[kevin007]

David,

It is very nice of you to take the time to give people advice on MBA admissions. I know all of us are very appreciative of your assistance.

I am planning on applying to a range of top 30 programs this year (Columbia, Cornell, Chicago, UVA, UNC, USC, Texas, Michigan, Oxford, Cambridge) and I wanted to know what you thought of my admissions chances.

Undergraduate:

University of Southern California (3.06 GPA), majored in Accounting/Accounting Information Systems

(Note: GPA was consistent throughout and program usually ranked among top 5 undergraduate)

Work Experience (4 years total):

– 2 years at Big 4 audit firm. Consistently ranked in top 10% of class and selected for high profile, national accounts. Promoted to Senior Auditor. Obtained CPA license.

– 1 year at Fortune 500 company as Financial Analyst doing carve-out financials and special projects.

– 1 year at growing national consulting/contracting firm that primarily employs MBAs/CPAs. Recent projects include Sarbanes-Oxley attestation and Risk Management consulting. Placed in top 5% of Firm in earned revenues and ranked #1 in West Coast. Extremely active in business development (landed multiple new clients) and recruiting. One of few people to be promoted and given significant raise in only 6 months. Up for additional promotion to Team Leader.

GMAT:

-720 overall. (Total 96%, Math 85%, Verbal 93%)

Extra-curricular:

Was active in student groups and events on campus – Beta Alpha Psi (National Accounting Honors Fraternity), Accounting Society, Greek Fraternity, Lacrosse Team

In addition to typically working 60 hrs/week (at times over 100hr/wk) continue to be active leader and participant in work-related extra-curriculars such as Social Committee, event planning, recruiting, Intern & New Hire buddy, etc.

The questions I have are:

1) What do you think my odds are of getting into the above listed schools considering my relatively low GPA? I know I am very capable of handling the course loads and feel that to some extent I have demonstrated my abilities through the GMAT and by being able to compete very effectively with peers in my work experience. Will GPA be my downfall? Is there anything else I can do for the Fall 2006 application year?

2) I have noticed that for some schools (eg. Berkeley) only a very small portion of admitted students (<2%) had audit and/or accounting work experience. Is it more difficult to get into MBA programs with an accounting background? Is this experience for some strange reason considered less valuable?

3) For schools that have 5 rounds like Cornell, is there any benefit to submitting my application in the 2nd round to avoid the 1st round “sharks”?

I apologized for writing so much. I just wanted to be thorough and provide you with enough information to form a solid opinion. Thank you so much for your help! Any advice/recommendations you could provide me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Warm Regards,

Kevin

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