Any chance at business school?

[ellaunchanted]

I want to get into an MBA program with a marketing concentration. I was a marketing major in undergrad with a 3.7 GPA, and I have been employed in my field for >1 year. I did mediocre on the quant section of my GRE though, scoring a 151. I did 158 on verbal and 5 on writing though.

 

I think my personal statements are solid, but my letters of recommendation have me nervous, purely because my one boss let me read her letter and it was extremely flattering, but entirely too short.

 

Based on the quantitative and qualitative aspects I've shared, does it seem like I have any chance to get into a B school that's rated in the 30s or 40s by Bloomsberg? I've already applied, but I'm just curious if I should already accept that I won't get in.

[quaker13]

To be honest, b-schools MBA programs (with the exception of maybe the top 10 or, more tolerantly, top 20) are cashcows of universities. Especially when you're applying with GRE (which, unlike GMAT, won't affect their rankings), I think you have solid chances of getting into 30-40 by Bloomsberg (or USNEWS --does not matter that much). Be prepared to pay sticker price, though. Scholarships will be hard to come by.

 

And I don't think recs matter that much. I hold an MBA from a top 20 institutions and both of my recs were shorter than 1 page. One problem with MBA recs is that schools know applicants very regularly write their own recs. Thus recs are often pretty much only ticks at lower ranked schools. You only need killer recs if you gun for the M7.

[AlphacentauriC]

I got into a top 35 (US News) b-school with 156 (quant) and 163 (verbal), 5 writing. They also me cash, a little cash I mean.

[Kaneisha]

I wanted to chime in and say that what I most often see when folks with low GRE/GMAT scores don't get in, it's not because of their score; it's often because their essays aren't strong enough or they had a low GRE/GMAT score and low grades and they didn't do anything to mitigate those two things such as writing a persuasive optional essay and taking supplemental coursework.

 

I have to disagree with the comment that you only need killer recs if you're applying to the top 7 ranked MBA programs; I think strong letters (maybe don't have to be killer status) are helpful for admission. I do agree with Quaker13's comment that a high number of letters are written by applicants themselves, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of the letter requirement.

 

Ella Unchanted, how did things turn out for you? If things went well, where do you plan to go? If not so well, what do you think went wrong?