Hi this is my first post here. I see that the community here is very helpful for finding MBAs to apply to so here goes.

I am a 28 year old male. I graduated from a state school with a lower GPA (2.9). I did a quant degree and for me at the time it was brutal. But in the end I made it work. In terms of work experience I have 5 years in total:

- 1.5 year freelance software engineer
- 2 years junior software engineer
- 1.5 year technical project manager

After the initial stint as a freelancer I've been working for one firm, a large consumer products company.

Other than that I have a bit of volunteer experience, also in software but also I've done some technology training in several non profit organizations. It's hard to calculate the number of years I've done volunteer work because it's been so sporadic - off and on over the past three years.

My GMAT score is 720.

I am looking to choose some (US) MBA programs to which I can apply for next year. Frankly, I know that my low GPA will hurt my chances at the top schools so I do not have hopes of going to Stanford or Harvard. But a good school like UC Berkeley or Cornell I could live with. :) I am open to suggestions!

How much of your work experience is after your degree? What is the extent of your people management experience?

PS I think your background might not really be right for Cornell or Cal.

Hello! All of my work experience I listed here is after my degree. My project management experience is indeed management experience - that's 1.5 years (until now.)

Why don't you think my background would be a good fit for Cornell or Cal?

Well, I said it "might" not, rather than "would" not. I thought that because the way you phrased it sounded as if your work experience could have been mostly pre-experience and a bit junior.

Take a look at:
GMAT Tiers - strong schools for your GMAT www.find-mba.com/board/27082
How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571
Shortcut to find the best US MBA www.find-mba.com/board/36065

Well, I said it "might" not, rather than "would" not. I thought that because the way you phrased it sounded as if your work experience could have been mostly pre-experience and a bit junior.

Take a look at:
GMAT Tiers - strong schools for your GMAT www.find-mba.com/board/27082
How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571
Shortcut to find the best US MBA www.find-mba.com/board/36065

Thanks, understood. My plan right now is to take the GMAT again, and also apply to some other schools that are not so competitive (in addition to a school like Cornell...)

While I applaud the idea of you wanting to aim higher, I'm not sure that a higher GMAT score would help *that* much with a school like Cornell. I mean, at 720 you're already outscoring their average.

How do the other parts of your profile look? Do you have solid extracurriculars / volunteer experience?

Well, I'm aiming for a 760 so I hope that would help a bit.

To be sure, I had some extracurriculars in college, club memberships mainly - I was in a fraternity as well, which organized volunteer work, events, etc. Since then I don't have much volunteer experience to be honest.