Hey is anybody applying for Sloan or Stanford or Columbia for 2016? Let's connect here! My stats:

Male/American/28 years old
Undergrad: BBA Marketing UT Austin 2009 with various extracurriculars and club memberships. 3.7 GPA

Work experience: 5.5 years total including 2.5 years as a market analyst with a biopharmaceutical firm and 3 years client relationship manager with an internet startup

Goals: to transition into financial services with a top tier firm

GMAT score (expected): 740

Thinking about Stanford Columbia, maybe Wharton... Also want to get into financial services.

I'm a bit worried about Stanford, given the high average GMAT scores of recent years and the fact that the deadline is sneaking up quickly... Have you taken the GMAT? I'm scheduled to take it at the end of June.

Yes, got a 760 a couple years back. I'm just going to apply with that score. Good luck on the test!

Any most important tip to get a 760 ?(of course any tip will help)

It's been a couple years but what I did was A LOT of prep. If I remember correctly I took the official practice test and scored 680 initially. My weak part was the quant, so I did quant practice with the Kaplan book every day for at least 2-3 hours, more on the weekends, for around a month before my official test.

I just did whatever problems I could get my hands on, in the Kaplan book and elsewhere on the internet. I found the types of problems I was poor at, and then just did more of those.

The analytical writing part was a bit trickier, but what I did here was I had an old professor who I am still close with read through a few of my answers, and he gave me some really constructive feedback.

Actually surprised myself with the 760.

Thanks for your tip.I will try and hopefully get a good score

Thanks for your tip.I will try and hopefully get a good score

Guys, how likely is it for me to get into one of these schools if I have a 680 GMAT? I know that it's below the average, but I saw that the middle 80% range of accepted students at Sloan is between 660 and 760, so 680 is not really that bad, right??

The middle 80 percent range is a good metric to judge your competitiveness, but you have to realize that the GMAT score is not the only factor.

Typically, those who fall at the lower end of that score range usually have something else that gives them an edge over other candidates with higher GMAT scores: things like more work experience than average, or a unique background, or even just fantastic admissions essays.

I have 1.5 years of work experience in IT, so I guess that I will need a better GMAT score. :(

I would say that without something else that's extraordinary about your profile, you are right.

I understand. I will take the GMAT again at my earliest convenience.

Looks like Stanford has its '16 application deadlines up:

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/admission/deadlines

Round 1: Sept 22
Round 2: Jan 12 2016
Round 3: April 5 2016

Sloan has too:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/admissions/apply-here/schedule/?admissions/dates.php

Round 1: Sept 22
Round 2: Jan 12 2016
Round 3: April 11 2016

Hey you guys who are applying to these programs, let me ask you, how do you judge your competitiveness in terms of work experience. I see that the average work experience at these MBAs is around 4-5 years. Now is that calculated from intake or what?

If I apply in September, I'll have 3.5 years of work experience if I'm counting to application, but since there's another year before the program would start, I'd actually have 4.5 years at work experience, which makes me more competitive.

Usually it's from matriculation, and they just assume that you'll keep working until then. However, you might want to check with the schools to determine exactly how they calculate work experience.