Hey dude,
So first of all congrats on your superb GMAT! I think you can just totally forget the idea of retaking the GMAT, that would just be silliness. The good news is that the single best thing you can do to make up for a poor GPA is get a great GMAT score, which you have done. I don't know that at this point you need to take any courses that you would not take anyhow.
I feel that FAR far far more interesting is your story. Not "I was a lazy bum"![;)]( "Wink")
, but rather "I dedicated all of my energies to my pro baseball career." Which is a good story and even an impressive one. Schools, and especially top schools love pro athletes, and they tend to be more forgiving with such candidates than with others.
So will HBS be tough? Very. But still I feel like you can reasonably apply to several schools in the Top 10, as well as the schools on your list. A low GPA is not fantastic, but other than the top 3 schools, it is not always necessarily an "app-killer" and everything else you have seems good. So what I would do is apply to all those schools on your list, and then add 2-3 more from Top 10 (I feel actually you have a shot) so like MIT, Haas, Tuck.. or whatever you like.
Regarding your goals, dude, I'm not sure that VC is a fantastic goal for you. So far I haven't seen anything in your profile to back up the idea that you have experience or that you might be fantastic at it, which is what the AdCom might be looking for. And they will likely have bunches of other folks who DO have that experience who are going for those very same goals. So something to think about, although I wouldn't necessarily rule it out altogether. But I do think that general management would present stronger and more reasonable goals to AdComs.
Hope this helps you out, and if you have any follow-up questions, then shoot away...
So first of all congrats on your superb GMAT! I think you can just totally forget the idea of retaking the GMAT, that would just be silliness. The good news is that the single best thing you can do to make up for a poor GPA is get a great GMAT score, which you have done. I don't know that at this point you need to take any courses that you would not take anyhow.
I feel that FAR far far more interesting is your story. Not "I was a lazy bum"
, but rather "I dedicated all of my energies to my pro baseball career." Which is a good story and even an impressive one. Schools, and especially top schools love pro athletes, and they tend to be more forgiving with such candidates than with others.So will HBS be tough? Very. But still I feel like you can reasonably apply to several schools in the Top 10, as well as the schools on your list. A low GPA is not fantastic, but other than the top 3 schools, it is not always necessarily an "app-killer" and everything else you have seems good. So what I would do is apply to all those schools on your list, and then add 2-3 more from Top 10 (I feel actually you have a shot) so like MIT, Haas, Tuck.. or whatever you like.
Regarding your goals, dude, I'm not sure that VC is a fantastic goal for you. So far I haven't seen anything in your profile to back up the idea that you have experience or that you might be fantastic at it, which is what the AdCom might be looking for. And they will likely have bunches of other folks who DO have that experience who are going for those very same goals. So something to think about, although I wouldn't necessarily rule it out altogether. But I do think that general management would present stronger and more reasonable goals to AdComs.
Hope this helps you out, and if you have any follow-up questions, then shoot away...