Admission chances

Hello everyone,

I’m 22, Canadian, and recently graduated from Western University with a degree in Health Sciences. I originally planned on going into medicine but realized pretty late that it wasn’t the right path for me. I’m much happier in business, and it’s where I naturally do well, so I’m trying to figure out how realistic an MBA is for me at this stage.

My GPA is a 3.1. Since high school I’ve worked at a transportation company for about four years in sales and customer relations. I also owned and operated a franchised restaurant in Ontario for about a year (it’s a ~200-location brand), and I ended up selling it for a profit. Right now I own and run another restaurant in Ontario and have been doing that for over a year. On top of that, I’ve spent around two years helping manage the accounts and finances for my family’s restaurant businesses.

My concern is that I’m really young compared to the typical MBA applicant, and my GPA isn’t amazing. But at the same time, I have a lot of hands-on business and management experience for my age, and I’m wondering if that counts for something when applying to top programs.

The schools I’m looking at include Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Booth, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Michigan Ross, Dartmouth, NYU, Cornell, Yale, UCLA, Duke, Indiana Kelley, and Vanderbilt. I know this is a wide range, but I’m just trying to get a sense of where I realistically stand.

I guess my main questions are: with my age, GPA, and experience, is it worth applying now, or should I keep building my resume and try again in a couple years? And for someone trying to move into consulting or strategy, what would be the smartest path forward?

Any advice would be really appreciated. I’m feeling pretty lost after shifting away from medicine, but I’m excited about business and want to make sure I’m moving in the right direction.