Before apping I would first see if you have any offers available to you on their site. It's a soft pull. I did that first and was offered a gold card and was approved instantly.
I did that and I was not pre-approved for any card. 
@chris2k5 wrote:I did that and I was not pre-approved for any card.
I had no offers on the pre-approval page for AMEX and was given a ZYNC with a lower score, 6 INQ's on EX (who they pulled) and higher Util. I have to add though I had an AAoA of nearly 3 years at the time with a couple AU cards over 10k each. If you try for it and they don't approve, wait 6 months and see. If your report is clean, I think you stand a fairly good chance of getting it. Wait 30 days from when you applied for the BCE however or they'll probably cancel the application. ZYNC is much easier to get than the revolver cards. The only thing going against you might be the 1 year AAoA, but AMEX is quirky and approves when you don't expect as well as denies when you wouldn't expect.
@-Cain- wrote:
I had most of those same reasons when denied, waited three months, and was approved for green. AAoA was about 1 year on EX, CCs were all fairly young.
Get util % down, let accounts age 2-3 months and don't add INQs and you should be good.
Btw, I still try the AmEx pre-app link and still don't have any offers, so I don't know how that works.
+1000
@chris2k5 wrote:Thanks for the replies.
So if I choose to apply now I assume you would recommend going with Zync but if I apply in 2-3 months, would you still recommend the Zync? Or would you recommend the Green? If so, what is a key % on the utilization you recommend I get reported before I apply?
I might just wait 2-3 months (if that is even possible with my WANT of Amex) and pay down my balances.
The Zync might work for you now. Green, not much harder really. However, Zync could be your foot in the door (as they say) with AMEX for a lower AF than the green (they aren't that much different really. You have Discover More so you have a decent rewards Prime card now (AMEX may notice that if it's showing, so they might want to give you a chance to say hello, that's kind of what Zync is for, an AMEX introduction lol).
As for Utilization, most would say 1 card reporting a 9% balance at the most and some PIF history (of course). "Baddies" are the thing I hear AMEX dislikes the most (was true for me too, only took 1 to keep me out, got it cleared and no problem). I had much higher Util when I got Zync too (0% promos worst issue, util). Hope that helps a bit. 