isharmaur wrote:
I had provided information for a profile evaluation over a year ago, but quite a bit has changed over the last year, so I thought I would update and re-post for your convenience. Thank you in advance for taking the time to look over my profile!
GMAT 2nd Attempt: 770 (99% overall, V99%, Q85%)
GMAT 1st Attempt: 710 (92% overall, V99%, Q59%)
Demographic information:
Female, 28, grew up in India but am now a U.S. permanent resident
Work Experience:
I will have close to 6 years of experience (at the time of application). 5.5 years of that was working for an entrepreneurial women-owned consulting company in Washington, DC, where I was promoted 4 times, reaching a project leadership position in 1.5 years and a management position in 3 (most of the other individuals at my level were in their mid-to-late thirties). To provide a sense of the type of experiences I have had, I have managed over a dozen projects for a range of government agencies with responsibilities including managing the day-to-day client relationship, timelines, profitability, resource allocation, team performance, issue resolution and deliverable formulation and delivery. I managed one project in particular, that resulted in the company winning a prestigious national small business award from the government agency involved. Most recently, I managed the successful development and launch of a new technology-facilitated service for the company. I have recently moved as an experienced hire to a mid-market company with a global presence to gain exposure working for a larger organization before I go back for my MBA.
Extracurriculars:
Post-college, I spent a lot of time working with the Partner's of the entrepreneurship I was with to develop the company and build our practice. I led a group that focused on internal team-building through organizing social, athletic and community service events. I led recruitment efforts for the company. I helped the company set up a Project Management Office and delivered company-wide training on the competencies, tools and techniques we developed. I also led an effort to re-design the compensation and benefits structure for the company and improve employee retention.
GPA: 2.75 with a business degree from a top 15 undergraduate business school
While there really is no excuse for my UG GPA, the primary contributor to my low GPA was one very bad year. I was struggling with being away from my family during a difficult time for us all, the demands of being a Resident Assistant, and my extracurricular commitments, and my GPA suffered. My GPA before that year was a 3.2 and my GPA my senior year was a 3.5. To help demonstrate that I can handle the coursework of a challenging MBA program, I have been working on building an alternative transcript for the last year and a half or so. I have taken Business Statistics, Managerial Finance and am currently taking Calculus with UCLA's Extension program and have gotten/hope to get As in all of my classes.
Short-term goal: Work for one of the top five strategy consulting companies after my MBA to gain additional experience and exposure to other industries and companies.
Long-term goal: Transition to corporate strategy and, eventually, senior management at a consumer products company that has a significant investment in/focus on developing markets.
Other information: My husband I are going to be applying together. To give you a sense of his profile, he is white, 27, GMAT: 740 (overall 96%, V98%, Q85%), UG GPA of 3.72 from the same college as me (he had 2 majors and 2 minors). He will have over 5 years of experience at the time of application, working for a mid-market consulting company with a global presence. He has been promoted twice, most recently to a management position. He has led recruitment efforts for his company and led company teams in participating in the largest annual community service event in our city.
The schools we are interested in, and hope to select 6-8 from are:
1. Kellogg,
2. Booth,
3. Wharton,
4. Sloan,
5. Harvard,
6. Darden,
7. Stern/Columbia
8. Fuqua,
9. Ross,
10. Kenan-Flagler, &
11. Johnson
I would really appreciate your assessment of our chances of getting into the schools mentioned above, and your input on selecting 6-8 schools from the list.
The only strike against you is that you have one bad year of a GPA, and you've made up for that with the UCLA Extension courses and high GMAT score, so I feel your chances are strong. Your husband also sounds like "a catch" to the MBA programs, so I see no obstacles in your path. Allocate time for yourselves to assemble good applications though: do the research to understand what makes each program unique, and put together polished applications.
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