Ask Alex @ MBA Apply

Hi Alex,

I've read a lot of your and I appreciate your honest feedback for fellow applicants. Would love to hear you thoughts on mine:

Firstly, I am a Bruneian. (It's rare I know)

Education:
Undergraduate: BEng in top 5 UK engineering school with Class 1 Honours (84% average), with 3 academic awards for: Best project, best student in the department and in the faculty. (Will not attempt to convert to GPA for now)

Graduate: Masters of Science in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in Imperial College with Merit - Thesis (Distinction) + Exams (Merit) = Merit

Scholarships: Shell Brunei Scholarship for fully funded Undergraduate and Graduate studies, after being assessed by certified Shell assessors based on Shell's assessment criteria.

GMAT: Plan to take early 2013 - Aiming for 730.

Work Experience: Shell Brunei

November '11 to April '12: Graduate Onboarding Programmes
May to Present: Reservoir Engineer (RE), responsibilities:
1) Delivering reservoir reviews to unlock business value in a mature hydrocarbon field, as part of a larger multidisciplinary team of subsurface engineers and geologist.
2) Responsible to deliver models to predict future reservoir performance for business planning purposes.
3) Focal point for managing and coordinating the implementation of an organization-wide Shell operations improvement program.

EC
1) One of the committee leaders of Shell's Young Professional Network. So far, I have:
- Created the first graduate mentoring circles and 'Lunch & Learn' programme to provide mentoring and development sessions by senior business leaders to graduates.
- Created a charity programme to enable graduates to give back to the community through various collaborations with other full time charity.
- Mentor to younger generation of Shell scholars to tackle corporate case studies during their internship, part of their onboarding programme. The programme received rave reviews from management and will be made a flagship event for the company.
- Involved in school outreach programs to promote careers in oil & gas, especially in how we incorporate safety in our lives (Note to all: no mobile phones while driving!)
2) Self taught guitarist and singer, but I don't perform in public.
3) Volunteer substitute teacher for physics for year 9 and 10 students (ad-hoc basis, I've once helped out because the teacher unfortunately suffered a heart attack.)
4) Planning to launch a community mentoring programme, targeted towards improving academics, soft skills and career knowledge of Year 9 and 10 students.

Why MBA:
1) General management and leadership development for future management/executive positions in Shell
2) Exposure to fields of non-profit, specifically in soft skills/leadership education and sustainable development. I believe being a oil and gas producer, incorporation of sustainable development in our business plans are vital.
3) Broadening my perspective - learning from immensely talented people and to improve myself as a person from all aspects.

Post-MBA Plan: After going to business school, I want to use those skills for the following:
1) 3 year stint in an MBB consultant focusing in sustainable development and operations management (If I'm allowed by Shell, if not go to (2))
2) Return to Shell Brunei and continue development of my technical skills as a RE, and then into management positions - team leader, development leader and onwards.
3) Launching a non-profit - provide a platform to develop younger generations, in order to develop Brunei's human capital to position ourselves for the future, when our oil and gas runs out.

Potential Shortcomings:
1) Work Experience: I plan to apply for Fall 2014 - 3 years in matriculation but 2 years during time of application.
2) Leadership: I do not, and will not have direct reports. For me to have direct reports, I need to be promoted 3 times! Therefore, conveying compelling leadership stories relative to others, will be more difficult.
3) ECs: I do not plan to volunteer in a lot of different organizations, I believe in depth. Also, my passion is in mentoring and developing people. I might have sufficient depth, but the question is: Is it sufficient?
4) Background: Are petroleum engineers an attractive candidate to these B-schools?
5) Any more?

I would like to get your evaluations on my prospects to be admitted in H/S/W, MIT Sloan, Columbia, Haas and Kellogg, assuming I achieve at GMAT score of 730

Thanks!
Thank you so much for helping out!

Alex, thank you for your input. One thing I'm worried about is my inability to create an Alternative Transcript if I'm looking to apply Rd 1/2 of this year. My applications are set to be due late October, a week after my GMAT (I'm going to work on my applications right now ahead of the GMAT).

My options are:
+ apply Rd 1/2 without the Alt. Transcript
+ apply Rd 3/4 and rush in a 2-class Alt. Transcript
+ apply next year when I have a full Alt. Transcript

Stuck in a pickle here. What would you recommend? Would the Alt. Transcript help make that big of a difference? Would a 700+ GMAT (80%+ Q) be enough to apply without an Alt. Transcript? Thanks again for your input.

If the adcoms love you, you're the kind of person who ends up on the waitlist. What I suggest is to shoot for R1/2 while building an alternate transcript so that in the event of a waitlist, you have something to show them, since I think if there's a reason to waitlist you, it'll be concerns about your ability to handle the academics at b-school (even if you had a strong GMAT; if your GMAT is weak, then there's a greater chance you'd be dinged outright).

Worst case is you don't get in, and try again next year. In short, apply this year rather than just waiting it out for the sake of waiting it out.