Ask Marvel Admissions

Hi,

Congrats on the acceptance!

It takes a lot of time and effort to put forth a winning application, esp for HBS. If you are willing and able (not to busy w work, etc) to invest in applying to HBS, then go for it.

You can definitely complete an application for HBS for round 3, but there is no point doing so unless you can put together the strongest application possible.

Happy to discuss further if you are interested in getting admissions consulting help.

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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I would appreciate some insight as to whether or not I would be strong applicant for the following target schools: Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Dartmouth, MIT, Booth and Haas. Below is an overview of my background:

Age / Work Experience - Would be 27 with just over 5 years of experience by the time I apply in Fall 2014.

GMAT - I recently took the GMAT for the first time and scored a 730 (Q48, V42).

GPA - 4.0 from a Big 10 state school. Was one of only 23 students in a class of over 2,000 to earn a 4.0. Graduated with Honors with a degree in Accounting.

Work Experience - Have been with a private equity and mezzanine capital firm since 2007. I was recruited as a summer intern and then joined as a full-time Analyst upon graduating from undergrad in 2009. I was promoted to Associate in November 2010 and have been in that role ever since.

One unique aspect of my work experience is that I am the second most tenured employee of our five man team. I was also heavily involved in raising our second fund. As the youngest member of our team, I have had a great opportunity to become more heavily involved in certain elements of the private equity business than I feel I would have at other larger firms.

Other Activities - While working for the private equity fund, I pursued an entrepreneurial venture on nights and weekends which involved creating a new ready-to-drink smoothie beverage. I partnered with a university for research and development and took on a business partner who formerly was a VP with a Fortune 500 food company. Ultimately, I abandoned the project after a year, but it was a very valuable experience and opened my eyes to consumer products.

Extracurricular - Am involved as a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, a national organization dedicated to middle-market businesses and the deal community. I also was responsible for authoring the business plan to help establish our local chapter of the organization, which needed to be approved the national group.

Miscellaneous - I am located in a rural state, so there are likely few applicants from my region, although I am a white male.

Career Goals - I am pursuing an MBA because I have found that I have a passion for consumer products and strategy. My background is in finance and accounting, and I want to pursue the MBA to build a more well-rounded skill-set, as well as to use as a stepping stone into a career in either consumer products or management consulting with an emphasis on the consumer products sector.

Thanks everyone!

Hi,

You seem to have really great work experience and strong academic background.

I would recommend you continue to research potential post-MBA career opportunities, whether it is strategy consulting focusing on consumer products industry, or joining a consumer products company in a strategy role. And also think about what you want to do long-term. Having some clarifications around career goals would help strengthen your application. Except for MIT, which doesn't ask you about career goals.

You would be competitive at the top schools, just have to demontrate leadership capabilities (which sounds like you've got great examples in your job and extracurricular activity), and put together strong essays that tell a convey a consistent theme/brand.

Please feel free to reach out if you are interested in getting admissions consulting help. We start helping people prepare to get into the top business schools as early as few years before they actually apply. https://marveladmissions.com/contact-us/

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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I am a Pakistani National and want to do mba from a top usa university. Kindly provide me with realistic evaluation of my profile and the ways to improve it.

Born December 1991
O Levels 2007
A Levels 2009
ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Affiliate 2012
Bsc(Hons.) Applied Accounting Oxford Brookes University 2013 : Upper Second Class Honours
Work Experience : None

Hi,

It is great that you are planning early. When are you thinking of applying for an MBA? What are your career goals?

For top a top MBA program in the U.S., I would recommend work for a few years, demonstrate leadership capabilities through work and extracurricular activities.

You can work on the GMAT right now since the score is good for five years.

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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Thanks for the quick reply. If MBA requires work experience then what about the MS Finance.Moreover as I am an ACCA Affiliate I can also get into CFA. What will be your advice?

Hi,

There are Msc in Finance programs that don't require full-time work experience, such as the one at MIT.

So I guess you are looking to enter into a Masters program right after your undergraduate degree?
Your career goals would help determine what to study, and when.

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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I am in the process of deciding which consultancy to use and I wanted to know if anyone here can suggest or perhaps has a list of questions that I should answer about myself before contacting a consultant.

I want to be prepared so I can provide the consultant with enough quality information so that she/he can best help me in return.

Exactly!!!. Actually i am preparing for the Central Superior Services Exam of my country.It is a long and cumbersome procedure of about 2 years starting with the written examinations. So in the mean time I want to earn a masters degree which can nurture my personality.

Hi MaxLRok,

It would be helpful to know your career goals, your strengths, and target MBA programs (though we can refine that list together). Resume would be helpful also. Besides that, any additional information regarding special skills, leadership capabilities, challenges you had to overcome, etc.

Here's the link to our contact form to give you an idea.

https://marveladmissions.com/contact-us/

I will ask a lot of questions to learn about the candidate during the initial consultation, but you should be able to answer these questions about yourself quite easily. Other than the discussion around career goals, which generally requires the applicants to do more introspection and research if they're not clear.

I highly encourage people to talk to as many consultants to choose one that they like best. Happy to have a chat if you're interested.

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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1) Work Experience: 5+ yrs in NYC
Current Employer: Top 10 European Corporate and Investment Bank.
Global Credit Management - 3 years
Loan Syndications and Trading - 2+ years (now an Associate)

2) GMAT.
700 GMAT 47math/39 verbal

3) College info:
3.4 GPA at a top 30 university in U.S.

4) Graduate School: Masters in Economics and Finance at the same school (BA/MA): 3.7 GPA

5) Significant college and post-college extra-curricular activities or community service

College:
Events Coordinator at International Club
Board Member of South East Asian Club
Investment Club - Analyst

Post college:
Career Services Mentor for my undergraduate school (5 years)
3 years of mentoring high school students (3 hours a week)

Other: Thai Native, recovering from GBS (a nerve disease that paralyzed my lower body- I was out of work for 4 months).

6) Target programs.

Top 10 schools. In particular, Wharton, Columbia (J Term), Haas, Kellog, harvard, Sloan, Stern, London Business School, Insead
Do you have any recommendations?

7) Strong, personable work recommendations from supervisors

8) Post-MBA goal.

My father has a mid-sized, education-focused technology company in Bangkok, Thailand. The company recently suffered its first quarterly loss in 11 years. Post MBA I will go back to Thailand to help revive the family business.

Longterm - Expand business overseas and determine new strategic vision of business.

Could you please evaluate my profile and let me know what my chances for admission are for the M7 schools (in Round 2), namely:
Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT, Booth, Columbia

I am sorry if I am vague on details but need to protect my identity.

1) Basic demographic info

Location: Somewhere in Asia
Age: 31

2) Educational Background:

Undergrad: One of Harvard, Yale or Princeton, majored in one of the natural sciences, GPA 3.5/4.0
Grad: Other top school, master's degree, GPA 3.7/4.0
GMAT: 760 (Q50, V44), AWA 6.0

3) Work experience: what is your current role?

By the time I enter in fall 2013, will have 5-6 years of experience at a top tier global investment bank (working in mergers and acquisitions). Promoted from analyst to senior analyst, then to associate.

4) Extracurriculars

Yes, but will not mention here.

5) Short/Long term goals: what do you want to do after your MBA? Any geographic preferences?

PE/VC in Asia

Hi Calvinbabushca,

I wish you a speedy recovery. You've had to overcome quite a challenge.

Great work experience. I wish your undergrad GPA and GMAt score were a little higher, but overall you seem like a competitive candidate for the top schools. Focus on putting forth strong essays to demonstrate leadership capabilities, and transferrable skills that will make you successful to help manage the family business post-MBA.

London Business School has a very active family business club in recent years. I enjoyed the time at LBS, and I think it will provide you with great knowledge in strategy and growing a business.

INSEAD would be a another great option for you, since you don't need to spend extra time looking for an internship and a post-MBA job. I see it as the best one-year MBA program. Makes sense for you to save some time since you already have another masters degree in economics and finance.

You probably want to narrow down the list of schools to about six. We can work on that if you like.

I would be happy to talk to you to see if I can be of help. I have also done leadership consulting and succession planning for family businesses. Please feel free to send me your info, and I'll schedule a time for us to talk. https://marveladmissions.com/contact-us/

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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Hi,

You seem to have a really strong profile. Most of our clients who got into these M7 schools don't neccessary profiles as strong as yours.

If you can demonstrate strong leadership capabilities, get awesome recommendation letters, you should be fine.

To get into PE or VC, be sure you show that you are ready to do a lot of networking on your own, (or even better, show that you've already established some network in the area). Start doing lots of informational interviews of people working at PE firms and VCs if you have not done so. Having a deeper understanding of the career goal, and underlying passion that drives you to the goal would strengthen your application.

I would be happy to talk to you and give you a better assessment if you're interested in getting admissions consulting help. Please feel free to send me your info, and we can schedule a time to talk. https://marveladmissions.com/contact-us/

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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Education:
-B. Tech. (Mechanical Engg) from NIT Hamirpur, Class of 2007. GPA=2.83
Work Ex:
-1.5 yrs as Engineer in Essar Steel Ltd., Surat.
-4 yrs in Futures First, currently as Associate.
Current Job Details: Trading in carbon emissions and crude oil futures markets.
Extra-Curricular:
-Participated in Cricket, Football in college and in company, but have no certificates.
-No real role of responsibility in college.
-Managed 3-4 technicians in my last job.
-In current job, managing none.

More Info:
-Good analytical skills, got 99.56 on CAT 3 years back but didn't chose to go for an MBA.
-Good programming skills.
-Weakness might be low experience in leadership roles.

GMAT:
-First attempt on 25 mar.
-Attempted Veritas Free Mock, scored, Q51, V35 = 690.
-Working on verbal and striving for V40=around 720-730.

My first query is: for me, which is better, MBA or M. Fin.
Next is: How is my profile, can I target, say top 25 colleges.

Thanks,
Manoj Dureja

Greetings,

I’m looking to start an MBA in 2014. Any ideas which programs I have a shot at?

Target Schools:
- HBS, Stanford, Booth, Wharton, Columbia

Here are the key details of my profile:

Canadian/Caucasian Male, 25
Education: Undergraduate from a top business school in Canada
GPA 3.6
GMAT 720 (94%), Q45 (68%) V44 (97%), AWA 6 (90%), IR 8 (92%)
Work Experience:
- 2 years at a no-name asset management firm in buy-side equity research
- 1 year at PricewaterhouseCoopers in audit (co-op term)
Extracurricular:
- Good at University (club presidency, other charity work)
- Great after University (board of directors of a charity helping kids with learning disabilities, scout leader, other stuff)
Other Stuff:
- Diagnosed with the learning disability, Dyslexia
- Legacy Status at HBS (brother went there)

Career Goals: Hedge Funds or Venture Capital with high-tech industry focus

Thank you very much for your advice.

Cheers,

Hi mkdureja,

Your career goals (short-term and long-term) will help determine whether you should pursue an MBA, or MiF. My school - London Business School has a great MBA and excellent MiF program for people with significant relevant work experience (avg 6 years). If you decide to apply to MiF programs, you can email your resume to London Business School to get feedback. The school will encourage you to apply if they think you are a good candidate. https://interact.london.edu/form.asp?m=&cid=&page=1

To demonstrate leadership capabilities, you don't necessary need to have had official leadership roles. Examples could be when you have led projects, or gather support for your idea, etc.

You would be comeptitive at the top 25 schools.

If you need help w the application process, please feel free to send me your info, and we can schedule a time to talk. https://marveladmissions.com/contact-us/

Good luck!

Christine Lin
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