themtien wrote:
Hi Pbodine,
Could you please give me some advice. My profile is:
*Vietnamese Citizen
*Education: Bachelor of Foreign Trade Economics ( grade 76% -top 6% in my class with merit-based scholarship) from Hanoi Foreign Trade University ( one of the best Us in Vietnam)
*Age: 24 years
*Work Experience :
-1 year in Advertising planning and PR executive for Vietnam airlines
-4 months- Broker at the second biggest security company in Vietnam.
-8 months- Investment Research and consultant at the biggest security company in Vietnam (currently working)
will be 2,8 total years experience at the time of attending b-school
*GMAT: 760 ( Q 50, V 42, AWA 4.0) at 1st attempt
*Extra curiculum :
1) Circle of friend charity organization with more than 100 members: member of committee (12/06- current).
2) Co-organizer of some culture-exchange meeting between Vietnamese and Japanese students at university.
3) "Voice of green bee project " - a project of Voice of Vietnam to help children to make their own newspaper: adviser (Jan-april 2004).
*Plan for MBA:
Apply for 2008 class
I will be 25 years old at the time of joining, if I get through.
Interest : Finance and consulting or general management ( based on diverse background and interest)
*Questions:
1) Do I need to improve my GMAT AWA for top 10 school?
2) With current score and profile do I stand a chance in top 10 school?
3) What other schools do you recommend me to apply?
I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you very much.
Best Regards
Themtien.
Themtien,
1) No. The AWA is not weighed very heavily. Your GMAT verbal score is outstanding so they will be OK with your verbal skills. One caveat: given your AWA score if you hand in application essays that are super polished and articulate they may wonder if you got help.
2) Yes, you do. Your odds at the very top 3-5 schools will be a little weaker insofar as you do not have significant leadership at work (I am assuming). If you do have leadership at work, then emphasize this in your essays. And even if you do, emphasize your leadership on the extracurricular side. You have a very unusual profile and very strong numbers so all schools will give a close look.
3) For management, you could target HBS, Stanford, Michigan, Kellogg, Wharton, Virginia, and Duke among others. For finance, you could target, Wharton, Chicago, NYU, Columbia, Stanford, MIT, and UCLA among others.
Good luck,