Profile eval please

Question

Hi everyone,

Right now I am trying to decide whether to apply in the Fall or wait until next year to strengthen fairly weak EC. I would appreciate some feedback on my profile and choice of target schools. Am I being realistic? Should I wait another year? Thanks.

Target schools: H/S/W, Kellogg, Haas, Columbia, Ross

At matriculation (if I applied Fall '11):

Age: 27
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian

GPA: 3.7 from large state school (pre-med, physiology)
GMAT: 750

WE: 2 yrs large non-profit healthcare co. ; 2 yrs fortune 500 healthcare co. (in finance/operations/process improvement roles)

EC: Pretty active undergrad (exec boards, mentor, volunteering, sports); fairly light now, work with a science and engineering education non-profit doing volunteer work, business process improvement

Post MBA: healthcare/biotech consulting, entrepreneurship

Thanks for your time.

GMATveteran · Answer

You have a solid set of stats & history, I don't see why you have to wait another year. Also, you stated yourself that you were pretty active during undergrad, & you still do some EC outside of work. I'm actually fairly envious of your EC record, I wish I had that to pad my resume. If you feel your EC is "weak" simply because you don't put enough time into it, then one thing you can do is to avoid talking about how much time you spend, and instead emphasize the impact of the EC work you do. In short, quality over quantity.

bettermade77 · Answer

Thanks for the response GMATvet.

bizschoolprep · Answer

Apply now. Just make sure that your extracurricular are mentioned in a more impactful manner in your applications than how you wrote down about them here !

FutureWorks · Answer

Hi There

When aiming for top institutes abroad a score above 700 is advisable. Looking at class profile of some of the top schools you have aimed, at Columbia the students scored in the range of 680-760 in their GMAT. Similarly at Wharton’s MBA class of 2012 the students scored in the range of 650-770 in their GMAT and the median GMAT score being 720Kellogg: 80% Range of GMAT score 640 - 750 with mean score715. So GMAT wise you are in a good position. However GMAT alone won’t determine your chances of admission. Beyond academics plays an equally important role so make sure you showcase it well.

Generally most of the applicants have a good 4-5 years of work experience and this could eb an issue in your case. Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc. So if you can show that in 2 years you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for you could put in a strong set of essays.

Hence the quality of your work, your academics and beyond academics will play an important role in determining your candidature. Start thinking what makes you unique and what’s that ‘hook’ that will be key to your application. Make sure you follow the ‘show rather than tell’ principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors.”

Profile eval please

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