LaCafGen wrote:
Hello,
I think I have a very unique and unusual profile, so I'd kindly ask you to provide feedback on it.
Male, 24 yrs old, from a small former USSR country.
GMAT 720 (Q50, V35), AWA 5.0, taken in Nov 2009
Academics:
Bachelor of Science in Physics, GPA 3.85/4.0 (From a top regional university, graduated with honors in May 2009)
MPhil in Management, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK (2010-2011, a TAUGHT course, not a research oriented one), GPA 61% overall, pass rate 60% (this might seem a bit low, but in the past 5 years nobody's GPA in the course exceeded 75%. Spent most of my time in Cambridge on networking events, hence a low GPA, but this ultimately paid off since I found a job thru that network)
Work Experience:
Full Time, Director at a small local Holding Company ($5mln-10mln valued), which has stakes in different companies in very different fields (including the vending machines company where I was previously a director). Mainly responsible for control and management of the companies which comprised the holding and their financial performances. (2012-current)
Full Time, Director at a newly founded joint local-Spanish vending machines importing and operating company. In less than a year company became the dominant one in the country, having the biggest market share. Staff up to 20 people. 2011-2012
Full Time, Marketing and PR Specialist at a start up IT company. 2009-2010
Part Time, PR Specialist at one of the biggest local media companies, 4 months
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
1 $20K scholarship from a local government-supported fund to study in Cambridge
2 $10K scholarship from Cambridge Overseas Trust
3 Full scholarship at my local university during my undergrad degree, which was renewable each year
Extracurriculars:
I have been very active at college during all 4 years there. I have been the member of student council, organized numerous conferences at my department, including one international conference. Working closely with student council, on my initiative several times I made fundraising in my department for children at orphanages.
Back in 2009 apart from applying to Cambridge MPhil in Management program, I also applied to Booth's MBA program (applied in third round) since they were accepting early career applicants. I got an interview, but ultimately got rejected: my best guess - lack of experience. I got suggested to work for few more years and try again.
Now being in my mid career, I am looking for Harvard, Booth, Wharton to start in 2014 preferably (will be around 26 yrs old by then). I want to know two things:
1) Would you recommend me retaking GMAT? (my verbal is a bit low and dont you think my score will be a bit old at the time of an application?)
2) What you think are my chances at my target schools and what other schools would you recommend me?
Thanks in advance.
You're welcome.
To answer your questions:
1) No. While yes a little higher verbal score would be great, you also run the risk of your quant score going down. Given that you did your masters in the UK after you took the exam, and the verbal is in the 70's (percentile), I would leave it. Your GMAT is good for five years and I've never heard of a school giving greater credibility to a "newer" score than an older one. At the same time, make sure that your application date is what determines your eligibility so that if you apply in 2013, you'll be OK.
2) You will have a competitive profile for these schools for 2014, but you can't be confident of acceptance at any of them. They are tough schools and I'm slightly concerned that lack of "blue-chip" names on your resume could make them a little skittish. You can either apply R2 to other programs next year in the event you aren't accepted round 1 to your first choices, or wait until 2015 and apply more widely if not accepted for 2014.
Best,
Linda
Thanks for your answer. What other "safe" schools would you recommend me?