hello212 wrote:
Hi there,
Would you mind giving me a profile evaluation? I'm targeting Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Booth, Sloan, and Columbia.
Information is below. Thanks!
Demographics
25 year old Asian-American male; not of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean descent
Parents came from very poor/rural background; I grew up in a mostly hispanic neighborhood. First in my high school to go to an Ivy League college. I didn't have a severely destitute childhood, but definitely lived sparingly (worked to pay for exams and college applications, in elementary school I wore clothes my mom sewed for me, etc.). Volunteered in tutoring and mentoring a ton which carried through to college and post-college.
Will be 26 at matriculation
Undergraduate:
BA in a hard science from non-HYP Ivy
GPA: 3.5-3.6
GMAT: 760-780
Undergrad EC's: one of the senior editors of an entirely new university journal; heavy volunteering for a non-profit that taught English and high school skills to adults
Career goal
Looking to do portfolio management (ultimately be the head of a single fund or cluster of funds in an asset management company). Happy to elaborate if you'd like.
I will have 4 years of work experience by the time I matriculate:
First, 2 years in risk/operations management consulting in a small division at a large analytics/software company:
- Promoted relatively early, Told repeatedly that I was the best performing consultant in several recruiting cycles (with each cycle having maybe 3-4 consultants)
- Early project management experience
- Pre-sales and sales experience (presenting to board of directors, C-level executives)
- Led recruiting process and other initiatives
Most recently, 2 years of management consulting experience at top non-MBB consulting firm (for what it's worth, the industry my company consults for rivals McKinsey and BCG, and outpaces Bain by a mile):
- I've been here for less than a year so I haven't really "made my mark", but have had strong performance reviews; I led logistics at the last major event my company had
- In the couple of projects I've been in, I've done well and have shown myself to be independent, positive, and great at working in teams despite my relatively junior role
- I know someone who would be able to vouch for me in a recommendation letter but I'm thinking maybe my earlier experience experience would be better since they knew me for longer
- Active role in company's recruiting from graduates of my university
Extra-curriculars post-college
- Outside of work I do weekly volunteering (tutoring reading to an immigrant in the inner-city). Not going to get a Nobel peace prize for it, but I do it because I want to help out and be on the front line, it's really no deeper than that.
- I'm also a volunteer mentor for a large non-profit (maybe a monthly commitment), which helps immigrants find jobs in America. I answer questions in informational interviews, critique resumes, and conduct mock job interviews. Again, I'm mostly doing it because I just want to contribute first-hand, knowing how much my parents struggled coming in. Not on the board of directors or anything like that. If it's not "significant" enough to put on my app, then so be it.
- Actively learning a new language with a small group; organizing meet-ups to practice, outings to places around the city, etc. (maybe not totally worth mentioning but it's something fun that I like to do and helps me unwind)
Your academics and GMAT score sounds like a solid foundation, your work experience sounds like it could be useful, and your volunteerism and building of community (the language learning group) are nice as well. The only issue that I don't feel that your answers cover is leadership: are you guiding clients in the current consulting role? Did the early project management roles of your previous position offer you opportunities to lead people above and parallel to you in the organization or only those beneath you? If you can point to that kind of leadership, then you have a strong application!
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