lonewolf wrote:
Good morning Paul & Linda, would you please take a look at my profile?
Background
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Nationality: Thai-Taiwanese
UG: Double Major in two engineering degrees from UC Berkeley (GPA 3.55)
GMAT: 690 (Q 48, V 37)
Work Experience
-3 Years, Process Integration Engineer at Top 10 semiconductor firm in Japan
-Support customers in process related issues during the development of computer chips
-Consult with fab (semiconductor factory) to decide on solutions/proposals and present them to customers
Extracurricular Activities/Leadership Experience
Undergrad
-Activities Officer for Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
-Plan and organize over 50 events for TBP, including fun events, social networking, and professional workshops.
Post Undergrad
- Officer for Habitat for Humanity Japan
- Have been involved with Habitat for a long time (Went to Philippines twice to build houses back in high school, was president of community service club back then.)
- Continue participating in Habitat after arriving in Japan. I am in charge of running and planning the monthly meeting where we try to get more people involved in Habitat. I am also the official translator for Habitat in Japan. After my participation, the retention rate and participation rate in builds increased significantly.
Some Other Facts
-Lived in 4 different countries throughout career (Taiwan 12 years, Thailand 6 years, US 4 years, Japan 3 years)
-Able to speak quite a few languages. Mandarin (Native), English (Fluent), Japanese (Fluent), Thai (Basic), Taiwanese (Basic)
Weakness in Application
- Do not have a direct leadership role in work experience. I can talk about holding meetings and being influential to co-workers but do not have someone directly reporting to me.
- A slightly below average GMAT score for top schools
Post MBA
-Management position in semiconductor/consumer electronics industry (more specifically strategy) or management consulting
-Have a strong interest in working in Greater China region due to family and my language ability.
Target Schools
Columbia (Reach) ED/R1
Tuck (Reach) EA/R1
Duke (Competitive) ED/R1
Ross (Competitive) R2
HKUST (Competitive) R2
CUHK/CEBIS (Safety) R2
Other Schools in consideration: UCLA, NYU, Cornell
Questions
1.Can you please comment on my school selections? I am thinking about ED for either Duke or Columbia depending on whether I have a strong enough shot at Columbia ED. Perhaps a few safety/competitive schools to look at as well.
2.Is there anything that stands out from my application that you would suggest me to focus on? If leadership experience question comes along, should I focus on my Habitat role (where I made much greater impact) than my current job role?
3.I just realized that I can still apply to INSEAD Jan 11 Round 3. Do you think I have a shot at it or is it better to wait until next year round 1?
4.Asian schools reputation/info is quite hard to find. So far it seems HKUST is widely recognized in the Greater China Region. Do you have any insights on CUHK or CEIBS?
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate any comments/insights.
You're most welcome. To answer your questions:
1) You certainly have a shot at
Columbia and probably would enhance it by applying ED -- if CBS is your first choice. Overall I think your school selections are good considering your qualifications and goals.
2) Your international exposure hit me over the head. It really stands out. Also, your leadership experience is impressive -- off the job. And the fact that you continued with Habitat for Humanity in a new country after leaving college is somewhat unusual and something to be proud of.
Concerning
leadership, don't think of leadership strictly in terms of title. Think of it in terms of impact, which you seem to be doing above as it relates to Habitat for Humanity. In your last bullet point about your job, you talk about presenting solutions to customers. If they adopt your solutions, you are also demonstrating leadership and you should use the experience. Basically if you really have no on-the-job leadership, go with Habitat for Humanity and your experience organizing events for TBP. You are young and just use what you have. No one is going to expect a lot of professional leadership from you. However, if you have been in a position to influence customer behavior or team behavior, then discuss both professional and non-professional leadership because both are impressive. In fact if you have on-the-job leadership as well as off-the-job, I would encourage you to consider applying to
HBS. Admittedly a stretch, but a worthwhile one considering your goals and other qualifications.
3)I think you would be better off waiting until Round 1 for
INSEAD.
4) I don't have a good sense of the reputations of the Chinese schools in Asia. You may want to look at the
Financial Times rankings to get some sense of that.
Best,
Linda
close
01 Jun 2010, 18:58
At the same time, time is not an unlimited resource. Your GMAT is slightly below average for the most competitive of your target programs. Obviously, that nature of an average means the schools accept a lot of below who have GMAT's below average. Your grades are very strong and from a tough undergrad program. You have good experience. So if you believe you can raise your GMAT with a minimal amount of time invested or you had the proverbial "bad day" and your practice scores were significantly higher, then I would say go for it. Retake the test. If however, your practice exams were all aright around 690 and you studied really hard to get that score, then I would say apply with this score and hope for the best. 
