Hello!

I'd appreciate any advice that you might have for me based on my profile. I should mention that I'm not applying in 2012-2013, but waiting until next year (2013-2014), so I will have 3 years of work experience at matriculation.

Full-time work experience: United Airlines, Revenue Management Analyst (July 2011-present), Senior Analyst (July 2012-present)

GMAT: 690 (88%) - Q:44 (66%), V:40 (89%), AWA:5 (67%), IR: 8 (92%)
*Plan to retake the GMAT. ~720 is expected

GRE: Q:168 (97%), V:161 (86%), AW:4.5 (73%)

Undergraduate school: DePaul, B.A. Marketing & Industrial/Organizational Psychology, 2009, GPA: 3.87 w/ Honors

Grad school #1: Illinois, M.S. Recreation Sport & Tourism, 2011, GPA: 3.92

Grad school #2: Northwestern, M.S. Predictive Analytics (part-time), 2014 (expected), GPA: 4.0 thus far

Extra-curriculars: Triathlon team member in grad school (2 yrs), Teaching assistant in grad school (1 yr), Research assistant (psych) in undergrad (8 months), math tutor at Children's Memorial Hospital (1 yr), club volleyball player (3 years), charity marathon runner (6 months), youth program leader for Chicago Cares (3 months now), running coach for Chicago Runner's Association (2 months now), week-long volunteer trip to teach English in Peru in December, professional video game player (4 yrs), retail sales associate (5 years)

Target programs: Harvard and Stanford; after that, Wharton, MIT, Berkeley, and Dartmouth; any other suggestions?

Post-MBA goal: Strategy consulting in the service industry (short-term); CEO of retailer (long-term)

Age: 25 (will be 26 when I apply, 27 at matriculation)
Gender: Male
Race: White

If there's anything that I can do to improve my candidacy, please let me know.

Thank you!

A Master's degree is required (PhD preferred) for a lot of Operations Research positions in the service sector, and I wanted to work in R&D, which is why I got my first grad degree. I'm pursuing my second grad degree to expand my technical proficiencies and my level of quantitative sophistication to reflect those of individuals that have been exceptionally successful in my current position. I'd like an MBA to work in a business development or consulting role within the service sector as opposed to becoming a 'specialist' whose career peaks at Director of R&D. Are those explanations 'sufficient'? Is my second grad degree going to hurt me? (I ask because I'm pursuing it on a part-time basis and it is VERY difficult to manage work and school, so I'd feel like a FOOL if its diminishing my chances as well)

Concerning the retail point - I see what you're saying, but I worked in retail for 5 years and currently work for one of the world's largest service providers, so I like to think that it's part of a similar industry that I can transition to over time (after MBA and consulting). That said, perhaps I shouldn't be so specific on my applications.

Thanks for the input!

My question to you is this: what matters most to you and why?
I think that's the staple Stanford essay question, so being able to answer that would definitely help since you're aiming for that school anyway.

But the reason I ask is because although individual aspects of your profile are good on their own (good GPA, good ECs, good career trajectory thus far with that promotion), they don't build up to what I would personally consider a compelling story (I'm not an admissions officer, but hey you put this under Peer Review so I consider your profile fair game).

The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is that it's not easy for me to understand why you did what you've done. If you have a vision/goal, I'm not quite sure the decisions you've made so far all lead you closer to that goal. But that's saying a lot when you haven't even crafted your essays yet. Who knows, you just might be able to put an awesome spin to all the things you've accomplished!

Bottom line is: you've got a good background, and if you're able to tie it all together, you'll have a great story that will bring you to the best schools. Godspeed!