Milo2010,

Thank you for your profile submission and questions. Since you are a college senior, virtually the only top MBA program that would realistically consider you for admission would be Harvard - but that would be under the premise for their 2+2 program in which you would need to work for 2 years after you graduate. You have a good profile for an MBA candidate from a metrics perspective (GMAT, GPA), and as both a female and Native American, you would be given extra consideration by top programs. However, unlike medical or law school, top MBA programs strongly desire full-time work experience since this experience is a large part of the basis on which you would contribute to class discussions. In our experience, ad coms will not genuinely "count" internships or undergraduate work experience unless the venture was entrepreneurial in nature, it was the applicant who founded/runs the company, AND the company has legitimate financial performance with extremely strong growth and/or venture capital support.

If you're really focused on getting an MBA from a top school, I would recommend that you either:
1) Work for several years post-undergrad and then apply, where your chances would be quite good, or
2) Apply to and attend law school, work as a lawyer, and then apply to business school

Best of luck,
Brian
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pmiklius,

Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 690, our experience indicates you would be between a stretch and competitive candidate at Yale, and strong at Johnson, Fuqua, and Emory.

Clearly, your experience and future career interests in the hospitality sector are well-aligned, and it is good to have both experience at a hotel and in a consultative role as well.

The one potential area I might point out is how strongly you position yourself as a hospitality-focused MBA student - undergrad major, all of your work experience, a number of tie-ins with extracurriculars, short term goal, AND long term goal. Even though a program like Cornell is well-renowned for its program in this space, when applying to a top-tier, full-time MBA program, you want to have an element in your application that shows you would value a cross-industry, cross-functional experience. The (vast) majority of the cases you study will not be about hospitality, for example, particularly in your core classes. I love your energy for the industry, but just would caution you to also frame your essays in a way that indicates you're interested in the "full" MBA experience from an academic standpoint.

The second area is to make sure you have as much leadership exemplified in your extracurricular activities. It's not clear if you were managing others in your first role. If so, definitely point it out; if not, it becomes that much more important to show your leadership potential. Additionally, if the move to the consulting position was promotional in nature (responsibility, pay, etc.) also point this out.

Best of luck,
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Hi Aringo,

Here's my profile:

Gender - Female; 29 yrs old
Ethnicity - Chinese
GMAT - 620 (V: 34, Q: 41, AWA: 5, IR: 7)
GPA - 3.7 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Undergraduate Degree - Bachelors of Science in Industrial Engineering
Professional Experience - 6+ years spread over various geographical locations; Chicago (approx. 2 years), London (1 year), Hong Kong (4 months) and Singapore (3+ years)
Industries - 4 years in management consulting and 2 years in banking (risk management)

I'm looking at the following MBA programs:
Stanford
Kellogg
Chicago Booth
Columbia
MIT
Berkeley

I'm at crossroads at the moment as my GMAT score isn't my strong point. Your advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

eagerbeaver29,

Thank you for your profile submission. On the basis of the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 620, our experience indicates you would be a stretch candidate at Stanford, Kellogg, Booth, and Columbia, and between stretch and competitive (closer to stretch) at MIT and Haas. Assuming you applied with your current GMAT score, I would strongly encourage you to diversify your school set from a rankings / exclusivity perspective and drop a number of your target schools in place of applying to programs in the 10-15 range within the US. For example, we would project you to be between stretch and competitive at Tuck, between stretch and competitive (closer to competitive) at Ross, and competitive at Fuqua, Darden, and Johnson.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have a bachelor and master of mechanical engineering from Michigan-Ann Arbor. I can tell you that Michigan undergrad is a top feeder to top MBA programs, but for applicants from either Ross undergrad or the College of Engineering - not LSA (Literature, Science, and the Arts). So the fact that you majored in industrial engineering with a good GPA will be a plus. Having said this, you're also up against three fairly competitive cohorts:
1) Chinese applicants
2) Consulting applicants
3) Other University of Michigan applicants - it's one of the largest undergraduate programs in the US

Your GMAT score is a bit of an outlier in an otherwise strong profile - you have a good GPA, good work experience, and are a woman. Your GMAT "hurdle" would be reduced if you work(ed) at a prestige management consulting firm and/or bank. Your profile did not indicate when you were looking to apply, but at a minimum I'd consider at least re-taking the GMAT once to show that you've attempted to improve your score. Additionally, since your verbal split is lower and because you have a technical degree, it is extremely important in your essays to show stories of communication, presentation, persuasion, and negotiation skills.

I'd also encourage you to make sure you have a clear why MBA, why now story and post-MBA goals, since it can be difficult at times for management consultants to craft compelling career objectives if they have had diverse client and industry exposure prior to business school.

Best of luck, and Go Blue,
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petercat2009,

Thank you for your question. Please note that the more information you provide in a profile, the more specific I can be with respect to advising you as a candidate about your application strategy. If you are looking for a quick insight or general comments only, then you don't have to submit a full profile. But, I can give much more specific information and a much better estimate of your application chances with the following information:

Age, gender, undergraduate university (and/or reputation) and GPA (or percentile rank if outside the US), graduate degree (if applicable) and GPA, extracurricular activities in school and during full-time work, GMAT (including splits), length of work experience and extent of leadership roles, industry, reputation/size/prestige of your company, why MBA, post-MBA aspirations short and long-term, target schools or target school rank, interesting or impressive accomplishments/achievements, etc.

Based on the information as presented and under the assumption of strong essays and recommendations and a GMAT score of 650, our experience indicates that, directionally, you'd want to look at programs outside of the top 15 in the US and outside of the top 5-7 in Europe. Depending on the strength of the remainder of your profile, it might make sense to look at the "next tier" of programs outside of these ranges, or perhaps a bit further out. Any additional detail on programs would be more specific to your career interests and/or functional interests in a business school, but is difficult for me to prescribe more in depth given the relatively brief profile you shared. The challenge is that you are in a competitive demographic and will want to try to find unique aspects in your profile to differentiate you.

Best of luck,
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please evaluate my chances.


Nationality: Indian
GMAT: 740 (Q 49 V42)
GPA: 3.61 from top 50 engineering school USA (Tier 2/3) Graduated cum lade
Major: Electrical Engineering
Minor: Business Administration
Work Experience: 3 years at Matriculation
(India) 1 Year: Business Development officer for an online portal (gracerequest.com) for spa and salon reservations, and gym memberships. The business didn’t go well so we closed it after one year. I was working with the founder and 3 others.
(India) 2 years: Big 4 IT Risk, Associate Consultant
Internships:
• Comcast : Software QA 6 mths (USA)
• Central Electronics Limited (Govt of India) : Solar photovoltaic QA 6 mths
Community Service: Taught poor children in a village every weekend for 6 months
Leadership
• Elected officer for two professional organizations college chapter
• Represented the university at a leadership conference
Honors:
• Member electrical engineering honors society
• Ranked 3rd in Senior Design Competition
• Dean’s List
• Dean’s Merit Scholarship
Future Plans:
Use my mba education and international exposure to improve my business acumen and come back to India, an emerging economy, and start my own business.
Please evaluate my chances for the following colleges
1. Wharton
2. LBS
3. INSEAD
4. Kellogg
5) ISB
6) MIT
Also, please let me know if there is any apparent weakness.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thank you very much for your time.

Hi i want to know my chances for few good us universities..

10th- 49% (2003)
12th- 60% (2005)
Grad- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from Tier1 university 43% (2009)
Grad repeated- Bachelor in commerce though distance learning from different Tier3 university 73% (2012)
Diploma in Aviation and hospitality from Edexel university (2010)
Diploma in Theater (2007)
Apart from this a lot of small certificates.


Work Exp- Small family garments business(small botique) So dont think adcom will consider it.
Want to do MBA in finance.

Have not taken Gmat but in mocks getting around 650- 680, i can improve a lot more and target 720.

So as per my profile which colleges should i target, i know my profile is not good neither i am targeting top 20 US Bschools. Kindly guide me.
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Hello,

Can you please consider my profile and suggest best fit for me? And also let me know whether I stand a chance applying to top 20?

Little bit about me.
Age: 24 from Poland
GPA: 3.75-4.0 (Electronic Eng & Management - finished undergrad in UK with 1st Class Honours Degree - conversion of UK degree to GPA is unclear for me, however 3.75+ seems to do the trick according to various sources)
GMAT: taking in June, aiming for 680-720, which I guess is reasonable.

Work experience:

Originally I was enrolled in masters course at the Uni. However during the 4th year I was headhunted and offered with a opportunity to join a reasearch project for two years (EU funded) in Lithuania (where I am now) as researcher - switched my degree to B.Eng and graduated to take this position. As I would like to apply for entry in 2014 Sept, so by the time of Uni start there will be 2 years.

Earlier: summer internship in open source software company in new business department - preparing case studies for clients, cold calls, CRM system management and implementation.

Extras (I apologize for random order):
- First reward for the best business pitch of the entrepreneurial program (raising business creativity)
- awarded with Class medal at the Uni for achiev.
- created + managing of two websites for a local company in my hometown
- at Uni part of squash and tennis club (still trying to play both as often as possible)

Community:
- elderly care (back in hometown) - i won't go into much details here since its quite personal
- still connected with my old high school - collecting necessary means for schooling at orphanage

Recommendations:
- current supervisor from Lithuania
- dean of the department at the Uni/Advisor/one of the Dr I was working with - depending on the number of applications.

As a goal I'd like to focus on management consulting.

On my own I was looking closely at Kelloggs, Haas, Duke, Booth perhaps.

Also If you could point me into the direction of the ways I could improve my profile by the time of application, it would be great.

Thank you for your time.

Hello there !!

Please evaluate my chances.


Nationality: Indian
GMAT: 700 (Q 49 V36)
GPA: 75% from a top 50 engineering school
Major: Mechanical Engineering

Work Experience: 7 years at Matriculation with a top Oil exploration and refining company (I worked only in downstream - refining)

4 Years: Mechanical Engineer - Maintenance. Lead a team of 6 technicians. Worked towards ensuring the reliability and availability of mech. equipment. Developed maintenance plans - Preventive and Predictive. Active involvement in Tendering and Contract Management.

2 Years: Senior Engineer - Maintenance and Projects. Leveraged the maintenance expertise to streamline and manage Revamp Project activities. Lead a team of over 40 technicians to complete shutdown activities well ahead of schedule. Job included planning, inter - department coordination and execution.

1 Year: Senior Engineer - Vigilance. Leveraged the technical and commercial expertise to bring systemic improvements across the organization. Focussed on areas that required system development or improvement and recommended changes to improve efficiency, transparency and effectiveness.

Leadership
• Elected Representative for Management Staff Association (Officer's association to liaison with the Management)
• Work profile full of leadership examples

Extra Curricular:
• Active Member of Toastmaster's Club
• Community Service through the CSR activities of my company - Organized blood donation camps, AIDS awareness campaigns etc.
• An active event organizer throughout my life - right from school till today. Was a member of Organizing Committee for Annual Tech. & Cultural fest at college. Active participation in organizing company events including handling venue, logistics, decor, liaison with speakers etc.

Future Plans:
Energy Consulting with a focus on sustainability.

Target Firms:
GE (internal consulting)
Bain
McKinsey

Backup Plan: Operations management in Energy industry. Target Firm: Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP.

Please evaluate my chances for the following schools

1. Tuck
2. Duke Fuqua
3. Darden
4. UCLA
5) Johnson
6) Emory
7) Mc Combs
8) Kelley
9) Ivey, Canada
10) Rotman

Please let me know if there are any apparent weaknesses.
What schools should I focus on. A list of schools reputed for placements in the energy sector (Consulting and Operations).

I have another query regarding GPA system. I graduated from India with 75% aggregate. What would be my GPA as per US system. In case, percentage can not be converted to GPA, any alternative to determine where i stand amongst the GPA averages for various B-schools.

Thank You.

Best Regards,
KUNAL

Hi. I am currently applying for Desautels (McGill) 's full time course this year . In fact , I am a 30 year old pharmacist with 6.5 work experience 5 of them in a multinational pharmaceutical company first as a sales representative then as a sales trainer after being promoted.I had distinguished extracurricular activities during high school and undergrad but later my job consumed 80% of my time , the rest 20% was dedicated to PG studies and to my family . PG studies include a diploma in Industrial Pharmacy and another in "Training the Trainer" , and a certificate in written translation .In addition to all these ,I got an HR certification from SHRM as well as some workshops and non-academic courses including finance for non-financial managers . Knowing that my GMAT scores are 540 , then a 550 , and my GPA varies between 2.82 -2.94 after assessing it on different GPA calculators,while Desautels responded to my inquiry that they look for 600 GMAT and a GPA 3 , encouraging me to apply but meanwhile implying that they can forgive a slightly lower GPA for a satisfactory GMAT , what do you advise me to do ? which strengths can you see in my profile can compensate for the GMAT gap? knowing that I am applying these days to catch the deadline but will still retake the GMAT for the 3rd time next month aiming at updating them with a better score.By the way , on their website it is said that the range of GMAT scores for their students is 560-780.

Another last issue that my clarify more about my profile :The trend of my GPA is a downward one due to a personal crisis I faced during my last three semesters . Moreover , among the subjects I studied during 5 years of undergraduate studies was a low-weight course (much less credit hours than others) of mere mathematics with a "Pass" in the second year , and another of business administration and basics of finance in the third year with an "Excellent".Both had the same weight .Also, in my first postgraduate degree I studied another "low-weight" course that was a mix of maths and other topics with a "Pass" as well because of the other topics but this detailing can never be explained in he transcripts since the mark stated is the overall of the test.Taken into consideration that I took a three-day workshop "finance for non-financial managers) a few months ago before my GMAT,and that my Quant score increased from 36 in my first attempt to 39 in my second , how do you advise me to connect these together in order to prove I have the sufficient quantitative skills to handle an MBA curriculum ? (I actually do . a big part of my studies were statistics and calculations and also my work involved a lot of data charts and numbers)

Thank you very much.I sincerely appreciate your advice.
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