tnt007tarun wrote:
Hello everyone... hope you're all having a great holiday week! Just thought I'd get a reality check before applying to Booth in R2. So far I have a couple of denials, 2 T10-T15 waitlists and 1 T15 admit with $$ - all in my profile to the left. Having gone through R1 I think I have a more refined story for R2.
Here's my profile:
Post MBA Goal – Strategy Consulting or Strategy role in Toronto, Canada... intention to focus on Sustainability practice long term
Why Booth:
- strong placement in MC and sizeable Canada/Toronto alumni base
- love Chicago as a city (yes), plus can travel back to Toronto very easily
- Best brand for resume long term
- LEAD - have identified certain leadership weaknesses I want to improve
- flexible curriculum - can focus on MC for recruiting + finance basics-intermediate (esp. impact investing)
- Rustandy Social Center - social innovation, sustainability series, other courses
Indian Male
Age 31
GMAT 750 (Q50, V41)
Role/Industry:
Director of North America Sales for a performance consulting/online training company (~200 people) (3 years) - most recent
Environmental consultant at a boutique consulting firm in the US to top energy companies (2.5 years)
Engineer at family business - small mfg firm in India serving clients in US, India, China, Israel (energy management products) (2.5 years)
Education:
BE in ChemE from top5 engineering school in India, low GPA (2.2/4.0), co-founded 2 clubs and other extracurrics
MS in Environmental Engg from top 50 school in US, 3.95 GPA, Masters fellowship recipient, significant volunteering
ECs:
Nonprofit leadership (sustainability & community dev. nonprofit in US) - Volunteer-> Treasurer-> Co-president (~3 years)
Co-founded women empowerment nonprofit in India (~10 people, couple of decent sized achievements in 1.5 years)
Sailing - twice a week at a sailing club (in US, ~2 years)
Motorcycling - long distance riding (in India, ~4 years)
---
Should I even bother applying with the low UG GPA and no-name companies on my resume? Can't do anything about the latter but enrolling in MBAMath just to mitigate the former issue. Not sure grad GPA fully does that.
Thoughts please. Probably a big reach/Hail Mary app.
Congratulations on your high GMAT score (750)! A lower-than-average GPA, despite some academic name recognition (did you go to an IIT branch? You mentioned a top 5 school in India... wasn't sure which one) will hurt you a bit, but it's probably surmountable. That's smart of you to preemptively enroll in an MBA math class to prove yourself. Academic pedigree (e.g., scores, grades, academic institution ranking) is obviously important to Booth. You come from a demographic (Indian male) that's over-represented in the candidate pool. It helps that you are applying from Canada, rather than India, but you are still in the "international" bucket (and international/non-US students represent only ~30-40% of the Booth class).
As a 31-year-old candidate, you will be on the older side of the applicant pool, so you need to make a clear case of why you are applying to MBA and why you are applying now rather than 4 years ago (when you would have been the average age). This isn't an insurmountable problem, but it's something that you should be tacitly answering in your application, even if you aren't asked about "Why MBA/Why Now" explicitly.
What you need to make sure you master is the delivery of your strategic positioning. You say that you want to do management consulting. That's a very over-represented career path within the applicant pool, especially for Booth, so you need to make sure you articulate WHY you think you'll excel at M/B/B. What is it about your passions, education, and prior work experiences that positions you to be a successful management consultant? And how will your near-term management consulting goal position you for your long term goal? (And, If your long-term goal is also management consulting, why is that?) Do you have any interest in running your family business one day? If so, that could be an interesting and differentiated goal for you and provide rationale for a near-term consulting route.
The only red flag I see on this profile is your repeated stated interest in Booth because of it's geographic proximity and strong alum base in Toronto. That's a fine reason for YOU to be interested in Booth as your top choice, but I'm not sure it's one worth writing about in your essay questions or talking about in the interview should you get to that point. There are Boothies all over the world, and while Booth probably likes having a strong network in Toronto, that's not really going to signal that you understand what sets Booth apart or why you are the perfect fit for Booth. You want to talk about programs, professors, reputation -- that sort of thing. Lots of people in New Hampshire want to go to Harvard because it's close by, but this probably isn't what the successful ones write about in their essays, you know? Because Harvard is great for reasons other than being close to New Hampshire.
There's no harm in applying to a "reach" school like Booth. Your GPA and the lack of traditional corporate pedigree, combined with your competitive demo may result in a "ding", but hey, you miss all the shots you don't take. I think you should go for it, being mindful of your chances and also hoping for the best.
My fingers are crossed for you!
close
09 Nov 2019, 14:45
