My Chances at Harvard - Post All Profile Evaluation Requests Here!

This profile is outstanding. You can def get in to HBS. No one is a sure thing at HBS, but this is a competitive profile.

The only thing I would say is retake the GMAT if you’re serious about Stanford, Wharton, or Columbia. 20 points will mean a lot.

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Tough love: M7 will probably not happen if you don’t retake the GMAT and blow the doors off the thing. Anything in the top 20 will be hard if you don’t boost your GMAT. A sub-3.0 GPA for an Indian engineer is just too much to overcome unless your essay wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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Do other people at your firm go to M7 MBAs? Be good if it was a feeder firm. Pretty strong profile, it’s just a very competitive bucket.

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You could get into HBS - The key will be convincing them you can deliver, meaning they need to believe you are actually going to be a major player in Azerbaijan. Who are your recommenders? What can you do to show you are connected in the former USSR?

Hi trying to get some evals for my profile:
1) Age: 30
2) GMAT: 650 (V32, Q47)
3) Country: Singapore, Undergrad: Top Business School in Singapore. Studied Quant Finance. GPA 3.0/4
4) WE: 4 years: Worked as an Algo trader in Tier 1 investment bank. Moved to mexico, where I worked in FinTech (raised 85 million USD, highest for Mexican FinTech till dec-2018) for 3 years. Currently working for a ride hailing company (from China) where I lead the payments team in Mexico and head all decision making for our launches. At the same time, working as a CFO for a startup to launch our own digital bank in Mexico
5) Extra curricular: spent 2 years in the Singapore army, where i was a lieutenant. Also, i'm a standup comedian, having performed in San Francisco, New York, LA and every major club in Mexico city. Fluent in 3 languages (English, Hindi and Spanish)
6) MBA goals: want to transition towards VC/growth equity to help Latam startups raise capital. Long term goals: move towards management at a unicorn startup

Planning to apply to M7. Every suggestion/comment is welcome. thank you!

startupguy, you have strong international experience across Singapore and Latam. Army background and comedian is a unique combination that should help your profile stand out. I'm sure you'll have plenty of impactful teamwork and leadership stories from your days in army, as a comedian and now professionally in Mexico Your short-term goal of early/growth stage investments fits nicely with your experience in finance and startups. However, I believe your long term goal needs to be more ambitious, especially when targeting top M7 schools. Top management at a startup is something you can achieve even without a top MBA. I would suggest more entrepreneurial long-term goals like starting your own company or investment fund.

The only other weak link in your profile is GMAT score. Although Adcom tends to be considerate when applicant is from army background, a higher GMAT will make your case much stronger. Also you could qualify for higher financial aid. If possible, I would suggest retaking the GMAT and targeting 700+
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Hi everyone - I'm planning to apply in round 1 this September. All comments helpful

Background/nationality: Australian citizen, born in Oman with Indian background (i.e. parents born in India)

Undergrad: Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Melbourne (probably the #1 university in Australia)

GMAT: 740 (V45, Q47)

Work experience: 2 years part-time at Big 4 accounting firm (while studying undergrad), 2 years at top Australian investment bank, 2.5 years at boutique Australian private equity firm based

Community: medium level of community work (on the Board of local sports organisation, select consulting give to charity organisations)

What does everyone think?

What do you want to do after your MBA?
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I want to continue in private equity. Eventual goal is to be the Principal / MD of a fund

Your quant score is a little low, but obviously you have lots of quant experience. I don't think it's a big deal

You have a competitive profile for HBS. You might be interested in:

[*]GEt Accepted to Harvard Business School, a webinar recording
[*]How to leverage an HBS Education
[*]Ida Valentine: Investment Banker, Inspirational Speaker, HBS 2021
[*]How I Helped My Clients Get Accepted to HBS This Year
[*]Additional HBS Resources
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Time for a reality check I guess.

Age:26
GMAT: 730 (49Q,41V)
Country: Uruguay
Undergraduate degree: CPA, also did a semester abroad in the UK taking Business Management classes. I'm using WES' conversion to GPA and still don't have the result, but average GPA is probably going to be around 3.5
Work experience: Two one month internships (one at HSBC and the other one KPMG), then a semester helping my dad manage his restaurant, then year and a half of middle office&compliance work at a broker dealer, and finally one year of working at a financial advisor and getting more into trading and investment analysis.
I passed the CFA Level 1 exam last December
Side businesses: imported some electronics to my country for reselling, and right now I've just purchased an american LLC to purchase clothes from china and resell in the states (all remotely through amazon's FBA). I'm having a few issues with Amazon, but the plan and research is there and I've got proof of my chats with the chinese supplier, the ownership of the LLC, pictures of myself with the clothing samples, etc.
Non-profit work: Very little. One December I helped an organization distribute food to poor families around Christmas. I also helped friends set up investment accounts and start to think long-term about their finances.
Post-MBA: I'd probably try to get into a job that pays well in finance to keep learning and pay off my huge debt. Harvard costs USD 200K is about 16 times my after-tax salary, so I can't immediatelygo back to my country or anywhere close. Long-term I'd love to have my own company. I especially like thinking and helping people with their finances- I think people can't depend on their government retirement plan (look at Brazil right now) and have to start saving and investing at a young age. But there's nothing so easy or cheap like americans have. There's also no digital bank afaik like N26, Revolut, etc in latin america. I like the CFA's plan of giving back to society, making a business out of helping people invest would be wonderful.

Your academics are competitive. I'm not sure you're showing the leadership and impact that HBS wants to see. if you have it, and it's just not in the post, I'd definitely encourage you to apply. They will like the international aspect of your experience and your initiative. However, if you don't have that leadership and impact, I'd suggest that you either apply elsewhere or wait a year and apply when you can show those qualities. In the interim, also increase your community service.

Best,
Linda
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Personal Info: 28, Male, White.

Education:

Liberal Arts Degree from Top 50 U.S. University ( Studied Philosophy & Advanced Logic )
MicroMasters in Supply Chain Mgmt from MIT

GPA: 3.5

GMAT: 1. 690 (Q46, V38 ) 2. 690 (Q42, V42)

Professional Exp: I have 6.5 years of work experience. I work in the Tech/Startup space and have worked at 5 startups including Uber and my own company. I am currently a Senior Manager at a unicorn startup while also helping to build a new company that is starting to raise seed money.

Volunteer Exp: I work as a Pro Bono Consultant for Nonprofits focused on the arts. I also volunteer for a nonprofit to teach entrepreneurship at inner city schools. I just started volunteering for a nonprofit focused on selling used clothes to fund scholarships.

Purpose of MBA: I am looking to build foundational skills specifically in finance and strategy. I am looking for entrepreneur heavy programs.

Goal on Graduating: Start my own company / work in VC

Your grades are close enough and your experience is good,but that test score is going to be a hurdle at Harvard. I'm not optimistic. Would you consider taking it a 3rd time or trying the GRE? How would your grades at MIT's micro masters, if it was graded?

FYI I think Tuck takes your highest quant and your highest verbal, but most do not.

Linda
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Hi,

Can you please go through the below and provide me your valuable inputs? Specific questions I have are listed at the bottom.

Bio: 1994 born, Indian, Engineer, Male

GMAT: 770 (Q 50 / V 46)

Intend to apply H/S/W R1 for 2021 intake.


Education: Co2016 Top 15 Indian School (non-IIT) GPA 8.11/10 Electrical and Electronics Engineering (no official figure on rank. The top ranker had 9.84/10 GPA). (Note - Got selected for ISB Young Leaders Program but I dropped out)

Full time work Ex - Total 4+ years (at the time of applying in Sep 2020), 5+ years (at joining Sep 2021)
1. 2.9 years in a Consulting division of a Big 4. Worked with Fortune 500 clients in insurance and hospital industry. Mostly on Cost Optimization, business Process Restructuring and Project Management consulting assignments. Worked at Office of the Managing Director for a year. Received 4 awards. Few months of international client facing experience in US (had to come back due to immigration issues).
2. 1.5 years in top tier non-profit (think Gates/Dell/Clinton Foundation, one of the top feeders from the sector) where I work with Indian federal govt on a high impact project in digital transformation & leveraging AI/ML for HIV public health systems.

Part time work ex
1. Worked with a Member of Parliament to create a strategy to make Bangalore a tourist hub (pro bono)
2. Worked as remote volunteer with a national award winning documentary film maker for his new project around families residing along borders of India (pro bono)
3. GMAT tutor for an online portal

Extra curricular:
School
Ambassador for a top tier international education NGO. Co-founded its school chapter. Taught English, Math to 30 children for 2 years.
Received diploma in painting (trained for 10+ years and conducted 6 exhibitions)

Undergrad
1. Organizer (1/15, led Revenue Dept) of one of the largest college cultural festivals in the country. Led team of 80 to generate revenues of 65K USD+ and footfall of 30,000+
2. Volunteer with top tier national education NGO for 3 years in various roles - Teacher, fundraiser, career counselor, Mentor
3. Social Entrepreneurship venture with Enactus to create livelihood for 6 widows in rural India. Raised 6K USD as funds from Walmart, KPMG. Led 50 member team.
4. Co-founded a college club which was a collab between the college and an MNC. Led 40+ member team
5. Participated and won in 15+ debate tournaments (MUNs)

After undergrad
1. Ambassador for alumni association of college and created the social media presence - generating 20K+ engagement in 6 months.
2. Participated in education related CSR activities at Big 4 firm
3. Completed Certificate course in public policy. Studied under Harvard MPA/Oxford MPP educated mentors.
4. Rejoined the national NGO in (2) above as a Mentor for youth (18+ years of age)

Target Schools: H/S/W

Post MBA Goal - Deciding between Impact investing in India and International Public Sector Consulting

Added Info - Applied in 2018 with a hurried application (think 4 schools in 1 month) to H/S/W/Sloan. This was when I was still at big 4 consulting. Bad Decision. I know. But that ship has sailed.

Thank you for taking time out to go through my profile. The questions I have are -


1. I have a non-IIT undergrad and not-so-stellar GPA. How do I optimize this aspect for H/S/W? the GMAT is one way. But what else can I do?
2. I have never had direct reportees during professional life. I have guided technical/ops teams but its not direct reporting. How do I showcase leadership?
3. Re-applicant. I applied 2018 December. I will again apply 2020 September. What is the potential impact?
4. Are the target schools realistic?
5. What else can I do to improve my profile from now till Sep 2020?

GMAT: 760 (V: 44,Q:49, IR: 7, AWA: 6)
IELTS: 8/9
Law School GPA: 9.3/10
XIIth : 93%
Xth: 10/10 CGPA

Nationality:Indian


3 years of work experience as a lawyer with independent offices.
I practice across constitutional law courts as well as trial and appellate forums. I have also argued across income tax and company law tribunals.
Graduated out of a law school (ranked in top 10) with 15+ university awards on convocation.
Won 2 National Debates, an international policy research competition as well as a national and an international moot.
Published across national and international law journals.
Headed the Mercantile Law School Review as Chief Editor.
Also a volunteer lawyer for the State Legal Services Authority (represented in around 15 matters therein)
Internships include Chief Justice, Attorney General as well as a reputed international organisation

Cited by constitutional courts as well as wrote a paper whose suggestions were taken up for framing a major state government scheme and later a Union Law.

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My profile:

I am an Indian female with 4 years work-ex by the time I join.
GRE - 322: V(152) Q(170) AWA - 4/6
Under-grad university - BITS Pilani. CGPA - 8.7
total 4 years work experience at one MNC and a start-up as an individual contributor in technology.

Why MBA?
Shift into product management and leadership roles in technology

extra-curricular:
1. Classical Dancer

Also, I plan to help my family with family business once I am done with MBA.

Thanks for your post. To answer your questions

1. If your undergrad program is well-regarded, accredited program, albeit non-IIT, don't worry about it. I don't believe your UGPA is an issue. It's above average and your GMAT is stellar. You could take HBS Online CORe, if you're really worried about it, but I don't think it's necessary.
2. Highlight the impact you've had without having an official managerial title or direct reports. If you've "guided" successfully without a title, you've led. Please see "Leadership in Admissions."
3. As long as you improve your application (and your new job is distinctive and will a new dimension to your qualifications) and show growth, reapplication at most programs (INSEAD is an exception) is a slight plus. It show commitment and persistance. Don't rush your application this time. If you'd like help with it, please considerseeking Accepted's guidance.
4. Yes.
5. 1) Clarify your goal as well as your reasons for wanting to attend each of these schools. 2) If you can, get some experience outside of India. 3) Prepare your resume to showcase your impact and not just responsibilities. 4). Keep on achieving as you have been doing.

Best,
Linda
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Without knowing anything about your achievements I can't evaluate your experience at all. Your grades are competitive. Your verbal score on the GRE is not; you need to raise it.
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