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

You should include the ranking of your undergraduate college in India as that does play a part. You'll see IITians getting in more than other colleges. Also without a competitive GMAT score it would be hard for anyone to evaluate given our competitive Indian Engineer pool.

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First of all it's extremely difficult to assess your profile without a GMAT/GRE score on some indication of academic achievement while in college. It's even difficult to truly assess your impact on the job because you haven't been specific about your impact. (FYI, it's really important that you quantify your impact in your application. )

Your achievements off the job are impressive and will enhance your application.

Many if not most MBA programs give you the opportunity to take some classes outside the business school so if you want to take a couple of engineering classes, you should be able to do so. Make sure that your programs allow for that.

I can't tell you if you should apply or not. I think you need to clarify what you want to learn in business school and achieve after it. Many applicants work for a while after b-school and before starting their own business. Some start their own business while in their MBA programs; other start immediately after. But you need to decide on your most desirable path in order to apply to the programs best for you. Right now you seem very uncertain about what you want to do.

Linda
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First of all, thank you for taking the care to read this little paragraph and for your advice on this for my application to HBS 2+2. I would be applying for the 2023 intake.

Relevant Academics:
Top European Master in Finance (LSE/Oxbridge/HEC Paris): GPA 3.7/4.0
1 Year Exchange program US (Ivy League/MIT/UChicago/Stanford): GPA 3.7/4.0
BSc in Economics at Target uni in Spain (GPA 8.5/10 - Top 5% of Class)

Relevant Work Experience:
McKinsey & Company (full-time Business Analyst) starting Sept 2020
GS/JPM/MS/LAZ/EVE/MOELIS/PJT - M&A Analyst (Summer 2020)
Top Strategy Consulting Boutique in Spain (Summer Business Analyst 2019)
Past internships in Strategy Consulting and in Corporate during Bachelor (2016-2018)

Extracurriculars:
Start-Up Founder: €200k valuation at seed-round (€25k funding) + lead Start Up to become finalist of major European Start Up Event
GMAT: 710
Participated in various university Clubs
Languages: Fluent in English, Spanish, Catalan and Intermediate in French

Goals:
Access a top Managerial role in corporate with the MBA on which I can make use of the knowledge I acquired in McKinsey + Corporate Finance knowledge acquired in my MIF

Do you think I should re-take the gmat that I took to access the MIF?

Hi denim96,

You have a competitive profile for the HBS 2+2 program. That said, considering the class average, a stronger GMAT will help your admission process.

Good luck!

Susan




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Eval request, experts!

So I have secured admits from INSEAD and LBS and currently await the final decisions of Booth, Kellogg and Tuck. The only other school I applied to during R1 was CBS (but they rejected me without interview). I was wondering if I should put in the effort for a Harvard or Stanford application. Any thoughts? Profile below.

Nationality / Age - Indian, 27, F
Undergrad - Graduated with a law degree from one of India's top 10 national law schools: My 66% grades would place me in top-10% of my batch of 120.
GMAT - 710 (V40/Q49/ IR5/ AWA6)
Work Experience - Over 4 years PQE at this date, with 5 years completed by the time of the MBA start: (i) 2 years in a tier 1 law firm (top-6 law firms in India); and (ii) currently in India's #1 law firm from the last 2 years. Recently promoted to Senior Associate (i.e., 1 of 3 promotions to reach partnership in the firm). Have extensive M&A/PE transactional experience from a legal perspective. Work exclusively with foreign clients, including global PE funds such as WP, BX, Brookfield and GS.
Leadership - One of under 15 transactional lawyers in India with expertise in bank-NBFC mergers. Have played the role of corporate lead or due diligence lead in multiple transactions.
Recommendations - One from current law firm supervising Partner and one from my former firm's supervising Partner. Can replace the latter with a client recommendation as well, if considered better (think: 2016 HSW grad working at Warburg/BX/GS or a Chinese client overseeing their international business strategy).
Post MBA goals - To shift into consulting, and eventually set up my own small advisory that combines strategy consulting with legal advisory for M&As.
EC experience both during and post graduation - Quite strong.

If anyone needs help with HBS, I'm a Harvard grad + former Harvard admissions. Offering free consultations this week, if you want to reach out: www.MBAIvy.com

Hello LadyGaladriel,

If you would prefer to attend HBS or Stanford than LBS or INSEAD, then it makes sense to apply to HBS/Stanford. Given your achievements, your application will be given serious consideration. Although your GMAT is below average for both programs, it is not so low that they will question your ability to thrive in their programs. Given your goals, especially if you see yourself wanting connections and network in the U.S., I can see where a Stanford or HBS degree would be helpful to you.

Go for it.

If you'd like help with your application, please check out these resources:

Accepted's MBA Admissions Consulting
Get Accepted to Harvard Business School, a recorded webinar that dissects the HBS application and provide advice on completing it.
Get Accepted to Stanford GSB, a recorded webinar for Stanford's MBA program.
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Thank you so much for your insights! I will be taking that into consideration.

Hi LadyGaladriel,

Congratulations on your INSEAD and LBS acceptances! And fingers crossed for good news from the other US schools that you're waiting on.

I assume that you're thinking of applying to Harvard and Stanford right now, in R2 for matriculation in Fall 2020 -- is that correct? My main question for you would be whether the opportunity to potentially enroll at Harvard or Stanford is worth enough to you that you would be willing to wait another year and apply in R1 or R2 2020 for matriculation in Fall 2021 instead. While your acceptances to INSEAD and LBS are definitely super positive signs, the fact that CBS didn't give you an interview raises some questions for me about how your application could be strengthened for a Harvard or Stanford-caliber applicant pool. If I were you, I would want to put my absolute best foot forward when applying to these top programs, rather than pulling something together at the last minute (this year's R2 deadlines are VERY close at this point).

If you would consider waiting a year, then I would recommend retaking the GMAT to try to boost your score to at least a 730 (unless you've already taken the GMAT multiple times by now) and really committing yourself to writing stand-out essays. I love your legal background, as that will certainly make you stand out, but that also means that you've got some explaining to do with regards to why you want an MBA now and how you've developed not only your legal skills but also business acumen during your 4-5 years of work experience.

If you don't think that waiting a year is worth it, then you still have some wonderful programs to pick from this year, so you're really in a win-win situation!

Thank you so much, Jon. You raise valid points about the strength of my application + GMAT re US schools. I'll spend some time thinking about what works best for me. Thanks for taking the time to reply!



Posted from my mobile device

Hi,

I would like an evaluation of my profile to decide if it’s worth considering Harvard please:

Work Experience:
Accenture: Management Consulting for 2.5 years. Steadily increased responsibility and managed a team in the last project; chosen for best newcomer award.
New job as an in house consultant at a ‘scale-up’ that uses data from connected vehicles to form insights and help improve productivity and operations. 6 months so far and have managed a National rollout project of an ops dashboard.

Undergrad: MEng Aerospace Engineering, 2:1 (66%), University of Southampton (UK).
This was an integrated degree, so you graduate with a Masters.
Please note I had some serious health issues during my undergrad and there is a big variation in my grades on my transcript - I would like to know if this may be viewed too negatively.

Extra Curriculars:
Currently interviewing for school governor positions.
Regularly help with teach first and stemette charity workshops to encourage secondary school kids to take up STEM subjects and consider jobs in tech.

Background: I attended a state comprehensive school in the UK and achieved the highest grades at GCSEs (exams at age 16) and A Levels (Age 18) at my school.

GMAT: haven’t taken it yet

Would like to apply for R1 this year to hopefully start Fall of 2021.

Posted from my mobile device

What do you want to do after your MBA? do you have an anticipated GMAT? Were your grades high when you weren't dealing with health issues?
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Please help in profile evaluation for HBS

GMAT - 730
Undergrad - B.Tech in Biotechnology (major) and Computer Science (Minor) (Undergrad) from IIT Guwahati (Top 10 in India)
GPA - 8.6/10 (Top 15% in my class)
Background - Indian - non IT Male
Total Work Ex - 5.5 years (~1 Year in IT consulting and ~4.5 years in )

Brief Summary

During my 2 month B.Tech internship at University of Strasbourg - France, I published a research paper on HIV in International Journal of Virology. I have spent almost 3.5 years in a early stage start-up , where I was the first Data Analyst to be hired and went on to lead the Analytics team as Associate Director - Data Analytics. I was also working on Central Growth strategy and helping the CEOs office in raising a $50 Million Series D funding. I am currently working in a mid stage startup as a Sr Manager in Strategic Business Planning Team, scaling and commercialising the Commercial Interior Design vertical and refining the Annual Operating Plan for the entire organisation. I have also worked with an IT MnC in India for about a year as a Validation Consultant for the Regulatory Domain in the Medical Devices Vertical where I was helping the clients as well as internal teams to create products compliant with the FDA rules. I have done volunteering work with an NGO for 2 months, during which I trained the students from Primary Government School to participate in city level competitions where the children secured top positions. I have also taken a few online courses on Data Science and a executive course on Project Management from IIMB, one of the top B schools in India. I can get recommendations from the Founders/CXOs in the startups which I have worked. My short term MBA goal is to get into a startup and contribute in a larger capacity or join a corporate strategy team of a big organisation. Long term goal is to start a business on my own.

You have a competitive profile for HBS, and I encourage you to apply. Given the competition, I also encourage you to apply to other top MBA programs. Given your goals, look into Stanford, Haas, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, and Kellogg.

You may want to look into the following resources:

1. MBA Admissions consulting and Editing.
2. Get Accepted to Harvard Business School.
3. Harvard Essay Tips.
4. HBS Sample Essay

Best,
Linda
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Hi Hanmanjeney,

You have some very impressive work and extracurricular accomplishments, especially at your age, which will appeal to HBS. The challenge is that you're coming from a very competitive demographic, being an Indian national with an engineering background. If you're male, it would be even more competitive. What it's going to come down to would be how well you can differentiate yourself. For the basics, there are some things you can't change at this point, which is the prestige of the university you attended and your GPA. If you went to a top school and received top marks, that would help in not putting you behind other applicants from India. A high GMAT or GRE score is also important, since other applicants with your background will have high scores.

At this point, focus on what you can control, which is taking on more leadership opportunities both at work and outside of work, and achieve results that ideally can be quantified. Recommendations are also key, so make sure that the people that you want writing your recommendations are not only aware of your stellar performance, but also who you are. The adcoms will want to hear from the recommenders as to what kind of person you are and if you're someone that others like to be around and work with. Last but not least, make sure you have a long term goal that you're passionate about, that is ambitious but achievable for you with the benefit of an MBA. The last point is important since if you don't need the MBA to achieve your goals, then the adcom would prefer to give it to someone else who does.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Cindy

Hi everyone! I am planning to apply Round 1 for 2021 admit. Please evaluate my profile and let me know what I can do in the next 9 months to maximise my chances. Thanks!

Nationality: American & British dual
Gender: Female
Age: 27 when I apply / 28 when starting my MBA
Undergraduate Degree: Top 10 state school / Finance major and accounting minor / 3.9 GPA
GMAT: 740 (Q48/V44)
Work experience: 6.5 years when I apply; 2.5 years at a top investment bank and 3-4 years at small private equity firm
About me: I am originally American but moved to the UK post graduation and have been living in London ever since. I work for an investment fund which has an emerging markets focus and have spent a lot of time investing in Africa.
Why MBA? I am interested in impact investing for the purpose of economic development in emerging markets. I hope to use an MBA to build on my leadership skills and business acumen to eventually start my own impact fund in Africa which would focus on education and healthcare investing
Other / Volunteering:
- I have been tutoring disadvantaged students in math once a week for 3 years.
- I am on the board of a local school for students with learning difficulties and I help the school with strategy / budgeting / etc.
- I am a part of an organisation that provides pro bono consulting services to charities (governance reviews, budget reviews, strategic insight, etc)
- On a personal level, I enjoy running, pilates, and photography

You have a competitive profile for HBS and other top MBA programs. Your academics are excellent. They'll love the Africa part of your story. Your work experience and community service are highly competitive.

Advice for the next 9 months:

1. Visit Harvard if possible. Take advantage of any programs HBS has for prospective students. Meet with current students and see if you can meet with some who have related goals. The information you glean may help you in either the written portions of the application or your interview.
2. Figure out how the HBS experience will help you achieve your goals. Again, HBS doesn't ask this question in the application, but they might during the interview. Don't wait until you get the invitation to figure that out.
3. Don't apply exclusively to HBS. There are many competitive applicants who are rejected. Apply to other top programs that support your goals. Consider Stanford, CBS, Yale, MIT Sloan, and Wharton.
4. Keep on doing what you're doing!

For more on applying successful to HBS, please see:

1. MBA Admissions consulting and Editing.
2. Get Accepted to Harvard Business School, a recorded webinar.
3. Harvard Essay Tips.
4. HBS Sample Essay

Best,
Linda
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Hello Experts. I am applying for the R2. Please kindly help me on some questions:
1) I plan to write the essay and Post-MBA goal separately, means they don't really relate to each other. Do you think it is okay? My plan is:
- In the essay: I will try to show Adcom who I am; how I overcame difficulties and how such experience affect to what I am today; and how the experience affect how I lead (I am from an ethnic minority group in a developing country, had to work all the time during my college to earn money for my tuition & living fee but finally landed a government scholarship from a developed country so I could support myself. I earned my post-high school degrees from that country)
- In the post MBA goals: I plan to tell them about a technological project that I have planed for a long time with my friend who is a scientist. In this project, I will take part on the business strategy side. We have earned agreement to join us from 30+ scientists around the world and from some influential people such as a very well known astronaut. We also gained some significant funding from Europe to train our scientists in England as well. This project is to help providing the advanced technologies to my own country to improve people's lives. The project is still on planning stage and still needs lot of skills/expertise to make it happen so I thought I need an MBA for this purpose.
So as you see, the essay and my goal are not really related so I wonder if it will be a question mark to the adcom. I am thinking about showing the adcom different aspects of myself but please advise if I should make them connected.

2) I know 4 langues and English is my 4th. My TOEFL is okay (108/120) but my GMAT is much lower than the HBS's average (only 650; Q was 49 so maybe not terrible?). My question is can my academic performance cover this weak point ? (I graduated as valedictorian from Undergrad program which is Economics; 2/3 of my courses were in math related such as Econometrics/ Calculus/ Statistics/Business game/ Finance etc and all were A or B grades)

3) I am already 34 years old. Will it be a problem ?

4) I have a Master in Finance already and have 9 years experience in this field working as Financial Analyst for Asia Pacific HQ of an US firm in Healthcare field. My role is collaborating with the finance managers of the local countries in the region to maintain the accuracy of their finance data. Will it be a pause to adcome such as: maybe he doesn't need an MBA ...?

5) Other activities: (not a question, just FYI to advise on my candidacy)
+ Co-founder of a small food business in the aforementioned developed country (I am currently living here)
+ volunteer for 2 year in 2 different groups of the developed country mentioned above that support children in my countries ; now I privately financially support ethnic minorities children in my countries from time to time when I can
+ member of an local sport group for 2 years
+ invited by the charity group that I volunteered to deliver speech to 150+ people about my country some years ago

I am sorry if my questions sound like I am bragging out about my app but I just want to get as more specific advice as possible. I've finished almost everything for the writing now and in the re-reading/revise process so still have time to correct where I need to. Thank you a million and good luck to everyone!

Hello Everyone,

I'm from India.
Gender: Female
Age:25
Profession: Teacher
GMAT score: 760
GPA: 3.9 from Allahabad University

I am from a small town in Uttar Pradesh. We do not have a lot of big firms here in the city, so, I don't have any industry based experience. Would that be a problem if my employer gives me a stellar leadership recommendation? But, I do a lot of community work in various NGOs. And I intend to start an educational NGO of my own someday.

Hello everyone,

Applying in R2 and will appreciate your thoughts and advice.

Demographics: 27 years old, Female, Eastern European

Education:
• Undergrad: bachelor in Economics from a top university in my country. GPA 97/100 (highest GPA among 50+ students). Full government scholarship
• Master: MA in Economics from a public university in the North East (ranked among 50-100 best schools in the US). GPA: 3.97/4.00. Full tuition waiver.

GMAT: 720 (Q49, V40) – yeap, not great, but no time to retake

Work Experience
• 3 years in a corporate finance role at Big4 company in my home country; got annual promotions from Junior to Senior Consultant. Worked with largest companies in the region
• 1.5 years in an Investment Analyst role at an international financial institutions (think IFC): had independent deals experience and was recommended for a fast track promotion to an Associate Role

Leadership and Extracurricular Activities:
• Co-founder of an educational non-profit for talented youth in my country
• Active member of the local CFA Society (speaker at events, mentor to finance students etc)
• Multiple activities aimed at promotion of gender equality both at my current job and outside of it

Other:
• CFA Charterholder (all exams cleared at first attempt)
• Fulbright grantee (received full scholarship to pursue Master studies in the USA)
• Did lots of international summer schools (Europe and Caucasus) as an undergrad
• Plenty of international exposure at my current job

Post MBA goal: upon graduation – join an asset management firm to get first-hand experience with developed financial markets; long-term – return to my country and take a top position in public finance sector

Essay: will focus on how life-changing my Fulbright experience was and how my studies in the US shaped my goals and aspirations for years to come bringing me to the current point in my life and career

Other schools: Stanford, Wharton, Sloan, Columbia, Harvard Kennedy School (want to pursue a double MPA/MBA degree given my long-term objective to become a public servant)

Points of concern:
• GMAT score – hopefully high GPA and CFA will compensate for it
• Financial background – will really strive to differentiate myself from other finance guys emphasizing my work experience in development finance acquired at a multinational institution

Many thanks!