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

Hi @PoisonDude,

Your profile seems great. HBS is anyway a great choice if you are looking for a career switch. Your GMAT and GPA are slightly on the lower side but honestly we, at MBA and Beyond, believe more in the quality of your experiences and have proved that in the past and I feel yours can bring a great story. Your military experience seems great with elements of leadership (which I can see in your ECs as well). About Extracurriculars, do not worry if you have not moved mountains in this space, just focus more on the strong aspects of your profile and you may also talk about your hobbies if you pursue any with dedication. I like your post-MBA goals and they do make sense to me, just bring out the right motivations for these goals to present a powerful story. So, on an overall note, I would say it all boils down to how you present your story. Also, I would suggest keeping some target and safety schools as well in your list. We are happy to discuss schools according to your profile and your chances at them and would love to hear your story . Feel free to book a free session with us as per your convenience.

Cheers!
Kashish Garg,
Community Manager, MBA and Beyond

On behalf of,
Shantanu Sharma,
Founder and Admissions Consultant, MBA and Beyond
Email: shantanu@mbaandbeyond.com
Linkedin

With more than 8 years of experience spanning across entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, Shantanu has worked across the globe as a Procurement Manager, Product Manager (Marketing, Operations, Payments and Risk/ Fraud), Growth Consultant, eventually unraveling his love for helping candidates with their MBA application as a Coach. Shantanu started coaching applicants, with his team, right after he graduated from INSEAD in 2017.


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You got it!
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You certainly have a chance at both HBS and LBS, but better at LBS. You may also want to consider the Sloan Fellows programs at London Business School and MIT Sloan or the Stanford MSx programs. Also consider the FT Healthcare Management Program at Wharton as well as Columbia and Haas full-time MBA. Then again, if you want to continue working while you earn your MBA, the EMBA is a great option.

I'm actually speaking on this topic for GMAT Club on Sept. 25. In the meantime, check out "Applying to Regular MBA Programs as an Older Applicant."

And you might find this interview of interest too: [url=Meet Dr. Nadia Afridi, Plastic Surgeon, Recent Columbia EMBA, and Mom]Meet Dr. Nadia Afridi, Plastic Surgeon, Recent Columbia EMBA, and Mom[/url].
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You have an impressive profile. With a solid application, your chances are excellent at your target schools. Please let me know if you'd like help with your applications.

Best,
Linda
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Given your academic strength, financial obstacles overcome, experience, and multi-cultural background, you will be given serious consideration by HBS 2+2 and other deferred admissions programs. I encourage you to apply, but don't apply only to HBS. Do clarify your goals, both long-terms and pre-MBA.

You might find helpful:

*No Work Experience. Want MBA. What Should You do?
*Are Your Ready? Deferred MBA Admissions Quiz
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Hi All - One of my recomendor will not be able to submit his views on time. Do you think they will still consider i or will it be considered in round 2?

Hi All - One of my recomendor will not be able to submit his views on time. Do you think they will still consider my application? Everything else has been submitted on time

Unfortunately you will likely be rolled to Round 2. There are deadlines for a recent and while they might give recommenders a short grace period, I did have one client in the past be forced to Round 2 because her recommender didn't submit in time even though everything else was in. I hope it works out for you differently!


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Probably Round 2.
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Hi Everyone,

I am trying to evaluate my chances of getting into either MIT Sloan, Harvard or Stanford here in the US and HEC Paris, LBS in Europe.

I am a 31 yr old Indian Male living in the US for past 9 years with 8+ years of industry experience.

GMAT 730 (Q49, V40, I7)

Education:
Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics from Manipal Institute of Technology (GPA 8.73/10.0) was second in my class.

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Master of Science in Engineering & Technology Innovation Management
Both from Carnegie Mellon University (GPA 3.6/4.0)

Work Ex:
- Failed Edtech Startup Entrepreneur. Tried launching an Edtech platform that leverages AR Technology to aid classroom teaching and improve student engagement. Got great reviews on the prototype/ product but could not achieve scale.
- Launched 10+ successful products in a myriad of industries ranging from consumer kitchen appliances and medical devices to food automation and textiles.
- Worked in product design firms, startups and small companies in the US where it is hard to show career progression in form of promotions.

Extracurriculars:
- Helped improve rice harvest productivity in my family owned land at my ancestral village with a low cost portable automation system.
- Vice Captain of a minor league hard tennis ball Cricket Team.
-Have a lot more from college days but its been several years since I graduated from it and hence not mentioning it here.

Interests:
Sports – Watch and play most sports
Social Welfare Causes – especially Education and Animal Welfare


Post MBA Goals:
I would like to either join the social sector of consulting firms or the Social Impact group of companies like Google and Amazon to drive the strategy and implementation of solutions to social problems.

Thank you for your time.

Hi, y'all. First-time poster here, but long-time trawler for tips. Looking at HBS, Stanford, Booth, MIT, Columbia, but worried I ought to be aiming lower.

Background and nationality
24yo Filipino-Chinese management consultant based in Manila, with work experience in Dallas, Austin, Singapore, Shenzhen, and Penang

Undergrad Information
BS Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University. Graduated magna cum laude (3.86/4.00, just a decimal below highest honors), 6th in my batch of 2300+.

GMAT: 740 (Q51, V38, I8, W6) (Side note: Got 119 in my TOEFL, my transcript will show that I received straight A's in university English classes, and I'm a published freelance writer. Hoping that helps shore up my oddly low Verbal, but not sure if that's how that works)

Work experience and leadership

Currently working as VP - Performance Improvement Delivery for a global data analytics and consulting firm, after three years as an associate and analyst. This involves heading an 8-person team of consultants as we develop business solutions for clients in various industries. In particular, I've worked with Manufacturing, Tech, Telecom, Construction, and non-profit firms, and have been deployed in engagements in the US, China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Community and others

As mentioned, my main extracurricular is having worked as a freelance writer, namely in film criticism. I'm a prolific critic, and have been published on sites like IndieWire and Bright Wall/Dark Room.

In university, I was a department head for the university's Math Society, in charge of fostering math excellence and appreciation in the local community. I also led operations for the launch of an online museum about the Martial Law era in the Philippines.

I'm also a bronze medalist in the International Math Olympiad, which I qualified for as a high school student but participated in during my freshman year of college (that + the prestige is how I justify its inclusion in my apps). For that, as well as other international math competitions, I also received a Youth Excellence in Science citation seven times from the Philippine Department of Science and Technology.

Post MBA goals

Current post-MBA goal is to pivot into the US film industry in an acquisition and distribution role for a company like Netflix or A24, with the hopes of bringing that international experience to eventually establishing an independent film production and distribution company in the Philippines, focused on promoting Filipino indie and arthouse cinema to a global audience.

Anything else?

If I were poking holes at my own application, I'd point to my relatively obscure local university, relative lack of job years for a smaller firm (however, the quality of experience is strong + does show leadership qualities), and the radical industry pivot (though my experience in film criticism does help explain it).

I understand that HBS is always a reach, but hoping to get an appraisal regardless. Thanks!

The information you provided is competitive for all the programs on your list. HEC and LBS being the most likely acceptances. HBS and Stanford being less likely but certainly worth the effort to apply. MIT Sloan is a little easier to get into and probably your best fit.

You might be find helpful: "M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2020-21"

Best,
Linda
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I think you have a shot at these programs and view the distinctive elements of your profile as strengths. At the same time I'd strongly encourage you to also consider applying to UCLA Anderson and NYU Stern. Both have strong ties to Entertainment and Media, which could be very helpful to you considering your goals, and they are both slightly easier to get into. This is an "in addition to" recommendation not an "instead of." You may also be more likely to get merit scholarships from these programs.

Best,
Linda
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Hi, all. First-time poster here. Looking at HBS, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Columbia.

Background and nationality
29yo Indian male, Software Engineer, and Technology Product Manager based in New York, with work experience in Washington DC, Delhi, and Mumbai.

Undergrad Information
BS Electrical Engineering from Top 20 Engineering School in India (Not IIT). Graduated First Class with Distinction(7.43/10.00) i.e. ~ (3.65/4.00).

Postgrad Information
MS Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from IVY Leauge. Graduated with 3.34/4.00.

GMAT: Yet to appear, aiming for ~750.

Work experience and leadership

Founder, 1.5 years, Tech Startup for Sub-urban area to benefit local vendors and community. Raised 1.5 Million INR. Exited after 1.5 years. Later Acquired by the largest digital payments network in India. Led a team of 7 to raise seed fund and design prototype for the Pilot Project.
Sales and Business Development, 2 Years. At a European multinational company providing energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability.
Research Software Engineer, AI Startup (9 Months, Internship). 7th Employee. Led 3 Engineers for First Prototype.
Software Engineer, Big Data Startup (1.5 Years). Let multiple projects. Led 2 Engineers. Reduced cost by 4 Million on Technology Infrasture by Improving on current tech stack, and generated 100 M additional revenue by developing a machine learning platform.
Senior Software Engineer, Largest E-Commerce Player (1.8 years by Sep 2021). Improved measurement and instrumentation of critical technical services and Increased 3rd Party sales by 200 Million USD by designing a new commission incentive program.

Community and others

Volunteer work in Nepal, Europe, and India. Have been with the organization for 8 years now. Mainly leading technology work, operations, and outreach for the organization.

In university, I was a department head for the university's Renewable Energy Society, and Executive Member of the Entrepreneurship Development Cell, in charge of fostering startup excellence and appreciation in the local community. I also led operations for the green tech startup and expanded it to 48 schools across North India

Post MBA goals

The current post-MBA goal is to join back US tech industry and work on Moon shot projects for a company like Google X. with the hope of gaining more industry experience and later (5-10 Years) pivot into impact investing/entrepreneurship, promoting large organization to invest more in rural areas and promoting local entrepreneurship talent.

Hello mp3542,
Your targeted GMAT score will be the bare minimum for your profile to be looked at in these schools.
You founded a firm, which is impressive, and you must have lots of stories from there. Your resume would have made more impact had the chronology of your WE been in the reverse order, ie., a startup experience now starting with being an engineer.
I would need more details on your Volunteering experience like the impact you made on the ground, your level of involvement, to comment any further.
H/S/W is always a stretch for all candidates. Columbia offers admissions on a rolling basis, so you may want to apply early, especially considering you belong to the over-represented demography.
Hope this helps.


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Welcome to GMAT Club. I hope you get some good responses to your query here.

A lot still remains up in the air as it’s hard to do a fulsome review with the incomplete data given here and an unknown GMAT score. Whether you are able to break a 740 will likely make a very big difference considering your hyper competitive Indian male engineer demo. It is worth your time and effort to put in the studying that will faciliate the 750 GMAT score you are shooting for. H/W/S all accept the GRE as well as the GMAT, so you may also consider a practice GRE to see which one you favor. The schools should be test-agnostic but all demand excellence on either test, so submit the score that makes you look the best.

The part about your volunteer work is unclear. What is this “organization” and what is your role in it? To maximize your changes at admissions, you’ll want to take ownership of specific impacts and LEADERSHIP - e.g., contributions beyond foot-soldier level. Showing that you lead initiatives with impact (quantifying wherever possible # of people helped, $/% dollars saved in costs or $/% raised in funds) is the name of the game here. Being able to tie your EC experience to your professional/academic passions is good, too. Did you use your tech skills when you were working with this global non-profit organization? Utilizing best practices learned in for-profit organizations in your work with non-profits makes for winning essays. Also, if you can tie your work with this organization to the unique ECs you are looking to participate in as an MBA student to demonstrate specific continuity of passion AND to your long-term goals, this is ideal. H/W/S can fill their classes with excellently-accomplished professional resumes and 4.0 GPAs all day long. What they want to see is PASSIONATE individuals who want to make an impact outside of the office and you can demonstrate that by proving that your specific EC passions are long-held and in sync with your post-MBA goals as well.

Going to an Ivy League US university and the prestigious major of EE and CS will help you. However, your GPA of 3.34 is lower than the H/W/S average. AdComs sometimes are a bit forgiving depending on the undergraduate institution’s level of prestige and their reputation for grade inflation (e.g., an 3.34 undergraduate GPA is going to be better received from Princeton, since Princeton is not only super prestigious but also actively fights grade inflation such that a 3.34 isn’t as “bad” as it might be at another school with more grade inflation).

Your work experience is impressive in the sense that it sounds like you can write about stories that demonstrate 1) leadership 2) international scope 3) entrepreneurship and self-starter mentality. It seems like you have a good mix of tiny but mighty start-up stuff and foriegn multinational managerial experience. AdComs (and Google) will like this. They want their admits to be “vetted” by other names they trust and respected giant foreign multinational firms give this assurance. The number of accepted students that worked at a handful of tech, finance and consulting companies *at some point* (not necessarily right before b-school) is unreal at H/W/S. AdComs de-risk their bets but betting on the same people who have already been successful in the places that they know will be top recruiters from their MBA programs. They know the type of resumes top recruiters want ad they select for those to make sure that their students are employable. One of the biggest “fails” an MBA program can have is a large number of MBA students unemployed 3 months after graduation, since this is a valuable metric that ratings agencies (U.S. News & World Report, Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, etc.) look at for rankings purposes.

The short paragraph about your post-MBA goal probably works, but you’ll likely want to flesh it out so that it has immediate-post-MBA, intermediate (3-5 years out) and long-term (15+ goal). The Indian tech guy who wants to work on “moonshoot” tech stuff at Google or VC will be a common theme - you don’t want to be too cliche. The way not to be is to be *specific* and call out where your specific strengths and experiences are based on prior professional impacts and how they uniquely and imminently qualify you for what you want to do *specifically*. Best to be drilling down into sub-sector here if possible rather than just “moonshoot” vaguely. If talking about your strategic positioning of your work experience and career aspirations and EC alignment with a top MBA-alum may be helpful to you, feel free to sign up for a free consultation here: https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/. You’ll get more out of the conversation the more you give us to work with -- fill out the questionnaire building on some of the advice I have here and you’ll be able to get better advice out of us during your free consultation.

Hi Guys,
First time poster here.

My profile is as follows:
Bachelors in mechanical engineering from India. 2006-2010
Two years job experience at petroleum company in India

Masters in Mechanical engineering from Germany technical university 2012-2015
Grade: 1.8/4.0 (1.0 is best and 4.0 is worst, Germany scale )

Internship and Thesis at Volkswagen Wolfsburg (HQ) - 1 year

Last 6 years working in German company as first a business development executive and then for last 2 years as regional sales manager (Technical sales). I handle southeast Asia, Pacific and Africa business. Develop , guide, train and manage business partners. I have kick started various business partners in different Asian countries. Increased revenue by 20% year on year. Regular business trip to 8+ countries for sales activities. Implemented high end projects at various automotive OEMs in Asia and Africa regions.

Fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi and German. Living 8+ years in Germany. Indian origin.

Planning to give GMAT soon.. Aiming for 720+ score.

Reason behind MBA: Want to round of my technical skills with more managerial studies. I think, I personally lack theoretical exposure to non engineering side of business. As businesses are getting more data and strategy driven, it makes sense to update the knowledge base.

Aiming for HBS, HEC, INSEAD and LBS.

Greets!

If you are 100% sure that your recommender isn’t going to get the recommendation in on time to be considered for R1, then I’d wait and make the overall application as absolutely stellar as possible for R2 consideration. That’s the best way to make lemonade out of this situation. I’d also question your choice of this recommender. In general, recommenders who *really* want to help you will get their materials in on time. If you are now looking at R2, you might consider using a different recommender. Regardless of who you choose to write your rec letter, you *definitely* shouldn’t be writing your own rec letter by any means, but you *should* be giving your recommenders guidance on what they should be talking about to maximize your chances of admission. One way to do this is by giving them bullets of the IMPACTS that you have made while on their team, so that they have all those metrics ready when they sit down to write their rec. For instance, size of deals you’ve worked on, size of clients you’ve brought in the firm, $/% cost savings you generated, teams and projects you lead, examples of you leading across function and geography, etc. You also want your strategic positioning (e.g., what kind of involved student you’ll be outside of the classroom, what clubs/conferences/treks you’ll lead, what you want to do professionally post-MBA short/long term to be in sync with the rest of your application). If you talk about a specific leadership story in your application essay, then it would be good for the recommender to also speak to that if possible. Or if you talk about wanting to be in general management, it’s probably not good if your recommender says that you will be “an excellent investment portfolio manager” one day -- they need to demonstrate that they really know you and what your goals are.

Congratulations on your german experience, GPA and impressive work experience thus far. If you are applying as an Indian male engineer, you are coming from a *very* competitive demo. If you are female, your odds are slightly better but still steep. A 720 will not be a hard-and-fast barrier to entry into HBS, but that score is unlikely to correlate with acceptance given your demo. Harvard's GMAT average is around 730 but your demo typically scores higher than that. The good news is that a 720 is still strong enough for several of the other schools on your list, if a bit low for the top 10 US schools for an Indian engineer applicant.

Your work experience may be viewed as a bit more unique than the typical IT and tech resumes that come in from Indian engineers. Still, though, work in energy is going to be seen as most prestigious if it’s a foreign multinational name that AdComs recognize (e.g. Shell, Chevron, Exxon, etc.) The reason for this is because AdComs know that these candidates are more likely to be employed by the top foreign multinational recruiters that come to their campuses than students with smaller/less well-known domestic Indian names on their resume. The *last* thing any school wants is a student who can’t find a job or can’t find a high-paying job, because this hits their metrics and hurts their ranking, which is the perhaps the #1 thing schools care about. % of graduates with jobs 3 months post graduation and average $ compensation are two closely watched metrics that all these rankings institutions track.

You’ll definitely want to play up your international angle - that is a differentiating element for you. You can make a point to talk about your international education and work experience in your essays and resume. You are a bit on the older side for US top 10 MBA. Not necessarily *too old*, but on the older side. This is less true for the top tier UK programs that generally select for seniority and leadership. What this *does* mean is that you have to prove that you are leader and can be trusted to manage others immediately post-MBA if you go to a US school. That is one thing that most older applicants who are successful have in common - proven managerial experience. You don’t want to seem “washed up” as an applicant -- like you are applying simply because you can’t advance where you are. You’ll also need to have good extracurriculars -- and you don’t mention any here -- to demonstrate that you have made the most of your time post-undergrad. Ideally, your EC interests should align with your professional ones in the sense that you are bringing your technical expertise from school and work into your non-profit, civic and hobbyist endeavours. You should also be able to tie these interests to the kind of involved student you’ll be outside of the classroom as well (e.g., if you like to play in a band, you can talk about competing in battle of the bands in MBA or a director/performer/cast member in the Follies production OR if you have always been involved in mentoring of under resourced youth, you can research a school’s offering in that area and talk about getting involved in one of their clubs in that space).

The last big item that you don’t address in your profile but is probably the single most important element of your MBA applicant are your post-MBA goals and strategic positioning. What exactly do you want to do post MBA? Do you want to work for a large integrated E&P company in a commercial role? Do you want to be an Oil & Gas investment Banker? And Oil & Gas consultant? Where do you see yourself immediately after business school? 10 years after business school? You need to have iron-clad plans for these questions that are both ambitious and imminently achievable given your prior successes. This strategic positioning piece may be worth talking through with a consultant who understands what’s realistic given your background and the recruiting realities on the ground at top schools. If this might be helpful to you, feel free to sign up for a free consultation here: https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/

Assuming you get the 720 (or close to it) and that it's balanced, you have a competitive profile for HEC, INSEAD, and LBS. I think HBS is also very possible given the international flavor of your work and your leadership experience. However, as I'm sure you know, it's also the hardest to get into.

For all these programs, you need to clarify your post-MBA goal. "updating the knowledge base" isn't a post-MBA goal. It's a good reason to take course or read a book. What do you hope to accomplish that you won't be able to accomplish without the MBA? That's a post-MBA goal.

Also given your level of work experience, have you considered the MIT or LBS Sloan Fellows programs?

Best,
Linda
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