Hi all,

First of all really appreciate your kind help in evaluating my profile. I'm thinking of applying for HBS MBA program in 2018 and would really like to understand if I stand a good chance for HBS.

Profile: Singaporean Female (born and raised as a Chinese national)
Age: 28
Undergraduate: top university in Singapore School of Business with exchange programs to HEC Paris
GPA: low 3.1-3.3 (disappointing GPA with many co-curricular activities, chairperson of student union clubs and multiple internship programs)
Work Experience: total 5 years (top oil and gas f500 as management trainee, top FMCG as assistant procurement manger for 1.5 years, headhunted as procurement manager with team management opportunities)
Co-curricular: experience in consultancy for start-ups; travel bloggers with substantial number of viewership
Goal for MBA: broaden horizon; change of location (preferably Europe or US), and to deepen some aspects of my business knowledge, to broaden career development opportunities

Goal post-MBA: management consulting in procurement specialization OR procurement in f500 big MNCs

School applying: Insead; Kellogg; HBS

Appreciate your help!

Hi,
I am a third year undergraduate student studying Mechanical Engineering from BITS PILANI, Pilani.Besides this I have also pursued a minor in finance from BITS, PIlani and have done courses like Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting, Derivatives and Risk Management, Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, Lean Manufacturing, Production Planning and Control, Portfolio Management under the minor.

Gmat Score = 730

Cgpa = 6.6/10

Extra Curriculur : 1. Published a research paper in a reputed internatoional journal on SCM.
2. led the organising team of OASIS, India's second largest fest with a budget of more than 35 Lakhs INR.
3. Head at Student Union Technical Team
4. Club Co-ordinator For one of the 10 major clubs on campus
5. Part of NSS Ngo for six months under teaching

Internships : 1. 2- month in IBM Gurgaon in Web Devlopment
2. 2 -month in Maruti , Gurgaon as mechanical consultant

.

Asking for my friend

Undergraduate: Top 5 IIT, 7.2/10
GMAT: 720 (50Q, 35V)
Work Ex: 5 years

History of leadership

3 years at large e-commerce player (corporate strategy, supply chain, biz dev)
Pitched and led the rollout of extremely important product feature in a key vertical (that gave strategic advantage over global competition)
Turned around function that drives 2nd highest costs for company, adding $18 million in bottomline, managing a team of 8

2 years at high-growth start-up

Drove 8x growth in sales, big factor in a $30m funding round (launched and scaled new categories, marketing channels, products)
Led the growth team (promoted from manager to head in 12 months) & additional responsibility for consumer products
Very well regarded in the company, as one of the early members, helped build the company culture and fabric
Managed teams of 8-15 on cross-functional projects
Strong quant & data skills

ECs: Self taught guitar player, part of National Service Scheme at university, coached students for IIT

Schools: HBS, Wharton, Booth, Stanford, Ross, Kellogg, LBS

I’m applying to 2+2 this cycle as a college junior. Currently studying for the GRE, which I’ll take for the first time right before deadline. My stats:

Major: (double major and minor in humanities subjects). Attend Harvard
GPA: 3.984
Hooks: Black female
Job experience: worked as a research assistant on a history oriented project one summer, went abroad the other
ECs: strong leadership in clubs, strong volunteering

I haven’t taken any business school desired desires classes (Econ, Statistics, math, etc) in college since I’ve been so humanities-focused. I’m worried they’ll think I can’t handle math, so I plan to take Statistics this semester that I apply. I was wondering if I should also take Macro? Will it be seen as a big boost if I can pull of an A- or better there? I’m slightly worried I’ll be stretched too thin by taking both, and not have enough time for the actual GRE studying and application. I normally take paper-based classes so these ones are a little out of my element. Will it be a negative factor if I just take Statistics and have no econ coursework on my transcript?

Thank you!

Posted from my mobile device

Thank you for the post. If you do well on the GRE then you have a great profile for 2+2! What do you think you will do after graduating? It is often good to have a job when you submit. That said, I would love to see your resume. Feel free to send to scott@personalmbacoach.com if you want to talk about how we can work together on your applications. We are based in Boston as well!

Best,
Scott
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I am currently in my second year of college and plan to give GMAT this year..what things i must do to make myself a prospective candidate for the 2+2?


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Hi - Having worked with 20+ IIT grads that were admitted to HBS in recent years, being a top top academic performer is helpful along with the usual extracurriculars and exposure to global firms. In you friend's case, most will depend on how credibly your friend can convey his great accomplishments at work. The recommendations are unfortunately often written by candidates - so the combination of resume, application, essay and potentially supplemental materials must weave together and clearly convey his exploits!
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As a fellow H College grad - perhaps I can offer a few thoughts:
- Assume you will apply in your senior year with your full grades and extracurriculars (and work experience)?
- Think you might consider the GMAT if you are a good test taker.
- Showing your analytic capabilities either in classes or at an analytical job can be important. Your GPA is high - getting reasonable grades in analytical classes will be helpful.
- The competition for HBS from the college is fierce, as you know. Your seriousness with pursuing a business path (classes, jobs, extracurriculars) seems important for your profile.

Best -
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Considering round 3:
GPA:3.2
GMAT:750
BSc in Genetics
Worked for 4 Years in pharma marketing
Wanting to do a career switch to Private Equity

Hi - Had a phd get in R3 last year - pretty specialized. You seem very qualified, but might want to wait til R1 in the fall - and enhance your profile and story in the meantime.
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Hello,
Thank you in advance for answering.
I am a 26years old female from Ivory coast currently living in UK. I spent most of my life in Ivory Coast. In high school I won an award of the best student of my category in the whole country. I did my a level (baccalaureat litteraire) in literature focusing in English,Spanish, history, philosophy and math.
I went to the best university of the country.Even though that university only accept people for scientific background,they did made an exception for me, accept my application and made me take a math test before grant me a place there. I was admitted to the three years program, got a scholarship for three years during those years I was ranked 1st of my class. They then offered me a place in the engineering program, renewed my scholarship for two years, and offered me a two months exchange in UK. Again I took the first place among my peers. In my last year I got recruited by PwC. I spent 9 months there, submitted my thesis and declined a full time offer from them.
To sum up I got 4 as GPA.
I declined PwC offer because I wanted an experience abroad and wanted to have more knowledge in finance, I went to UK and did a MSc in finance (top 15).Due to an accident that happened to me at the beginning of my term, I ended up with a low GPA of 3.7 (2.1).


-Work experience from old to recent:
2months summer internship as account assistant in a microfinance company
8months work experience in a big 4 as a financial auditor
I have been running the family business since I was in my 2nd year at Uni. I expand our business from B2C to B2B, created opportunities outside the country. Now we have our own production facilities, client abroad and retailers buy the product to export it .
I am currently having experience in a fortune 20 as a digital architect and PMO in London

Extracurricular activities
- I was the Vice president of the dancing club in my high school (we were 2nd in a national competition)
- my first two years at Uni I was running the English and literature club of the Freshers
- I became a year later the Project manager of a student start up operating in management,marketing for a year
- the year after I was elected the president of that start up I expanded our activities,improved our revenue by 20% the first year by expanding our activities and clients portfolio.It led me to a second mandate
The second year was even better we had the same growth in term of revenue and profit. One of the client decided to hire me,he made me an offer but I had already accepted the offer of the big 4 so I declined.

I actively participated in Rotaract activities, and st Egidio working with orphans, offering medical kits and working on various projects.
I was also an activist in the LGBT community in my country, counseling and being there for everyone.
I am currently teaching some Basic IT to seniors people here in London
And next month I will start volunteering on weekends for British heart Foundation as well.

I haven't prepared for the GMAT yet,I got the books today...planning to read,get ready and take it because I would like to apply for the 1st round I'm September 2018.
I am interested in Wharton, Stanford,Harvard, Columbia and I would stay LBS.

So my questions are:
Is my work in my family business considered as work experience?
Which score of GMAT should I get to get into top 10 first round?
Can I get into the top 15?

Thanks,

Sorry again for the long story

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Hey everyone,

Thanks for helping me out with a profile review. Wanted to see what y'all think my chances are at HBS with a strong career background but weaker extracurriculars. Considering applying Round 3 though I know that's where dreams go to die.

Background & Nationality:
Age - 29
Nationality - American Male

GMAT:
Overall - 760
Quant - 50
Verbal - 44
IR - 8
AWA - still waiting on score

Undergrad Information:
University - Low 40s ranked private university
GPA - 3.6
Majors - Double major in Math and Finance
Leadership - Vice President of my fraternity, some volunteer work with the fraternity

Work Experience:
Role - Three years in wealth management at a bulge bracket bank (GS, MS, JPM) followed by four years of buyside equity research at the same bulge bracket bank.
Leadership - actively involved in recruiting every year for the divisions I was in, asked to be a part of a global associate council within asset management (moderated an associate to VP promotion panel), first person in my role to be promoted to VP without individual equity coverage

Community and others:
Generally none which I think is a big downside for me. Got so focused on my career that I didn't do things outside of work.

Post-MBA goals:
Would love to move to one of the technology companies that I cover (large-cap software in particular or one of the internet majors). Business development, product management, etc. Public cloud is a particular interest of mine.

Hi - Sounds like you have a very interesting background for business schools - you have competed well locally, received validation from global firms, and now have international experience. Your family work can certainly be considered work experience - might want to see if you can get some experience with people internally and externally who are not family members though. Think your GMAT is not as heavily weighted as you might think - but for the top 10 schools, you might shoot for 650-700. Best
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Thank you for your the reply.
I will definitely try to get a 720+ .do you think it is possible ? I am planning to take the test end of March beginning of April . I started on Saturday last week,my first practice (diagnostic) was 600. I am reading 2h per day on weekdays and 4hours on weekends

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Sounds like you are well on your way. Happy to have an initial chat if might be of help:-) (contact@alta.mba)
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Hey Paul, for people who are in healthcare VC, do they get bucketed into the same group as finance when ad com is assessing their profile or do they look at them with the healthcare folks? thanks

Hi - Most will bucket you in PE/VC - unless other parts of your background or sincere/passionate career aspirations would lead them to bucket you with potential to lead operating/healthcare companies.
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I am thinking to apply for the 2+2 program as a college graduating senior. Currently, I am working on the GMAT exam and I will have my GMAT exam in mid-March. If I have to retake the exam, it will be a day before the deadline.

Background and nationality: Asian female, from Macau SAR, fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.
Undergrad Information: Michigan State University Hospitality Business(Bachelor of Arts)
GPA: 3.95/4.00
GMAT: N/A
Work experience and leadership: Two internships in hotel operations, one of them is on the supervisory level.
ECs: International Scholars Advisory Board, Delegation of Outstanding Macau Higher Education Students to the European Union and UNESCO (to promote the exchange and cooperation between Macau SAR and the European Union, as well as UNESCO last summer).

Is this profile worth a shot and is there anything I should be aware of?
Thanks!

Hi - Seems you have great academic trackrecord, interesting ECs, and positive demographics. Assuming your GMAT is comparable - you should focus on optimizing your recommendations, developing an interesting story of who you are and your future passions and interest. Happy to have an intro chat of course.
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