Columbia Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Background and nationality
Mexican Citizen/ usa citizen(dual) Hispanic
Undergrad Information
December 2014 Texas state university, accounting major, 3.34 gpa
GMAT: 720 48Q 41V, 6awa 8 IR
Work experience and leadership
Work at commercial bank in Houston in the Energy Services Lending Group, team of 7 that run a 1.2bln portfolio, unique experience helping oil field service companies through worst downturn in industry history. Worked there for 2.5 years, one promotion thus far (likely a second by the time I start MBA).
Community and others
Catholic retreats and volunteer with HEART program.
Post MBA goals
Management consulting, long term goal is to return to Mexico after learning the best bussines pracrices (10-15 years after mba) to enter politics and help Mexico harness its immense natural resources and improve upward mobility of young Mexicans.
Anything else?

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

Hello mpriestly ☺

We are bit late in responding to you but we hope this reaches you in time ☺

At the outset, we would like to tell you that with your strong GMAT score, top-league undergrad education, as well as rich extracurricular engagements, you have built for yourself a very strong candidature.

While the above will put you at a strong advantage, it is imperative that your post-MBA goals align with your professional experiences. The move from your current profile to healthcare consulting does not seem like a very logical path. While your injury could help you depict your resilience in the face of adversity, we recommend that you work on a story, which shows a strong linkage among your work experience, short-term goals, and long-term aspirations.

If you manage to take care of the above and build an application that is reflective of your strengths, you have a very good chance at cracking Columbia ☺

Should you feel the need for a free profile evaluation, please do not hesitate to approach us ☺

Good Luck! ☺

Thank you so much for offering! Any guidance is appreciated. I'm considering applying ED since I think it's a stretch

Demographic: 26 year old American white straight male (aka boring)

GMAT: 700 (48Q/38V/6AWA/7IR)

Undergrad: 3.2 in math from top 25 school (it's one of Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Emory, Rice)

Work experience: 4 years (5 when matriculate) at a well known tech company in New York City (think Spotify, Jet, Grub Hub) in biz dev. Promoted twice

Leadership: Captain of college tennis team, member of varsity squash team. Manage direct reports in role. Vice President of office marathon club.

Community: I volunteer weekly for MADD. My parents died in a car crash from a drunk driver (discuss in my essays with my volunteer experience)

Post MBA: Work in biz dev for a tech company (current company has given me offer if I return after school, but will likely go somewhere else)

Other: the two supervisors I asked for recs went to M7s and said they would write me great ones. Hopefully means they'll be good

Posted from my mobile device

You know the answer to this man: Don't be boring!
And actually your profile doesn't seem boring at all.

I am really sorry to hear about the story with your parents. And I find it fantastic that you've found a way to volunteer to do what you can to make sure people aren't drinking and driving. It also has the potential for being a great story.

So, I think with your GMAT and GPA, you're right - Columbia is a bit of a stretch (I'd be curious to learn what OTHER schools you are applying to), but I think you do have some shot.

As for making yourself "unboring" - a lot of that is up to you and to your writing. First of all, get rid of the idea you are boring, and you will no longer be so. There are gems in every profile, and you just need to find them, and polish them up real nice.

And work really hard on your Columbia networking before you apply - it can help quite a bit.

I hope this helps!
Best,
JF

I think you're profile is good and you should have a shot at Columbia/ You may want to look into applying through the Consortium if that is relvant to you (and given your goals it seems like it can be).

I’d love to help you out but without more info (especially about your work experience) it’s gonna be hard. How quickly have you advanced? Do you have any leadership? What are your great achievements? Do you have notable community service or extra curriculars?

The biggest issue I see in what you have posted here is your proposed goal trajectory - Oil and Gas Finance - Consulting - Politics. It just isn't gelling for me. I think you need to rethink these goals and find a smoother transition:

That is to say - How do you make use of your past experience? and how do your short-term goals lead clearly and directly to your long-term ones? (right now, they don't)


Hope this helps!!!

Best,
JF

Well that's a miiightly lovely GMAT you have there.

So far so good, and it looks like your only real weakness I can see is your GPA which is a bit low. And your school which could be an Ivy and not a Public Ivy

But still good.

My main question here is r.e. your work experience. It's not clear to me yet what you have done, nor how you have advanced. Do you have any leadership? What are your great achievements? How have you gotten recognition at the workplace? All of these will be very important in determining your standing with the school.

Best,
Jon Frank

I think you have a solid shot at Columbia and Top 10 schools in general. Excellent GMAT. Very good grades from an Ivy League. Good promotions in a short amount of time. You come from an industry which is not saturated. And also seem to have some good extras. Just make that application sing, my friend

And feel free to drop us a line for a more full-on Free Consultation: https://bit.ly/mbafcGC

Background and nationality: White; American; Male
Undergrad Information: Two Bachelor degrees - 2.9 Economics from Top 50 Liberal Arts college; 3.5 Applied Mathematics from Top 50 State University. (combined gpa 3.11)
GMAT: 740 (50Q,40V)
Work experience and leadership: 60 months at matriculation. 2 years at startup; 2 years in supply chain strategy/finance at Fortune 50 company; 1+ years (present job) in supply chain and ZBB strategy working on M&A synergies at Fortune 100 company. Currently have two reports that are focusing on optimizing the supply chain network. My group owns the ideation and business case phases.
Community and others: Led philanthropic team while at the Fortune 50 company. The team volunteered with over 60 organizations. If I am not working, I am outdoors or spending time with my wife and dog.
Post MBA goals: Consulting at top firm for 2-4 years and then transition back into strategy group within a Fortune 100 company
Anything else? Quick explanation of two degrees: worked for startup straight out of college and was awarded stocks because I was one of the first 50 employees. 2 years after joining, the company was sold and I had the choice of either exercising my shares or joining the much larger company across the country. I realized that I had room to improve on my quant skills and the work I was interested in demanded a higher skill level. In the end, I cashed out and found myself in the classroom for a second time... luckily it was only for 1.5 years because my credits transferred from my first degree.

[x]

JF,

I have been promoted once in two and a half years (one more time is likely within the next 6 months). I have recieved three raises so far. I did lead analyst only meetings (after I recieved approval from Executive Management) to adress the issue of young analysts leaving the bank at an alarming rate. Through the meetings I was able to put together an action plan, of which many suggestions were implemented to make the Bank a more attractive place to work for youb bankers. In additiona, a semiannual analyst only meeting was established for analysts to continue to improve.

Hey, everyone

Would appreciate some feedback. Thank you in advance.

- Russian, white, straight, male, 30 y.o., married
- 730 GMAT (Q49, V40)
- 110 Toefl
- Undergraduate degree in engineering (automobile industry). The best automobile industry university in Russia.
- Former professional athlete, volleyball player. Was a member of Junior National Team Russia. Participated in Universiade 2007 in Bangkok as a member of national team. Europe champion among students and MVP of this championship. Played for a professional team in one of the strongest leagues in the world.
My other work experience includes creating 2 successful cosmetics stores in Moscow (active), creating an online cosmetics store(active) and creating a store and a hair salon in one place (unique approach in that town, now sold). I am also a partner in a big (55 stores) cosmetics stores network in Moscow. Got my first salary when was 13 and since then I am working constantly.
- Extracurriculars include volleyball non-profit projects. Participated in development of the amateur volleyball league. Gave volleyball lessons to kids and orphants.
- Goal: Creative marketing position in fashion & beauty industry.
- Speak 3 languages apart from my native Russian
- Hobby - Fashion photography. Just returned from Hong Kong where we were shooting models outdoors.

My main weakness is my very low GPA. It is as low as 2.44 (but I will check it once more. I pray for a calculating mistake). At the time I studied in university I was playing for the club and for the national team. I chose engineering while my sports colleagues all chose sports universities. And I also had some issues preventing me from getting top marks. However I worked hard on my diploma project and was awarded a prize as my project got into TOP100 diplomas that year. Will definitely write an optional essay for that.

Background and Nationality: Indian citizen residing in India
Undergrad Information: Pursued my Bachelors in Commerce specializing in Finance from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, India scoring 61.4%
Professional Qualifications: Have successfully passed my Chartered Accountancy (which is equivalent to CPA in US) from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Company Secretary-ship (which is equivalent to a corporate lawyer in US) from The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
GMAT: Yet to appear
Work experience and leadership: Worked for 2 years with the Assurance team at S. R. Batliboi & Co. LLP (member firm of EY LLP in India) as an Intern, 1 year with the M&A team at Emami Ltd. (a FMCG company listed on all major SEs in India) as an Executive, 2.5 years with Resham Traders & Investors Pvt. Ltd. (a NBFC in India) as an Executive - Legal & Finance, 9 months in ZON Energy (a start-up in the renewable energy industry) as a Director and 4 months (yet) as a Chartered Accountant in Practice in India.
Community and others: I have been closely associated with TDRD Kanya College, an all girls school located in a dacoit inflicted village in Uttar Pradesh, India where we actively promote gender equality and women empowerment by streamlining our efforts in educating the girl children in and around the area.
Post MBA goals: Immediately after my MBA, I would like to work as a management consultant.

I understand my eligibility will depend a lot on my GMAT scores. But it would be great if you could kindly just check my profile and suggest me the ideal GMAT scores.

First of all, your profile besides the GPA is really impressive, so I think that your chances might be pretty good even as it is. However, if you want to play it a bit safe and think it is at all possible to get that GMAT score up a bit, you might want to consider a retake for that reason, as any increase would really help your case. You need to compensate for that GPA somehow, you see and a high GMAT score is definitely the best way to do that

(I can’t really say how the issues you had that prevented you from getting the top marks would go down with the adcom as you didn’t get into that but feel free to contact us in private if you’d want some feedback on those:https://aringo.com/mba-process-registration/)

But that is just a suggestion from my part and not a must, great essays can really help seal the deal as well. May I ask what your post MBA goal is and how the fashion experience is related to that and your wish to get an MBA? (You can write about that off the forum as well if you feel it is too personal, but it is an important part of the puzzle for me to understand as it is highly relevant when we are talking essays!)

I assume you are also applying to some other schools as well, there are some other ones that should be a great fit for you out there as well!

JL

Thank you so much for offering this service!
- Background: Asian female born and raised in Canada
- Undergrad: Bachelor of Commerce at McGill University, 3.4 GPA
- GMAT: 710 (Q49, V38)
- Work experience: 3 years in Marketing at a top coffee CPG (well known to US schools). Been promoted once, and am now in an analysis role (hence, a marketing girl who can do math!)
- Leadership: Was very heavy on extracurriculars throughout all my academic life - President of my college's student government (we do 2 years of college before university here), President of my university's marketing club, was a Campus Ambassador for the Harvard Women in Business Conference (led 30 women to Boston), won two 1st place prizes at academic case competitions. Post-university: I am still a case coach today, I have graded exams and projects for a professor for 1 year while working, and I regularly go back to school to speak at events and classes.
- Post MBA goals : work in marketing or innovation at a social enterprise. I have always taken part in groups relating to social causes, and my career goals are to use marketing to help change consumer behaviour for the better. Columbia's endless resources and its location at the heart of New York make it a place where I feel I will be free to discover and forge a path to make my dreams closer to reality.
- Anything else? : I am having trouble identifying who should be my 2nd recommender, after my current boss. What does Columbia value more - having a senior person's point of view or someone who has worked more closely to me?

Hey dude,
Very good to hear from you.

Well let's start with the obvious, your GMAT is great, your GPA is less :/

For your work experience, it seems quite solid, and you are coming from a good industry although not a common one (at least not as much as finance, IT or consulting), and both of those things should work in your favor.

In terms of what you actually did and how you progressed and how much leadership you have, it's a bit hard to say, cause I don't really have enough information about that (do feel free to elaborate though).

Also in terms of Volunteer work/ECs, things seem a bit thin.

Ultimately it's a bit of a toss up. I'd say you have a decent shot (competitive) but a lot will depend upon your ability to elaborate on your profile and to make a very convincing argument why Columbia and especially Columbia (or better yet, ONLY Columbia) is the right place for you to do that.

I hope this helps!
And feel free to drop us a line for a more full-on Free Consultation: https://bit.ly/mbafcGC

Best,
Jon

Overall you have a good profile. Between your Russian background, your entrepreneurial success, and your pro sports past life you will definitely be able to paint a stand-out picture. Will it be enough to cover for that terrible GPA? Hard to predict really. But yes, there's enough there that you should try for it, and if you can write some essay explaining why, as you suggested, it will help out.

Anything you can do by the way to make a convincing argument that Columbia is the place for you (well, NY and luxury good should fit together), will help.

Otherwise, for your overall strategy, since you have a very unique and impressive profile, but a bad GPA, your best best is to apply for MORE schools, that way you don't have to dilute the level of the schools, but you would also hedge a bit against that GPA, which might harm your application.


I hope this helps!
Best,
JF

Hey there and great to hear from you!

Well Columbia will be a tough one, although if you get a 740+ feel free to give it a shot.

You come from a very overly represented demographic (although being a female candidate will help out) with a low GPA form a non-target school, and without a "Blue chip" employer on your resume. Top 10 schools would be a stretch for you even with a 770, although feel free to keep one or two of them on a "Stretch" schools.

More reasonable would be schools in the 10-30 ranking, provided your GMAT is strong.

Best,
Jon