Harvard Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hi,

I am applying to HBS 2+2 and would love to have my profile evaluated if someone had the time! Thanks in advance.

Demographics
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Citizen: Afghan-Canadian
Diversity: First Gen college student, lower socio economic background, refugee family

Education
BASc in Engineering at Top 2 Canadian Engineering School
GPA: 3.4+ (Hoping to graduate with 3.7, only 2.4% off!)
Graduating: April 2021

GMAT
GMAT: Haven’t taken it yet but aiming for 720. Currently have V36 with absolutely 0 preparation and just need to improve my basic quant skills, not too concerned.

Looking for Intake: HBS 2+2 Class of 2024

Work Experience:
4 Engineering Internships in Canada and the U.S.

- Engineering leadership role at Apple (2 internships in a row - have a great relationship with my team and will likely return full time after graduating)
- Project Engineering at top 3 aerospace company
- Technical Account Manager at top 10 consumer electronics firm

Highlights:

- Have a patent pending at Apple for a feature I invented and live pitched to Apple VPs. My feature is part of iOS 14

Extracurricular Activities

- Co-founder and Director and Board VP at a 501C3 non profit based out of the U.S. that empowers marginalized communities in war torn countries through social entrepreneurship and innovation (currently piloting in Afghanistan)

- Youth mentor for marginalized youth in my local refugee community

- Entrepreneur and Social Innovator at my own E-Commerce business where I employ marginalized Afghan women to produce goods that are sold to a global audience. In the program they receive skill development training, fair compensation, and humanitarian support by way of food packages and education financing for their children

Post-MBA goals

Short term: continue working in a FAANG technology firm to build up my leadership skills and industry knowledge

Long term: start my own firm focused on real estate development and VC investing into promising tech social innovations/ventures based in war torn or failed countries.

My personal mission: Rehabilitation of war torn countries such as Afghanistan through technology and social innovation

Any specific questions you would like answered by our team:
- I only have 5 months to study for the GMAT. So in the worst case scenario that I don’t improve my 3.4 GPA and only get a 690-700 GMAT score, what would my chances be?

Target Schools:

HBS 2+2, Yale SOM Silver Scholars, Stanford GSB Advanced Admission

Thank you so much for taking the time, I really appreciate it!!!

Posted from my mobile device

Hi amarga,

Your profile looks amazing and you definitely have the advantage of your diverse background. I can not say much on your stats but if you're able to achieve your target scores you're pretty much sorted. You have five months left for your GMAT and I suggest you focus more on GMAT as it plays a larger role in the admission process and so scoring a great score will help your candidacy more.

Your internship experiences seem great, clearly demonstrating strong leadership and great impacts. I am amazed by your giving. What you are doing for your community and the marginalized communities is very inspiring and how you're doing it is even more. I think this would play a good role in framing an amazing story for your apps. Overall, you do stand a great chance in your target schools but do comprehensive research to understand these schools, their community and values. This would help you make your applications the right fit for your target schools. We are delighted to hear your story and guide you to understand these schools better. You may read this article to have a better understanding of GSB and what it wants. 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, Linkedin
Founder and Admissions Consultant, MBA and Beyond
Email: shantanu@mbaandbeyond.com

Hi All! Would love a profile eval for R2 2020 apps

GMAT: 770

Demo: Indian Male (24) born and raised in the Middle East with US undergrad

Undergrad: University of Chicago, 3.63 GPA

Work Ex:
- 3+ years (4 at Matriculation): 2 years of Strategy Consulting at Deloitte (primarily healthcare engagements) + 1 year of Strategy & Ops for Uber in a nascent, high growth team + 3 months (counting) work directly with the Indian Central government on building digital health ecosystems

Career Trajectory: Focus on health tech entrepreneurship in emerging / frontier markets with an interim, immediate post mba stint in PM at leading Health Tech firms

Strong recs and essays, moderate to strong extracurriculars

Have only applied to Wharton and Booth (invited to interview) for R1 - trying to finalize my list of R2 schools. Changes for HBS / Stanford / Sloan in R2?

Thanks!

With your current stats and below average GMAT, the deferred admit programs that you are aiming for are stretches, but your background, experience to date, and goals would be extremely attractive to them. Get those stats up, especially the GMAT, and I think you will have a much stronger chance. I'm not saying it's impossible for you to be accepted via a deferred admit program with your current GPA and a 690-700 GMAT, but a higher GMAT and strong finish to your college transcript will tremendously enhance the likelihood of success for you.

Good luck!

Hello Anandr96,

You have chose your schools well given your qualifications and goals. There are no safeties among them, but given your age, I don't think you need to have one.

You may also want to add Haas and Kellogg to your list, but I don't think it's a must to do so.

If you'd like help with your apps, please let me know.

Hi team,

Recently took my GMAT, I won't be applying to B school for another 3 or so years, but wanted to quickly evaluate whether I have a chance at the schools below based on my profile. I know I should probablyyyy take the GMAT again at some point in the future, but given how busy work is and my target schools I wanted to evaluate my chances first.

African
Penn/Ohio State, 3.9 Economics major/Computer Science minor
GMAT: 660 (40Q 41V 4IR 5AWA)
Work experience and leadership: 3 years (at matriculation) of TMT Investment Banking in Boston (Baird, Jefferies, Houlihan) kind of firm
Interned at a Private equity firm for 3 months doing leveraged buyouts
Interned at a fidelity for 3 months doing equity research
President of Investment Banking Club at undergrad senior year
Founded and led investment club freshman year of undergrad

Target Programs: Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Emory, Cornell.

Hi,
what is the way of getting a scholarship on sports quota?

What do you want to do after your MBA? Do you plan to stay in the U.S. or return to Africa?

I'm an American citizen. I plan to stay in the financial services industry in the States. Truthfully I want to bolster my credentials because my undergrad isn't very reputable in the industry. Will definitely work on crafting my story before I apply however.

Thanks for the additional information.

The role of the GMAT is in flux now, but if you are applying this cycle, given your excellent GPA, solid work experience, African background, and the schools you are aiming for, you could be admitted with your current score. However, I'd recommend that you raise it. Depending on the position that you are aiming for, a future employer may want to see a GMAT score starting with a 7. I'd recommend that you prepare and retake even f that means you need to postpone your application for a year.

Best,
Linda

much appreciated, Thank you

Hi ShaliniShalini,

From the details that you have provided, your profile looks good. Your stats are pretty good but GMAT is slightly lower than the average. Your work-ex seems good but is not very straight-forward (which can be good or bad depending on your post-MBA goals). Having worked in different capacities and industries, you must have gained some great insights into the business world and I am keen to know your post-MBA goals. Also, this does provide you with a hint of diversity. And yes, I definitely can see a great career trajectory from an account manager to VP. Talking about your ECs, your community involvement seems great and playing squash is pretty interesting . So, overall I feel you can bring interesting stories on the table.

Now, your profile does tick all the boxes but Harvard can be a stretch for anyone. You can also target LBS, Said, Judge in Europe and Rotman in Canada. But without knowing your post-MBA goals, it's hard to give schools suggestions that fit your profile. If I have to advise, I would say make a list of schools you're targeting and classify them as Reach/target/safety schools to strategize better. If you'd like, we are happy to help you with your schools and apps. 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, Linkedin
Founder and Admissions Consultant, MBA and Beyond
Schedule a free session
Email: shantanu@mbaandbeyond.com

Hi,

I am planning to apply for HBS 2+2.
Background :
Indian Male
Age 21

Academics

Currently 3rd year in BBA with specialisation of IT.
Top college in the country
CGP - 7.87/10.0. i.e 3.45/4
10th and 12std 80%.
GRE - 338, AWA 5.0



Academic Certification

- Entrepreneurship in emerging economics from HarvardX online 92%
- Google certification in Digital Marketing 91%
- Udacity Digital marketing NanoDegree
- Hubspot Academy certification in Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing and Business Blogging.
- Sololearn certificate in SQL fundamentals


Internship experience

- 2020 Internship at McKinsey. Recently started
- 2020 Internship at TechMahindra one of the largest IT companies in country. Managed the brand positioning functionalities through use of Content from the Company website.
- 2019 Educational online company (startup) . Selected as Student Brand ambassador for University . Launched student programmes. Mentored 25+ students in getting internships and career development . Conducted 7 seminars .
- 2019 Non-profit social enterprise . Marketing Intern Lead 25 volunteers in Global Unconventional 2019. Its a social platform for startups across industries to network , invest and etc. Devised social media strategies for company which brought in 60% increase of digital traffic . Managed all operations for the event .
- 2018 Startup company (E-commerce) . My role was to create a social engaging app content . Successfully created it and received positive response.
- 2018 Startup company (Education online service startup) . Sales Intern ...Led a team of 3 . Went on to make a record breaking sales of 1 Lakh rupees in a month . Over 100+ students registered and created a customer base of 400 students. Promoted to city Operations head intern - lead a team of 20interns across City . Conducted seminars in 7 Educational Institutions , brought in sales of 70,000 rs .
- 2018 Non-profit Social Enterprise company . Marketing Intern - lead a team of 25 volunteers in Global UnConvention event . Brought in sales of 700+ registrations . Handled operations for the event as well . Resulted in a successful event, felicitated by the CEO .
- 2019 Educational online company . Selected as Student Brand ambassador for University . Launched student programmes. Mentored 25+ students in getting internships and career development . Conducted 7 seminars .
- 2019 Non-profit social enterprise . Marketing Intern Lead 25 volunteers in Global Unconventional 2019. Its a social platform for startups across industries to network , invest and etc. Devised social media strategies for company which brought in 60% increase of digital traffic . Managed all operations for the event .

College activities

- 2018 Founder and management head of clubs . Initiated clubs in college which had 200+ members . I lead a team of 30 members . Conducted 2 zests which had 150+ registrations and 500+ people attending it.
- 2019 International Cell Head - elected as Head . Lead a core team of 20 and 50 volunteers . Guided and mentored 30 international students in academics . Conducted International cultural events which had 100 registrations and 300+ people attending .
- 2019 Placement Cell Coordinator - Instrumental in data entry and analysis . Coordinated with Fortune 500 companies to conduct campus placements . Appreciated by companies for smooth and efficient flow of process.

Projects

- Inter Government Connectivity --- Successfully developed a mobile application for Indian Government which functions on a higher security factor and provides an environment of their own with my team.
- Created an ideology to reduce child trafficking through use of technology which had AI . Still under development with few success factors . Indian Police City Department appreciated the efforts and plans to implement it .

Sports

- District level Bronze Medallist Boxer .
- School Silver Medallist Boxer
- District level Cricket player .
- City Marathon runner
- Participated in over 20 tournaments in more than 4 sports

Community service

- Volunteer Lead at United Nations during the pandemic. Managed 10,000$(grants by google ad) Google Adwords Account in devising social media campaigns for raising awareness of Coronavirus. Also worked on ground in helping over 200+ migrants from lower economic background in reaching home safely.
- Clean India Active member from 5 years
- Volunteered in an NGO which aims to develop Leadership and Team skills to underprivileged children through the medium of sports and music. Helped in conducting tournaments ,teaching the kids and end to end tasks for 3 months. The event saw a total development of over 500+ underprivileged kids .
- Volunteered to run 5kms sponsored Cancer Walk and got the highest sponsors with over 4,500 Rs and also was felicitated with Gold medal .

Extras

- Participated in 3 Model United Nations , 12 college fests across city .
- Wrote a research paper with a college faculty member


Keeping these aside I have also co founded a community based platform which lists webinars that are taking place. It is the 1st of its origin in my country.


I also understand the need to craft essays and have started working accordingly.
Have been strategising for HBS from 3 years.

Request you all to give me feedback on my profile.

Hi,

I am planning to apply for HBS 2+2.
Background :
Indian Male
Age 21

Academics
Currently 3rd year in BBA with specialisation of IT.
Top college in the country
CGP - 7.87/10.0. i.e 3.45/4
10th and 12std 80%.
GRE - 338, AWA 5.0

Academic Certification
- Entrepreneurship in emerging economics from HarvardX online 92%
- Google certification in Digital Marketing 91%
- Udacity Digital marketing NanoDegree
- Hubspot Academy certification in Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing and Business Blogging.
- Sololearn certificate in SQL fundamentals

Internship experience
- 2020 Internship at McKinsey. Recently started
- 2020 Internship at TechMahindra one of the largest IT companies in country. Managed the brand positioning functionalities through use of Content from the Company website.
- 2019 Educational online company (startup) . Selected as Student Brand ambassador for University . Launched student programmes. Mentored 25+ students in getting internships and career development . Conducted 7 seminars .
- 2019 Non-profit social enterprise . Marketing Intern Lead 25 volunteers in Global Unconventional 2019. Its a social platform for startups across industries to network , invest and etc. Devised social media strategies for company which brought in 60% increase of digital traffic . Managed all operations for the event .
- 2018 Startup company (E-commerce) . My role was to create a social engaging app content . Successfully created it and received positive response.
- 2018 Startup company (Education online service startup) . Sales Intern ...Led a team of 3 . Went on to make a record breaking sales of 1 Lakh rupees in a month . Over 100+ students registered and created a customer base of 400 students. Promoted to city Operations head intern - lead a team of 20interns across City . Conducted seminars in 7 Educational Institutions , brought in sales of 70,000 rs .
- 2018 Non-profit Social Enterprise company . Marketing Intern - lead a team of 25 volunteers in Global UnConvention event . Brought in sales of 700+ registrations . Handled operations for the event as well . Resulted in a successful event, felicitated by the CEO .

College activities
- 2018 Founder and management head of clubs . Initiated clubs in college which had 200+ members . I lead a team of 30 members . Conducted 2 zests which had 150+ registrations and 500+ people attending it.
- 2019 International Cell Head - elected as Head . Lead a core team of 20 and 50 volunteers . Guided and mentored 30 international students in academics . Conducted International cultural events which had 100 registrations and 300+ people attending .
- 2019 Placement Cell Coordinator - Instrumental in data entry and analysis . Coordinated with Fortune 500 companies to conduct campus placements . Appreciated by companies for smooth and efficient flow of process.

Projects
- Inter Government Connectivity --- Successfully developed a mobile application for Indian Government which functions on a higher security factor and provides an environment of their own with my team.
- Created an ideology to reduce child trafficking through use of technology which had AI . Still under development with few success factors . Indian Police City Department appreciated the efforts and plans to implement it .

Sports
- District level Bronze Medallist Boxer .
- School Silver Medallist Boxer
- District level Cricket player .
- City Marathon runner
- Participated in over 20 tournaments in more than 4 sports

Community service
- Volunteer Lead at United Nations during the pandemic. Managed 10,000$(grants by google ad) Google Adwords Account in devising social media campaigns for raising awareness of Coronavirus. Also worked on ground in helping over 200+ migrants from lower economic background in reaching home safely.
- Clean India Active member from 5 years
- Volunteered in an NGO which aims to develop Leadership and Team skills to underprivileged children through the medium of sports and music. Helped in conducting tournaments ,teaching the kids and end to end tasks for 3 months. The event saw a total development of over 500+ underprivileged kids .
- Volunteered to run 5kms sponsored Cancer Walk and got the highest sponsors with over 4,500 Rs and also was felicitated with Gold medal .

Extras
- Participated in 3 Model United Nations , 12 college fests across city .
- Wrote a research paper with a college faculty member

Keeping these aside I have also co founded a community based platform which lists webinars that are taking place. It is the 1st of its origin in my country.
I also understand the need to craft essays and have started working accordingly.
Have been strategising for HBS from 3 years.

Request you all to give me feedback on my profile.

YOu have a competitive profile for HBS' 2+2 program. Make sure you clarify your goals, both for the period before your MBA as well as the your longer-term, post-MBA goals.

If you'd likehelp with your essaysand the rest of your application, please let me know.

Hi all,

Hope you're all doing very well.
I wanted to get a profile evaluation done for deferred programs at HBS, Wharton, Yale and Stanford.

Demographic - Female Indian, International student in the UK The University of Manchester.

Academics:
* On track for First class (4.0 GPA)
* Received outstanding Academic achievement award twice in a row
* GMAT: Haven't taken yet but aiming for 750

Work Experience:
* Business Intern at Google
* Year-long internship (part of the degree) at one of the Virgin Group companies
* Upcoming Teaching placement at a local school (part of a leadership unit)
* Project Consultant for a startup in the US
* Analyst spring intern at a startup in Manchester, UK

Leadership:
* Founder and chair for a pro-bono marketing agency
* Manchester leadership Program achiever
* Mentor at my University for students
* Student representative for a school within our university (UCIL)
* Marketing head at a social organization on campus

Community:
* Won the prestigious Stellify award in my University for community engagement (+leadership)
* Volunteer @ Oxfam
* NHS responder for COVID -19
* Student consultant @ University to help better the student experience

I realize my experience is varied but my personal ambition is to learn and gain knowledge as much as possible and to use that knowledge as a way to help improve not just businesses but also the society.

Post MBA goal: Work in consulting but also run an initiative to help girls education in my home country

Thank you so much for the review.

PS - I posted before but it wasn't detailed at all, so I decided to provide a more comprehensive idea.

Background: Bangladeshi Male (29 year old at time of Matriculation)

Personal Brand: 29 year old Bangladeshi Male with experience of Venture Capital Investing and Startup Operational Roles in an Emerging Country. I hope to combine my emerging market experience with the global perspective and best practices available through a US MBA to become a global VC investor, focusing on Emerging Markets.

Applying to: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Columbia

Education:

1. Undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 3.92/4.00 (considered the top Engineering School in the country)
2. MBA from Institute of Business Administration – University of Dhaka, 4.0/4.0 (considered the top Business School in the country)
3. CFA Charterholder

GMAT: 770 (50Q, 46V)

Why I’m looking for a Second MBA:
My existing MBA experience happened immediately after my undergraduate degree. This resulted in my classroom experience often being theoretical, as I did not have the work experience required to relate classroom lessons with real world examples. (It is common for universities in Bangladesh to accept MBA students with no work experience)
I pursued an MBA to pivot to a career path in Finance. My choice of pursuing Engineering as an undergraduate student had been made at a very young age, and at that time, I did not have the career path related information in order to make an informed decision. I realized 3-4 years into my undergraduate degree that my interests would be more suited towards a career in the financial services sector. A local MBA was my entry point into that career path.
While my existing MBA has helped me make the switch to the career path I want, it is very much a local experience. My career aspirations are global, and the Bangladesh-based MBA does not provide me with access to global opportunities. A global MBA provides me with access to those global opportunities.

Work Experience:

Role 1 (4.5 years, current full-time role):

Working as an VC Associate/Analyst in the Asset Management Arm of a leading Financial Group in Bangladesh ($160M+ annual revenue, Included in Top 30 Public Market Index). I joined in their Leadership Development Program (10 chosen from 20,000 applicants). Promoted twice in four years (one early promotion)

Achievements:
1. Launched the first local venture capital fund of Bangladesh. I was the first employee in the business unit, and paired with a General Manager to help build up the business unit from scratch.
2. Led the Due Diligence for the Group’s first VC investment, including creation of a new transaction structure that solved a major pain point for local startups. The structure we created has been used by the company to raise $3 MM+ of capital from local investors afterwards, including the later round Lead Investor. (this accounts for ~40% of local investment into startups within that period). This was one of the first instances of Corporate Venture Capital in Bangladesh.

Role 2 (1 year, current part-time role, part of Portfolio Management of full-time role):

In addition to my full-time role, I work as a Marketing Strategy Consultant in one of our Portfolio Companies. It is a leading Online Grocery Delivery Company with $35M+ in Annual Revenue, and has raised $15M till date from global VCs. It is one of the best funded startups in the country. I manage 3 teams with 20 direct and indirect reports.

Achievements:
1. Helped the leadership team identify growth opportunities during Coronavirus induced lockdown that helped the company grow topline by ~60% from February 2020 to August 2020
2. Led the company’s initiatives on new acquisition channels – focusing on Offline Channels. Average order numbers have improved by ~30% over the last 2 months of implementation within target zones.
3. I led the creation of the Category Function within the company, and am leading a key Category at this moment (~2M in annual sales). I Devised and Executed strategies for that category that have helped reverse a growth slump, and improve sales and user acquisition by ~40% over the first two months of implementation.

Community and Others
1. Have acted as a Mentor for the largest Startup Accelerator in the country. Mentored 10 startups over the course of 6 months.
2. I also am a trainer through an Ed-tech startup, through which I provide guidance and training to Founders regarding Business Development and Fundraising in the Bangladesh Market. I’ve been able to reach 35-40 Startups through this platform.

Post MBA Goals

Short and Middle Term: Start as a Management Consultant in MBB Startup Practices. (i.e. McKinsey Fuel, BCG Corporate Ventures). These practices place a lot of people into operational roles in Startups, which is my medium term goal.
Long Term: Use my experience in MBB and Startup Operational Roles to become a Venture Investor in Emerging Markets (South Asia, Africa etc)

Narrative:
A decade ago, I lived in a city where we didn’t have internet access, and had to endure 8-10 hours of electricity outages every day. Over the last decade, my life, as well as the lives of millions of people around me, has been changed for the better due to the economic and technological development in my country. My work as a VC investor has helped me drive that change in Bangladesh, and I hope to take that experience and translate that into transforming lives across other emerging nations.


What I would appreciate from the experts here:
1. A sanity check regarding my competitiveness in my target programs.
2. I'm worried about how my chances will be affected by my existing MBA. I've given an explanation in the post, but would appreciate any comments on this.
3. I feel that my Extra-Curriculars are relatively weak, how much of an impact would this have on my chances?
4. General advice regarding my narrative. While it reflects reality, does it come off as cliche?