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brndon6
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Joined: 30 Sep 2014
Last visit: 21 Apr 2015
Posts: 7
Own Kudos:
5
Given Kudos: 3
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Marshall PM '17 (WL)
GMAT 1: 690 Q47 V38
GPA: 3.24
WE:General Management (Consumer Packaged Goods)
Schools: Marshall PM '17 (WL)
GMAT 1: 690 Q47 V38
Posts: 7
Kudos: 5
Hey Guys.. Another Profile Evaluation if you dont mind :) 03 Oct 2014, 03:33
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Hey Guys,

I am planning to apply this January(2015) and I wanted to see how my profile is going to fare.

32 y/o Male from the good old USA (Chinese/Cambodian/Korean Decent)

690 GMAT (47 Quant / 38 Verbal) - Thinking about retaking in November/December

3.24 GPA from California State University Northridge - Dual Bachelor Science in Marketing and Business Administration (Option: Business Law)

Quality of work experience Lacks a bit in my opinion, but what do you think?
8+ years total, but in various fields, job functions, with small companies, and with gaps.
2 years managing a property I own. Renovating and filling vacancies (16/16 from 6/16 units occupied within a year while under construction)
2 years as Logistics Coordinator with Infusion Pharmacy Center
2 years Principle/Co-founder apparel merchandise company (primary target: music industry)
2 years principle high end custom furniture manufacturing company

Travelled South America for about a year. Worked on Cattle Ranch in Bolivia for about 6 months. Spanish is not as good as it used to be, but a few weeks of tutoring and maybe immersion and I would be close to fluent again. I am also starting with a German tutor.

Extra Curricular Activities include Tutoring and Mentoring College bound students. I am also involved with an AIDS relief Charity in Cambodia that focuses on the pediatric AIDS epidemic in the country. I also recently helped a local construction company research and write a winning proposal for a government contract work over $4M.

I am looking for a program that would provide international exposure, so I would prefer the non-US schools I mentioned.

My post mba S-T goal is a consulting job where I can improve upon the soft skills I gained in school and entrepreneurial took kit. L-T goal is find an entrepreneurial venture or start-up to work with.

My top choice schools are LBS, Judge, Saïd, IESE, ESADE, Marshall & Anderson

As I mentioned above, I am thinking of retaking the GMAT. My first time around I self studied for about 5 weeks. This time I am thinking of taking a prep course or at least get the self-study prep course from Manhattan or Veritas to hopefully add 40-50 points (7-8 weeks prep time). Do you think it would be worth the money? Do you think my goals are realistic.

Lastly, any advice on how to bolster my work experience?

Any and all advice would be appreciated :)
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phlaym39
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Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Last visit: 03 Aug 2023
Posts: 106
Own Kudos:
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Given Kudos: 18
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Technology
Schools: Haas '17 (A) Stanford '17 (D) Sloan '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Kellogg MMM '17 (M)
GMAT 1: 740 Q48 V44
Schools: Haas '17 (A) Stanford '17 (D) Sloan '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Kellogg MMM '17 (M)
GMAT 1: 740 Q48 V44
Posts: 106
Kudos: 32
 [1]
Hey Guys.. Another Profile Evaluation if you dont mind :) 03 Oct 2014, 11:18
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I agree with you that your work experience looks like the weakest area. There isn't much you can do to change it in 3 months, at least on the surface. I suggest that you think long and hard about how you can make your contributions in the work shine. i.e., Make your essays and resume work for you. Focus on your accomplishments / leadership / risk-taking / etc. in your work. Show your capabilities through what you did. Don't just say that you worked in a furniture company.

Your GMAT isn't that low, and I'm not sure a 730 will remedy a boring WE. Considering that most of the schools you're applying to are in Europe, the avg GMAT there is a bit lower than some the top schools in the US, therefore 690 is actually pretty competitive.

I'd recommend you don't re-take the GMAT. Focus all your energy on the resume / essays and free-form questions. Make sure you get multiple essay reviewers to give you independent feedback. BTW, leverage your extra-curriculars as well. Those sound pretty interesting. Good luck!
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brndon6
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Joined: 30 Sep 2014
Last visit: 21 Apr 2015
Posts: 7
Own Kudos:
5
Given Kudos: 3
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Marshall PM '17 (WL)
GMAT 1: 690 Q47 V38
GPA: 3.24
WE:General Management (Consumer Packaged Goods)
Schools: Marshall PM '17 (WL)
GMAT 1: 690 Q47 V38
Posts: 7
Kudos: 5
Hey Guys.. Another Profile Evaluation if you dont mind :) 06 Oct 2014, 08:41
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phlaym39,

Thanks for your reply. Great advice. Especially about making my contributions shine in the essays. Definitely need to emphasis my strengths.

I am still torn between re-taking the GMAT though. Looks like you got a 740. Thats great. Do you mind telling me how you prepped? Did you take a course?

Cheers,

Brandon.
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phlaym39
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Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Last visit: 03 Aug 2023
Posts: 106
Own Kudos:
32
Given Kudos: 18
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Technology
Schools: Haas '17 (A) Stanford '17 (D) Sloan '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Kellogg MMM '17 (M)
GMAT 1: 740 Q48 V44
Schools: Haas '17 (A) Stanford '17 (D) Sloan '17 (D) HBS '17 (D) Kellogg MMM '17 (M)
GMAT 1: 740 Q48 V44
Posts: 106
Kudos: 32
Hey Guys.. Another Profile Evaluation if you dont mind :) 06 Oct 2014, 11:08
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I used the Economist GMAT tutor. I liked it because it's computer adaptive, but it takes forever. On and off, I got to about 80% completion over the course of a year. (If I had to compress it, it was about 5 months of 1hr every, and I mean EVERY, evening). I reckon this put me around 700-720. 720 was my last GMATPrep score a week before my GMAT.

They (GMAC) say that your actual score on the day can vary by up to 30 points. I did everything I could to make sure mine was on the up side of that range. This includes:
- what I wore - minimize number of pockets, therefore no jacket, just a jersey. I wrote in winter but I couldn't be sure the heater/aircon was working properly so I layered.
- I practiced (for the last 2-3 months) with earplugs. Good thing too. The building was under construction and I could hear some drilling or jackhammering. It would've been worse if I didn't use the earplugs.
- I picked a Monday and took the day off work so I could take the whole weekend to finish prep and psych myself up for it. Any other day and I would've been a bit preoccupied with work. I chose to write at 11am, because 8am was too early for me and 2pm was too late.
- I timed my breakfast to be more of a brunch so that I wouldn't feel hungry until I finished my test.
- a few days before, I tested my route to the testing station, all the way to the admin (the person that asks for your ID), luckily I live about 10min away. I also sat around in the waiting area to see exactly what other people had to do - e.g., get assigned locker, questions the admin asks, check pockets, etc.
- during the breaks, I made sure I went to the loo and stretched.

All of this so that I didn't need to get ruffled or think about anything except the test.

There are much better GMAT stories on this site. I read through a lot of them and pretty much tried to do it all.

Good luck