ctinoco wrote:
Hello,
I am currently looking for advice on my applications and next steps for the 2018 intake at top b-schools in the US.
I am from Peru, I hold a bachelors degree in Management and International Business, I have a licentiate degree on Management and a licentiate degree on International Business as well. I have a graduate degree on international relations and 5 years of work experience (I am 27 years old). Earned my undergrad without major issues (top 10% of the class, GPA 3.7, at one of the top universities in my country).
I worked all my life in business intelligence, and have been working on digital transformacion + innovation during the last couple years at a well known multinational company. I am also a business faculty professor at an undergraduate program at the same university I went to, and a graduate professor on digital marketing strategies in an important institue in Lima. Being a professor is my passion.
I am very active in my community, as I have been doing volunteer consultancy for entrepreneurs since 2015, improving the quality of their lives through sustainable businesses, and I am a speaker on strategy, innovation and technology for groups of 100+ people. Also have published some professional articles on business.
I think I have a strong profile and I have clear goals and a good story to tell (to work on education mixing it with digital transformation in my country), but my biggest concern is my GMAT score (640, 44Q 35V on the second attemp. My first attempt was 620). I was aiming for the 700+, but my sin was to study while giving classes, working and volunteering, so I was not completely focused on the exam - dissappointing!
I have already applied in R1 to Yale and UCLA (this last one is my "safety" university), and I am planning to apply to Berkeley-Haas (top choice) and HBS on R2. I already visited the schools and confirmed the fit for me.
I do not know if I am going to be visible or not for ad-coms due to my GMAT score, but I wanted advice about my chances for 2018 intake, or similar b-schools (top 30 at least), or the possibility of preparing myself much better for the GMAT and start from now looking forward to the 2019 intake.
I would really love to go to the mentioned schools because of the personality and fit with me of their people, the unparalleled education and because I really want to work on something with bigger impact.
All advice is really appreciated, I want to start getting realistic and measure my possibilities to start planning ahead another strategy if I need to.
Thank you very much!
Dear Carlos,
Very good to hear from you.
So first of all regardless of everything else, with a 640 your chances at top 10 schools will be close to zero. Sorry if this is very direct, but it's really too low. And unless you're like the son of the president of Peru or something like that, it won't be enough.
So really the first thing you need to think about is: Do I totally change my school list? Or do I retake and apply later? (probably next year) that's the first thing to think about. It looks from your post that you don't want to compromise too much on school list, so that will mean a retake and 2018 application.
Secondly, It is not yet clear to me how strong or weak your work experience is, as I don't have enough detail about the company, your job your progress or your achievements, all of which will play a vital role in understanding that.
Neither is the detail about your volunteer work clear enough (although it does look good)
So I think the first step here is to elaborate in concrete detail about what you have done, and where you have graduated from and then we can take things from there.
wishing you all the best,
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28 Oct 2017, 19:09
