Harvard Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

If I were you, I would retake the GMAT until I scored a 790, then ask the question again.

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Background and nationality: Spanish, 29Y

Undergrad Information: Bachelor in Laws and Bachelor in Business Administration at Univ. Carlos III de Madrid (1st ranked Spanish University in both degrees) 3.2GPA

Grad Information: none

GMAT: 700 (Q49, V36)

TOEFL: 110

Work experience and leadership:
Associate attorney in Allen&Overy (Magic Circle firm) for four years. I have lead major transactions in the Spanish and European markets at a relatively young age with strong recognition from colleagues, clients and competition.

Post MBA goals: Lead the change in the management of law firms.

Extracurricular: Member of the Alle&Overy Pro-Bono Committee. Strongly involved in community work and pro-bono activities. Sports person with special interest in skiing, sailing, horse riding and basketball. History fan, particularly regarding The Discovery of America and the Iron Chancellor Governement period in Prussia.

Lots of potential here, as already stated, but missing the wow factor for now. Therefore it would help if you could elaborate on your post MBA goal, why you’ve chosen the specific schools you mentioned, if there is anything in your background that could help you stand out from the crowd as well as any measurable, impressive achievements during your work experience or your extra curricular activities.

If you are not sure what adcoms are looking for when it comes to this, the ARINGO team would be more than happy to help you come up with some ideas of course, so if so, feel free to be in touch.

But without some “secret sauce”, so to speak, that helps differentiate you from other Indian applicants I am not super optimistic about your chances, so you really do need to find something unique to focus on in your applications.

Good luck!
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Nationality: Indian, Age: 23 years
I'm a working women in India.
I have a bachelors degree in Economics, GPA: 3.5
I have a working experience of three years in finance.
GMAT score:720
I'm planning to apply in the following school:
HBS
Stanford
Yale
ISB
What are my chances?

I am a Masters student and will be applying to the deferred programmes in a few months (HBS 2+2 & Stanford). Please note that I am a reapplicant to the HBS 2+2 and Stanford deferred entry programmes. I applied last year and was dinged w/out interview at both these schools. However, my profile has changed substantially since then (I have provided a brief overview of the changes compared to last year at the end of this post).

Undergraduate College: Imperial College London, Masters in Engineering (Integrated Masters degree), First Class Honours (3.7 GPA in US Grading System, I think.)

Graduate School: University of Oxford; MSc Finance & Economics

Post-Grad School Job Lined Up: Bain & Company - Associate Consultant; Starting Jan 2019

GMAT: 750 (Q50/V41)

Previous Internships: Bank of New York Mellon (Technology Summer Analyst), American Bulge Bracket Bank (Trading Summer Analyst)

Extracurriculars: VP of Finance Society (2015-16; 3000+ members; led a 25 student team); Co-Founder of Investment Club (2015-16; Led a team of 15 students; Since its inception 2 years ago, it has become one of the largest societies on campus); Vice-Captain of Varsity Cricket Team (Led a squad of 15 students and helped the team qualify from Division 3 to 2); Member of Varsity Table Tennis squad.

What has changed since last year? - GMAT 720 increased to 750; Additional Degree (Oxford); Had no job lined up when I applied last year, this year I have an offer from Bain & Co. to join as an Associate Consultant; Undergraduate Grade was 2nd Class (2:1) which is 3.3/3.4 GPA in the US I believe, I ultimately graduated with a First Class (1:1) grade, which is a 3.7 US GPA.

Post-MBA Goal: Return to Bain for 2-3 years (hoping to get them to fund the MBA) and then move into a Strategy role at a global tech firm (Apple, Google, FB, etc.) to work at the intersection of business, technology and finance, which I think fits in with my story so far.

Thank you!!

Here's a rough assessment based on my experience with MBA admissions and pending an actual review from a professional admission consultant:

- Numbers-wise, your profile is solid. The improvements are palpable and it shows that you've made a considerable effort in improving the attractiveness of your profile from an academic perspective.

- That being said, your profile, for all its impressiveness, is generic: Finance+Consulting is the quintessential profile archetype of the MBA applicant. Which means that you will be up against a lot of folks with a similar background and, potentially, better GPA and GMAT numbers. This is especially true for the deferred programs.

- The extracurriculars, while they do demonstrate leadership experience, are bland to be honest. They're restricted to activities on your campus and do not extend beyond that. The only impressive one that I can see is helping your Cricket Team move from Div 3 to 2. If you do get an interview this time around, then you should emphasize on how you went about helping your team achieve the move, what you have learned from the experience and how that applies to your post-MBA goals.

- Your post-MBA goals are pretty generic, missing what the adcoms call the "wow factor". You want to do an MBA just so that you can move to a tech company at a strategic role. While that's fine, in and of itself, a lot of applicants have the same aspiration as you do. It does not truly set you apart from the rest of the applicant pool.

All in all, I would recommend that you continue improving your profile and properly think about your post-MBA goals and why you'd like to do an MBA in general. You're on the right track numbers-wise, but the numbers are not the only part of the application the adcoms look into.

Best of luck.

Hey all,

I'd first like to say thanks for the help. I'm in the midst of applying for the HBS 2+2 and similar programs now and am looking for any suggestions on how to improve my applications / what to emphasise on my profile.

My Profile -
Asian-Singaporean, ethnic Chinese
GMAT: 780 (Q51, V45), AWA 5.5
Undergrad Degree: LLB Law, Durham University, UK (currently in my final year)
Grades: Low 2.1, 62% average
Extra-curricular activities:
- Participated in a few Europe business games, placed in finals for a couple challenges
- Various student club leadership positions at university (pretty law-related)
- captain of college basketball team (more of a school club thing rather than university-level competition)
Work Experience:
- 1 internship at a small tech startup
- 3 internships at big law firms in Singapore (M&A, Intellectual Property, Commercial work)
- 2 years in the Singapore military as a sergeant (probably will not emphasize this)

My weaknesses I feel would be my poor undergraduate grades and not-too-exemplary extra-curricular activities. Most of my previous work experience has been law-related as I've only recently come to a decision to not pursue the law path.

My dream in the long haul would be to do an MBA in the US at a reputable business school and work in the US afterward. My short-term goal would be to do an MiM in Europe, preferably London, and to go into consulting after for a few years, hopefully MBB but also at other firms such as Strategy&, etc.

The schools I am applying to are:
US, MBAs - HBS 2+2, Yale SOM
UK, MiM - LBS, LSE, Imperial College London
Paris, MiM - HEC Paris

Would like advice on my profile for Masters applications and the viability of me getting into these schools. Also on which schools would give me the best chance of getting into the MBB consulting firms, or if there are any schools I may have overlooked. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

Hi my name is Shardul please find below my profile for evaluation. Highly appreciate for this great help.

Nationality: Indian; Male 27 yrs

Undergrad: Btech Civil, from 5th ranking National institute of Technology, with CGPA 9.15/10

Work experience: Employed in India's premium Oil &Gas Consultancy (a Public sector undertaking) since 2012 (work exp of 5 yrs)

The entire work exp can be broken down into 2 parts :
1. Construction site experience
a. Posted for 1 year at the esteemed site for Strategic storage of Crude oil (at Mangalore India) wherein facilities were being constructed to store crude in underground caverns. Job responsibilities included contract handling, site inspection (including inspection in underground rock caverns) , quality control, implementation of safety at site.
b. Posted for 1.5 years at a refinery expansion project ( Kochi, India) wherein entrusted with the civil structural works for the important Crude distillation unit of refinery. Job responsibilities included preparation of a green field site, handling of a contract amounting to 35 million USD which involved leading a team of 15 persons, site inspection, progress monitoring & expediting, material inspection within & outside site, billing ( completed billing of the value of 14 million USD) quality control.
2.Design office experience ( work exp 2.5 yrs , continued till date)
a. Leading a team of 6 persons ( for the civil portion) to provide EPCM services for the upcoming Refinery & Petrochemical project in Nigeria ( largest project in entire Africa) Job responsibilities include designing of underground facilities & utilities, preparation of drawings , imparting training to the Nigerian counterparts , progress monitoring, providing assistance to site construction engineers, constant interaction with client.
I don't have any on site International job experience. I have received a promotion last year.

GMAT: yet to be taken but targeting a score of 740 to 750

Extracurricular: Not much to show. Have received professional training in Harmonium ( completed 4 professional exams), actively performed in various cultural activities during schooling, during college my team was one among the top 3 teams of west India in the INSDAG competition( an all India competition for steel design)

Post MBA goal : I want to shift from Oil & gas industry ( as all countries are moving from oil towards more environmental friendly options) and enter into strategy consulting and have an inclination to enter into M&A roles ( would explain more efficiently while writing my essays)

Once again thank you for your help.

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?


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

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!

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 -

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