Columbia Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

Hi and thank you for the incredible advice being provided here. I’m looking to get an idea of where I would need to score on the GMAT to get into CBS.

I’m a strong writer with a somewhat compelling background (atypical if you will) and demonstrated success while working. Haven’t taken the GMAT yet but am in the 700-720 range in practice tests.

Nationality: White, Male

Age: 27 (28 upon matriculation)

UG: Non target east coast school, similar to Baruch or Fordham

GPA: 3.8/4

Major: Economics


Additional certifications: CFA level 1&2, FINRA series 7/63

Work experience: 3-3.5 years, 4 years upon matriculation

Began my career in finance at BlackRock focusing on bond analytics (with 1 promotion), after 2.5 years moved to a mid sized alternative asset manager (~100bn) covering private debt and have been there about 6 months now.

Extracurricular activities:
Limited as of late, but several years working and volunteering with children and adults with special needs while in undergrad and high school. Relatively recently began volunteering for a mentoring non profit for children from under privileged backgrounds. Also played D3 athletics with some minor recognitions.

Goals post-MBA: Likely banking or PE

Thank you!

Posted from my mobile device

White male bankers with limited extracurriculars post-college are sort of plentiful in the CBS application pool.

So I would say 730 would be kind of your minimum and 740 would be great. I would still apply even if you got something below 730 but with less confidence.

It's great that you have evidence of positive impact from your work experience.

Really work hard to try to identify sources of diversity that you would bring to CBS, embed that in your anecdotes for the recommendations.


_________________

Background and nationality: - White, American

Undergrad Information: French Major, Global Business Minor

Executive Assessment 150 - 12 IR, 10 V, 9 Q
Took a UC Berkeley 402x Course Management of Math - A grade

Work experience and leadership: Amazon Supply Chain and Startup Executive - 5 years of experience + 2 with mission = 7 years total

Post-MBA goals: Consulting which will translate into entrepreneurship

LDS mission for 2 years in Switzerland and France

Study Abroad in France and Thailand/Myanmar

Undergrad GPA - 3.2

Hi npg22,

Your executive work-ex, on the surface, looks quite good with Amazon and for the post-MBA goals, just explain them well connecting it right to your long-term aspirations. Your academic performance does not seem quite good with EA marking just the minimum standard for Columbia. Now, considering your background and the Berkeley certification, and assuming you put forward the best application possible, it should not pose a problem but if you feel you can do better, I advise a retake (but have a good thought around it since you get only two attempts). So, for any of your other hiccups, we are delighted to hop on a call with you and address them in the best possible manner. 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,
Founder and Admissions Consultant, MBA and Beyond
Success stories and Real essays
Email: shantanu@mbaandbeyond.com
Linkedin
_________________

Nationality: Asian American female

Age: 26

UG: Penn State Schreyer honors college

GPA: 3.8/4

Major: Supply Chain

EA: 163

Work experience: 4 years by the time enroll in MBA

Applied: CBS ED 2020

Current Role: Supply Chain Industrial Engineer at leading aerospace MFG

Wondering what's my odds to get an interview this year? especially I heard there are a surge of MBA applicants this year.

Hi y'all!

Applied a couple weeks ago.
No word on interview or rejection yet. Will update timeline as I go.

Nationality: Asian American Male
Age: 27
Military Veteran w/ Combat Experience.

UG: United States Military Academy - West Point
GPA: 3.84 / 4.0
Major: Computer Science
-Graduated with Honors and awards

GMAT: 750 (I am retaking as I only took it once and performed much worse than all of my official practices).

Work experience: 57 months by time of enrollment.

Current Role: Work as an analyst for a Pentagon-level program, directly for Headquarters Department of the Army.
Previous roles were leadership or operations-based, including service as a Platoon Leader and Executive Officer managing 206 personnel.

Extra-curriculars were special to me, but probably not as impressive as some from the other folks here.
Not a legacy application and have no special ties to the school.

Not a particularly strong or weak profile, I suppose. Just another guy trying to make the leap!
What are my odds, I wonder.

Hello!

Hope you're doing well - I would be incredibly grateful if you could evaluate my profile below.

Demographics
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Citizen: Eastern European (EU), Non-American
Diversity: LGBTQ+

Education
BS in Finance & Statistics from NYU Stern
GPA: 3.8+ (Magna Cum Laude)

GMAT
GMAT: 750 (Q50, V42), IR7, AWA6

Work Experience: 3 years by matriculation
Currently:
- Investment banking in New York at brand-name firm
- Expecting promotion from Analyst to Senior Analyst at the end of next summer
- Significant responsibilities and client-facing interaction
Undergrad:
- Internships in Europe, Asia and New York

Extracurricular Activities
Post-Grad
- Founding member of firm's first LGBTQ+ employee resource group and Co-Founder / Captain of firm's first undergraduate LGBTQ+ recruiting pipeline
- Out4Undergrad (career conference for LGBTQ+ undergrads) Mentor
- School's LGBTQ+ Alumni Network Board of Directors
- LGBTQ+ Immigration-focused non-profit Junior Board member
Undergrad
- Various leadership positions in School's largest student organization / business honor society
- Student Council LGBTQ+ Initiative Founder
- Competitive Hip-Hop Dance Team Choreographer
- Study Abroad semesters in Europe and Asia

Post-MBA goals
- Venture capital investing in tech / software

Any specific questions you would like answered by our team:
- Is there anything I can do to improve my chances 1 year out from applying?
- Would going to a investment firm without brand after my current firm impair my chances? Would it be better to apply from my current firm?

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

Hi!

Background and nationality: British and lived in London since 1999. Also lived in Holland for first 6 years of my life. Ethnicity would be Pakistani.
Undergrad Information : GPA 3.3
GMAT: 720
Work experience and leadership :
1 year international experience working as a senior associate for PwC in Qatar reporting directly to CSP (Head of Qatar PWC)
2 years experience working as an analyst for Deloitte.
Additional roles in accounting, internal audit and project management.

Total EXP: 5 years

Lead a team of 6 where we invest in financial markets (stocks, commodities and forex)
Performed some voluntary work in Pakistan in 2015 where I taught young students from less fortunate backgrounds Maths & English
Football and Cricket team captain
Travelling


Post MBA goals
Work for leading Tech firms in silicon valley

Thank you for your time!

Hi Guys,

I have been admitted to J-term class 2022 at CBS. I initially planned to do the normal 2 year program but due to Covid decided to wait a couple of more months. I applied very late and CBS was the only option back then due to timing. I want to apply to value investing program at CBS.

My profile:
- 4 years working experience: 2 years in M&A IBD at Bulge Bracket Bank in London and then moved to McK as Corporate Finance Consultant
- Post MBA Goal: HedgeFund or PE in the United States
- McK would sponsor me but I do not plan to stay with the firm post MBA
- Strong academic background in business: graduated among top 1% of my bachelor and master in European Top Business School
- Scored in Executive Assessment 164, I would need to retake GMAT (only have old score of 700 from 4 years ago), feel optimistic to score above 720 within next 6 weeks
- Already 31 years old, German

Now I am doubting my decision and would like to get your feedback. I see two options currently both with advantages and disadvantages:

Option 1: Go with the J-term
Advantages: I do not lose one more year given my age, I do not necessarily need summer internship given I am quite experienced, less expenses, clear plan for the next months
Disadvantages: given I want to break into different industries (PE, HF) i would need to do semester internships, due to covid no real b-school experience at least for spring semester, not sure if J-term is regarded as prestigious as regular 2 year program, i have no previous working experience in public and private equity investing

Option 2: Wait until September 2021 (also apply to HBS and Wharton)
Advantages: Covid hopefully over by then, Regular 2 year program makes it easier to change industry, could also apply to Wharton and HBS, potentially could get some working experience in PE, Investing prior to MBA
Disadvantages: Lose 1 more year, more expensive, no clear plan on what to do until September 2021 (stay with McK versus interviewing with PE and HF in Europe)

I am kind of lost with my decision. I am obviously concerned about my age also. I know I want to break into public or private investing. My profile allows me to get interviews at tier 1 funds here in Europe. I am currently in a couple of process with both HFs and PEs to have optionality.

I am looking forward to your feedback guys. Thanks so much!

Do you want to work in Germany/Europe or the US? If you can already land target jobs without MBA, what is the reason for wanting one?

Thank you for your answer.

I want to stay in the United States. That is one strong reason for the MBA. Further motivation is to have the b-school experience, to expand my network professionally and privately and to be taught academically about public investments.

Also I see an MBA as an investment throughout the career (alumni network etc.) and not only to land one target job.

Hi azie786,

You seem to have travelled many different worlds in and outside of your work which is a great thing and maybe the highlight of your profile. Starting with stats, GMAT seems at par with the Columbia average but undergrad GPA seems slightly lower (but I don't think it should pose a huge problem). In crux, you have average stats (for Columbia). Now, talking about your work experience, it does seem good on the surface with names like PwC and Deloitte in the CV. You have served as a senior associate which should imply some good leadership experiences. Overall, I do not have many details of your work-ex to be able to evaluate it comprehensively but I feel five years of work-ex should bring some good projects and stories.

Your ECs seem good as well. I would say focus on one of your hobbies which you are very passionate about and can bring colour to your apps (no point of adding points to the list, it will make apps/resume dull). I believe travelling can do this to your profile as it really caught my eye out of all the others you mentioned. I have some doubts over your post-MBA goals like what function would you like to serve in the tech companies and are you intending to make a switch? Would like to know about it

So, overall with not many details, I can not really comment about your chances to Columbia but I feel you can bring some interesting stories on the table. Which other schools are you eyeing? For tech, MIT, Haas, UCLA, Kellogg can serve as great choices for you in the US. If you'd like, we are happy to hop on a call with you to discuss your profile and career goals at length. You may mail your CV and other relevant details as well and we can help you shortlist schools that best fit your profile. 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

_________________

Got an admit from CBS 2 weeks back

Hello everyone,

A brief background about me, I am a Chartered Accountant from India working with Walmart India Private Limited as a Manager, Business Finance (Category Finance) responsible for entire P&L set of General Merchandise, Electronics, IT and Office Supplied portfolio (25% share of India business). Here, I’ve led multiple projects across the board, cultivating leadership and stakeholder management and skills, industry understanding, and 360-degree view of solutions. Working with category-merchants regularly, I've built an understanding of product assortment, new product decisions, pricing structure of varied industries, inventory management, vendor selection and negotiation strategies.

Building on the Category management experience that I've had working alongside Merchants, I want to propel my career full-fledged towards Category / Product Management / Growth strategy.

Post MBA, I want to work in mentioned roles at Walmart E-commerce leveraging my Walmart knowledge and cultural immersion to develop new products/brands, manage, and scale existing portfolio. This will help me grasp tech firms’ outlook towards expanding categories; how they innovate, ideate development opportunities, and bring them to market. I’ll also master product supply chain and end-to-end lifecycle. Leveraging this, in the long term, as India or Southeast Asia Head/Director of Growth in this firm, I’ll enable my firm to innovate and establish win-win partnerships with local businesses, the lifeblood of Indian economy.

Undergrad study and GPA – Bachelor of Commerce, Delhi University, GPA 4.0/4.0
GMAT – 710, Q48, V38, AWA-6, IR-8
English Test – Waiver, as my schooling and undergrad education was 100% taught in English.

Work Experience:
· 4 years at Walmart India Private Limited
· Prior to Walmart, I worked full-time for 3 years at Sahni Natarajan and Bahl Chartered Accountants, Delhi as an Articled Assistant to complete the mandatory three-year CA training. Here I was responsible for performing risk based assessment of indispensable business processes. These assignments were piloted towards adding value to client’s business by identifying operational process and control related gaps and giving recommendations to remediate the same. I led multiple teams of 4-6 members on 12 assignments across varied industries ranging from telecom (Aircel) to manufacturing (Maruti Suzuki, Pepsico India).

Extracurriculars:

Work aside, I am an avid sports lover-cricket, football, tennis I play them all- I am state level cricket player and was high school sports and cricket team captain, leading my team to victories in several inter-school and district matches. Though I do not pursue sports professionally, I have carried forward this passion into Walmart, Organizing two ‘Formula Fun’ sports meet (Nov’17, Nov’18) - 5 events, 145-150 associates; coordinated with sports facility in Gurugram, arranged neutral referees and refreshments during matches. I also formed a group of cricket lovers and organized matches with other corporate teams in Gurugram.

I am an active volunteer at Zomato Feeding India responsible for identifying 'hunger spots' -underserved areas in the city needing sustained help- reaching out to and securing regular food, clothes and other essential supply from nearby localities, restaurants, voluntary donors etc. and distributing to the needy.

Can you help evaluate the profile and help me understand my chances for getting an admit in CBS.

Apart from MIT, I am looking at MIT, UCLA, Yale, Tuck, Ross, Darden and Duke.

Thanks,
Swastik

Posted from my mobile device

Hi, I would very appreciate any comment/analysis on my profile overall and if there is anything at all that I can improve for Columbia, i will take that chance
Male, 26 years old, Vietnamese.

- GMAT: yet to take (I am expecting 670 - 700)

– Education: Bachelor of Arts in Banking and Finance from a mediocre UK programme, campus in Vietnam (2:2 with 58.7% in major - GPA convertable from gmac said it was a 3.5 but I think 3.2 maximum)

– Extracurriculars: nothing special, I am a member of Kayak Club in Hanoi, Trekking Club, and Hanoi Street Photography Club as these activities are my hobbies outside of the office. During college, I organized an International commercial fair in campus with a team of 5 presenting about a chosen country. That's all.

– Work Experience: 4 years since graduate from college.
1. Top 3 Telecommunication & Technology corp. in Vietnam - Top 10 VN50 largest enterprise (Listed in Brand Finance Telecom 150) (4 years)
Got promoted twice, climb the ladder from the bottom as an apparentice to senior associate.
Participate in many major digitalization projects of public sector.
Something I have done:
- Proposed business plan and P/L analysis that improve 40% of profitability for a particular project.
- Build a guidance template for online submission of bidding, help many other subsidiaries managed to win bids, improve the effectiveness by 50% in bidding preparation process.

2. Portfolio manager (5 years) - Family Office
I have been working for my family office since i was a senior in college and I am currently managing 400.000 US$ AuM of an in-house investment portfolio under my family office, managing 3 million US$ AuM.
Developed investment strategy focus in mineral, steels and tourism sector of Vietnamese public equity based in value investment approach (this is the reason why I want CBS).
Resulted in 24% IRR and approximately 80% ROI over the past 5 years.

– Languages: Fluent in English

– International Experience:
1. Studied in an international program which fully covered in English and professors come from Ireland, Malaysia, Philipine, Indonesia, Singapore and United State for my Bachelor Degree.
2. Have 1 month cooperate closely with joint venture partner comes from India to build proposal for a major project of Ministry of Planning and Investment
Certificates: im sitting for CFA level 1 this June

Career Goals: I want to focus in my Family fund at the end of the line. However, prior to that, I will leverage what I have got from business school to get in a hedge fund in Vietnam to further expand my network and sharpen my knowledge.

Programmes:
1. Dream: CBS (CBS is top of the line), Wharton, LBS MiF, LBS MBA,
2. A bit safer: NUS...

[quote="swastik0704"]Hello everyone,

A brief background about me, I am a Chartered Accountant from India working with Walmart India Private Limited as a Manager, Business Finance (Category Finance) responsible for entire P&L set of General Merchandise, Electronics, IT and Office Supplied portfolio (25% share of India business). Here, I’ve led multiple projects across the board, cultivating leadership and stakeholder management and skills, industry understanding, and 360-degree view of solutions. Working with category-merchants regularly, I've built an understanding of product assortment, new product decisions, pricing structure of varied industries, inventory management, vendor selection and negotiation strategies.

Building on the Category management experience that I've had working alongside Merchants, I want to propel my career full-fledged towards Category / Product Management / Growth strategy.

Post MBA, I want to work in mentioned roles at Walmart E-commerce leveraging my Walmart knowledge and cultural immersion to develop new products/brands, manage, and scale existing portfolio. This will help me grasp tech firms’ outlook towards expanding categories; how they innovate, ideate development opportunities, and bring them to market. I’ll also master product supply chain and end-to-end lifecycle. Leveraging this, in the long term, as India or Southeast Asia Head/Director of Growth in this firm, I’ll enable my firm to innovate and establish win-win partnerships with local businesses, the lifeblood of Indian economy.

Undergrad study and GPA – Bachelor of Commerce, Delhi University, GPA 4.0/4.0
GMAT – 710, Q48, V38, AWA-6, IR-8
English Test – Waiver, as my schooling and undergrad education was 100% taught in English.

Work Experience:
· 4 years at Walmart India Private Limited
· Prior to Walmart, I worked full-time for 3 years at Sahni Natarajan and Bahl Chartered Accountants, Delhi as an Articled Assistant to complete the mandatory three-year CA training. Here I was responsible for performing risk based assessment of indispensable business processes. These assignments were piloted towards adding value to client’s business by identifying operational process and control related gaps and giving recommendations to remediate the same. I led multiple teams of 4-6 members on 12 assignments across varied industries ranging from telecom (Aircel) to manufacturing (Maruti Suzuki, Pepsico India).

Extracurriculars:

Work aside, I am an avid sports lover-cricket, football, tennis I play them all- I am state level cricket player and was high school sports and cricket team captain, leading my team to victories in several inter-school and district matches. Though I do not pursue sports professionally, I have carried forward this passion into Walmart, Organizing two ‘Formula Fun’ sports meet (Nov’17, Nov’18) - 5 events, 145-150 associates; coordinated with sports facility in Gurugram, arranged neutral referees and refreshments during matches. I also formed a group of cricket lovers and organized matches with other corporate teams in Gurugram.

I am an active volunteer at Zomato Feeding India responsible for identifying 'hunger spots' -underserved areas in the city needing sustained help- reaching out to and securing regular food, clothes and other essential supply from nearby localities, restaurants, voluntary donors etc. and distributing to the needy.

Can you help evaluate the profile and help me understand my chances for getting an admit in CBS.

Apart from MIT, I am looking at MIT, UCLA, Yale, Tuck, Ross, Darden and Duke.

Thanks,
Swastik

Hi, it would be great if the above profile can also be evaluated 🙂

Posted from my mobile device

a

Hi, please evaluate my profile:

Background and nationality: Filipino

Undergrad Information: Economics from Top 2 University in the Phils. GPA = 2.95

GMAT: 740

Work experience and leadership:
3 years of work experience with a Big 4 in Toronto.
- Worked as part of the infrastructure advisory team
- Advised public and private entities on developing infrastructure projects (public-private partnership, project finance, infrastructure finance)
- Started as a senior associate before being promoted to manager

2.5 years of WE in a government agency in the Philippines
- Work is focus on developing infrastructure projects (public-private partnership)
- Basically, work involved serving as a consultant of other government agencies (local, government corporations, national agencies) re: developing infrastructure projects

~2 years of Big 4 WE in the Philippines
- International tax; not related to current job

Community and others: volunteer for an ngo dedicated to building houses for the poor, sports: basketball, cycling

Post MBA goals:
Ultimate goal is to enter private equity with a focus on infrastructure investment. Might go first to investment banking project finance first after MBA

Anything else?
CFA Charterholder, toastmaster

Hi! I intend to apply for CBS Deferred MBA program and it would be great to know what my chances are so here's my profile:

Background and nationality: Indian Male Engineer (Age 21)

Undergrad Information:
Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College
My CGPA: 8.1/10 ; Topper's CGPA: 9.4/10
Scored a 99.08 percentile in CAT (common admission test for MBA colleges in India)

GMAT: Not taken yet (740+ expected)

Work experience and leadership:
1. 5 month internship with Amazon as Operations Manager
(Responsible for automating operations, 3 direct reports to upper management and improved compliance of 2 business metrics, managed shift operations)

2. 2 month summer internship as business analyst at a startup
(Applied business analytics to practice data sets, no impact as such)

3. Held leadership position at Design Club, Marketing Club and volunteered for social service during undergrad
4. Did certifications in business strategy, corporate strategy and corporate finance from Coursera (online platform)

Post MBA goals:
Move into consulting and then onto product development

Would love to hear any other options to consider or any other way I could improve my profile for future applications

Thank you!