Current Student
Joined: 27 Jun 2008
Posts: 101
Given Kudos: 2
Concentration: Healthcare
Schools:R1: Kellogg WL, Haas WL, Fuqua, Darden R2: Wharton
Q48 V44
GPA: 3.09
WE 1: Biotech Strategy
WE 2: Health Economics
Profile Evaluation Please
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30 Jun 2008, 06:05
Hey Paul,
I was hoping that you could evaluate my profile. I am planning to apply next year and am very curious about what schools to target. In any case, thank you for taking the time to reply.
Age: 26 (28 at matriculation)
White male
GMAT: 740 (Q48, V44) AWA: 5.5
GPA: 3.08 Tufts (Psych major, Entrepreneurial Leadership minor)
First (probably of many) Attempt to Explain my GPA:
I imagine (know) that this is the weakest point of my application. My grades in college were pretty much all over the place, though there is an upwards trend (around a 3.5 junior and both senior years). Unfortunately, when you look at my transcript, the trend doesn’t really jump out at you. Furthermore, because of a running injury, I red shirted the spring of my senior year (left school) in order to compete in what became my second senior year. In the end, it just looks messy…
Work Experience:
3 years as an analyst at a strategic consulting for a firm specializing in the biotech industry. I worked on brand strategy development, targeted marketing campaigns, and other clichéd consulting projects. Managed projects from time to time, but never really had my own.
2.5 years (at matriculation) at a pharmaceutical services company. My current work is much more data driven. My primary function is to design and program health economic models (Markov and Discrete Event Simulation). I work as a project manager and supervise research assistants from time to time but I have no direct reports.
Extracurricular:
College:
4 years varsity cross country, indoor track and outdoor track
Volunteered for the school depression/self help/suicide hotline
Post School:
3 years with the Big Brothers program. The first two years I spent as an active big brother but my "little" has since moved away. I am now on the Big Brothers young professionals’ board and chair the new membership committee.
I founded, and now run, a non-profit that allows high school kids to submit (via a website) college and research essays to volunteers who review the essays and give the students feedback. I “manage” 10-15 volunteers and coordinate with three local high schools.
Other:
I was the sole author of a business strategy article and I am one of many people on a number of pending pharmaceutical/economic journal articles. Hopefully at least one or two get through.
I’m a really good cook. If making a risotto was part of the application process, I’d probably just apply to Stanford….
Member of the Society of American Baseball Research
Career Goals:
I would like to stay in pharma but want to move from the consulting side to the manufacturing side. I have had both strategic and data driven experience which I think, along with an MBA, will position me to work as a brand manager (or other similar function) for a pharma company.
Target Schools (Dream school first and so on…)
Berkeley
Duke
UVA
Michigan
UCLA
UNC
USC
Questions:
1) Is my list of target school realistic? How do you like my chances at each?
2) Would you recommend adding or subtracting any schools? I like the idea of Kellogg but I don’t know if it’s worth applying. On the other end, do a need a lower safety net?
3) Since I have a year plus before I apply, is there anything that you would recommend I do to strengthen my application? Take a class or two to shore up academic concerns stemming from my GPA?
4) Am I crazy for thinking about re-taking the GMAT? I know the overall score is good but is it enough to compensate for my GPA? Would another 30 points help?
Thank you for reading. I am looking forward to your feedback. If anybody else has comments/advice, I would love to hear from you.