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Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school?

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hyk
Intern
Intern
Joined: 10 May 2011
Posts: 9
Own Kudos [?]: 6 [0]
Given Kudos: 1
Location: United States (AL)
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Stanford '14 Wharton '14 Booth '14 Sloan '14
WE:Management Consulting (Consulting)
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Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school? [#permalink] Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school?   18 May 2011, 02:39
Hello Everyone,

Would really appreciate an honest review from moderators, board members, applicants, candidates, or grads! Where are my biggest weaknesses, and strengths in terms of application? Any advice greatly appreciated! I look forward to interacting with you all much more. Thanks.

Age: 29
Nationality: US
Sex: Male

Undergrad: Psych with Management minor at top 50 univ. in US
GPA: 3.0 (Management classes average GPA was 3.5)

GMAT: not taken yet

WE: approx 7 years total
1. 6 years in management consulting
2. 1+ years in company I founded and operate

I began my professional life in China after graduating. Joined a Big 4 in their consulting division as an analyst, managed a change management module of a larger project successfully, worked my way into their strategy division (reserved mostly for MBAs and experienced consultants), assisting in multiple market-entry strategy projects.

Found my way into a consulting firm that allowed for immense amount of exposure to C-level clients, instantly began leading projects in market entry and growth strategy for Fortune 500's. Project sizes increased each time, also expanding into international markets.

Brought over to a consulting firm specializing in PE advisory, namely strategic and commercial due diligence for top PEs with activity in China, investment target evaluation, and market entry/growth strategy for PE portfolio companies. Led multiple project including a project for a top 2 IB's PE leg, another IB's PE portfolio company, and wrote and presented several investment theses for the world's top PE firms.

Founded and currently operate a company in Silicon Valley in a green industry. Roughly 2-3 years deep exposure to this industry as a result of working with the PEs.

Industry expertise: mostly industrial (industrial machinery and materials in renewable energy, green tech)

Goals:
Grow my company to compete with biggest names in the industry. Have also considered entering VC/PE focusing on green tech investments.

EC: I honestly did not have much time with EC activities given my 80+ hour work weeks since day 1 of my career.

Dream schools: stanford, wharton, hbs, booth

Thank you my GMATClub friends! :)
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bakfed
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SVP
Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Status:Darden Class of 2013
Posts: 1768
Own Kudos [?]: 1227 [0]
Given Kudos: 37
Schools:University of Virginia
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Re: Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school? [#permalink] Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school?   18 May 2011, 08:11
You seem to have a pretty broad knowledge of the consulting world, being in there for 6 years. I think your profile, if spun right, can be a very interesting story to tell. However, Harvard and Stanford are likely to be long shots for you - mainly because of your age and your undergrad grades. Both harvard and stanford care so much about undergrad grades that Stanford dean came straight out and said that GBS look at undergrad marks very heavily. This is not to be taken lightly, as we can see from class after class of students who enter GBS have a super high GPA. Your chances at Wharton and Booth are slightly better as the age issue is not that big of a problem for these two schools. Lastly, I'm not exactly sure why you want or need this MBA now. You seem to be a very successful person with good knowledge about what you want to do. Is it worth the $100k of your tuition money to attend a top b-school? Obviously, that's something you know (if it's worth it or not). While we're on the school-subject, also look at some other top schools if you're willing to break out of the "dream school" mode. Lastly, all of my suggestions in terms of your dream schools are based on a GMAT score of 700. Anything lower would most likely make it even harder for Wharton and Booth.
avatar
hyk
Intern
Intern
Joined: 10 May 2011
Posts: 9
Own Kudos [?]: 6 [0]
Given Kudos: 1
Location: United States (AL)
Concentration: Finance, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Stanford '14 Wharton '14 Booth '14 Sloan '14
WE:Management Consulting (Consulting)
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Re: Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school? [#permalink] Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school?   18 May 2011, 15:13
Thank you bakfed for your evaluation. Would a much stronger GMAT score help to offset the low GPA? If so, would there be a difference between 700 and 750, specifically in counterbalancing my low academic grades?

Regarding age and experience, could I leverage age as more experience? I know a lot of people will say this, but i do feel like i have something to bring to the table with my extensive work experience in China. Is it simply that S/H are looking for young candidates? Less "molded"? More generalized? Or are we simply not sure the reasoning behind the skew toward younger candidates?

The stanford class profiles have had ranges of 0-13 years of experience. I wonder how much of the class accounts for higher than 6 years WE. Those with 7+ years WE, do they typically stand out significantly more compared to the 4-6 yrs WE ones? Would be great to understand even a few stories of these higher aged/experienced ones' background/profile.
User avatar
bakfed
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SVP
Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Status:Darden Class of 2013
Posts: 1768
Own Kudos [?]: 1227 [0]
Given Kudos: 37
Schools:University of Virginia
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Re: Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school? [#permalink] Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school?   18 May 2011, 15:54
hyk wrote:
Thank you bakfed for your evaluation. Would a much stronger GMAT score help to offset the low GPA? If so, would there be a difference between 700 and 750, specifically in counterbalancing my low academic grades?

Regarding age and experience, could I leverage age as more experience? I know a lot of people will say this, but i do feel like i have something to bring to the table with my extensive work experience in China. Is it simply that S/H are looking for young candidates? Less "molded"? More generalized? Or are we simply not sure the reasoning behind the skew toward younger candidates?

The stanford class profiles have had ranges of 0-13 years of experience. I wonder how much of the class accounts for higher than 6 years WE. Those with 7+ years WE, do they typically stand out significantly more compared to the 4-6 yrs WE ones? Would be great to understand even a few stories of these higher aged/experienced ones' background/profile.


One thing that you have to remember is that all the statements that I made, or anyone else made, are all just generalizations. By looking at trends then, it gives us a better understanding on how schools operate. If the range of GMAT score is 640-730 but the average is 700, one can automatically think that the lower on this range of GMAT score, the harder it will be for the person to make it. It's not saying that a person with a 650 won't make it, but we want to maximize our opportunity to gain admission by diminishing the number of winces on the adcom's faces. We want to bank more on the averages/median than on the range of scores, and we want to trace the trends of the past few years to determine the best possible result. Out of the 900 students at HBS, at least one will be more than 35 years old, or even 45 years old (my assumption). And if that were the case, the published age range would be 21-45, but by looking at the average of the age, which is probably around 26, the higher your age, the harder it is for an applicant to make it. Now, this is all just based on assumptions, and that as long as you have a cohesive argument as to why now, why MBA, you will be fine (of course, luck is a big factor here as well). Regarding your age, you can certainly 'leverage' it. There's nothing wrong with your age, by the way. You would simply be a bit older than the average students in the class and that you may have some additional work experience than most. That's all. If you can convince the AdComs "why now", it wouldn't matter if you're 29, or you're that 45-year-old in my example. Lastly, I personally see a difference between a 700 and a 750. But if it were 700 and 720, I personally don't see a difference. My rule of thumb (personal rule of thumb) is that if you can achieve 40 more points, go for it. If not, don't bother.
User avatar
FutureWorks
Manager
Manager
Joined: 05 May 2011
Status:Admissions Consultant
Posts: 180
Own Kudos [?]: 4 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Location: India
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Re: Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school? [#permalink] Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school?   23 May 2011, 01:06
hyk wrote:
Hello Everyone,

Would really appreciate an honest review from moderators, board members, applicants, candidates, or grads! Where are my biggest weaknesses, and strengths in terms of application? Any advice greatly appreciated! I look forward to interacting with you all much more. Thanks.

Age: 29
Nationality: US
Sex: Male

Undergrad: Psych with Management minor at top 50 univ. in US
GPA: 3.0 (Management classes average GPA was 3.5)

GMAT: not taken yet

WE: approx 7 years total
1. 6 years in management consulting
2. 1+ years in company I founded and operate

I began my professional life in China after graduating. Joined a Big 4 in their consulting division as an analyst, managed a change management module of a larger project successfully, worked my way into their strategy division (reserved mostly for MBAs and experienced consultants), assisting in multiple market-entry strategy projects.

Found my way into a consulting firm that allowed for immense amount of exposure to C-level clients, instantly began leading projects in market entry and growth strategy for Fortune 500's. Project sizes increased each time, also expanding into international markets.

Brought over to a consulting firm specializing in PE advisory, namely strategic and commercial due diligence for top PEs with activity in China, investment target evaluation, and market entry/growth strategy for PE portfolio companies. Led multiple project including a project for a top 2 IB's PE leg, another IB's PE portfolio company, and wrote and presented several investment theses for the world's top PE firms.

Founded and currently operate a company in Silicon Valley in a green industry. Roughly 2-3 years deep exposure to this industry as a result of working with the PEs.

Industry expertise: mostly industrial (industrial machinery and materials in renewable energy, green tech)

Goals:
Grow my company to compete with biggest names in the industry. Have also considered entering VC/PE focusing on green tech investments.

EC: I honestly did not have much time with EC activities given my 80+ hour work weeks since day 1 of my career.

Dream schools: stanford, wharton, hbs, booth

Thank you my GMATClub friends! :)


Hello,

Firstly I would like to say you have a strong profile and your experience seems to be both global and differentiated. You might have a good shot in getting into the above mentioned schools. I would say that take your GMAT and ensure you have enough time to represent your work experience in best possible way in your application. This would be the key to success in your case.

Thanks!
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Re: Profile Review Please - can I get into my dream school? [#permalink]
23 May 2011, 01:06