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shivenpatel112
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Profile Eval & Target School HELP 09 Jul 2020, 05:43
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Hi everyone, I am struggling to gauge what would fall under “Reach” vs “Target” schools. Any guidance would be very much appreciated!

Nationality: Indian American (born in U.S.)

GPA & Degree: 3.81 & Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University (Honors College)

GMAT: 740 (Q49 / V42 / IR: 8)

Work Experience: 2.5 Years at U.S. Oil Supermajor (think Chevron, Exxon, etc.)
<2 years in Project Development (promoted to lead design role for $500M growth project in Refining & Natural Gas after first year - usually >3 yrs Exp). Currently in Operations (Process Optimization for Chemical plant).
Several early career “leadership behavior” awards received, top rank group in performance reviews (top 8%).

Extracurricular: Some activities before and during Undergrad (e.g., Project leader for Consulting Group, philanthropy, led disaster relief effort in HS); currently mentor within organization for local first-gen college students since start of 2020

Post-MBA goal: MBB Consulting (energy is fine, but preference is not to be industry-specific)... but desire to enter into Consulting is to return to industry within a Strategy & Planning org after ~3 years.

Reach (Would apply to 2 of 4)
Wharton
MIT Sloan
Columbia
Kellogg

Target (Would apply to 2)
Haas
NYU
Darden
UCLA

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Profile Eval & Target School HELP 16 Jul 2020, 12:21
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shivenpatel112
Hi everyone, I am struggling to gauge what would fall under “Reach” vs “Target” schools. Any guidance would be very much appreciated!

Nationality: Indian American (born in U.S.)

GPA & Degree: 3.81 & Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University (Honors College)

GMAT: 740 (Q49 / V42 / IR: 8)

Work Experience: 2.5 Years at U.S. Oil Supermajor (think Chevron, Exxon, etc.)
<2 years in Project Development (promoted to lead design role for $500M growth project in Refining & Natural Gas after first year - usually >3 yrs Exp). Currently in Operations (Process Optimization for Chemical plant).
Several early career “leadership behavior” awards received, top rank group in performance reviews (top 8%).

Extracurricular: Some activities before and during Undergrad (e.g., Project leader for Consulting Group, philanthropy, led disaster relief effort in HS); currently mentor within organization for local first-gen college students since start of 2020

Post-MBA goal: MBB Consulting (energy is fine, but preference is not to be industry-specific)... but desire to enter into Consulting is to return to industry within a Strategy & Planning org after ~3 years.

Reach (Would apply to 2 of 4)
Wharton
MIT Sloan
Columbia
Kellogg

Target (Would apply to 2)
Haas
NYU
Darden
UCLA

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Hi Shiven,

Great profile. I'd apply to Wharton and Kellogg, and decide between Haas, NYU and Darden. You will be a younger applicant, so it will be critical to submit stellar applications that speak to your leadership skills/potential, career progress (any promotions?), achievements at work and your involvement within the community. You've mentioned all of these, now it will be our task to also present these elements in your application- through the resume, essays and recommendations.
Also adcoms would like to see a matured applicant who can contribute to a class mostly more experienced than him.

Reach out if you'd like to discuss further.