Hi, I was hoping for some guidance on whether I should retake my GMAT or if I should concentrate on conveying my story in my apps.
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Born and raised in India till age 14. In the USA since High School.
The hard stats:
GMAT 1: 680 Q47 V37
GMAT 2: 690 Q47 V39
Most recent practice GMATs before attempt 2 were 690 to 730 (Q consistently at 47, but V 37-44)
Undergrad: Missouri University of Science & Technology
Major/Minor: Mechanical Engineering/Econ
GPA: 3.67
Graduated: Dec 2006
WE: 5yrs FT (6 yrs at mat.)
Areas: Operations, Manufacturing, Project & Product Management
The Story: I apologize it is a bit long, but hope to paint the full picture.
WE: During College
1) Process Engineering Co-Op (8mos):
- Project Engineering & Mangement for Anheuser-Busch Packaging Group
- Also worked on design and R&D projects
- Youngest candidate ever for intern program. Started my second semester of sophomore year
2) Plant Engineering Intern (3 mos)
- I was asked to come back again the following summer.
- Specifically assigned to Columbus, OH plant to help on a multi-million dollar automation project.
- Also assisted the Engineering Manager in handling 2 other major projects in addition to daily manufacturing activities.
3) Plant Operations Intern (3 mos)
- I was asked to come back again for my last summer before graduation.
- Supervised a crew of 35 team members in charge of production at a different plant within system.
WE: After Graduation
1) Plant Supervisor (1 year)
- I was the pilot test off which a more formal Mangement Training Program was to be modeled for future candidates coming right out of college.
- Trained in different functional areas of the plant ranging from process engineering to plant operations
- Put together a proposal to target a growing customer segment. Leveraged networks within company to refine ideas and validate assumptions. Proposal was discussed at Exec Steering Committee but idea wasn't pursued.
- Promoted to Plant Superintendent at another facility within a year.
2) Plant Superintendent (3 years)
- Youngest Plant Superintendent in company
- Managed 1 of 4 crews responsible for production at a 24/7 hi-speed manufacturing facility.
- This role involved everything from supervision and troubleshooting to coaching, training and evaluating employees.
- Was meant to provide operational experience before taking on higher management roles back at our corporate offices.
- After 7 months there Anheuser-Busch was bought by InBev and within a year of that sale InBev sold our facility to Ball Corporation.
- Stuck in the same role for 3 years with very few opportunities to expand my horizons at work.
- I took initiative wherever possible. Led a Process Improvement Team to reduce production waste by 2%. Equates to over $700,000/yr. Created a dashboard to provide real-time performance metrics to staff on the Production floor.
3) Product Manager (1 year and counting)
- Left Packaging Industry and operations Management to try Product Development at Mettler Toledo (a global manufacturer and marketer of precision instruments for use in laboratory, industrial and food retailing applications)
- Manage a global Software product for businesses that use vehicle weighing solutions
- Responsible for product strategy, marketing and business growth
- Currently managing launch of new product line
Extra-Curriculars:
1) Engineers Without Borders (4 years and counting)
- Member of Professional Chapter and got involved within the first couple months of its existence
- Serve on Sanitation and Street construction project in El Salvodor
- Also served as Fundraising Chair, Webmaster, VP and President of Chapter
- Currently serve as Executive Board Member and project team member.
- Mentored members of Student Chapter at Ohio State University
2) Start-Up (1 year)
- Founded a start-up to help non-profits and social enterprises raise project funds.
- Did a pilot to test model, but lack of proper targeting rendered it unsuccessful
- Plans to pivot in the future
3) Social Entrepreneurship
- Became StartingBloc Fellow in 2011
- Vetted group of 1600+ young Social innovators from around the world accepted for displaying leadership potential.
- Serve as Mentor for new inductees
4) Sports
- Starting Forward for Columbus Australian Rules Football team. Part of 35 teams in the nation and we compete nationally
- Muay Thai Fighter. Won first amateur fight at Arnold Sports Festival. Won 135lb weight class division.
Goals for MBA:
Make a full shift to the Social Entrepreneurship space. Feel my ideal environment is where technology and social benefit intersect. I want to either start a company or work for a start-up that creates products and services that empower people to fight out of poverty. I realize this is broad, but I'm passionate about products, especially those that have societal impact. Feel that my professional experience, in operations, manufacturing and product development, coupled with my ECs can help me pursue such a future.
Target Schools: Stanford, Haas, MIT, LBS and Babson
Once again sorry for the detail, but if nothing else it served as a good exercise to do some mind puking. Hopefully someone can offer me some general feedback on my candidacy for the target schools. Also, should I just work on my essays or try to boost the GMAT score by 30 to 40 points?