Profile Evaluation

Question

27 year old Asian American and currently at 4 years of work experience. I've waited about 2 years later then i would have wanted to apply to strengthen my background and experience. Any advice to strengthen my credentials if they aren't strong enough would be great.

1) 
Analyst at Bloomberg 2010 (6months) analytical experience
Analyst at competitor (12months) - moved to get NYC experience
Account Manager, promoted to Senior Account Manager (2.5years) - moved to get international travel experience (HK, Canada, and across the USA), public speaking & presentation exposure, and managed a book of $3m. I won 3 sales competitions in this role and had the least client cancellations among the whole North & South American team. This role was 100% client facing with high level bankers, lawyers, c-suite & corporate executives from major fortune 100 companies. My book size increased by over 150k during my time.
FX Sales at a non bank (3months or 15 months if i matriculate next year) - moved to get sales experience. Building a book from scratch and so far out of all the new hires i'm currently leading the pack with 2 accounts brought on. I should be expecting a promotion ahead of schedule (was already verbally stated by my boss but who knows if this will hold out.

I have been positioning myself to be a successful entrepreneur and have been working to develop the skills I believe great business leaders need such as research, public speaking, and sales skills.

2) I plan to score between 680-710.

3) Drexel University, 2.28GPA, Business, & 2009. I worked throughout college all four years at my parents nightclub/private venue as a co-manager with my sister. I would have to come in before shows and parties around 7pm and stay to around 4am. This included taking inventory, cleanup at the end of the night, totaling revenues and paying out the bartenders on a regular basis. Getting very little sleep and having a very dynamic schedule took a toll on my grades (parties were booked sometimes a week in advance). Also had to pay and partially manage armed security on occasion of up to 15 people depending on the type of event that was booked. There is an increase in GPA throughout all 4 years and I did switch major 3 times from nursing ->Chemistry->business. Had to take full course load of 20-23 credits per semester (learning both Korean & Japanese for 3-4 semesters as well) and some summer classes to finish within 4 years.

4) Top 10 business concept competition finalist at Drexel University in 2010. Volunteered for one month in Albania during 2011 for an underwater archaeological survey along the coast for artifacts/amphora. Launched a start-up in 2013 that encourages people to perform good deeds (still a work in progress as the team went through re-structuring). I lost my software developer partners (2 of them that were both friends) and have to start from scratch. It was originally my concept and I spent 5 months putting a team together but learned a lot during the process about fit. I was planning on entering into Y-combinator/Techstars and a few other incubators depending on which ones I was accepted to. I've also completed 3 tough mudders (10-13 mile obstacles courses), other various 5k runs including donations to many different organizations, and have volunteered at homeless shelters a few times. Most of my free time is spent working on my start up now.

5) None.

6) Stanford, Insead, MIT, Berkley and NYU

7) Insead R1 2014, and if i don't get in thinking about re-applying all 4 schools in 2015.

8) To successfully launch my start-up and make a difference in the world.

bryantmichaels · Answer

My gut feeling is that you are setting your sights too high. Your GMAT is good, but the Asian American application bucket has high GMATs, so this will not really make you stand out. Particularly when viewed in conjunction with your low GPA at a third tier undergrad college (Drexel is barely in top 100), you will face challenges with these schools, who typically see applicants from top 20 undergrad colleges who have high GPAs. What concerns me most, however, is your story--I don't see the clear connection between your professional post UG career and entrepreneurship. Plus entrepreneurship is a tough sell for b-schools since most successful entrepreneurs never went to b-school. You can't really learn entrepreneurship in b-school and it doesn't sound from your description like you have encountered success yet with your entrepreneurial efforts. This is something the b-schools will question particularly since they take a hit on their rankings if you don't take a job when you graduate and work for yourself. I am not sure what you want to do exactly (perhaps keep developing your existing startup), but you might consider simply taking some classes to supplement your knowledge gap and pour yourself into your startup instead of spending two years buried in b-school.

aaagent · Answer

Thanks Bryant for the clear response.

I'm not going to business school to learn entrepreneurship. I'm going to business school to strengthen my foundation in management as well as increase my network with intelligent and driven individuals (potentially to find a business partner in the process). I have started a few other businesses in the past that have been somewhat successful as well if that would help. I have been working in financial services supporting M&A bankers and lawyers (about 4 years meeting with Managing Directors down to analysts) so that is something I have an interests in.

Does it make a difference since i'm in sales and majority of the applicants are coming from banking, consulting, and engineering?

Thanks,

AAA

bryantmichaels · Answer

It's really all in how you spin it. Being different can be a real advantage if you are able to passionately position yourself in a way which seems like it would be interesting to your classmates--like they would get something of real value from you as a team mate or project mate. I would say 80% of clients have as part of their goal that they want to start a business. This puts you in very broad company. It's great if that's what you are really passionate about, but it would be better to have a plan clearly laid out so you sound very sure of the path you would take to get there. One thing they fear is the student who comes in and rejects job offers because they want to hold out for funding, etc. it's a safer bet for many schools to take the folks who are targeting a post MBA job which will ultimately prepare them to launch out on their own in the longer term. Having said that, there are myriad business plan competitions in b-school, so they certainly encourage startups, etc.--they just don't want it to damage their reputation for graduates getting jobs in the end.

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