Profile Evaluation

Question

Chinese Male Age 28

Undergrad: GPA 90%+ top10 school in China
Graduate: GPA 3.9/4, Master of Engineering from top 1 or 2 school in Canada
Several publications including two first author high quality full-length IEEE Transaction journals.

GMAT: 710 (Q 51, V 34) now is preparing for a retake in Nov.

2 years and a half working experience as software engineer in big US IT firm. Now working in Canada. 2 awards at work. 
Not much chance to have any leadership at work….you know.. but mentored a few employees.

Languages: fluent in Chinese, English, French and Spanish. Conversational in German and Japanese. Basic in Arabic.
Completed lingustic studies about English and French with linguists.

Activities: 
toastmaster(executive in the club level, completed leadership and communication manuals, chaired area contest and hosted meeting in French)
chorist and choir council(several performances in national art centre, TVs and also with world class singers)
Past vice-president of IEEE OSA student university chapter 
And also some other experience in volunteering, student union, publication review...

Hobbies:
Amateur pianist 
Numerous 5k/10k/half-marathon races
Crazy language learner: have been spending more than 20 hours per week learning languages for several years

Could you evaluate my profile? I am retaking the GMAT, aiming at 750+. Thank you!

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Dear MFLY,

Here are a few reflections on your profile:
 
  First, talking about the strong points. Your ECs and hobbies, and the way you've kept at them, will help you differentiate from the crowd. If you can think of how they have influenced your work performance, that will really earn you good mileage - so think of those 
  A 750+ GMAT will help, but I dont think that's the real issue you should be worried about. With a strong academic pedigree, the continuity at workplace is not clear. You havent mentioned any achievements at workplace - so the ingoing assumption is that there arent perhaps that many? With mere 2 years of experience, from a work-ex perspective, the story starts to get a bit difficult. You havent mentioned your post-MBA goal either or the schools you are targeting. Those will also have a bearing on your chances. So think on those lines if not done already

Hope this helps some.

MFLY · Answer

Thank you very much. I really have to think about your questions. I haven't started my application yet. I am now working for a very large IT firm and people around have been working here for more than fifteen years. There is almost no chance for promotion. I won two awards (10-15%) at work, but apart from that, it is more about personal growth in communication/presentation, interpersonal and analytical skills. I love public speaking and am getting more and more good at it. In the beginning of the year, I did a very challenging American Accent training for six months and almost got rid of my accent (95% similarity to native). I think professional growth in programming skills doesn't count at all towards the applications

I have a lot of business ideas related to my hobbies and ready to start. But now I am too busy to get started. The programming job is actually very demanding. Thanks again for your response. It is very informative. I will work hard to enhance my profile. I aim at M7.

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