Profile evaluation (26 yr old, French, engineer background)

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for your post. It sounds like all things considered, you have a strong profile for top b-schools, and especially if you do boost the GMAT some which it sounds like is likely within reach.

Your consulting experiences, aerospace industry work, international experiences in the UK & Mexico, extracurricular interests and experiences, and languages all serve to create an interesting profile with a lot to bring to a given MBA classroom.

I would suggest yes, if you are able to, consider re-taking the GMAT since it sounds like a higher score is pretty much within reach, and that will strengthen your position at top 10 schools. Keep in mind that the top 10 or so are so competitive that even well-qualified applicants are rejected, as the school strives to make decisions on each person holistically and based on how they see that person fitting in at their school and then using their MBA in the future...so the essays are so important for those reasons, fyi.

I think you can target Kellogg and UCLA, yes, and also that those as well as other top programs will be more in reach with a higher GMAT as well. In terms of choosing schools, think about what schools will best assist you with your specific career goals, and what you are most looking for in a school-- what geographic region, urban/rural setting, whether it's important to you if a school produces a vast quantity of consultants or investment bankers etc, who recruits there, what is the size of the class, strengths of the curriculum, international diversity, student culture and feel, etc. And you'll want to dig in a bit deeper to your post-MBA goals in order to have a stronger application when you get to that point, fyi... I think you have a good feel for the 'why' behind the next career steps but if you had a better feel for what those steps might be you may have a better chance at success.

Hope that helps, good luck! If you are interested in discussing things in more depth at any point, we do offer a free 30 min consult, at https://www.mbamission.com/consult.php, and/or feel free to post here with more q's!