Profile evaluation

Hi mediv3,

Thank you for your post. With respect to the specific question at the end of your post, the short answer is that you would be better off trying to improve your score (even if that means applying in Round 2) rather than pushing ahead in Round 1 with your current score.

LOTS OF POSITIVES BUT NEED TO BOOST GMAT SCORE

There is ***a lot*** to like about your profile, from high performance at a prestige firm (MBB), to deep and diverse international experience (personal and professional), to the NGO initiative, to CFA Level III, on through applying from a unique country / demographic (at least relative to U.S. or Western European consultants). Unfortunately, that GMAT is a little too low for the types of schools you're considering, almost all of which now boast middle 80% GMAT ranges of 700 to 760, which puts your 690 in the single digits percentile-wise -- a very tough starting point as a male consultant, even if the Eastern Europe angle offers a little more diversity than the U.S. or Western Europe.

MAKE SURE YOU PROPERLY COMMUNICATE THAT GPA

As an important aside, your GPA -- on its face -- is also below the middle 80% range for these schools. ***BUT*** you've simultaneously noted that you were in the top 10% of your class. Due to grade inflation in the U.S. and other markets, adcoms are used to thinking of a 3.2 GPA as fairly weak; in U.S. terms, it's below the aforementioned ranges for schools like the ones you're considering, and sometimes it's even below average (!) in a given U.S. university class. With all of that in mind, you should be absolutely sure to frame your GPA properly, likely to the point of spending a couple of Optional Essay sentences explaining that a 3.2 GPA -- given how your university graded students -- placed you in the top 10% of your class. Ideally your transcript will show a ranking (or percentile) and the grading system for your school, that way you aren't just "claiming" to have been in the top 10% with no proof.

UNPACK THE VALUE OF YOUR EXPERIENCES

The good news is that if you're able to boost your GMAT score, you've got a lot of upside potential provided you do a really good job *unpacking the value* of everything I've outlined above. For example, what's it been like to work with MBB clients in Eastern Europe versus in NYC (versus SE Asia before that)? What differences are there? How have you had to adjust? How have you grown? Where did you slip up along the way, and how did you learn from those experiences? What communication, interpersonal, or cross-cultural differences / growth have there been? How have you adapted? How do the industries you've covered or work styles vary? How did growing up in Eastern Europe shape your worldview (depends again on what country, years, etc.), and how has that worldview evolved since? How has all of this shaped your goals and shape the unique contributions you can make in an MBA class?

CAREER GOALS NEED DEVELOPMENT

I know there's not a ton of space to go into your short- and long-term goals with great depth in a post like this, but I also think that your post-MBA goals need development. The current short-term goal feels a bit vague, and risks coming across as too abstract for admissions committees. Having a goal that sits at the intersection of entrepreneurship and social impact is fine if that's what in your heart of hearts you hope to do, but if you want to go that route, you're going to need to explain the heck out the genesis of that goal and show the adcoms that you know *exactly* what steps you're going to take (and ideally are already taking) toward it. Otherwise it feels to me like it might be better positioned as a medium- or long-term goal. Still then, you will need to know and articulate the layers, details, people, and steps involved in executing your vision, along with the big-picture problem you hope to solve, and the depths of your ever-evolving passion to solve it (i.e., why, why, why!!??). Also, in the short-term, are you not going to be sponsored by MBB? You can read more about how to deeply / critically / specifically consider and articulate your goals, why MBA, why XYZ school, and the passion and purposes behind those goals via this blog post.

FREE CONSULTATION

Hope this helps! If you would like to continue this conversation, please feel free to email me at greg@avantiprep.com or sign up for a Free Consultation via this link: https://www.avantiprep.com/free-consultation.html. As always, we can cover a lot more -- and do so with far greater nuance -- by way of a live, back-and-forth conversation. I would be happy to chat at your convenience!

Best Regards,
Greg