Hi there, I'm looking to start applying in September of this year for MBA programs starting in 2022. My target schools are the US Top 10 MBAs with the goal of pursuing strategy consulting/product management post-grad. Would be great to have a quick profile eval to see where I should be focusing my efforts for the next couple of months leading up to round 1 applications!

Background: 24 yr-old Asian-Canadian, Canadian citizenship, immigrated as a child.
Undergrad: Top Canadian Business school (Ivey), cumulative average 83.6% - not sure how this converts to each school's GPA requirements, but according to Columbia's scale this is equivalent to a 3.3
GMAT: 730 with 48 Q/42 V/8 IR/5.5 AWA

Work Experience: Sr. Financial Analyst at F500 food CPG. Wide breadth of experience and projects across supply chain, sales, trade marketing, and revenue management within 2.5 years of experience. Faster than peers in career progression, with promotion received after 1.5 years vs the usual 2 - 3. Increasing responsibilities in product management, pricing, financial reporting/process development.

Extracurriculars at work: a leader in the undergraduate recruiting program, a team member in workplace community outreach program (weekly breakfast program at local school), contributor in annual charitable fundraising event

Community Involvement: advisory board member for small charity providing music education in Tanzania, mentor in child mentorship program, mentor in newcomer career settlement program

My overall thoughts are that my profile checks the boxes but is pretty average and lacking something amazing that stands out. My next steps are to work hard at crafting a great personal essay and hope that can take me over the top.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

MikeFTC:

Thanks for reaching out and feeling comfortable to put your profile out there. You are right. For the most part, you do check many of the boxes for a good application. Here are some additional thoughts for you to consider:

(1) Your GPA, if the conversion is correct, is not particularly great if it is in fact a 3.3. That won't hold you back, but for a slightly younger candidate, that can have an impact.

(2) Your extracurricular / community involvement is excellent. Keep pushing on these over the next 6 months prior to R1 deadlines.

(3) Do you have any major work accomplishments or projects that will shine in your resume, essays and letters of recommendation? You may not have included them but exposure to business functions and career progression are good but not enough.

(4) The quality of your essays are going to be uber critical. Your career vision (short- and long-term goals) will need to be excellent. That is something you can "accomplish," but will need to execute to make a strong application.

You will have a shot at several of the top 10 US programs, though you probably do need to introduce really interesting stories about your personal and/or professional life to make your overall application sing. I strongly urge you to reach out to us at Admissionado for a free consultation if you would like an example of how we can help you craft that stand out narrative and unique value proposition to help you differentiate you from the pack.

https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/

Best of luck,
Seth