Profile Evaluation for HBS, Wharton, MIT-Sloan etc.

Question

Schools I am considering (need to shortlist):
HBS, Stanford, Wharton, MIT-Sloan, Columbia, LSE (UK), Judge(Cambridge, UK), Yale, UCLA, Berkeley, NYU-Stern

Age: 24
Demographic: South Asian Male (international applicant)

Major: Double Major for BS (Electrical and Computer Engineering with Applied Math (double major))
College: UCLA (University of California Los Angeles)
GPA: 3.9/4.0 (Summa Cum Laude)
GMAT: 780

Leadership Positions: Held 4 President, 3 VP and various other positions during undergraduate study.
7 Published Research Papers
Worked on a start-up during college (web-based)

CFA Level II

Work Experience:
Internships (during undergraduate study):
Google, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft

Full-time Work Experience:
Project Manager for 2 years at a top tech firm
Undergraduate Researcher at a UCLA CS department research center for 2 years
Working on start-up company since 5 years (~15 full-time employees)

Community Service: Several hundred hours during undergraduate study (international also)

How optimistic/pessimistic should I be about my chances at these schools?
Any way I could improve my odds?
Any other schools I should consider?
Advice? Suggestions? Etc.

Thanks

AlexMBAApply · Answer

From your post, it's clear you're academically bright and you're probably exceptionally strong analytically.

The more important question is, are you as strong with numbers as you are with people? That's not going to be immediately obvious from your profile alone - it'll be a judgment call on the adcom's part based on what they would see in your essays, rec letters, interview and overall "gut check" on whether they think you're way more than a quant/brainy guy.

My hunch is that H/S/W are going to be significant stretches just based on your profile alone - my hunch is that while there aren't many engineering-type dudes who are as academically/analytically bright as you are, there are enough that are likely more well rounded and can therefore more successfully show that they are as great with people as they are with numbers.

Sloan is going to be a stretch for that very reason, since it gets a much higher proportion of engineers applying, and since the Sloan adcoms try really really really hard to find "liberal arts minded engineers", there's probably enough engineers out there that fit this bill more than you will based on their experiences and extracurriculars.

The rest of the schools you should be competitive for so long as you put in a decent application.

hellasick · Answer

Thanks for your reply.

What sort of activities or work experience would you say shows that one is "good with people". I'm not really asking what I should be doing for that- since all I can do now is show that during the interview and through my essays- but just in general, what would you consider "good with people" activities?

I thought leadership demonstrated that- and I did hold several leadership positions in college (as I have listed above). Thanks in anticipation.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Leadership isn't about "certificates" or line items.

It's about whether leadership is a part of your personality, or simply a data point (or outlier). It isn't some scientific thing -- it's really something that an adcom tries to get a sense of based on the totality of your overall profile - and that is entirely subjective.

Again, there's no magic recipe or some predetermined set of neat little bullet points you need to communicate. If you are great with people, it will more than likely come across in a subtle but obvious way in the tone, cadence and content.

To be blunt, you come across as a hardcore engineering guy - and as you know while there are certainly some positive preconceptions about hardcore engineers, there's certainly plenty of negative baggage that comes with it as well. You have to show that engineering is merely your job, and not your identity/personality.

Profile Evaluation for HBS, Wharton, MIT-Sloan etc.

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