Profile evaluation: Indian Male, IIT + Healthcare + Yale
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18 Apr 2014, 13:58
Hi there!
I have been following your page for quite some time and was left impressed with your to-the-point analysis and honest feedback. I believe I could definitely use your guidance on my essays and other application components once I decide to apply. But first I need to know whether my expectations are realistic in the first place.
So here goes nothing:
Qualifications + Work History (in chronological order to make better sense):
IIT, B.Tech.
- GPA 7.3 / 10 (3.49 / 4.00 on WES conversion)
- This is low but A LOT of extracurriculars are there e.g.
(a) coordinated institute's cultural festival with a footfall of 10,000+ and managed a team of 180 executives
(b) organized a number of Blood Donation / HIV awareness drives for youth in collaboration with State Aids Control Society for 3 straight years impacting >15,000 youngsters
(c) Institute Gymkhana Award for excellence in student leadership (granted to 10 students each year)
(d) One of two students selected to represent my IIT in Singapore Economic Development Board's biennial industrial conclave for 2010
- My senior year project was on biomaterials, it opened me to the Healthcare industry and inspired me to join the same (Got A grade for it which is a rarity in my institute. My professor who's a PhD from PennState Univ. is willing to write a strong recommendation, he was the one who did so for Yale.)
Top 3 Big Pharma European company, Brand Strategy & Forecasting Role (17 months)
- In-house consulting kind of role where I conducted multiple statistical analyses and health economics studies to strategize pharma brand launches & marketing
- Worked on a multi-billion dollar franchise for which I was awarded "Above & Beyond" (Manager willing for strong recommendation)
- Good client interaction, I got to handle the entire brand portfolio for Turkey with a couple of other interesting projects I can talk about in my application
Top 3 US Investment Bank (IB), Healthcare Equity Research, European Markets (20 months)
- Team consistently ranked amongst Top 5 by Institutional Investor in Healthcare category (Covering Analyst willing to write a strong recommendation)
- Solely responsible for my team's "Weekly industry trends" product: >50 reports published, maintained 20 industry & Fx models, initiated on 2 new stocks with extensive client interaction
- Sat on the incipient regional Corporate Social Responsibility committee: I contributed to creating a strong portfolio of prominent Indian NGOs correlating with the firm's CSR focus areas of youth employability & financial empowerment, laid out funding plans worth >$1 million in the process (Manager willing to write strong recommendation highlighting this)
- CFA level II
YALE School of Public Health, Masters in Healthcare Management (graduating in May 2014)
- GPA 3.9 / 4.0 (expected), my aim behind studying healthcare was to understand the deeper intricacies of this field since my bachelors was in engineering
- Took a lot of healthcare related law & technological innovation courses (with the core healthcare policy & general mgmt. / finance courses)
- Published on / got funding for for an innovative device that preserves human tissue during surgeries in a simplified and cost-effective manner
- 2 faculty persons willing to write a strong recommendation, quite a few strong leadership & social initiative credentials + Member of Yale Consulting Club
Test Scores: GMAT 750 (AWA 5.0), GRE 332 (Quant 170/170, AWA 5.0)
Gender: Male
Age: 27 yrs (planning to apply for 2016 intake, I believe I can justify why I am applying so late through my experiences)
Application History: First-time applicant (though I have some experience with university applications as I had prepared for my masters in HC. Apart from Yale, which I joined because of its amazing brand & recognition, I got admits from Public Health schools of Columbia / NYU / UMich with funding at NYU. Got dinged at Harvard as I was looking for a flexible intro the healthcare sector with a customizable course structure and I was not a good fit there as I later realized.)
Powerful extras:
- Not many IIT grads work in healthcare sector, so that's a niche. I want to specifically include in my application how an interdisciplinary approach to HC will help me out now.
- Strong credentials elucidating entrepreneurship & fundraising potential (e.g. received funding at Yale for a venture aiming at human tissue preservation devices + presented a talk at India's first gamification conference in healthcare category etc. + CSR funding committee)
Negatives:
- Age. I am hoping this can be handled properly at my end.
- Engineering may be considered irrelevant. But considering that I intend to work on innovative solutions targeting unmet healthcare needs, I believe this can be portrayed as a huge plus.
Target Schools: Only Harvard, Stanford & Wharton in decreasing order (and Kellogg as a backup)
My career aim after MBA: To lead innovative healthcare & biotech businesses towards solving the problems of tomorrow (I can share my Masters essay with you in a PM if that helps, I think it should be something on similar lines...)
My question: I would like to know what sort of experience over the next 2 years or so will help my chances of making it to these schools the most. My options are: (i) Better roles in HC / biotech domain itself... I would really like to know what sort of roles I should target here (ii) HC consulting (iii) Management consulting (try for a HC track there) (iv) HC related finance jobs (e.g. HC focused investment funds or equity research). Note that I need to work in a well paying job for the next 2 years as I am still under student-loan debt, so I have to rule out starting-up at least for the time being.
I look forward to your comments on my admission chances and what I need to do over the next 2 years so that I can improve them!
Thanks & regards,
punnirno2