Hi hyk:
Thank you for the detail. You have a very compelling profile and of course, the only missing piece is a compelling GMAT score.
To answer your first question, yes -- past clients can be recommenders and good ones at that.
The litmus test for recommenders is that their ass was on the line if you screwed up. So, you need a client that can say that your leadership efforts were extremely crucial and ultimately impactful.
Your school short list makes sense and I can tell you did some homework. However, I would add one more school to the list -- MIT. While some may argue, I believe that the most reputable schools within the private equity world are Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and MIT. I believe that you stand an excellent chance at MIT, Wharton, Haas and Booth. I do believe that you stand a good chance at Stanford and Harvard, but let us face it, these are any applicant's aspirational schools. However, if you get above a 720 or so on the GMAT, I would certainly encourage you to apply to both Stanford and Harvard.
The one thing that you are going to have to focus on is this -- are you making a good case that your current entrepreneurial consulting experiences are appropriate for the private equity industry. That is, will recruiters find you attractive candidate for these positions? I believe that they will, if you are experienced is framed correctly (of course). The other thing to remember is that you want to have an emotional connection to your goals in order to completely solidify them. So, if you are of Asian (Chinese) descent and this has played a role in the development of your goals, as well as values and beliefs, then adding this element to your story and your goals solidifies them completely.
You are a candidate that I believe is both unique, compelling and someone that I would be interested in speaking to about your candidacy. If you would like to schedule a complimentary, initial consultation, I would be happy to speak to you. Please let me know if this is something that you would be interested in scheduling. Please e-mail me at
MBA@amerasiaconsulting.com.
Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti