Profile Evaluation please

Question

Please evaluate my profile. I will be grateful.

I am a 29 year old MBA prospective student from Pakistan.

GPA/Percentage:   I have done my bachelors in Computer Sciences from NED, a local University that is among the top 3 Engineering universities in my country. My 
final accumulative percentage was 83%. When I will apply for transcripts, the percentage will be converted into equivalent GPA. I, however, cannot tell you 
the equivalent GPA right now. I was among the top 15 in my class.

Career  :  I have been working with Standard Chartered, which is a British bank, for more than 6 1/2 years. Standard Chartered has a decent network of more 
than 140 branches in Pakistan. I started my career as a sales executive in branch banking in February 2005. I have steadily progressed and was promoted four times during these 6 1/2 years. From 2008 to 2010, I was the floor manager for one of our flagship branches in Pakistan. I managed a sales/service team of more than 12 people and a portfolio of more than 100 million dollars. My branch was the best branch pan Pakistan for two years while I was the floor manager there. Few individuals in my team won best relationship manager awards during those two years.At the start of 2011, I was promoted as a branch manager. Later in June, I was hand picked for a sales transformation project. The scope of the project is to standardise the way sales is done in consumer banking. In my current role as a coach, I am responsible for implementing the new sales model, bringing about a behavioural and cultural change in the whole of consumer banking. I am part of team of 7 people. This project has given me the opportunity to work with different people at all levels of branch banking. I will be able to get good/stellar recommendations.

Personal life :  My father was in army and we moved a lot till I was 18. I have lived in all four provinces of Pakistan and speak atleast 2 provincial languages besides the national language.

Volunteer experience:   I am actively involved with TCF, a leading NGO for education in Pakistan, and Garage School, a local school in my city for the under privileged children, as a mentor and program co-ordinator, teacher and admin support respectively for the last 3 years .

Post MBA:   I want to work in investment banking after MBA. For few years, I want to work in the US market to gain experience. In the long term, I want to return to middle east with an eye on developing an expertise in the middle east market.

GMAT :   I have taken the GMAT test 5 times. Break-up of score is given below

GMAT 1 
March 2010 : 650 (Q 43, V 37) 
I was blown away by the difficulty of the Quantitative section. The testing laminated sheet also put me off. In short, I was not prepared.

GMAT 2 
Dec 2010: 600 (Q 47, V 27) 
This time I was more prepared. However during the verbal section of the test, I had a migraine attack. I just randomly selected most of the verbal answers and my score dropped as a result.

GMAT 3 
Feb 2011: 640 (Q 42, V 37) 
I couldn't keep up with the timing in the quantitative section and ended up missing 2 questions.

GMAT 4 
Jan 2012: 680 (Q 44, V 40) 
I messed up with my Quantitative section timing again.

GMAT 5 
Mar 2012: 720 (Q 49, V40)

My questions from the experts

Please evaluate my profile on my current scores. Please advise me on whether

1) Would my applicant age of 30 this August/September be a turn-off for US MBA schools?

2) What are my chances with respect to the following tier of schools?

I am considering the following schools

Second tier US Schools 
1) Duke 
2) Yale 
3) Cornell 
4) Virginia Darden

first tier US schools 
5) Chicago
6) Wharton 
7) Kellogg 
8)Tuck 
9) Stern

NON-US schools 
10) Rotman (Canada) 
11) Australian school of business (Australia)

Rotman and ASB , although good schools in their own sense, would be my back up.

Please let me know If I am missing any information in my profile.

Thank you for reading my long post.

mbaMissionSusan · Answer

Hi, Icecube6000,

Thanks for your post. If your equivalent GPA is around 3.5, you should be in the academic range for these programs. From what you detailed, you should be able to pull examples of career progression and leadership from your roles at Standard Chartered. Investment banking is a very different direction from consumer banking. You will want to highlight your skills and experiences that are transferable. While 7 years of work experience is just over the average for MBA applicants, your age may be a bigger factor for getting into investment banking. I would recommend you do some research with those in the industry to get some feedback on that. You will need to be clear why you are pursuing this career switch and your MBA at this point in your career.

The schools you have listed are all first tier US programs. You may also want to research some other programs such as UT Austin and apply to a mix of programs – just make sure the types of companies you want to work for recruit from these programs.

Good luck,
Susan
Susan Kaplan
Senior Consultant
mbaMission
646-485-8844

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