NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 26 Apr 2024, 15:02 It is currently 26 Apr 2024, 15:02
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

Profile Evaluation Please - Low GPA High GMAT

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
User avatar
schen1119
Manager
Manager
Joined: 28 Aug 2012
Posts: 58
Own Kudos [?]: 26 [0]
Given Kudos: 24
Location: United States
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
Schools: Johnson '16 (M$)
WE:Project Management (Computer Software)
Send PM
Profile Evaluation Please - Low GPA High GMAT [#permalink] New post   31 Jan 2013, 03:00
Hello mbaMission team,

Thanks in advance for the profile evaluation. Below is my info:

  • I'm a 29 year old Taiwanese-American male located in the San Francisco Bay Area
  • I've been working at a financial services software company for 7 years. We develop web-based software for the mortgage and general lending industries. Our primary focus has been on lending compliance, and our clients include many top banks, mortgage lenders, and, interestingly enough, state and federal regulators
    I am an associate product manager and, due to the small size of the company, have participated in many different roles here. My core responsibility is managing the creation of new features and products (project planning, prioritization of features, managing expectations, and leading an "agile" team of engineers, testers, and occasionally legal researchers). However, I've also drafted marketing materials, trained internal sales, support, and management teams, drafted and maintain user-facing documentation, helped our quality assurance teams test software, and acted as one of three company points of contact for an ongoing project we are working on with a large consulting company
  • My GMAT was 760, Q49, V44, AWA 6.0, IR 8
  • Undergraduate BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2005. Undergrad GPA 2.78. No excuses, I just didn't make good decisions in college. I've been taking some UCLA Extension Online courses to try to mitigate this a little, and I've received A's in principles of accounting 1A and management economics. I'm currently taking principles of accounting 1B and mathematics for managers.
  • In college I was vice president of a social fraternity (among other various positions). Currently, I volunteer with a product management association and the local Lions Club (community service club).
  • I'm also working towards getting a PMI Agile Certified Practitioner certification (it's the "agile" version of a Project Management Professional certification)
  • My target schools are (in order of preference):
    MIT Sloan
    Tuck
    Johnson
    Yale SOM
    Kellogg
    Fuqua
    Darden
  • My post-MBA goal is joining a strategy consulting firm to get more practical experience with a long-term goal of leading a startup
avatar
mbaMissionMili
MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 02 Jul 2012
Posts: 382
Own Kudos [?]: 46 [1]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Profile Evaluation Please - Low GPA High GMAT [#permalink] New post   06 Feb 2013, 10:34
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
Hello,

Thanks for sharing your profile and sorry for the late response! So, I think you can overcome your low GPA -you're doing the right thing by taking extension courses. Definitely write an optional statement about the GPA explaining/taking responsibility for your mistakes in college. Keep it short and sweet. Your GMAT is stellar, so that should definitely help your case.

Your work experience is great. Your biggest weakness is lack of robust extra curricular and community activities. It's good that you volunteer, but it would be better if you could demonstrate leadership in your community organizations. Would also be good to have strong extracurriculars - (coach soccer team or whatever). If you don't have these, I would definitely try to emphasize your personal experiences/hobbies so that you can showcase yourself as unique/engaged in the world around you.

Some of your choices are going to be stretches - MIT, Tuck, Kellogg. The others should be reasonable target schools. You might consider Michigan and UCB?

Another note: your career story doesn't make a ton of sense :) Consulting does not really lend itself to entrepreneurship in the least, so if you want to go the start up route, I would get rid of the consulting story and talk about going to work for a start up or something like that. Alternatively, if you're more set on consulting, then I would come up with a different long term goal. Your career story should really build off of your experiences to date, and build logically off your future goals. Hope that makes sense!

Best,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
https://www.mbamission.com
 
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
 
Download [url=https:// https://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide/]mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide[/url]
 
Visit the mbaMission Blog
 
Follow mbaMission on Twitter
User avatar
schen1119
Manager
Manager
Joined: 28 Aug 2012
Posts: 58
Own Kudos [?]: 26 [0]
Given Kudos: 24
Location: United States
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
Schools: Johnson '16 (M$)
WE:Project Management (Computer Software)
Send PM
Re: Profile Evaluation Please - Low GPA High GMAT [#permalink] New post   08 Feb 2013, 19:24
Hi Mili,
Thanks for the response. The reason I mentioned consulting as a short term goal with startup as a long term goal is that I feel it's important to get a significant amount of "practice" in all facets of a successful business before running off and leading a startup. Is that not very common? At the very least, McKinsey, on their website, seem to state that it's not an uncommon career path to build skills at McKinsey that are taken into a future entrepreneurial life (e.g. https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/how_you ... n_take_you "more than one in five have started a business"). If that's just marketing fluff, and it really isn't realistic at all, I will make sure to restate my long term goals in a more realistic way.

Thanks
- Steve
avatar
mbaMissionMili
MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 02 Jul 2012
Posts: 382
Own Kudos [?]: 46 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Profile Evaluation Please - Low GPA High GMAT [#permalink] New post   15 Feb 2013, 09:52
Expert Reply
Hi,

Thanks for the follow-up question. If I think about all the entrepreneurs I know, it's true that a lot of them have consulting backgrounds and that this could be a very realistic career path. However, for the purposes of a career narrative, I don't think it's deep enough. Let's say you want to start a company in the electronics industry. And you're coming from the finance/banking industry with IT experience. It would probably be best if your short term career was in the electronics industry in a business capacity - either in a start up or in a large established company like Samsung or Panasonic. So, I think that if there is some specific reason for why consulting prepares you for your specific entrepreneurial goals, then that's great... but otherwise, it will come out sounding generic and unresearched.

Hope this helps,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
https://www.mbamission.com
 
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
 
Download [url=https:// https://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide/]mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide[/url]
 
Visit the mbaMission Blog
 
Follow mbaMission on Twitter
Moderator:
mbaMissionKate
mbaMission Admissions Consultant
1452 posts

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions