Profile evaluation request

Question

Hi Alex,

Would you mind giving me a profile evaluation: I'm targeting Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Booth, Sloan, and Columbia.

Information is below. Thanks!

Demographics  
25 year old Asian-American male; not of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean descent
Parents came from very poor/rural background; I grew up in a mostly hispanic neighborhood. First in my high school to go to an Ivy League college. I didn't have a severely destitute childhood, but definitely lived sparingly (worked to pay for exams and college applications, in elementary school I wore clothes my mom sewed for me, etc.). Volunteered in tutoring and mentoring a ton which carried through to college and post-college.
Will be 26 at matriculation

Undergraduate:   
BA in a hard science from non-HYP Ivy
GPA: 3.5-3.6
GMAT: 760-780
Undergrad EC's: one of the senior editors of an entirely new university journal; heavy volunteering for a non-profit that taught English and high school skills to adults

Career goal  
Looking to do portfolio management (ultimately be the head of a single fund or cluster of funds in an asset management company). Happy to elaborate if you'd like.

I will have 4 years of work experience by the time I matriculate:  
 First, 2 years in risk/operations management consulting in a small division at a large analytics/software company :
- Promoted relatively early, Told repeatedly that I was the best performing consultant in several recruiting cycles (with each cycle having maybe 3-4 consultants)
- Early project management experience
- Pre-sales and sales experience (presenting to board of directors, C-level executives)
- Led recruiting process and other initiatives

Most recently, 2 years of management consulting experience at top non-MBB consulting firm  (for what it's worth, the industry my company consults for rivals McKinsey and BCG, and outpaces Bain by a mile):
- I've been here for less than a year so I haven't really "made my mark", but have had strong performance reviews; I led logistics at the last major event my company had
- In the couple of projects I've been in, I've done well and have shown myself to be independent, positive, and great at working in teams despite my relatively junior role
- I know someone who would be able to vouch for me in a recommendation letter but I'm thinking maybe my earlier experience experience would be better since they knew me for longer
- Active role in company's recruiting from graduates of my university

Extra-curriculars post-college  
- Outside of work I do weekly volunteering (tutoring reading to an immigrant in the inner-city). Not going to get a Nobel peace prize for it, but I do it because I want to help out and be on the front line, it's really no deeper than that.
- I'm also a volunteer mentor for a large non-profit (maybe a monthly commitment), which helps immigrants find jobs in America. I answer questions in informational interviews, critique resumes, and conduct mock job interviews. Again, I'm mostly doing it because I just want to contribute first-hand, knowing how much my parents struggled coming in. Not on the board of directors or anything like that. If it's not "significant" enough to put on my app, then so be it.
- Actively learning a new language with a small group; organizing meet-ups to practice, outings to places around the city, etc. (maybe not totally worth mentioning but it's something fun that I like to do and helps me unwind)

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Ivy (or equivalent) alum with solid experience = you have enough of a shot that they're worth applying to.

HBS, Wharton and Stanford are going to be stretches, but they are stretches for just about everyone (including those who are fortunate enough to get admitted). They are however not long shots for you, so you might as well just give them a try so long as you have realistic expectations.

Booth, Sloan, Columbia, Kellogg, Tuck, etc. are within range. Closer to being sweet spots. If I were a betting man, I'd say you'll more likely end up in these range of schools.

This is all assuming that your written applications and interviews are rock solid.

hello212 · Answer

Thanks Alex. I figured that with my "almost-but-not-quite" blue chip background I should set some ambitious but reasonable expectations.

You said that many people who actually   get in   are in a similar boat in that H/W/S were a stretch, but not a long shot for them. Would you actually say that most candidates are like that, or would you instead say that most people who ended up getting in weren't really stretches to begin with?

AlexMBAApply · Answer

It's competitive enough to get in that even those who do are stretches.

Again, there's way more people who are qualified than there are spots, plain and simple.

If you poll current students in any given year at these schools and ask them where they applied to and where they got in -- most did not get into every school. In fact, quite a number of them got into a handful. Some got into HBS but not Sloan, others got into Stanford but not Wharton, and so on and so forth. Some got into Wharton and only Wharton (but dinged at Columbia, Booth, etc.). And yes, there are folks who only apply to HBS - some get in, some don't.

That's why it's important to apply to 5-6 schools. It is to a certain extent a numbers game. In short, you need to apply to around 5-6 schools to have a reasonable shot of yielding 1-3 admits. And if you're not willing to do that, then you'll simply have to accept the reality that it's more of a gamble.

hello212 · Answer

Thanks for the perspective. I guess on the one hand, it's possible for a highly qualified candidate to get dinged everywhere. But I found your comment to be oddly reassuring in that anything can happen and I'm not just putting my money in a pit and burning it with H/W/S.

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