Stanford Profile Evaluation - Tools for B-School Profile Evaluation

well, your background education is impressive, but why you want to change your major, or is it a joke?
Also, I fell sad when I read that you are forced to foreclose your own company only after 2 years. It sounds heart-breaking, but this is a great story (dont get me wrong, I never have chance to learn about failures of companies in details)

I want to have you as my friend on social media like linked, or facebook, or twitter, is that fine?

Hey chesstitans

I have been into marketing for last 3 years now and I want to gain experience in brand/product management before I venture again into entrepreneurship. Definitely, the startup experience is priceless and it was heartbreaking to shut it down but great lessons from the entire experience that will definitely come in handy when I go for my MBA.

Sure, lets connect on social media. Please DM your linkedin profile. Happy to connect!

Hi,

I am an Indian male with 9.5 years work experience (will have 10 by the time I join college). Stanford is my first choice.

Undergrad: IIT Roorkee, 2008

Company 1: Tata Steel for 3 Years
Company 2: Teach For India for 7 Years
Currently serving as a Director of Program Implementation for seven regions. In the previous role, was leading the program for entire region impacting 220 teachers and 9000 children. Found an organization in 2011 while teaching that is now impacting 6600 children across 4 cities in India.

GMAT: 710

GPA: 6.9 on the scale of 10

Can you evaluate my profile? Would love to hear thoughts/feedback.

Hi All,

I am a lawyer from a top 5 law school in India. I hold a dual degree (Bachelor of Socio-Legal Sciences + Bachelor of Law).

Work experience: 3 years.

1. Consultant - EY, Bangalore for 1 year. Work profile- corporate advisory, private equity/funds advisory, tax advisory.

2. Associate Legal Counsel- role of an in-house corporate lawyer with Infosys Limited. Work profile: Negotiations, Deals, Risk strategies and liabilities.

GMAT: 740 GPA: 3.6 plus

Extra curricular: Professional Classical vocalist with 15+ awards from various institutions.

Blogger+ Run an online fashion initiative promoting Indian fashion and brands. Run the team newsletter at work.

Volunteering work: good amount of volunteering and community service including Bharat scouts and guides, Make a difference etc.

Preferential schools: Yale, Stanford, Booth, CMU Tepper, Kelley’s

Significant achievements: 0.1% merit certificate from CBSE; Part of British Council’s “Dreams and Teams” leadership initiative.

Other courses: Hold diplomas from Asian school of cyber laws, World intellectual property organisation.
Completed “Harvard Manage Mentor” modules.

Languages: English, hindi, tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi (7 languages)

Post MBA goal: transition from a purely legal advisory role to business and strategy role. And work in the Impact Ventures space in the short term. Long term, would like to bring to light at least 5-6 small and medium enterprises and their ideas see the light of the day!

Wanted to understand what are my chances to be at Stanford.

Hi - Sounds like you have great intellectual capabilities and significant outside interests. You seem certainly qualified - but difficult for anyone to count on getting into GSB, of course. You might consider adjusting your profile more from being a thinker to a doer though - perhaps in emphasizing your entrepreneurial objectives and enhancing your profile (before you apply) with something that relates to that. Best -

Hi there, please don't hesitate to be as brutally honest as possible when evaluating my profile. Thanks in advance.

Background and nationality:
28, M, Moroccan (currently based in France), will be 30/31 by matriculation (aiming for the dual degree MBA/MA in education)

Undergrad Information:
- Master in Management, HEC Paris, Finance major (GPA:3.45, major GPA:3.55, upward trend)
- Summer Exchange at Stanford University (GPA:3.75)
- Master of Engineering, EMI (top engineering school in Morocco), no GPA given (final grade: 15.45/20; top 5% of admitted students nationally out of 4000 students)

GMAT: 780
TOEFL iBT: 119/120

Work experience and leadership:
- Consultant at Capgemini Consulting since October 2017 (looking to go back to Amazon)
- Interned at Amazon and a boutique M&A firm in Dubai as part of my gap year @ HEC Paris
- 1 year as a quality management engineer (was head of the maintenance team for an entire workfloor)

Community and others:
- 3 years at ENACTUS as Project Manager, Tech and Marketing Leader (2011, 2012 semi-finalist in ENACTUS Moroccan Competition, 2013 champion and Moroccan representative in ENACTUS World Cup - attended remotely because of work)
- Founding member and advisor of ENACTUS HEC Paris
- Founding member and Design Leader of the HEC Busines Game
- Mentor at Article 1 (France's leading NPO dedicated to helping talented students from poor backgrounds achieve their goals)
- Volunteer gym instructor in Morocco for 10 years

Post MBA goals:
- Short to mid-term (max 5-10 years): Join an MBB (preferrably McKinsey) to work on strategy, tech and education related subjects
- Long-term (10 years +): Create an education startup in Morocco to help rural and underpriviledged students achieve excellence without straining themselves financially

Anything else?
- Reserve officer (first lieutenant) in the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces
- HEC Paris thesis awarded highest grade and published on the Vernimmen website (leading European finance website)
- Bodybuilding (martial arts-oriented) for 16 years

Hi - you have a great profile, of course. Helpful to not seem too MBB focused though. I had a few people with very similar profiles get into HBS last year - perhaps worth connecting with soon (you are getting a bit on the older side). Best -

Hey guys, so I am thinking of applying for the Stanford MBA deferred admission. Would like to know what you think of my chances of getting to the interview stage and getting an offer

I am from Montreal, Canada (23 year old white male)
Undergrad: Non-target US university (Economics & Finance)
GPA: 3.96/4.0 (top 1%)
Masters: Masters in Management at London Business School (LBS)
GMAT: 710 (49Q, 38V, 8IR, 5.0 AWA)
Work Experience: Investment banking analyst (M&A, ECM, DCM) in a top Canadian Bank (will start in July 2018) + working on my own startup (sharing economy, think Uber/Airbnb/Tinder)
Leadership: Captain of my NCAA tennis team in Florida, MVP for 2 years
EC: Professional tennis player for 7 years, ranked 668 in the world (played in over 40 different countries), represented Canada in the Junior Olympics in Singapore
Sponsorship from Adidas and Babolat
Post-MBA Goal: Venture Capital or Private Equity in a top US fund

In my essay, I plan to leverage my tennis experience and discuss everything I have learned from it (leadership, dedication, performing under pressure, time management, problem solving, interpersonal skills).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, you can PM me

Thanks in advance!

Hi all. I am an incoming student for one of the US MMS programs (Kellogg / Fuqua / etc) and will be looking to apply for deferred entry to HBS / GBS during my MMS year. Was hoping to get some perspectives on my profile and what weak aspects I can work on in the future, even if not for deferred entry then for regular entry down the line.

Goals pre-/post MBA: Consulting post-MMS, Tech Entrepreneurship post-MBA.

Undergrad: Expected high Upper Second Class Honors, Bachelor of Laws at semi-target UK Russell Group Uni (KCL / Bristol tier). GPA equivalent should be around 3.7~3.8 if translated.
GMAT: 790.

Qualifications:
- several business-related certifications on Coursera
- Wall Street Prep financial modelling course (basic package).
- Will also have completed CFA Level 2 by the time of my application (hopefully), along with the HBX CORe Program this summer.
- 3 months at a very well-known coding bootcamp in San Francisco during one of my summers - will be looking to use these programming skills to do an EduTech startup during my time at the MMS.

Professional Experiences: Probably my weakest point as I haven't done internships with any "target" companies.
- Two short summer internships with notable Asian law firms in corporate / M&A type stuff
- one winter internship with a technology startup (sparked my interest in tech entrepreneurship).
- Currently working remotely as a part-time digital marketing intern for a San Francisco-based start-up.
- Doing business development for a start-up this summer in London before the MMS.

Extracurriculars:
- Vice-captain for university football B-team
- Placed in finalist positions for some smaller international case competitions.
- university representative for UK-wide ethnic society for law
- have helped to organise careers workshops for students from impoverished backgrounds and to assist lawyers in defending financially disadvantaged criminals.

So yeah, any feedback would be great on my chances for HBS/GBS 2+2. Appreciate it guys. I think I probably have the "unique" background they might be looking for but my internships may be lacking on the quality front, especially when up against people who have done internships at GS / JPM / MBB etc. Also if anyone has an idea of how I can build up my profile over the next 1.5 years for deferred entry / 3 years for regular entry, would be great!

Hi guys! Not sure if this is the right place to post. I am relatively new here. So please redirect me to the correct forum if it’s not this one.

I wrote the gmat 2 weeks ago and scored a 710
Break up: Q45(57 percentile) and V41 (94 percentile)

I am happy with the overal score. Wanted everyone’s thoughts on the quant bit though. Is it too low? I’ll give you more of my background below:

Indian Female, Age 25, Chartered Accountant (all levels in first attempt)

GPA: not too sure at the moment (have to check my documents), but above 7.87/10

College: not very well ranked, bachelor in business management, graduated in 2014, managed this while working full time for a big 4 (third year of the three year degree)

Work experience
1) 3 year articleship in a big 4 (tax)
2) 3 months full time post articleship in the same big 4
3) 1 year 3 months in the valuation team of another big 4
4) 7 months at a VC (ongoing, will finish 2 years by the time I intent to join bschool)

Total: 4-5 years depending on if articleship is counted or not

Extracurriculars
- teacher with teach for change (taught a group of underprivileged students and made sure they passed English Toefl level exams to better equip them for jobs)
- miracle manna (orphanage for children where I conducted activities)
- college: editorial team of college newspaper / newsletter
- recently started volunteering with make a wish foundation (hoping this will allow me to take on a more serious role)


Awards
- 1 award during articleship and finalist in 1 competition during articleship

Others
- been actively involved in a business separation legal case - from end to end
- this takes up most of my time outside work

Questions
1) is the quant score low considering I am Indian and I intend to major in finance and probably strategy? How do I make up for it?

(Note: I am not an engineer)

2) what schools seem realistic? Dream? Reach?

3) what’s the job situation in the US?

4) should I consider an MiM over an MBA

5) with the current Gmat score, what kind of scholarships and support can I expect?

6) planning to retake gmat - not very confident about scoring more than this score. Even if quant improves, verbal might drop. What are your thoughts on the score as it is? And in what situation should I accept or reject my next score?

Hello kritikalal

Overall you have a strong profile, but not sure which university you have shortlisted.
Total GMAT score is ok, whether you should re-take it depends on which colleges you are applying to.
1. Quant is certainly a problem, some colleges expect you to have 75-80 percentile in both the sections. Considering your CA background, I assume you can do better in quant.
2. What colleges are realistic for you can be decided only if you mention your future goals. Which country do you wish to study in, where do you wish to work in the future etc?
3. Job situation in US- perhaps only Trump can answer that . It is at least 3 years before you graduate (if you study in US). No one can predict what the situation will be then.
4. MiM vs MBA- Looking at your work ex, go for an MBA.
5. Scholarships- Usually not based on just the GMAT score but overall profile of the applicant. Also it will depend on the college. If your GMAT (710) is much higher than the average GMAT of the college you get admitted to, you may have a chance of scholarship.

All the best.

Thanks OneMBAcoach.
At this point, my top two schools seem to by NYU and LBS. Columbia and Booth too. Anything specific you can add to your already helpful comment based on the schools?
I am rewriting the GMAT - on May 31 - juggling this with work is NOT going to be easy. So let's see how that goes for me.

Hello kritikalal

All four colleges will definitely expect you to have more balanced scores, 75-80 percentile. Good idea to re-take the GMAT and improve your quant score.
No rocket science here, but your shortlisted colleges see really tough competition, GMAT will be just one part. You will need a very strong application with compelling reasons to get an admit. You will have to stretch a bit to reach these.

All the best.

Hi.

I am an Indian Male Computer Science Engineer with a minor in Business Management just on the verge of completing engineering.

College: Manipal Institute of Technology
GPA: 8.5/10

Internships:

Crypttech, Istanbul ( International Exposure)
Tata Technologies
Cisco

I have a full time offer from Cisco which will start in month of July 2018.

Position of Responsibility :

Vice-President of a club in College.( Led a team of over 100 )
Category Head of the Technical fest ( Led a team of over 150 )
Vice-President of my school.
Organizer of various events held throughout the year
Cisco Intern Ambassador ( Point of contact for over 240 interns selected in Cisco, India )

State-Level Swimmer.
Various prizes in public speaking competitions.
TATA-HITACHI AWARD for excellence in studies and extra-curricular activities.

Failed Startup.

Languages: English, Hindi, Italian, Turkish

I have 2-3 years in hand before I apply for an MBA. Apart from GMAT, what else can I do to make a strong profile ?

P.S My dream college is HBS.

Hello AngadAhuja

Kudos to planning ahead.

After finally deciding to pursue an MBA, the applicant’s first questions are-

· What is the admissions committee looking for?

· How do I improve my profile?

What is the Admissions committee looking for?

Getting into a B-school can sure be daunting. But it is quite simple to break down what the admission committee is looking for in a good candidate.

Admissions in top b-schools happen on basis of GMAT, Essays & Interviews.

A combination of this holy trinity helps the admission committee judge the applicant on primarily six parameters-

1. Academics

2. Work Experience

3. Goal Clarity

4. Diversity

5. Leadership

6. Communication.

You have to be very strong on most of these elements to secure admit. Sure, a weak area in an applicant’s profile may be offset by another very strong element. For instance weak academic record could be offset by a stellar work experience or a strong GMAT score.

However, overall profile of the applicant is very important. No single strong element can decide the outcome of your result. Do not rest on your laurels if you have a strong GMAT or undergraduate degree. At times applicants spend disproportionate time on the GMAT and falter in writing great application essays or become tongue tied in the interviews due to lack of preparation.

Spend equal effort on making each element of your profile strong.

Since it is very difficult to write everything in one post, read on How to improve your profile and Planning an early MBA below-
How to get admission at top B-schools
Planning an mba-Steps to Success

All the best

Seeking constructive advice here on B-school selection:

Long term goal: Impact social sector landscape in India by leveraging data and technology (AI) towards a more equitable society (focussing on peer to peer skilling for the underprivileged section of the society)
Medium term goal: work in strategy consulting post MBA to develop skills and network that I could take to social sector entrepreneurship

Current:
Total work-ex: 4years and 6 months divided into (from 2013 - till date):
1 year as a software developer in a tech startup (started my career with it)
2 years as a grass-root researcher with the largest non-profit in the world in education
- Independently managed a team of 200-300 grass-root workers and made recommendation on education policies
- Also managed a globally recognized education research for two Indian states
-Travelled over 200,000kms across India as part of my work and have worked in every Indian state

Worked as a freelancer post this for a non-profit startup
- Co-created a design thinking program and scaled it up from impacting 10 schools and about 1000kids to about 60 schools and over 5,000 kids in a span of 8 months.
- Was the tech. and ideation advisor to a participatory policy making tool that is being launched shortly

Currently working (~8months) as a consultant in the 2nd best csr consulting firm in India as a Consultant - working with the M&E team in the role of a data expert. Also undertaking financial responsibility of the Unit in designing strategies and models to increase profitability.

Would have 5 years of work-ex by the time I apply.
Age - 26
GMAT - 780

Extra-curriculars:
1. Assisted a constituency candidate in state elections and helped leverage publicly available data of 4.5 lakh voters to design targetted campaigns
2. Helping a political party design their data driven campaign for a state elections (mining, analysing and strategizing using the data of approx. 200mn. people)

- Selected as a National finalist (amongst 20 people across India) for a nationwide comptt. - idea on education was selected

College-
1. National finalist of a leadership discovery contest (amongst 29 people from over 1.5 lakh across India)
2. Founding team of college Quiz society and founded the college debate society
3. Managed a team of 100 people to organize college cultural fest.

International:
1. Attended a Youth forum in Norway among 450 people from 170 nationalities
2. Invited to attend World Business Dialogue in Germany in 2015
3. Tech. policy making tool reached semi-finals of an international comptt. at ASEAN level - was invited to attend

Background
Indian Male IT engineer, from a Govt. University (non-IIT), CGPA: 7.32/10

Would appreciate your thoughts on my chances in the following colleges:
1. Stanford GSB
2. Wharton
3. INSEAD

Feedback is welcomed!!