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08 May 2022, 10:26
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi mbaMission,
First and foremost, thank you in advance for taking the time to evaluate my profile. I really appreciate it. I am trying to gauge my competitiveness and options for attending some of my target business schools in the US. I plan to narrow my current list and apply to 5 schools this fall, focusing on stretch or competitive schools during Round 1.
Demographic:
27 year old white-male. Attended a T100 university and studied international relations with a minor in the Chinese language. Graduated with a 3.89 GPA and a few Honor Awards in my major. I have about 4 years of work experience and will have completed 5 years by the time I matriculate into business school.
GMAT
700: Q46 V40 IR 5 AWA 6
Work Experience:
During college, I had internships at a few consulting companies and government contracting companies. My first job out of college was for a smaller government contracting company where I focused on business and process improvement. I was able to get some IT experience and started to transition more and more into a technology transformation role. My second job out of college was at a T2 consulting firm working on cloud DevOps, infrastructure, and automation. I was able to introduce various efficiencies on the team and gain a lot of client exposure. After some time, I was promoted to a lead role and managed 15 people in Cloud DevOps. I was at this position for two years. After this experience, I joined a Big4 consulting company and continued my experience in the cloud, but more from a IT strategy route. During my time with the firm, I was able to lead various strategic initiatives focused on areas such as cloud architecture, finances, and so forth. I am still in this role.
ECA:
During my time at all these firms, I have undertaken leadership roles outside my day to day responsibilities. These activities included sponsoring and planning work events to connect coworkers with leadership and set-up workshops. I helped build-out practice areas in all these firms to expand firm to market capabilities and internal team skillsets. I also participated in volunteer and community service events.
During school, I was part of a few clubs and participated in international opportunities. I was part of a Chinese Language Club and a social organization where I acted as a scholarship chair. I was able to review resumes, help individuals with recruiting, and provide internship prep. I also have international study abroad experience for a semester to learn a new language. I also completed a year long independent research program that included proposal writing, formulating a hypothesis, data analysis, and a presentation to faculty on findings.
Post MBA goals:
I am very passionate about technology and the capability of technology to create impact and change. My goal after schools is to work in product management for a tech company (either pre-IPO/high-growth or FAANG). I truly believe that my past experiences have provided me with the ability to showcase a wide variety of skills such as technical aptitude in the cloud, technology strategy, team leadership, communication, and presentation skills. In addition, the experience with leading a team has taught me how to empower those around me to succeed and how to teach new skills. I thrive in ambiguity and am very passionate about investing in a team to work towards a common goal. I have the ability to get into the details, while also working towards the big picture by balancing various responsibilities and viewpoints.
Request:
Right now, I am very interested in the programs at Duke, NYU, UT-Austin, UCLA, CMU, Berkeley, and Michigan. I am still researching and narrowing down my list for this fall, but I want to get your insight on whether my application is competitive at these schools and the likelihood at each: Stretch or Competitive.
Thank you once again for taking the time out of your day to evaluate my profile!
Thanks!
First and foremost, thank you in advance for taking the time to evaluate my profile. I really appreciate it. I am trying to gauge my competitiveness and options for attending some of my target business schools in the US. I plan to narrow my current list and apply to 5 schools this fall, focusing on stretch or competitive schools during Round 1.
Demographic:
27 year old white-male. Attended a T100 university and studied international relations with a minor in the Chinese language. Graduated with a 3.89 GPA and a few Honor Awards in my major. I have about 4 years of work experience and will have completed 5 years by the time I matriculate into business school.
GMAT
700: Q46 V40 IR 5 AWA 6
Work Experience:
During college, I had internships at a few consulting companies and government contracting companies. My first job out of college was for a smaller government contracting company where I focused on business and process improvement. I was able to get some IT experience and started to transition more and more into a technology transformation role. My second job out of college was at a T2 consulting firm working on cloud DevOps, infrastructure, and automation. I was able to introduce various efficiencies on the team and gain a lot of client exposure. After some time, I was promoted to a lead role and managed 15 people in Cloud DevOps. I was at this position for two years. After this experience, I joined a Big4 consulting company and continued my experience in the cloud, but more from a IT strategy route. During my time with the firm, I was able to lead various strategic initiatives focused on areas such as cloud architecture, finances, and so forth. I am still in this role.
ECA:
During my time at all these firms, I have undertaken leadership roles outside my day to day responsibilities. These activities included sponsoring and planning work events to connect coworkers with leadership and set-up workshops. I helped build-out practice areas in all these firms to expand firm to market capabilities and internal team skillsets. I also participated in volunteer and community service events.
During school, I was part of a few clubs and participated in international opportunities. I was part of a Chinese Language Club and a social organization where I acted as a scholarship chair. I was able to review resumes, help individuals with recruiting, and provide internship prep. I also have international study abroad experience for a semester to learn a new language. I also completed a year long independent research program that included proposal writing, formulating a hypothesis, data analysis, and a presentation to faculty on findings.
Post MBA goals:
I am very passionate about technology and the capability of technology to create impact and change. My goal after schools is to work in product management for a tech company (either pre-IPO/high-growth or FAANG). I truly believe that my past experiences have provided me with the ability to showcase a wide variety of skills such as technical aptitude in the cloud, technology strategy, team leadership, communication, and presentation skills. In addition, the experience with leading a team has taught me how to empower those around me to succeed and how to teach new skills. I thrive in ambiguity and am very passionate about investing in a team to work towards a common goal. I have the ability to get into the details, while also working towards the big picture by balancing various responsibilities and viewpoints.
Request:
Right now, I am very interested in the programs at Duke, NYU, UT-Austin, UCLA, CMU, Berkeley, and Michigan. I am still researching and narrowing down my list for this fall, but I want to get your insight on whether my application is competitive at these schools and the likelihood at each: Stretch or Competitive.
Thank you once again for taking the time out of your day to evaluate my profile!
Thanks!
09 May 2022, 09:48
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Kyle01!
Thanks for reaching out to us. I'm quite impressed by the trajectory you've had in your career and it makes sense that you've moved up from one firm to the next. I also think you have a strong background to pursue product management. This is a hot career for MBAs right now and you have the advantage of exposure to tech strategy and expertise in the cloud. It's also great that you've gotten involved at all of your firms. B-schools like candidates who get involved, give back to others, and seek to improve the communities around them. Some candidates will have these experiences outside of work, so that's something you should consider, is how to show personal passions and qualities that distinguish you as a person.
In terms of schools, here is my quick assessment on where these stand with your profile....
Duke - competitive, especially if you apply early action
NYU - competitive, especially if you apply first round
UT-Austin - competitive
UCLA - competitive
CMU - competitive, probably safest on your list (since all the other schools have 700+ GMAT averages)
Berkeley - stretch (high GMAT, small class so every GMAT matters, but I'd still give it a shot considering your goals)
Michigan - stretch (but I think you'd really like the team-oriented nature of their program)
If you're looking to narrow, I'd give some thought to location preferences and where you'd like to end up geographically in your career. For instance, if you'd really like to be on the west coast, then you could drop a school like NYU from your list. If you love a growing city like Austin, then keep that on your list. If you like more of the campus feel for your MBA experience, then keep Duke and Michigan on your list.
As you can tell, your GMAT score could be a challenge at some of the top schools on your list, particularly because there are many Big 4 applicants who have strong test scores. So if you're not able to retake/increase your score, then focus on sharing experiences and examples in your essays that distinguish you from similar candidates. But overall this seems like a reasonable list with your profile and strong GPA.
I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out to us / set up a free consultation if you have further questions.
Kate
Thanks for reaching out to us. I'm quite impressed by the trajectory you've had in your career and it makes sense that you've moved up from one firm to the next. I also think you have a strong background to pursue product management. This is a hot career for MBAs right now and you have the advantage of exposure to tech strategy and expertise in the cloud. It's also great that you've gotten involved at all of your firms. B-schools like candidates who get involved, give back to others, and seek to improve the communities around them. Some candidates will have these experiences outside of work, so that's something you should consider, is how to show personal passions and qualities that distinguish you as a person.
In terms of schools, here is my quick assessment on where these stand with your profile....
Duke - competitive, especially if you apply early action
NYU - competitive, especially if you apply first round
UT-Austin - competitive
UCLA - competitive
CMU - competitive, probably safest on your list (since all the other schools have 700+ GMAT averages)
Berkeley - stretch (high GMAT, small class so every GMAT matters, but I'd still give it a shot considering your goals)
Michigan - stretch (but I think you'd really like the team-oriented nature of their program)
If you're looking to narrow, I'd give some thought to location preferences and where you'd like to end up geographically in your career. For instance, if you'd really like to be on the west coast, then you could drop a school like NYU from your list. If you love a growing city like Austin, then keep that on your list. If you like more of the campus feel for your MBA experience, then keep Duke and Michigan on your list.
As you can tell, your GMAT score could be a challenge at some of the top schools on your list, particularly because there are many Big 4 applicants who have strong test scores. So if you're not able to retake/increase your score, then focus on sharing experiences and examples in your essays that distinguish you from similar candidates. But overall this seems like a reasonable list with your profile and strong GPA.
I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out to us / set up a free consultation if you have further questions.
Kate
Kyle01
09 May 2022, 14:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi mbaMissionKate
Thank you so much for taking the time to assess my profile! I really appreciate the detailed analysis and honesty in the assessment.
In terms of my GMAT score being a challenge at some of the schools on my list, are you referring to my reach schools in particular?
Also, for Duke, do you believe I would be still particularly competitive if I did Round 1 versus Early Action?
Best,
Kyle
Thank you so much for taking the time to assess my profile! I really appreciate the detailed analysis and honesty in the assessment.
In terms of my GMAT score being a challenge at some of the schools on my list, are you referring to my reach schools in particular?
Also, for Duke, do you believe I would be still particularly competitive if I did Round 1 versus Early Action?
Best,
Kyle
