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01 Jun 2010, 18:59
Kudos
Bookmarks
Good morning Paul, would you please take a look at my profile?
Background
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Nationality: Thai-Taiwanese
UG: Double Major in two engineering degrees from UC Berkeley (GPA 3.55)
GMAT: 690 (Q 48, V 37)
Work Experience
-3 Years, Process Integration Engineer at Top 10 semiconductor firm in Japan
-Support customers in process related issues during the development of computer chips
-Consult with fab (semiconductor factory) to decide on solutions/proposals and present them to customers
Extracurricular Activities/Leadership Experience
Undergrad
-Activities Officer for Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
-Plan and organize over 50 events for TBP, including fun events, social networking, and professional workshops.
Post Undergrad
- Officer for Habitat for Humanity Japan
- Have been involved with Habitat for a long time (Went to Philippines twice to build houses back in high school, was president of community service club back then.)
- Continue participating in Habitat after arriving in Japan. I am in charge of running and planning the monthly meeting where we try to get more people involved in Habitat. I am also the official translator for Habitat in Japan. After my participation, the retention rate and participation rate in builds increased significantly.
Some Other Facts
-Lived in 4 different countries throughout career (Taiwan 12 years, Thailand 6 years, US 4 years, Japan 3 years)
-Able to speak quite a few languages. Mandarin (Native), English (Fluent), Japanese (Fluent), Thai (Basic), Taiwanese (Basic)
Weakness in Application
- Do not have a direct leadership role in work experience. I can talk about holding meetings and being influential to co-workers but do not have someone directly reporting to me.
- A slightly below average GMAT score for top schools
Post MBA
-Management position in semiconductor/consumer electronics industry (more specifically strategy) or management consulting
-Have a strong interest in working in Greater China region due to family and my language ability.
Target Schools
Columbia (Reach) ED/R1
Tuck (Reach) EA/R1
Duke (Competitive) ED/R1
Ross (Competitive) R2
HKUST (Competitive) R2
CUHK/CEBIS (Safety) R2
Other Schools in consideration: UCLA, NYU, Cornell
Questions
1.Can you please comment on my school selections? I am thinking about ED for either Duke or Columbia depending on whether I have a strong enough shot at Columbia ED. Perhaps a few safety/competitive schools to look at as well.
2.Is there anything that stands out from my application that you would suggest me to focus on? If leadership experience question comes along, should I focus on my Habitat role (where I made much greater impact) than my current job role?
3.I just realized that I can still apply to INSEAD Jan 11 Round 3. Do you think I have a shot at it or is it better to wait until next year round 1?
4.Asian schools reputation/info is quite hard to find. So far it seems HKUST is widely recognized in the Greater China Region. Do you have any insights on CUHK or CEIBS?
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate any comments/insights.
Background
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Nationality: Thai-Taiwanese
UG: Double Major in two engineering degrees from UC Berkeley (GPA 3.55)
GMAT: 690 (Q 48, V 37)
Work Experience
-3 Years, Process Integration Engineer at Top 10 semiconductor firm in Japan
-Support customers in process related issues during the development of computer chips
-Consult with fab (semiconductor factory) to decide on solutions/proposals and present them to customers
Extracurricular Activities/Leadership Experience
Undergrad
-Activities Officer for Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
-Plan and organize over 50 events for TBP, including fun events, social networking, and professional workshops.
Post Undergrad
- Officer for Habitat for Humanity Japan
- Have been involved with Habitat for a long time (Went to Philippines twice to build houses back in high school, was president of community service club back then.)
- Continue participating in Habitat after arriving in Japan. I am in charge of running and planning the monthly meeting where we try to get more people involved in Habitat. I am also the official translator for Habitat in Japan. After my participation, the retention rate and participation rate in builds increased significantly.
Some Other Facts
-Lived in 4 different countries throughout career (Taiwan 12 years, Thailand 6 years, US 4 years, Japan 3 years)
-Able to speak quite a few languages. Mandarin (Native), English (Fluent), Japanese (Fluent), Thai (Basic), Taiwanese (Basic)
Weakness in Application
- Do not have a direct leadership role in work experience. I can talk about holding meetings and being influential to co-workers but do not have someone directly reporting to me.
- A slightly below average GMAT score for top schools
Post MBA
-Management position in semiconductor/consumer electronics industry (more specifically strategy) or management consulting
-Have a strong interest in working in Greater China region due to family and my language ability.
Target Schools
Columbia (Reach) ED/R1
Tuck (Reach) EA/R1
Duke (Competitive) ED/R1
Ross (Competitive) R2
HKUST (Competitive) R2
CUHK/CEBIS (Safety) R2
Other Schools in consideration: UCLA, NYU, Cornell
Questions
1.Can you please comment on my school selections? I am thinking about ED for either Duke or Columbia depending on whether I have a strong enough shot at Columbia ED. Perhaps a few safety/competitive schools to look at as well.
2.Is there anything that stands out from my application that you would suggest me to focus on? If leadership experience question comes along, should I focus on my Habitat role (where I made much greater impact) than my current job role?
3.I just realized that I can still apply to INSEAD Jan 11 Round 3. Do you think I have a shot at it or is it better to wait until next year round 1?
4.Asian schools reputation/info is quite hard to find. So far it seems HKUST is widely recognized in the Greater China Region. Do you have any insights on CUHK or CEIBS?
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate any comments/insights.
04 Jun 2010, 22:40
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Lone Wolf:
Please excuse my delay in getting back to you. I was actually in the hospital for a few days, so I am getting back into the swing of things.
First, thank you for the detail. It really helps me do my job in analyzing your background.
So what are you chances at the schools you listed? This is basically your question 1. A quick and dirty rule is to go with a rule of 25. Are you within 25 points of your target schools, the answer is yes. However, I would recommend retaking the GMAT; it seems you left money on the table with the low verbal score. Again, I believe that admissions committees do not really care how many times you have taken the GMAT as long as they like the rest of your application. Don't let this lower range GMAT color your chances at a school. You're a smart guy, you can break 700. Trust me, I did.
So you have passed this first and highest hurdle (the GMAT). Now let's dive into your goals as the second most important factor in the "MBA Acceptance Equation." Why? Because after a low GMAT score (and poor undergraduate performance), the lack of clearly articulated short and long term goals is the most frequent reason for rejection. If you don't know where you are going with your career, it is hard to lay out why you have been engaging the career path you are on today.
So my first question is - what are your short and longer term career goals? That is, what do you want to be when you grow up? Your answer is a management consultant or strategy management in an electronics company. Both does logically build upon your current experiences. However, check the filter. Do you have current work experiences that are just as likely to get you a mgmt consulting role or a strategy position in a corporate environment? I would say "possibly." Your experience is great, and I do believe that you could get a McKinsey type job, but you have to check 2 things in moving a "possibly" to a "definitely." First, do the McKinsey's of the world recruit from the schools you are applying to? If not, and you list mgmt consulting, as an immediate goal, you look like a noob. If you list large corp strategy in Asia, does Columbia or Dartmouth, really send their graduates into these type positions? If the answer is "no", then again, you look like a noob. Another word of warning is that if you list consumer goods and strategy, is this something that you can make a compelling case that an MBA is in fact needed. With consulting, it may be obvious, but with management or strategy, it might not be such a slam dunk case.
My recommendation is to speak to a short term goals that is more actionable. This means saying something like "I plan on graduation and pursuing an operations consulting role with a firm like PRTM." This means that you are being realistic and you know that an MBA from School X can get you there. This self-realization shows a certain amount of sophistication. I think that your longer term goals should involve rolling out of a ops consulting firm and into industry. You can position the experiences as 1) I currently have the hands on experiences 2) I want to develop more strategic skills around these ops experiences with PRTM 3) I plan on then rolling out into a strategy product management role 5+ years after graduation. This is a very logical path.
So in fully answering your question 1, I would make sure these schools will be able to get you to the 1/2/3 goals I just listed above. Do the research I laid out and you have your answer.
Moving onto question 2 - I have already hit on some of this with respect to your lower GMAT score. With respect to leadership, most of my clients really don't know how significant their experiences are. Remember, you have to show leadership (at the workplace) that is above and beyond what others are doing in a similar role. I get engineers as I was a process engineer before for Ford Motor Company. There are plenty of stories that I am sure you can vet through to come up with a good example of informal leadership. If you want we can vet this over the phone in order to come up with an appropriate example. I can also share what I wrote about in my own essays. Trust me, it's there, you just have to find it.
Do not focus on your H4H role. It will raise a red flag. Remember, you have a job. At this job, you need to show leadership. This leadership is hard to replace with an outside role. Bolster the leadership experience at work with the right story and good recs to back that story. Then use the H4H story as additional support, but not the primary support. You will look like you have no gas in the tank, if you come out with H4H first and your engineering experience second.
Moving onto your question 3 - Do not apply to a school because the deadline is still open. That is lame. It's like going out with a girl just because she will say yes. I've done that before, don't make my mistake. You need to be the one who figures out a gameplan, and then executes it. Also with J-terms, you won't have the opportunity to intern, and if you are switching industries, you are going to need that internship. One other thing, you are young for INSEAD and they are going to know why a young guy needs to skip an internship and thus lose out on work experience that he "needs." At any length, INSEAD will figure this is what you are up to and just reject you flat out. Again, you have to do the research to make an informed decision. Don't boil the ocean with a large number of schools. Pick and choose, stick and move - be my man with the plan, not a main **** stain..... but I digress.
Question 4 - https://www.topmba.com/mba-rankings/glob ... ia-pacific
This link should answer your question 4. Both schools have a very strong rep. Even with your in-country experience, you have to sell yourself at these programs. You may in fact be overqualified. I have had quite a few of my clients apply to HKUST and get waitlisted. The difference was in that they were not selling themselves enough to the school. For example, there was a strong correlation between having not visited the program and getting waitlist. With your background, HKUST would fit hand in glove. They are technically oriented and right in the middle of Asia's financial center.
In closing, I would like to offer up my resources and I would like to speak to you over the phone for a consultation (pro grata). This conversation would probably last an hour to 90 minutes. Please PM me and let me know if this is something you would be interested in. I don't hard sell but I know that my comments above will open up more questions. Speaking over the phone would allow me to be as honest and forthright as possible.
Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti
Please excuse my delay in getting back to you. I was actually in the hospital for a few days, so I am getting back into the swing of things.
First, thank you for the detail. It really helps me do my job in analyzing your background.
So what are you chances at the schools you listed? This is basically your question 1. A quick and dirty rule is to go with a rule of 25. Are you within 25 points of your target schools, the answer is yes. However, I would recommend retaking the GMAT; it seems you left money on the table with the low verbal score. Again, I believe that admissions committees do not really care how many times you have taken the GMAT as long as they like the rest of your application. Don't let this lower range GMAT color your chances at a school. You're a smart guy, you can break 700. Trust me, I did.
So you have passed this first and highest hurdle (the GMAT). Now let's dive into your goals as the second most important factor in the "MBA Acceptance Equation." Why? Because after a low GMAT score (and poor undergraduate performance), the lack of clearly articulated short and long term goals is the most frequent reason for rejection. If you don't know where you are going with your career, it is hard to lay out why you have been engaging the career path you are on today.
So my first question is - what are your short and longer term career goals? That is, what do you want to be when you grow up? Your answer is a management consultant or strategy management in an electronics company. Both does logically build upon your current experiences. However, check the filter. Do you have current work experiences that are just as likely to get you a mgmt consulting role or a strategy position in a corporate environment? I would say "possibly." Your experience is great, and I do believe that you could get a McKinsey type job, but you have to check 2 things in moving a "possibly" to a "definitely." First, do the McKinsey's of the world recruit from the schools you are applying to? If not, and you list mgmt consulting, as an immediate goal, you look like a noob. If you list large corp strategy in Asia, does Columbia or Dartmouth, really send their graduates into these type positions? If the answer is "no", then again, you look like a noob. Another word of warning is that if you list consumer goods and strategy, is this something that you can make a compelling case that an MBA is in fact needed. With consulting, it may be obvious, but with management or strategy, it might not be such a slam dunk case.
My recommendation is to speak to a short term goals that is more actionable. This means saying something like "I plan on graduation and pursuing an operations consulting role with a firm like PRTM." This means that you are being realistic and you know that an MBA from School X can get you there. This self-realization shows a certain amount of sophistication. I think that your longer term goals should involve rolling out of a ops consulting firm and into industry. You can position the experiences as 1) I currently have the hands on experiences 2) I want to develop more strategic skills around these ops experiences with PRTM 3) I plan on then rolling out into a strategy product management role 5+ years after graduation. This is a very logical path.
So in fully answering your question 1, I would make sure these schools will be able to get you to the 1/2/3 goals I just listed above. Do the research I laid out and you have your answer.
Moving onto question 2 - I have already hit on some of this with respect to your lower GMAT score. With respect to leadership, most of my clients really don't know how significant their experiences are. Remember, you have to show leadership (at the workplace) that is above and beyond what others are doing in a similar role. I get engineers as I was a process engineer before for Ford Motor Company. There are plenty of stories that I am sure you can vet through to come up with a good example of informal leadership. If you want we can vet this over the phone in order to come up with an appropriate example. I can also share what I wrote about in my own essays. Trust me, it's there, you just have to find it.
Do not focus on your H4H role. It will raise a red flag. Remember, you have a job. At this job, you need to show leadership. This leadership is hard to replace with an outside role. Bolster the leadership experience at work with the right story and good recs to back that story. Then use the H4H story as additional support, but not the primary support. You will look like you have no gas in the tank, if you come out with H4H first and your engineering experience second.
Moving onto your question 3 - Do not apply to a school because the deadline is still open. That is lame. It's like going out with a girl just because she will say yes. I've done that before, don't make my mistake. You need to be the one who figures out a gameplan, and then executes it. Also with J-terms, you won't have the opportunity to intern, and if you are switching industries, you are going to need that internship. One other thing, you are young for INSEAD and they are going to know why a young guy needs to skip an internship and thus lose out on work experience that he "needs." At any length, INSEAD will figure this is what you are up to and just reject you flat out. Again, you have to do the research to make an informed decision. Don't boil the ocean with a large number of schools. Pick and choose, stick and move - be my man with the plan, not a main **** stain..... but I digress.
Question 4 - https://www.topmba.com/mba-rankings/glob ... ia-pacific
This link should answer your question 4. Both schools have a very strong rep. Even with your in-country experience, you have to sell yourself at these programs. You may in fact be overqualified. I have had quite a few of my clients apply to HKUST and get waitlisted. The difference was in that they were not selling themselves enough to the school. For example, there was a strong correlation between having not visited the program and getting waitlist. With your background, HKUST would fit hand in glove. They are technically oriented and right in the middle of Asia's financial center.
In closing, I would like to offer up my resources and I would like to speak to you over the phone for a consultation (pro grata). This conversation would probably last an hour to 90 minutes. Please PM me and let me know if this is something you would be interested in. I don't hard sell but I know that my comments above will open up more questions. Speaking over the phone would allow me to be as honest and forthright as possible.
Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti
lonewolf
