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24 Jun 2015, 08:18
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi, I am considering to apply to Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, and Berkeley in Round 1 this year, and I appreciate your feedback on my chances at these school.
Profile:
30 y/o Chinese-Canadian male
- born in Hong Kong, grew up/studied/worked in Canada, and then worked in China for the past few years
Work Exp - around 8 years total
- Canadian Chartered Accountant (audit/tax) - 4 years
- Found a start-up in China that raised USD2MM and had an operational business, and left after 2 years
- Worked as a Sr Financial Analyst (Finance planning and analysis) for a large multi-national company's China office for 1.5 years
- Worked to start another venture, which did not materialize for another 1 year
Extracurriculars
- Community service for >5 years
- Started other side businesses e.g. games rooms
Education
Graduated at a leading Canadian university with a 3.4/4.33 GPA.
700 GMAT (verbal 37/ quant 48 / AWS 5.5 / IR 6)
Harvard and Stanford are my top choices and the other ones follow right behind, but I am not sure this is a realistic reach for me. If this is not entirely unrealistic and I have say a 10% chance at these schools, I am considering if I should retake the GMAT to further boost these chances. I hope I may be able to reach 750 and improve AWA and IR with another month or two of studying as there are still a lot of study materials I haven't used. However, if these schools are completely unrealistic for me, then I may not spend the extra month or two to study for a GMAT retake, and I will reconsider my selections.
Please advise on my situation and thank you so much for your help!!!
Best,
Danny
Profile:
30 y/o Chinese-Canadian male
- born in Hong Kong, grew up/studied/worked in Canada, and then worked in China for the past few years
Work Exp - around 8 years total
- Canadian Chartered Accountant (audit/tax) - 4 years
- Found a start-up in China that raised USD2MM and had an operational business, and left after 2 years
- Worked as a Sr Financial Analyst (Finance planning and analysis) for a large multi-national company's China office for 1.5 years
- Worked to start another venture, which did not materialize for another 1 year
Extracurriculars
- Community service for >5 years
- Started other side businesses e.g. games rooms
Education
Graduated at a leading Canadian university with a 3.4/4.33 GPA.
700 GMAT (verbal 37/ quant 48 / AWS 5.5 / IR 6)
Harvard and Stanford are my top choices and the other ones follow right behind, but I am not sure this is a realistic reach for me. If this is not entirely unrealistic and I have say a 10% chance at these schools, I am considering if I should retake the GMAT to further boost these chances. I hope I may be able to reach 750 and improve AWA and IR with another month or two of studying as there are still a lot of study materials I haven't used. However, if these schools are completely unrealistic for me, then I may not spend the extra month or two to study for a GMAT retake, and I will reconsider my selections.
Please advise on my situation and thank you so much for your help!!!
Best,
Danny
24 Jun 2015, 12:54
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Bookmarks
dannyref
Hi Danny,
HBS/Stanford are probably a bit out of reach, but if you can show strong achievements in both your startups as well as other professional work, you should be able to break into the top 10. A higher GMAT score will be very helpful - aim for 720+ . It will be important to show that you left the startup for the right reasons. Given the age, perhaps a 1 year program may be better fit, such as Kellogg 1 Year or INSEAD.
Best of luck,
Zooey
Aringo
PersonalMBACoach
Expert
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Joined: 11 Sep 2010
Last visit: 28 Apr 2026
Posts: 3,811
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Given Kudos: 11
Status:Boutique MBA Admissions Consulting from a Wharton graduate - Helping applicants get into top global business schools since 2008
Affiliations: Wharton, MIT
Location: United States (NY)
Overall Client Admit Rate: 96%
Expert reply
25 Jun 2015, 14:06
Kudos
Bookmarks
Danny,
What is the status of the latest venture you started? Is that where you are working now and is it doing well? You have an interesting profile because you went back and forth between corporations and startups so it will be important to craft a well thought out story that is convincing, as traditionally writing essays based on your experiences may not do the trick.
The fact that you have started successful businesses will certainly help you and while 2MM is not huge, it is sizable and will certainly impress. I agree with the above post that HBS and Stanford are a bit out of your reach based on your profile, and especially considering your age. That said, even to be competitive at the other schools, I would recommend retaking the GMAT although you need to get around 40 points higher or better to really make a difference. If you feel you can do that, it is worth trying even if that means not getting all of the applications in for round one. You want to demonstrate academic ability and your GPA is not extremely high so you want higher than a 700 GMAT.
I would love to hear more about your current venture, the startup you worked on and your experience at the corporations in more detail. Please send me a note with some more (confidential) details and I can give you a better analysis and point you in the right direction. [email protected]
Good luck!
What is the status of the latest venture you started? Is that where you are working now and is it doing well? You have an interesting profile because you went back and forth between corporations and startups so it will be important to craft a well thought out story that is convincing, as traditionally writing essays based on your experiences may not do the trick.
The fact that you have started successful businesses will certainly help you and while 2MM is not huge, it is sizable and will certainly impress. I agree with the above post that HBS and Stanford are a bit out of your reach based on your profile, and especially considering your age. That said, even to be competitive at the other schools, I would recommend retaking the GMAT although you need to get around 40 points higher or better to really make a difference. If you feel you can do that, it is worth trying even if that means not getting all of the applications in for round one. You want to demonstrate academic ability and your GPA is not extremely high so you want higher than a 700 GMAT.
I would love to hear more about your current venture, the startup you worked on and your experience at the corporations in more detail. Please send me a note with some more (confidential) details and I can give you a better analysis and point you in the right direction. [email protected]
Good luck!
