Hi
SR71,
Thanks for reaching out with your profile. From what you've shared, your profile looks quite strong. In particular, your background in a less traditional pre-MBA field and having such early leadership responsibilities with managing a high-visibility project will be huge strengths in your application. Your experience running the investment club is a great example of impact and bridging diverse groups. Definitely something to highlight as that's a contribution you could make to your MBA classmates as well. Academics wise, you've got a strong enough GMAT and GPA to be in the ballpark for your schools, but I could see those numbers being challenging for some schools, especially top ones where your GMAT is below average. Still, you had difficult majors and have obviously shown you can perform well in demanding environments.
In terms of your school list, it looks like a good range. Glad that you are submitting CBS soon given their rolling process. I would put CBS, HBS, Wharton as reaches; LBS and Cornell as targets; and Rotman as a safer choice. Seems like you could benefit from another school in the target or safe range, but that depends on your risk tolerance and how set you are on attending next year (and also how much time you have since 6 schools are already a lot of work!).
Hope that helps,
Kate
SR71 wrote:
Hi,
I am looking to attend business school in the Fall of 2023. As such, I am in the thick of applications season and wanted to get an idea if my choices were realistic.
Profile:
Nationality: Canadian, Male
Languages spoken: English and French
GMAT: 700 (48Q/38V)
GPA: 3.5/4.3 (3.9/4.3 in the last two years --> heaviest course load (in terms of quantity of courses and difficulty) in the last two years)
Education: Double undergrad in Theoretical Physics and Mechanical Engineering
Occupation: Aerospace Engineer
Industry: Aerospace and Defense (Top 3 - Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon etc.)
Work ex: 3.5 years
Extra-curriculars (highlighting one for brevity):
Passion for finance and investing; this led me to being involved with the investment club at my uni.
I was then nominated to run the investment club and subsequently became the first non-business student to run it in its history.
More than doubled attendance and organized networking events and presentations with professionals from varied fields in finance (IB, PE etc.). Gave stock pitches and generally broadened my skillset to get my feet wet in a business context. I expanded the footprint of the club to include students outside of the business school; My team and I got engineering/quant heavy students excited about the world of finance and the markets, and I used my platform as President of the investment club to bridge the two 'Worlds' together. The club was very popular with many non-business majors during my tenure and in fact, a lot of them got to explore potential careers in the industry through the networking events that were previously inaccessible to them.
Employment:
I manage a high-visibility project with a significant financial impact to the engineering division. I am the first employee at my level to be entrusted with such a responsibility; my managers have recognized my potential for eventual leadership in the company. I have had one-one time with our CEO and I hope to gain a solid general management and entrepreneurial skillset in order to eventually start up my own aerospace and defense consulting firm long-term, or add value to an existing A&D company in a strategy/ "big picture" capacity. In the industry, it is uncommon to have access to these kinds of projects/roles on a daily basis without having spent >15 years in the company, so not only is my current responsibility rare, but an MBA will get me there more quickly and my access to these strategic projects will be more frequent.
CBS (dream school - submitting in a week)
Round 2: HBS, Wharton, LBS, Cornell Johnson, and Rotman
What are my chances and are there any other schools that you would add to this list?
Thank you