Looking to get some advice on my chances - and whether I need to lower my target schools - mainly concerned because of my non-traditional work experience, and if it would be highly beneficial to wait a year to apply to have more "professional" experience under my belt plus adding a non-profit extracurricular and having level 1-2 of cfa completed
My current plan is to apply for a few schools this year, and if I don't get in, I will apply more broadly next year - but I just wanted to make sure I'm aiming at the right targets.
Background
Work experience:
1+ year in procurement as a buyer for a provincial cancer research genomic centre - below are ways I've impacted/will impact the team beyond my normal scope of work
-coordinated with companies and the provincial health authority procurement team to ensure we meet yearend deadlines for purchases of 100-500k
-developed script-based systems to increase efficiency for meeting new government policies
-collaborating with IT department to develop new software to upgrade our main procurement software (I'm leading the procurement side of things for this project)
-developing new process for training new hires to increase productivity and creating a new database of information for procurement policies
-Data collection and analysis to determine improvements for division of workload among the team
Master's of Science: - thesis-based - majority of time is spent in the lab doing research on my own project (usually 10+ hrs/day)
3 years as a graduate student cancer research scientist - lead of my own project as well as co-lead of a separate project - both projects led to first author and co-first author publications in decent/good journals
* Project included managing collaborations with scientists across Canada and the US (think Hopkins, Mayo clinic, etc), and managing roles of lab technicians, and undergraduate students for my specific projects - I was not their supervisor in general, only when it came to tasks for my projects
* Projects both focused on Cancer - my skillset involves genetics, bioinformatics and statistics - one project led to changes in screening guidelines for the specific type of Cancer in some Canadian Hospitals as well as local news coverage - the other was a discovery of a new potential risk-gene for one of the most lethal cancers
11 months - medical office admin for a specialist - beyond my normal duties, I developed a new referral system to streamline patient intake for new referrals from general practitioners
Extracurriculars: I am currently studying for CFA level 1 Dec 2019
1.5 years - Research associate volunteer - data analysis and statistics for current project, I also help mentor new/current students on statistics
2 years - MSc - mentored new graduate and undergraduate students in the lab
UG - 1 year in leadership role in marketing for a tutor student organization - led team of around 10 volunteers. - fundraised surpassing target and previous year - our chapter tied for best chapter that year
* 2 years as a tutor with same organization - seminars for 15-20 freshmen/sophomores
* Team lead for one of the summer outreach trips to Latin America (2 weeks - team of 12+)
UG - 1 year - founding president of a volunteer student club - recruited team of execs (~10 people) and raised awareness for healthcare disparities in developing countries on campus
- over 100+ members in our first year, and club is still going strong today
- organized volunteer opportunities in community and outreach trips (one of which I participated in)
Undergrad school/major: Top 10 Canadian university (think Queens, Western, Waterloo, etc) - double major in Biochem/MedSci
Other education/coursework: Research-based Master's of Science - 4.0 GPA - specialized in Human Genetics - at a top 3 Canadian university (think Toronto, British Columbia, McGill) - multiple scholarships and awards
Race/nationality: Asian Canadian
Age/Sex: 27 Male
Stats
GMAT Score: 740 (44V, 48Q, 8IR, 6AWA)
Undergrad GPA: 3.68 - graduated highest standing in Biochem Major (probably ~100 or so people in my major - and top 10% of my overall class)
MBA Info
Goal of MBA: My interest lies in healthcare but as I have no formal business training, a MBA would allow me to learn the needed foundation, network, and gain the credentials to transition into a healthcare investment banking/consulting role
Target schools:
Dream Schools - Harvard, Stanford, Wharton
Target Schools - Columbia, Booth, Yale, Stern, etc
Thank you for any insight you can provide