Profile evaluation please - for top 6 US mba school

Question

Education: Business degree (A competitive canadian univeristy)/ chartered Accoutant
Race: Chinese
Age: 26
Residence: Canada

GPA: 3.9/4.33 - many scholarships/awards
GMAT: expect 750

Work experience:

2 years in a BIG 4 accounting firm, and expect to be promoted to manager

3 years in mid sized/small accounting firm

Extra curricular:

Nothing stellar, but active in clubs like business mentor, accounting association, charity fundraising event, etc.

Background:

I was really ill as a child, and barely passed each grade. I only studied well in University as my health condition became better. Should I bring this up? Will it improve my chance of admission?

Thank you for your help.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Based on what you wrote, you come across as a very middle-of-the-road candidate -- which means schools like Duke, Darden, Michigan, Haas Cornell, Yale, NYU, and UCLA are in range and should be the range of schools you focus on (choose 3-4). Schools like Kellogg, Chicago, Columbia, Sloan and Tuck will be reaches for you -- maybe apply to 1 of them. And then apply to Rotman and Ivey as safety schools.

As for your health condition, keep in mind that adcoms don't award sympathy points. What they care for first and foremost is exceptional accomplishment from college onwards - if you had additional obstacles to overcome in the process, so much the better, but the real focus is on accomplishments and achievement.

mbafant · Answer

What are other people's thought on this?

Do i have a good chance for schools like Columbia, New york stern, UC berkeley, Kellogg?

LevFin7S · Answer

you have good chances at NYU, berkeley

columbia and kellogg...you wouldn't know if you didn't apply...but they will be harder

NC2CHI · Answer

I think you have good stats.

You would need to provide a bit more information (i.e. career goals, reason for mba, why an mba now etc.), however, for anyone to give you an accurate evaluation.

bipolarbear · Answer

i'm curious as to why alex thought he was middle of the road. it seems like he has a stellar gpa of 3.9 (yes it is out of 4.33 but I assume that's the A+ and many schools give out A+s), a very solid GMAT (assuming he gets it), and solid work experience

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Too many of you put way too much emphasis on stats (GMAT/GPA) as an indicator of an applicant's caliber.

You need a decent GMAT/GPA just to be in the hunt or to "play the game". But whether your numbers are stellar or merely serviceable isn't really what makes you a strong candidate or not. They're not looking for math geniuses or study geeks - so long as your numbers are reasonable, it comes down to everything else. Yes, and this applies even to those Asians (East Asian or South Asian descent) who mistakenly think that they are somehow held to a higher academic standard than other applicants.

Because you need to go beyond the GMAT/GPA. It's like basketball -- whether you can run the 50-yard dash in 4 seconds or 8 seconds isn't really the point - it's whether you can run *reasonably* fast; and it comes down to everything else (athleticism, basketball IQ, shooting, dribbling, experience/commitment to teamwork, leadership, coachability, etc).

And yes, the original poster has solid work experience - but "solid experience" is hardly a shoe-in for schools like Kellogg, Chicago, Columbia, etc. On the surface, the shorthand characterization of this candidate from an adcom's perspective is "Big-4 accountant of Asian descent who is strong academically." There's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing that stands out beyond "solid" either. Also, I hope I don't get in trouble for saying this, but compared to other companies that recruit on campus out of undergrad -- getting a Big 4 position isn't particularly selective -- so that by virtue of working in an organization or industry that isn't as selective as say consulting or banking doesn't really tell the adcom anything about the individual's caliber. In other words, you may be an exceptionally talented person with great potential, but the adcom can't tell that based on the fact that you work at a Big 4 alone.

So you need something else in your arsenal. If this person performed at a very high level outside of class or outside of work in something - athletics, arts, politics, activism, nonprofits, etc. (i.e. nationally ranked athlete, a semi-professional musician, winning notable service awards for community activism, getting media coverage for his activism, etc.) then that is a signal that this person has the potential to continue performing at an exceptional level in another endeavor (like business). If that is the case, then yes, schools like Kellogg/Columbia/Chicago/Tuck/Sloan will be competitive (not reaches).

bipolarbear · Answer

^ Thanks for the clarification. Very informative post.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

No worries! Glad you found it helpful.

Profile evaluation please - for top 6 US mba school

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