Profile Evaluation Please

Question

Hi Paul,

I am aiming to apply for an MBA this Sept. It would help if you could provide some guidance on which other schools I should target given my profile.

Regards,
Abhay

PaulBodine · Answer

Abhay,

Very nice profile and congrats on being in the running for the Stanford fellowship. You can certainly aim high. Given your goals, you could look at the following strong entrepreneurship programs:  HBS ,  Wharton , MIT, Haas, Columbia, Chicago, Kellogg, UCLA, etc. In terms of which ones will cover your tuition, that's a tougher question, but as a general rule, the more your profile surpasses a B-school's average profile, the better your odds of receiving money. So you may want to include the following lower-ranked but entrepreneurship-strong schools in your list: USC, Babson, Indiana, Texas, UNC, Duke, CMU, Wisconsin.

Hope this helps,

northernstar · Answer

Hi Paul, Thanks for the quick reply! Really helpful, I will look at other schools as well. Something I have learnt from these forums is that there is no shortage of "Indian male candidates"

I hope my profile is distinctive enough. Secondly many forum posts say that Stanford looks for an extra wow factor in it's candidate's profile. Can you give an example of that? What is it that adcom at Stanford would really appreciate? Thanks a tonne! Abhay

PaulBodine · Answer

I agree that Stanford (and HBS) like candidates with something really distinct in their profiles. This can be an unusual career choice (e.g., professional sports, entertainment industry, military leadership), an unusual passion that they taken to great lengths of excellence, an unusual place of origin or life experience (raised in Borneo, survivor of child abuse), etc. A strong story that shows unusual circumstances handled with leadership and poise and translated into a high-impact career choice can be very compelling.

Good luck,

Good luck,

northernstar · Answer

i think i have interesting stories to tell...will contact you if need help in presenting them.

BTW, really appreciate the good work you are doing here. Answering dozens of questions and helping so many candidates move ahead is really great.

PaulBodine · Answer

You're welcome. My email address is pbodine@accepted.com.

northernstar · Answer

Paul,

I read some of your posts where you mention that being self employed or having a family business is not seen equivalent to having good management experience in a large company. Why is it so? I have been the founder and ceo of my startup for last 3 years and have built it and the team step by step. Isn't this something that the adcom should look at favorably?

PaulBodine · Answer

Rohit,

Well, there's no negative to being self-employed if you are an entrepreneur with multiple employees, a growing business, and the stories and data to "document" that success. The schools are impressed by successful entrepreneurs. A self-employed person who has no direct reports is obviously a less impressive situation in terms of showing leadership. The "onus" against family businesses is only that the applicant needs to somehow "prove" that hold the position they do because of what they've achieved rather than because of family connections. Of course, this is not so hard to do. Both small-company entreprenuers and small family business often have the challenge of having to "educate" the adcom about their business since they don't have the automatic brand, recognition, or comfort level that someone working for Proctor & Gamble or McKinsey brings to the table. But this challenge is certainly surmountable.

Hope this helps,

northernstar · Answer

thanks for your help my friend!

PaulBodine · Answer

You're welcome.

Profile Evaluation Please

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards