Evaluation of Chances

Question

Hello all!

It would be awesome if some of you could evaluate my profile. Here it goes:

Graduated top 25 school with BS in EE (gpa: 3.6, upward trend)
GMAT: 760

Work experience (in chronological experience)
- Worked in global investment bank in a strong group for 1.5 years
- Worked in biomedical research at Harvard Medical School working on developing robust biomarkers for neurological disease progression for 1 year
- Did a 3 month fellowship in public health in South Asia working with Unite for Sight (provides free eye/cataract surgeries in impoverished societies)
- Worked as a fellow in microfinance/microhealth in South Asia for 1 year

I have strong recommendations from each of my experiences (from undergraduate right through to the microfinance work)

Where do you think I have a chance at? I am deciding between strategy/entrepreneurship going forward!

Thanks in advance for all your help!

bakfed · Answer

I think you should have a decent shot at the top programs. Your grades are going to be above average at almost all top b-schools and that's going to reassure the adcoms that you can handle the rigorous curriculum. Your work experiences are unique in theirselves - ibanker, HMS research, South Asian experience - all these will play an advantage to your application; however, you're going to have to mitigate one problem - why so short timing in all your jobs? AdComs are going to question your ability to stay at a job and quite frankly, it's pretty hard to contribute to a significant advantage for a company with just 1.5 year of work with it. Of course, there are exceptions, but this is something that you're going to have to explain in your essays and/or interviews. Let's say you do a good job explaining it, the top schools are within reach. Surely though, b-schools are getting tougher to get into than ever before as we see an increase in the number of applications in most of the top b-schools, so I'd spread your schools out a bit. With that said, I still think you should aim as high as you want to and then spread your schools out afterwards.

b4uu4b · Answer

Thanks! What do you mean when you say spread your schools? Do you mean to apply to a lot of schools or apply across a range of rankings?

bakfed · Answer

Yep, that's what I mean. Instead of focusing solely on Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, and Chicago Booth, apply to a few more schools in the top 8 to top 15 range. This is really a person choice and if you're the type of person who will only go to top school (in the top 8 of the nation), then of course, just apply and hope for the best. But since it's really a crapshoot for any person for top b-school, I usually recommend people to spread the schools around, just to increase your chances of getting admitted. However, with that said, I stand by the fact that you should be able to get in one of the top schools in the nation.

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