Profile Evaluation

Question

Hello GMATClub community,

I'm looking forward to your insights on my profile and how it might stand with the top 15 US MBA programs.

Demographics:

Nationality: Argentinian
Age: 25

Professional Background:

- Current Role: Head of Finance at a $15M Series A AI-startup.
- Leading a finance team of 3.

Academics:

- Bachelor's Degree in Business: GPA of 8.4/10.
- Master's in Finance from a leading institution in Argentina.

Extracurricular Activities:

- Music:

Multi-instrumentalist (drums, piano, guitar, bass).
Led a rock band to victory in a tournament and subsequently recorded a demo.
Performed at major festivals alongside renowned Argentinian bands.

- Charity Work:

Founder of a charitable organization with 40+ volunteers. It operates on a subscription financing model. Collaborated with high-ranking politicians. The organization serves 150 underprivileged families with food assistance.

Entrepreneurial Ventures:

- Initiated multiple ventures as a youth, including:
Vending machines.
Used car sales.
Pig farming.
Book sales.

Post-MBA Aspirations:

- Primary Goal: Dive into entrepreneurship.
- Alternative Path: Venture Capital/Tech industry.

GMAT:

Yet to take the GMAT. However, aiming for a score of around 680 in the best case scenario.

Considering my profile and assuming I achieve my targeted GMAT score, how competitive would I be for the top 15 MBA programs in the US? Additionally, any recommendations or pointers on areas where I might enhance my profile would be immensely valuable.

Thanks in advance for your time and feedback!

Warm regards,

Admissionado · Answer

SCANTA : A 680 would be somewhat challenging for the top 15 MBA programs. It's not everything, but it'll put a lot of pressure on the rest of your application. Your career goals will need a ton of refinement. Entrepreneurship is a bit too generalized and also a hard sell for MBA programs. Outside of the charity work, what else have you done for extracurricular achievements? That could open up more opportunity for profile improvement. The GMAT is your major must-do. That's going to have a huge impact on your overall application. We're happy to help and are happy to offer a free consultation: https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/ -Admissionado

itsm7 · Answer

Hello,
Please help me evaluate my profile and suggest me a good mix of schools between R1 and R2 among the ones mentioned below.

Background and nationality:
29 years, Male Indian.

Academic background:
10th from ICSE, India: 10 CGPA
12th from ICSE, India: 95%
BTech in CSE (NIT Durgapur), India: 8.88 CGPA
GRE: 327 (157V, 170Q)

Professional background :
Total Work experience: 6 years and 2 months as of today.

•  Goldman Sachs  – 4 years
o Worked and led end-to-end development to launch for high-stake consumer projects, such as Apple Card, and Apple Savings (GS-Apple partnership projects) – Led various domains end to end for all the above projects.
o Globally leading a team of 10 people from India
o 2 promotions in 4 years – Currently a Vice President.
o Various Engineering Awards won in 4 years.
o Spent 2 years in Private Equity Division as well.
•  Oracle  – 2 years

Extra- Curricular :
• Been a part of Goldman Sachs Community Team Works since 2019 – On an average of 12 hours a month spent towards community activities. (2019-now)
• Regular volunteer in 2 NGOs since 2019 – Teaching underserved students on weekends (2019-now)
• Regular Marathon Runner for various social causes since 2017. (2017-now)
• Had a restaurant startup in college – 1-year devoted effort. (2016)
• Initiated and set up a programming club in college from scratch. (2016)
• Co-authored a research paper in college. (2017)
• Other leadership initiatives and community work done in college and school.

Plan post-MBA – Product Management, utilizing my technical background. FinTech Space with a focus on FAANG companies post MBA.

TARGET SCHOOLS  –
1) Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
2) Kellogg
3) Columbia Business School
4) London Business School
5) INSEAD
6) Chicago Booth
7) Yale SOM
8) NYU Stern
9) MIT Sloan
10) HAAS

Admissionado · Answer

jammerroy : Not sure how many of these schools you will be able to pull off for R1 given the deadlines. You may need to think about which deadlines are achievable based on the sequence. Those you cannot make for R1 you push towards R2, unless there is a school or two on your list that's incredibly important. Overall, you have a solid profile so you want to make sure you are not rushing these applications. That's the latest big factor and the essays, among other components, take time. Let us know if you need help and/or want to chat about your list and an approach to getting it all done well. https://admissionado.com/free-consultation/

itsm7 · Answer

Thank you so much for your reply. 
I have started my application for Kellogg given its Sep 13 timeline. Any other schools, maybe 2 in count, you would recommend me to apply to, given my above profile, in R1 to take advantage of the first round?

Admissionado · Answer

jammerroy :

Go with MIT Sloan (Sept 27th) and NYU Stern (October 18th). The deadlines are late enough that you will have more than enough time to pull off Kellogg and then these two.

If you want our help, I strongly advise you reach out for a free consultation. We're happy to discuss a game plan even in such a short period of time.

Admissionado

GMATScorer21 · Answer

Demographics : Indian Male, Non Engineering, Age 23

Professional Background: Worked in Analytics Ops(Global Firm) & Finance (Mid Sized Firm in India). Not very long stints so no major awards. Seniors definitely appreciate the work and ratings have been wonderful. My Finance work experience was revolving around M&A projects that are a major part of Investment Banking Advisory and PEVC Industries

Academics: State University in India for Undergrad (BBA), not top ranked. GPA comes to be 4/4 on GMAT scale overall 79.2%.

Extracurricular Activities: National Award in 2 competitions, National Finalist in a few others. Volunteered with Red Cross, JCI, NSS on impactful projects like Industrial Area blood donation camps with significant volume of collections in 2 days.

Entrepreneurial Ventures: Didn't attempt anything but now am wondering of leaving job and focusing on an Idea, so nothing for now.

Post-MBA Aspirations: Core Finance (Investment Banking/PEVC) or Consulting in Financial Markets or related spaces

GMAT: Standardized Test scores are valid. GMAT 770 (Q50 V46) and IELTS 8.5

I'd like to know how we can fare in T20 B Schools with good alumni presence and industry connect in IB,PEVC and Consulting.

Admissionado · Answer

GMATScorer21 :

Thank you for sharing.

Your GPA and GMAT are excellent, so that's always a good foundational start. I'm not sure your extracurricular activities and work experience are nearly as stellar. They might be good, but it's hard to tell solely based on this post.

That said, T20 is definitely within reach, but I would argue T10-T20 is significantly more viable. So, take a look at these schools to starT:

Duke (Fuqua)
Virginia (Darden)
Cornell (Johnson)
Georgetown (McDonough)
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
Texas (McCombs)
UCLA (Anderson)

Let us know if that aligns with your thinking and/or if you want to speak with one of our consultants.

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