Profile evaluation

Question

Hello,

I would like to get an expert opinion, to know were I am. Thank you in advance for the insight.

Work experience:

-  3 years as a resident hospital pharmacist at one of the top hospitals in Madrid, Spain  (2011- current)
 - Member of the Technical Board and the Joint Committee of the hospital as Resident Representative: they are the main management committees at the hospital.
 - Developed a new tool to improve our data collecting and work efficiency in one of the main areas of the Pharmacy department
 - Collaborator teacher in Tutored Practice
 - Teacher/Lecturer in the Continuous Training Program in Hospital Pharmacy
 - International Rotation at Yale-New Haven Hospital, CT. February 2014
 - experience managing Units inside my department and the whole department while on-call days.
 - Made reports on new drugs (efficacy, safety, cost-analysis) to be evaluated for the approval of its use at the hospital
 - strong reviews

-  one year at a a couple of retail pharmacies after graduation

- had to stop working for 10 months to prepare for the Residency program access exam (it is the usual thing to do, very competitive).

Education:

- Pharmacy, at one of the top Pharmacy schools in Spain. GPA (Spanish): 7,5/10. (Started very strong, but dropped a bit due to my resonsabilities in my residence hall)
- MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the same Univ. GPA: 9/10
-Ranked 8th nationally on the access exam to my Residency program (pool of 1000+ applicants)

Extracurriculars:

- co-captain of a soccer team: managing the team and organizing team trips, events...
- played basketball and rugby at college and afterwards for a bit
- president of the video club and VP of the Cinema and Music clubs at my residence Hall/College
- member of the student management board at my residence Hall (it was managed by students on a daily basis, except for official events)
- member of the organization of the Rugby Sevens Tournament in Madrid from 2004-2008
- organized english classes at my Pharmacy Department for anyone interested
- backpacking trip around Europe
- did a couple seminars about Pharacy Residency program (admissions, workflow..) with Pharmacy Students
- blog about pharmacy/music/MBA

Other Stats:

- Male, 29, caucasian
- GMAT: 710 (Q46, V41)
- TOEFL: 109

Goals:

- Pharma/Biotech industry
- Entrepreneurship

Target Schools:

- Tuck
- Fuqua
- Stanford
- Kellogg
- Haas
- Booth/Stern

Thank you!

mbaMissionJenK · Answer

Hi there, Thanks for posting. Your profile is less common, which can be both an advantage and a challenge... but primarily an advantage if you put together a strong application, as it will help you be remembered, stand out from other applicants, differentiate yourself.

There are not a ton of pharma applicants, though it's common to have a couple in a class, and applicants for US programs from Spain are less common as well. (Though you mentioned being Caucasian; not sure what your nationality it? Even if American but did all of your studies in Spain, that's still great international experience). It sounds like you've been able to develop some management skills as well as your medical/pharma skills, and your teaching experience is also great for communication skill development and will translate well to b-school and the business world. The fact that you developed new tools to improve efficiency demonstrates that you are one who will take initiative and potentially take on leadership roles as well, and it's great that you went above and beyond in that way. Your GMAT and academics are solid and it sounds like you've also shown leadership in your extracurriculars as well. Probably your biggest challenge is to ensure you make a strong case for WHY you need the MBA to continue with your career in pharm/bio-tech... more detail on how you'll use it and evidence that you know what you're getting into and how you'll use it. Other than that, I would think you are well-positioned, with strong essays/interviews/recs, for many of the programs you've mentioned. Stanford will be a reach given how competitive it is (with smaller class size than many of the others); but otherwise things are looking strong from what I can assess. Good luck, let us know if you have further q's or would like to touch base at any point!

hugoness · Answer

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my profile and for the very detailed response.

To answer to your question, I am actually from Spain, I just specified that I am cacuasian to give the most accurate information. In any case, it is great to know that I am on the right track, and thank you for your advice on the WHY essay. I understand that every program wil lbe difficult to get into, and that Stanford is specially hard, but I did not want to rule it out without consideration, even if I don´t apply to it in the end, because it is a great school.

As I said, thank you very much for you thoughts, I really appreciate the advice!

mbaMissionJenK · Answer

You are most welcome. And certainly I encourage applicants to apply where they are excited/passionate about, as long as they have a feel for how competitive certain programs are... you don't want to regret NOT applying and always wonder. As long as you are up for the investment of time and money in putting together an application, and that you focus on a reasonable number of schools. Most applicants find 3-4 schools is time consuming enough! Sometimes up to 6 over a couple of rounds. It varies of course, but you just don't want to sacrifice the QUALITY of any one application in return for quantity (applying to more).... each app should be the best possible representation of you and should look like it's the ONLY one you submitted!

Keep us posted!

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