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This thread is the master profile evaluations thread for Stanford applications. We do not want random profile evaluation threads everywhere on the forum. This will help people get some consolidated (and free ) advice from consultants and help others learn as well. Post your profile here if you want! Suggested Template Background and nationality Undergrad Information GMAT: Work experience and leadership Community and others Post MBA goals Anything else?

Hi,

I am an Indian female with 2 years work experience (will have 3 by the time I join college). Stanford is like my dream college!
Company: Microsoft (Services division as a Consultant)
GMAT: 740
GPA: 3.8

Pros:
1. Good international exposure due to office visits and clients
2. Good communication and people skills
3. Will be able to get good recommendations
4. Good academic record

Cons:
1. Less work experience than average
2. No start up or entrepreneurship experience

Profile looks good. Would help if you mentioned which college you are from.
I recently applied to the Stanford GSB and got a reject. I think, in a college so selective you just have to make your best effort and hope for the best. I do think you have a chance if you get your application right.

Thanks for the reply! I'm from VIT University, Vellore

Your GMAT and GPA are well above average range for what is required by Stanford
you have given your professional attributes which seem to be good.But Stanford values uniqueness.You would have to describe some attributes which are unique to you and you only.
Think retrospectively and introspect yourself for the first question of Stanford " What matters to you most - and why?". You will get the answer to your doubts
Are you also thinking about other colleges other than Stanford?
I think Berkeley Haas would be also a good fit for a profile like yours

Thank you for your detailed post. I have a couple follow up questions:

1) What type of work do you do specifically at Microsoft?
2) What school did you go to for undergraduate?

Your stats and experiences are pretty good to apply, though it is competitive even with roles and stats like yours. Because of that, I want to know more about your role to determine whether I would recommend you to apply now or wait another year. An additional year of experience would help you but if you are a leader (fast promotions, lead projects or work streams within projects) at work you could certainly apply now. I got someone into Stanford at age 21 so the experience is within the range.

Reach out if you want to chat or if you want further assistance with your applications.

Scott@personalmbacoach.com

Best,
Scott
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Hi Scott,

Thanks for the reply!
1. I am a consultant at Microsoft. So my job includes interacting with enterprise customers, getting their requirements and developing solutions for them. Its a Dev profile but is centered around customer requirements and interaction. I have a bit of leadership experience in projects, promotions, etc but I work mostly as an individual contributor. I'm active at extra curricular stuff at work which include organizing a lot of events and my recommendations can probably back that up!
2. I have done my Computer Science Engineering from VIT, Vellore.

Thanks for the tips! I will definitely keep them in mind while applying. And yes I am planning to apply to Haas too

On the whole, your profile looks really good as Microsoft is a great company to have worked for and your international experience is a big advantage as well (that said, international experience usually doesn’t entail only office visits. Did you have a chance to work with international, diverse teams as well? If so, that is another huge advantage as most engineers do not have that opportunity).

While it is true that there are a lot of Indian engineers applying, most of them are not women (at ARINGO we see that Indian women have a much higher chance of being accepted, compared to men. 92 % of all the women we worked with, for more than 2 schools, got in in the end!)
Additionally, your GP and GMAT are strong as well.

As for the cons: startup and entrepreneurial experience is not a must, so that should not be anything you focus on too much. The work experience is another matter. You would need to work on your description of that in your application a lot. You said you have some leadership experience, so focusing on that, as well as listing any relevant accomplishments properly is vital as I see it. Have you been promoted at Microsoft, by the way? A promotion or change in role every two years would be excellent!

I would also mention extra curriculum, as Stanford especially (but also many other schools) are looking for “whole” or “round” profiles, so you would really need to add some volunteering or interesting hobbies to the list on top of what you already mentioned.

If you can make all of the above you have seem interesting and challenging enough, I would say your chances are good.

That said, Stanford is the toughest school (for anyone, not you specifically) to get into, so I would strongly advise you not to put all your eggs in one basket. You may want to consider Berkeley, MIT and UCLA given your profile, as well as the one year program in New York - Cornell Tech.

All in all I think you have a great profile. If you are interested, I am positive our consultants here at ARINGO and our strategy team that consists of a Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley and LBS alumni can help you with your essays and positioning to the school, when it comes to standing out.
If you would like to hear more, please send your details and cv to https://aringo.com/mba-process-registration and I will make sure our CEO, contacts you directly for a long chat…

But in any case: The best of luck to you!
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Hi

I am applying to Stanford this year. I would really appreciate if you could evaaluate my profile.

GMAT : 730

Profile:
Indian Male
Age 25

Education
- 7.73 GPA(scale of 10)
- Bachelors in Computer Science from NIT - Was in top 1% of the students who appeared for engineering exam across India
- Graduation Year: 2014

Work Experience:
- 3 years work ex, 4 years at the time of starting of the course

13 months with Samsung R&D, Delhi
- Worked on Tizen OS
- Worked on samsung smart TVs
- Got promoted within 8 months.

Left Samsung after 1 year and started my own startup. Worked on it for 2 years, before shutting it down.
- Raised funding which we eventually returned after we decided to shut down the company

Currently working as Assistant Marketing Manager at a Series B funded ecommerce startup
- handling Google and Facebook marketing
- handling monthly marketing budgets upto 160,000 USD or 10 million INR.

Extra- Curricular :
- Represented college in Nationals of Volleyball
- Was elected Sports seceretary in college
- Founded first cultural club of the college
- Core committee member of annual college fest

Post MBA goals
Work in marketing with top consumer companies for 4-5 years. Start my own company. (writing my essays around pursuing entrepreneurship as the eventual goal after gaining sufficient experience. The same reason why I joined another startup.)

well, your background education is impressive, but why you want to change your major, or is it a joke?
Also, I fell sad when I read that you are forced to foreclose your own company only after 2 years. It sounds heart-breaking, but this is a great story (dont get me wrong, I never have chance to learn about failures of companies in details)

I want to have you as my friend on social media like linked, or facebook, or twitter, is that fine?

well, your background education is impressive, but why you want to change your major, or is it a joke?
Also, I fell sad when I read that you are forced to foreclose your own company only after 2 years. It sounds heart-breaking, but this is a great story (dont get me wrong, I never have chance to learn about failures of companies in details)

I want to have you as my friend on social media like linked, or facebook, or twitter, is that fine?

Hey chesstitans

I have been into marketing for last 3 years now and I want to gain experience in brand/product management before I venture again into entrepreneurship. Definitely, the startup experience is priceless and it was heartbreaking to shut it down but great lessons from the entire experience that will definitely come in handy when I go for my MBA.

Sure, lets connect on social media. Please DM your linkedin profile. Happy to connect!

Hi,

I am an Indian male with 9.5 years work experience (will have 10 by the time I join college). Stanford is my first choice.

Undergrad: IIT Roorkee, 2008

Company 1: Tata Steel for 3 Years
Company 2: Teach For India for 7 Years
Currently serving as a Director of Program Implementation for seven regions. In the previous role, was leading the program for entire region impacting 220 teachers and 9000 children. Found an organization in 2011 while teaching that is now impacting 6600 children across 4 cities in India.

GMAT: 710

GPA: 6.9 on the scale of 10

Can you evaluate my profile? Would love to hear thoughts/feedback.

Hi All,

I am a lawyer from a top 5 law school in India. I hold a dual degree (Bachelor of Socio-Legal Sciences + Bachelor of Law).

Work experience: 3 years.

1. Consultant - EY, Bangalore for 1 year. Work profile- corporate advisory, private equity/funds advisory, tax advisory.

2. Associate Legal Counsel- role of an in-house corporate lawyer with Infosys Limited. Work profile: Negotiations, Deals, Risk strategies and liabilities.

GMAT: 740 GPA: 3.6 plus

Extra curricular: Professional Classical vocalist with 15+ awards from various institutions.

Blogger+ Run an online fashion initiative promoting Indian fashion and brands. Run the team newsletter at work.

Volunteering work: good amount of volunteering and community service including Bharat scouts and guides, Make a difference etc.

Preferential schools: Yale, Stanford, Booth, CMU Tepper, Kelley’s

Significant achievements: 0.1% merit certificate from CBSE; Part of British Council’s “Dreams and Teams” leadership initiative.

Other courses: Hold diplomas from Asian school of cyber laws, World intellectual property organisation.
Completed “Harvard Manage Mentor” modules.

Languages: English, hindi, tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi (7 languages)

Post MBA goal: transition from a purely legal advisory role to business and strategy role. And work in the Impact Ventures space in the short term. Long term, would like to bring to light at least 5-6 small and medium enterprises and their ideas see the light of the day!

Wanted to understand what are my chances to be at Stanford.

Hi - Sounds like you have great intellectual capabilities and significant outside interests. You seem certainly qualified - but difficult for anyone to count on getting into GSB, of course. You might consider adjusting your profile more from being a thinker to a doer though - perhaps in emphasizing your entrepreneurial objectives and enhancing your profile (before you apply) with something that relates to that. Best -
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Hi there, please don't hesitate to be as brutally honest as possible when evaluating my profile. Thanks in advance.

Background and nationality:
28, M, Moroccan (currently based in France), will be 30/31 by matriculation (aiming for the dual degree MBA/MA in education)

Undergrad Information:
- Master in Management, HEC Paris, Finance major (GPA:3.45, major GPA:3.55, upward trend)
- Summer Exchange at Stanford University (GPA:3.75)
- Master of Engineering, EMI (top engineering school in Morocco), no GPA given (final grade: 15.45/20; top 5% of admitted students nationally out of 4000 students)

GMAT: 780
TOEFL iBT: 119/120

Work experience and leadership:
- Consultant at Capgemini Consulting since October 2017 (looking to go back to Amazon)
- Interned at Amazon and a boutique M&A firm in Dubai as part of my gap year @ HEC Paris
- 1 year as a quality management engineer (was head of the maintenance team for an entire workfloor)

Community and others:
- 3 years at ENACTUS as Project Manager, Tech and Marketing Leader (2011, 2012 semi-finalist in ENACTUS Moroccan Competition, 2013 champion and Moroccan representative in ENACTUS World Cup - attended remotely because of work)
- Founding member and advisor of ENACTUS HEC Paris
- Founding member and Design Leader of the HEC Busines Game
- Mentor at Article 1 (France's leading NPO dedicated to helping talented students from poor backgrounds achieve their goals)
- Volunteer gym instructor in Morocco for 10 years

Post MBA goals:
- Short to mid-term (max 5-10 years): Join an MBB (preferrably McKinsey) to work on strategy, tech and education related subjects
- Long-term (10 years +): Create an education startup in Morocco to help rural and underpriviledged students achieve excellence without straining themselves financially

Anything else?
- Reserve officer (first lieutenant) in the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces
- HEC Paris thesis awarded highest grade and published on the Vernimmen website (leading European finance website)
- Bodybuilding (martial arts-oriented) for 16 years

Hi - you have a great profile, of course. Helpful to not seem too MBB focused though. I had a few people with very similar profiles get into HBS last year - perhaps worth connecting with soon (you are getting a bit on the older side). Best -
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Hey guys, so I am thinking of applying for the Stanford MBA deferred admission. Would like to know what you think of my chances of getting to the interview stage and getting an offer

I am from Montreal, Canada (23 year old white male)
Undergrad: Non-target US university (Economics & Finance)
GPA: 3.96/4.0 (top 1%)
Masters: Masters in Management at London Business School (LBS)
GMAT: 710 (49Q, 38V, 8IR, 5.0 AWA)
Work Experience: Investment banking analyst (M&A, ECM, DCM) in a top Canadian Bank (will start in July 2018) + working on my own startup (sharing economy, think Uber/Airbnb/Tinder)
Leadership: Captain of my NCAA tennis team in Florida, MVP for 2 years
EC: Professional tennis player for 7 years, ranked 668 in the world (played in over 40 different countries), represented Canada in the Junior Olympics in Singapore
Sponsorship from Adidas and Babolat
Post-MBA Goal: Venture Capital or Private Equity in a top US fund

In my essay, I plan to leverage my tennis experience and discuss everything I have learned from it (leadership, dedication, performing under pressure, time management, problem solving, interpersonal skills).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, you can PM me

Thanks in advance!

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Hi all. I am an incoming student for one of the US MMS programs (Kellogg / Fuqua / etc) and will be looking to apply for deferred entry to HBS / GBS during my MMS year. Was hoping to get some perspectives on my profile and what weak aspects I can work on in the future, even if not for deferred entry then for regular entry down the line.

Goals pre-/post MBA: Consulting post-MMS, Tech Entrepreneurship post-MBA.

Undergrad: Expected high Upper Second Class Honors, Bachelor of Laws at semi-target UK Russell Group Uni (KCL / Bristol tier). GPA equivalent should be around 3.7~3.8 if translated.
GMAT: 790.

Qualifications:
- several business-related certifications on Coursera
- Wall Street Prep financial modelling course (basic package).
- Will also have completed CFA Level 2 by the time of my application (hopefully), along with the HBX CORe Program this summer.
- 3 months at a very well-known coding bootcamp in San Francisco during one of my summers - will be looking to use these programming skills to do an EduTech startup during my time at the MMS.

Professional Experiences: Probably my weakest point as I haven't done internships with any "target" companies.
- Two short summer internships with notable Asian law firms in corporate / M&A type stuff
- one winter internship with a technology startup (sparked my interest in tech entrepreneurship).
- Currently working remotely as a part-time digital marketing intern for a San Francisco-based start-up.
- Doing business development for a start-up this summer in London before the MMS.

Extracurriculars:
- Vice-captain for university football B-team
- Placed in finalist positions for some smaller international case competitions.
- university representative for UK-wide ethnic society for law
- have helped to organise careers workshops for students from impoverished backgrounds and to assist lawyers in defending financially disadvantaged criminals.

So yeah, any feedback would be great on my chances for HBS/GBS 2+2. Appreciate it guys. I think I probably have the "unique" background they might be looking for but my internships may be lacking on the quality front, especially when up against people who have done internships at GS / JPM / MBB etc. Also if anyone has an idea of how I can build up my profile over the next 1.5 years for deferred entry / 3 years for regular entry, would be great!