What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC : The B-School Applications

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xprometheusx

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

13 Nov 2019, 09:46

bb wrote:

Hi and thank you for your question. You would be considered a domestic applicant as long as you are a US Citizen or permanent resident.

I would probably choose average or under represented due to the high school/college experience you have outlined.

Anyone else has more insights on how adcom considers people who have moved countries pre college and hold a US citizenship?

PS. For age, you would choose age at matriculation.

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HI BB,

I think your response raises the question again. What exactly does over represented mean. From his profile, yes he has a unique story, but if from an adcom perpsective, all they see is Asian (or Indian) CPA. There has to be hundreds of those applicants every year.

I guess my view would be if you want to have a more accurate and reflective chance calculator, wouldn't the overrepresented/underrepresented background read more as your Resume? None of the items he mentioned would come out during a resume, but would come out during the essay so wouldn't that fall under strong/weak essay category?

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

13 Nov 2019, 11:20

xprometheusx wrote:

bb wrote:

Hi and thank you for your question. You would be considered a domestic applicant as long as you are a US Citizen or permanent resident.

I would probably choose average or under represented due to the high school/college experience you have outlined.

Anyone else has more insights on how adcom considers people who have moved countries pre college and hold a US citizenship?

PS. For age, you would choose age at matriculation.

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HI BB,

I think your response raises the question again. What exactly does over represented mean. From his profile, yes he has a unique story, but if from an adcom perpsective, all they see is Asian (or Indian) CPA. There has to be hundreds of those applicants every year.

I guess my view would be if you want to have a more accurate and reflective chance calculator, wouldn't the overrepresented/underrepresented background read more as your Resume? None of the items he mentioned would come out during a resume, but would come out during the essay so wouldn't that fall under strong/weak essay category?

Yes, I am a US Citizen. Yes, I think at the very worst, I should be put in the same bucket as anyone else who grew up in the US. In fact, I would argue I have a much more unique and desirable background than my kids would in 25-30 years for example. My kids will likely grow up in an affluent suburb, their school will likely be paid off before they graduate, and they will have parents with a house without a Mortgage. I didn't have any of those.

Anyway, I don't want to go to the AdCom and depict a sobbing story of my poor immigrant background but I do think I need to highlight what I've learned and Who I have become by working all day Saturday and Sunday at the back of a restaurant when I was 15 while all my high school friends just hung out or went to the mall. I do think having to work 40 hour weeks and studying Accounting and still managing to get all As (one B) in all the Accounting courses make my story at least a little impressive. I think a 80-90% GMAT score given my background is much more impressive than it would be for someone like my kids (Sorry kids).

Any suggestion as to how/where I highlight these without begging for an admission? I think the essays are going to be my best bet and of course at the interview to show my character if I do get to the interview stage. Do you think I missed anything?

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

13 Nov 2019, 12:41

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Please don't take this the wrong way, but your story may not be as unique as you think. There are plenty of candidates from similar or even less privileged backgrounds, or faced adversity on their way to success.

What will set you apart is how those experiences affected you and how you are a strong candidate because of those experiences and how they will serve to propel you even higher in the future. (Other people feel free to weigh in). What I am saying is the experiences along will not help your narrative, the way they shaped you and your future will.

On a more practical note, depending on the school, that story can be hard to weave in since you are given strict and concise word counts. An admissions consultant might be able to help provide ideas/critiques to make sure it fits with your overall narrative.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

13 Nov 2019, 13:10

xprometheusx wrote:

Please don't take this the wrong way, but your story may not be as unique as you think. There are plenty of candidates from similar or even less privileged backgrounds, or faced adversity on their way to success.

What will set you apart is how those experiences affected you and how you are a strong candidate because of those experiences and how they will serve to propel you even higher in the future. (Other people feel free to weigh in). What I am saying is the experiences along will not help your narrative, the way they shaped you and your future will.

On a more practical note, depending on the school, that story can be hard to weave in since you are given strict and concise word counts. An admissions consultant might be able to help provide ideas/critiques to make sure it fits with your overall narrative.

I appreciate your input. I know a lot of people in the world have gone through worse adversities so I do understand your point. And you have a good point, I may not be able to go into those details without sounding like I'm begging for an admission.

With that being said, it might all just come down to my GPA, WE, GMAT score as usual.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

15 Nov 2019, 11:16

imjengloria wrote:

Hi - thanks for this tool.

Questions:

1. am I unique or under-represented? I am a Mongolian born and raised female, currently in the US (came for college and got a job here). My tribal name is Chingghis (like Genghis, if that is helpful?) Not tibetan but close-enough. At the same time, central asia/eastern asia is not necessarily the minority...
Was not sure where to really place myself in the spectrum of "uniqueness". Some additional guidance in how to best evaluate background profile will help.

2. I went to one of the seven sisters schools in the US. Are these considered top 20? or top 20+? not sure which ranking is being referenced here...We do have a good # of top MBA alumnae

3. Professional experience-wise, I worked for a boutique consulting firm (management/strategy) that worked with a wide variety of clients, including Fortune 500. Will this be a medium-tier or household brand? all of our manager and above are b-school graduates (but range from Ohio Fischer to Dartmouth, Ross, INSEAD)

4. International experience: will undergrad internships and study-abroad count? also, will the fact that I am from a different (non-US) country, come into play and put me automatically in the "strong international experience" bucket? I have also worked on one really large project for an International (european) client where I got to travel for a whole year - not sure if this counts?

5. my recommenders are two very diff people - 1 is a Fischer graduate and the founder and Partner of our company who knows me well, the other is my mentor at my company who worked at the firm for 7 years and has managerial position but no MBA (she is an alum from my college) and knows me very, very well. Both will vouch for me strongly. will their combination qualify for "top notch" status or "medium"?

Thanks!

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

16 Nov 2019, 00:52

xprometheusx wrote:

jayantk94 wrote:

Hi Team, the tool is amazing. I had a question around the professional experience option, would a Big-4 be considered under regular feeder to B-schools? I would believe it is.

Big 4 audit, Big 4 strategy, Big 4 advisory, international, US based?

There are a lot of factors to consider here when discussing the Big 4. Poets and Quants feel that for Harvard, Big 4 audit is essentially "bronze", advisory/strategy is "silver". If you are international due to the competitive nature you can bump audit to "silver", and advisory/strategy to "gold".

So, I am currently working with US-India Advisory market offering, I believe that would be 'gold' then

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

17 Nov 2019, 17:07

Are you based in us office or Indian office? If US still silver. Also what is you career goal? There are a lot of factors to consider. I just painted a general idea of what I’ve heard adcom consider big 4 to be. Also I think it is more important to have a clear goal and a great story for many schools.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

Updated on: 21 Nov 2019, 02:09

31

UCLA
UC Berkeley

URM, but apparently this doesn't count?

156-73% V
162 81% Q
work experience is ~5 years in tech and consulting. Top 5 undergrad. Had a deployment to X country as a contractor for an intelligence agency (my urm language skills came in touch here but then unemployment followed between that and getting a Masters in CS)

I took this three years ago and TBH I could def do better on that quant given my engineering and statistics background and how I've progressed in my career (leetcode), but at this age I cannot mentally see myself sitting for a standardized exam with professional responsibilities etc.

I plan on leveraging my urm background at some schools however as I love tech which is largely west coast (SF/Washington) and want to end up there post MBA and haas and berkeley seem to be the best schools

Originally posted by gabagolemafia on 19 Nov 2019, 18:16.
Last edited by gabagolemafia on 21 Nov 2019, 02:09, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

19 Nov 2019, 23:48

Expert Reply

Thanks for posting gabagolemafia. I believe URM refers to a minority/ethnicity. If that's the case and you believe it makes you a less represented/more unique applicant, you should adjust the setting of your background - it would count there.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

21 Nov 2019, 15:16

bb wrote:

Thanks for posting gabagolemafia. I believe URM refers to a minority/ethnicity. If that's the case and you believe it makes you a less represented/more unique applicant, you should adjust the setting of your background - it would count there.

but from what I understand haas and anderson do NOT allow affirmative action/racial consideration due to California state law?

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

21 Nov 2019, 15:32

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gabagolemafia wrote:

bb wrote:

Thanks for posting gabagolemafia. I believe URM refers to a minority/ethnicity. If that's the case and you believe it makes you a less represented/more unique applicant, you should adjust the setting of your background - it would count there.

but from what I understand haas and anderson do NOT allow affirmative action/racial consideration due to California state law?

I am afraid you may be mixing apples and oranges. Nobody says that the race has a play here and schools will extremely strongly deny that race has any play in it and it’s surprising that one would think it is only in California. This is not about the color of one’s skin or who their parents were but about bringing a unique perspective and background into a class. If someone grew up in Pasadena, it will make no difference for what their ethnicity is. However someone who grew up in Kalahari Desert or is a professional athlete or first woman on a SWAT team, regardless of their race, they will be seen as providing a unique addition to the class. If all you have is just heritage it will likely be not enough to make any difference to make you less or more represented.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

22 Nov 2019, 16:39

bb

Where do place me in terms of representation/background?

Indian passport holder with undergrad from India. Masters from a top 10 engineering school in the US. Lived in US and Canada and work for a semiconductor giant as a hardware design engineer (definitely non IT here

)

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

22 Nov 2019, 20:42

Hi,
'Somewhat over represented category'.

rafa90 wrote:

bb

Where do place me in terms of representation/background?

Indian passport holder with undergrad from India. Masters from a top 10 engineering school in the US. Lived in US and Canada and work for a semiconductor giant as a hardware design engineer (definitely non IT here

)

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

22 Nov 2019, 21:42

Where would I be placed in terms of representation/background? Would appreciate feedback

Indian by origin (my parents were born in India but immigrated to the US; also my great grandfather was a British Jew, so I'm not fully Indian. Not sure how that would factor into race), but I was born and raised in the USA.

From an educational background, BS in Biology (with minors in Chemistry, Finance, and Economics) from a no-name school (went there because I got a full-ride). But during my time there, I lead an investment portfolio team with other students, using real $$ from the university's endowment: grossly outperformed the other professional money managers for three years straight. Also, the investment portfolio beat the S&P 500 during my three years as well. I also organized many charity events, performed and organized many quartet ensembles that perform in churches, nursing homes, etc. Also was an avid powerlifter and placed 1st in a powerlifting competition.

After graduating, I started an investment firm from scratch to having +30 clients and almost $6 million AUM. (3 years in)

How and would (what I listed above) that differentiate me from the typical candidates? I don't see many people who graduated with a life science degree pursue an MBA (mostly business majors, and heavy quant majors such as engineering, computer science, and math)

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

23 Nov 2019, 00:14

Hi jsound996,
It's an advantage that you belong from a non-traditional background. I am sure you are American. As per me, you will be considered in 'under-represented' category.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

23 Nov 2019, 00:26

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Hi and thanks for your question. There is value in having a diverse background as a degree but how is your work experience? Were you a biologist? The fact that your grandpa was not Indian is also pretty remote

sorry.

You will be considered an American applicant and somewhat normal.

I think you have fantastic accomplishments and other things going for you. Your strengths will come out on your resume and your essays.

You have a strong profile but not sure it can be called unique.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

27 Nov 2019, 08:44

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Great tool!
However when I change from "Average" to " Underrepresented" my chances decrease slightly.
The same happens when I go from Average ECs to Strong ECs...
Is that expected?
Found it to be a little weird.

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Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

27 Nov 2019, 09:09

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mcalbuquerque wrote:

Great tool!
However when I change from "Average" to " Underrepresented" my chances decrease slightly.
The same happens when I go from Average ECs to Strong ECs...
Is that expected?
Found it to be a little weird.

That is VERY weird!
Thank you for reporting this. We will be playing more with the system. Thank you!

gmatclubot

Re: What Are My Chances - Profile Evaluation Tool! WAMC [#permalink]

27 Nov 2019, 09:09