MBA Admissions Strategy / Profile Review

[mattengel]

Hi!

Below please find a summary of my profile and a few application strategy questions. Thank you in advance for your help!

PROFILE
- 25-year-old white male
- Grew up in Poland and am a bilingual dual-citizen
- GMAT: 760
- GPA:3.7
- Undergraduate degree in Economics from "Little Ivy" (Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan)
- 3 years of Strategy & Operations consulting experience at Deloitte Consulting; top ratings and promotion after two years; MBA sponsorship likely

Undergrad EC
- Founded a pro-bono consulting group during undergrad
- General Manager of 100+ student sub-division of the undergrad IT department
- Psychology research lab; lead multiple studies
- Internships in asset management (Dodge & Cox) and economic consulting (Brattle Group)

Post-Grad EC
- Volunteering with Junior Achievement of NY (3yrs)
- Volunteering with Future Leaders Institute Charter School (2yrs)
- Pro Bono consulting volunteer trip to Panama
- Co-founded social impact group/initiative at Deloitte
- Developed proposals to gain Deloitte funding for non-profit projects
- Deloitte NY Analyst Committee networking lead

Goal:
Short Term: Rejoin Deloitte to focus on market entry/growth strategy and build the emerging market practice
Long Term: Return to Poland and Eastern Europe to help renewable energy and smart grid technology penetrate the eastern European market which is currently dominated by shale fracking and “dirty” energy (energy experience from Deloitte and both undergraduate internships)

Target Schools:
Round 1: Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, MIT
Round 2: Haas, Duke


SCHOOL SELECTION
Given my profile detailed below, I would greatly appreciate your input on my proposed target schools by rounds and the distribution of reach/fit/safety. More specifically, should I consider adding another “reach” like HBS, another “safety” like Yale/Ross/Darden?

PERSONAL STORY
I have laid out my goals in term of location and industry. Given my long-term goal does not fit into a specific industry (i.e., I-banking, consulting, asset management),, would my story be improve by including a specific role and company?

RECOMMENDATIONS
Given I will be submitting 6-7 recommendations:
(A) is it advisable to ask my recommenders for all 7 recommendations upfront, or should I ask for round 1 and round 2 separately?
(B) is it acceptable/reasonable to ask each recommender to write all 6/7 recommendations?

Thank you,
Matt

[mbaMissionKate]

Hi Matt!

Your profile is very strong, pretty much all around! Excellent GMAT (did you take multiple times to reach 760? Just curious ), great GPA too. Deloitte's a well known MBA employer so your experience will be easy to understand and that's great you've been promoted. The sponsorship will help too...schools love to know you will have guaranteed employment when you graduate! The dual-citizenship / time spent outside the US may give you a slight edge too, or at least may make for some interesting stories in your essays.

I really don't see any concerns or red flags...I think one challenge for you will be differentiating your application from other consultants. It looks like your extracurriculars may be an opportunity to do that, or maybe the energy angle. Other than that, it will come down to executing really solid applications that tell a compelling and clear story that only YOU can tell!

On your specific questions...
School Selection - Of those you list, Wharton will be toughest, though I think you're a strong candidate there. But overall these seem like appropriate choices. I don't see a huge need for a safer option, or at least not until you see how Round 1 plays out. You could add HBS though it's really a reach for pretty much everyone! Take some time to research the program...it's actually quite different from most and you may find schools like Wharton / Columbia are a better fit for you in terms of curriculum / culture anyway.

Personal Story - more specifics are always better, so yes, I think if you know of some specific companies or roles that would make sense, that would help to illustrate your career path, especially since it's less traditional.

Recommendations - Writing 6/7 recommendations is a lot of work. Yes, the forms/questions are somewhat similar across schools but it still takes a lot of time. Do you have more than 2 possible recommenders? If so, I'd try to ask 3 or 4 people to serve as a "pool" of recommenders and then divvy up the schools up among them. This may not be possible for your immediate supervisor (if you are planning to ask him/her) though since most schools prefer that one of your recommendations come from that person. In terms of the rounds, I would ask for the round 1 schools but give them the heads up that you may apply to a few more schools in round 2. Then you can more formally ask them once it comes time and they won't be completely surprised.

If you have any more questions or want to chat about this further, feel free to sign up for a free 30-minute phone consultation with me or one of my colleagues at: http://www.mbamission.com/consult/.

Good luck!