Profile Evaluation Please.

[bobotheclown]

Hi,

I would really appreciate some feedback and advice as to my profile and the b-schools I am looking to apply to. Thanks in advance for the great advice I know flies around this forum.

Academic Credentials:
GMAT: 670 (Q:70% and V:78%)
Undergraduate GPA: 3.95/4.00 Summa Cum Laude
Majored in Mathematics, Economics and Business
Studied at a US News & World Report Tier 3 Ranked University (really good regional reputation)
Also studied econometrics abroad (in Europe) for a year on a full research scholarship and worked at a European Economics Research Institute, collaborating on 2 peer-reviewed published papers.


Work Experience:
4 years of work experience during University, rose to junior management level at two jobs (1 and 3 years at each).
2 years of post-graduate work experience at time of application. I was hired as a project manager specializing in Transportation planning and operations for a multi-billion dollar high-profile project in Canada. I supervised 16 managers and was responsible for 600 staff in total. After successful completion of that project, I was hired as the Director of Transportation for another multi-million dollar international project in India. I was brought in to carry out a significant overhaul of the department which was under-performing and not on target to deliver on time and budget. I was responsible for reorganizing and managing the Department with approximately 900 staff and had significant budget responsibilities. I will have completed the delivery of this project right around the time that I apply. I have a much more polished overview for my application, but this is a quick and dirty version.


Other Notes:
My quantitative score on the GMATs (and my score as a whole) is low for the b-schools I am looking at. I do however have a significant and heavy quant background from University, including three years of calculus, two years of statistics, econometrics, linear algebra, differential equations, etc., etc. (I majored in Math). I aced all of these courses. Will this help offset my quantitative scores from the GMAT? I don't know why I didn't do better, but unfortunately retaking the GMATs before applying is not a viable option.

I will only by 24 when I apply, which I know might be a bit young, but hopefully it helps highlight my achievements already.

I have been volunteering as a math tutor at local elementary and primary schools for the past 2 years (continuing the work from University). I also volunteer my time regularly to help local groups stage small charity events (I have a long list of almost 150 events). I try to find a charity organization in whichever city I am living in and focus on them.

I have great recommendations from my direct supervisors at both of my last two jobs, one from my Director and another from my VP. I also have a recommendation from a professor from University that supervised my quantitative studies. I'm not sure how relevant this last one is though for b-schools.

With my MBA, I want to continue work as a project manager for a top consulting organization (Bain, Booz Allen, BCG and McKinsey). I have lots of technical experience in Transportation, but I also want to focus on change management and organizational operations.


B-Schools:
I am aiming for MIT (Sloan), Harvard, NYU (Stern), Columbia or Stanford. I am also contemplating looking towards Europe but I am not sure how receptive top consulting organizations are going to be towards this. But I am thinking of LBS and Oxford (Saïd) there.

What do you think my chances are at these b-schools? I hope my quant educational background equals out my quant score on the GMATs. And I hope my international business and management experience (which I think is extraordinary for my age) help me stand out. Thanks again in advance for the advice.

[mbamission]

Hi Bobo,

Thanks for sharing these details with us. You seem to have a good handle on what your strengths and weaknesses are, and it’s great that you’ve managed to gain so much leadership experience in the workplace at a young age. Your passion for charitable work will also help you stand out in your application, and if the opportunity presents itself in the essay questions, you may want to focus on that for one question as it will be a point of differentiation.

As you know, you are looking at the top schools in the country and your total GMAT and Quant score are below where you ideally want them to be. You can definitely address the low Quant score in the optional essay by stressing your strong college performance, but keep in mind this may not satisfy all of the schools’ concerns.

Additionally your limited post-college time in the workforce is going to be another factor to overcome. You will want to use your essays to discuss why now is the right time for you to get an MBA, and why waiting another 1-2 years is not the right move. Again, you seem to have solid leadership experience and extracurricular activities, which have the potential for compelling essays that could overcome these weaknesses.

I think Harvard and Stanford may be "reach" schools, but you should at least be competitive at the other schools you listed.

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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