Profile evaluation please

[Asbel]

Hi Alex,

Please evaluate my profile below. My career path is somewhat non-traditional so I would greatly appreciate your take:

Background:
- 30 y/o, asian-american
- GMAT: 770 (Q49, V48) / 6.0
- Undergrad: U of Chicago - econ major, GPA: 3.3 (3.5 last two years)

Work Experience (6-7 yrs):
- Unemployed for two years after college; personal issues, was down on myself

- Persevered, got job as temp paralegal for a big NY law firm. Outperformed and was selected from dozens of others for promotion to manager after 5 months; also hired full-time by law firm. Led teams of 80+ temp paralegals on discovery phase of Enron litigation. Respected and well-liked by those who I managed. The temporary paralegals under me came from all walks of life - single moms from low-income neighborhoods to experienced attorneys looking to make ends meet. Led a high performing team through intense work environment, and brought out the best in those who I managed, some of whom were later offered full time positions

- Transitioned jobs and became an analyst at a bulge-bracket bank in compliance/risk management; later promoted to VP. Over the last 5 yrs, gained solid project management experience serving as liaison among business, compliance, and technology. Led efforts to dimension, design, implement, and train users on roll out of various firm-wide regulatory initiatives. Also managed team of 20 temporary analysts on large remediation effort. Highly regarded in the department, assigned to the most challenging/high-profile projects.

Extracurriculars
- College: tutoring and various intramural sports; no significant leadership positions
- Post-college: Taught 10-week Junior Achievement course; helping design/code non-profit website to sell friend’s artwork for charity

Career goals / Why an MBA?
Consulting (strategy or technology). I would like to leverage my project management experience and ability to coordinate multiple teams and diverse people/perspectives to solve challenges with greater depth & breadth. I want an MBA to broaden my understanding of business where I can apply my skills to beyond just the financial services industry and beyond the realm of risk management.

Target schools: Stanford (reach), Kellogg, Sloan, Tuck, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Virginia, UNC

Given my age and stage in my career/life I feel like going to b-school this year is a must. Reapplying is not an option. I’ve tried to intersperse a mix of reaches, schools in which I think I will be competitive, and safeties in my list of target schools.

Looking forward to hearing what you think of my chances, and thanks for your guidance.

[MBAApply]

You've chosen a good range of schools. You're right that Stanford is a reach; Kellogg, Sloan and Tuck you should be competitive for, maybe even a slight reach depending on how an adcom views your 2 year gap after college (not much you can do to spin it; an adcom will either be willing to overlook it, or not). Berkeley, Michigan, Duke and Virginia are sweet spot schools for you, and UNC should be a safety.

As for your goals, perhaps I'm cynical but I don't know what you hope to get out of consulting that you're not getting out of your current job now (notice that the tone of your writing is different when you talked about your past - more candid, personable and vivid). You're probably doing reasonably well now, and to be honest consulting offers slightly different projects but the same level of headaches (if not more). So long as you've really done your research, by all means go for it, but there's a reason why consulting is such a high turnover industry (and why they need to hire armies of MBAs each year - because it's cheaper to replace the jaded experienced consultants with spring chicken grads as well as many of the jaded consultants leaving on their own volition.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com