Profile Evaluation

[philippecsu]

I would be very grateful if you could evaluate my profile. Thank you for your time.

GMAT: 720 - 49Q (87%) and 40V (89%)
GPA: 3.5 overall (3.7 last two years)
Age: 29 (in 2011)
Ethnicity: White
Sex: Male

Undergrad: Graduated with Honors from a top 100 school. Triple Major in Biology, Spanish, and Finance. Minors in Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences. Participated in multiple school organizations, officer in one. Worked part-time while in school (20+ hours per week).

Work Experience: 3 years as an investment banking analyst in both the healthcare and M&A group of a mid-market bank. 2 years (by 2011) associate experience in a healthcare focused PE/VC firm (~$150M AUM).

Recommendations: will come from two former managers, both can speak highly of my work ethic and personal character

Goal of MBA: I plan to stay in PE/VC. I have been spending a lot of time with the management of portfolio companies and would like to enhance my understanding of business strategy in order to help develop stronger organizations.

Target Schools: Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, NYU

Additional Question: Columbia is one of the top schools on my list and was wondering if there is any advantage to applying early decision?

Please let me know if there is any additional information that I could provide to help in your evaluation. Thank you again.

[mbamission]

Hi PhillippeCSU,

Thanks for writing in and sharing these details of your candidacy. You seem to have a strong GMAT and GPA to stand on and my I believe you will be competitive at the schools you mentioned.

It is hard to comment in depth on your work experience without knowing more detail. While the job descriptions sound in-line with traditional pre-MBA experience, it will be important to stress what you contributed these jobs, and not just how big the firms were. You will want to use your essays to elaborate on your leadership experience and how the MBA will connect your past experience to your future goals.

While you did not mention extracurricular activity, if you have any strong outside interests you will definitely want to include them. The schools you list are all very competitive and you will need to differentiate yourself from other candidates with similar profiles.

In regards to early decision at Columbia, if you are comfortable committing to CBS if accepted, then you should consider Early Decision. If you think you would regret not knowing what would have happened at the other schools, then you may want to pass on ED and just go through the regular admissions process.

Best of luck!

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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