Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi Alex,
>
> this is Elaine Hu, a potential MBA applicant this year. I was informed that MBA Apply provides very good MBA consulting analysis and now I'm hoping to get your feedback on my profile and on my choice of schools.
>
> I thank you in advance.
>
> Elaine Hu
>
> Ms. Chinese going-out focused Tech BD manager
>  740 GMAT
>  3.67 GPA
>  26-year-old Chinese Female
>  Fluent speaker of English, Portuguese and Italian
>  Undergraduate degree in a good university in China ( all M7 like Stanford, Wharton, Booth etc admitted students from my university before.), Italian-language major
>  Work experience includes 2 years in Brazil for a top-tier Chinese telecom equipment company as Account Manager; In 2012, came back to China, 2+ years ( till present) as Senior BD manager for globalization of largest Chinese search engine Baidu, responsible for Latin America Region and USA Business Development. (Baidu is known as "Chinese Google", Nasdaq listed $ 50 billion worth company, the fifth-most trafficked site on the planet. Only Yahoo.com, YouTube, Facebook and Google generate more traffic and unique visitors)
>  Extracurricular involvement includes 2 years active member of Beijing Tech Hive, a renowned events workshop bringing tech focused entrepreneurs together, founded by Wharton Alumni; While living in Brazil, 1 years as Volunteer of Sao Paulo Children Action Social Foundation, a NGO that helps children from underprivileged families in Sao Paulo city to learn English in extracurricular time; during colleague, Volunteer interpreter for Italian Ministry of Reform and Public Innovation during 2010 Shanghai Expo Exhibition ; Volunteer interpreter for Italian Male Basketball team during 2007 Summer Special Olympics
>  Long-term goal: establish an advisory firm to provide Chinese going-out business with one-stop integrated advisor service. (Chinese going-out has been integral in my life since when I was 11, my father lost life-savings in an international business attempt and decided to work abroad as a labor to support family. That's also why I chose to study language and devote myself into Chinese going-out business)
>  "target MBA school: Stanford, Yale, Wharton, Booth, Haas, Columbia, Tuck; "
>

wrote:Hi Alex,
>
> this is [name], a potential MBA applicant this year. I was informed that MBA Apply provides very good MBA consulting analysis and now I'm hoping to get your feedback on my profile and on my choice of schools.
>
> I thank you in advance.
>
> [name]
>
> Ms. Chinese going-out focused Tech BD manager
>  740 GMAT
>  3.67 GPA
>  26-year-old Chinese Female
>  Fluent speaker of English, Portuguese and Italian
>  Undergraduate degree in a good university in China ( all M7 like Stanford, Wharton, Booth etc admitted students from my university before.), Italian-language major
>  Work experience includes 2 years in Brazil for a top-tier Chinese telecom equipment company as Account Manager; In 2012, came back to China, 2+ years ( till present) as Senior BD manager for globalization of largest Chinese search engine Baidu, responsible for Latin America Region and USA Business Development. (Baidu is known as "Chinese Google", Nasdaq listed $ 50 billion worth company, the fifth-most trafficked site on the planet. Only Yahoo.com, YouTube, Facebook and Google generate more traffic and unique visitors)
>  Extracurricular involvement includes 2 years active member of Beijing Tech Hive, a renowned events workshop bringing tech focused entrepreneurs together, founded by Wharton Alumni; While living in Brazil, 1 years as Volunteer of Sao Paulo Children Action Social Foundation, a NGO that helps children from underprivileged families in Sao Paulo city to learn English in extracurricular time; during colleague, Volunteer interpreter for Italian Ministry of Reform and Public Innovation during 2010 Shanghai Expo Exhibition ; Volunteer interpreter for Italian Male Basketball team during 2007 Summer Special Olympics
>  Long-term goal: establish an advisory firm to provide Chinese going-out business with one-stop integrated advisor service. (Chinese going-out has been integral in my life since when I was 11, my father lost life-savings in an international business attempt and decided to work abroad as a labor to support family. That's also why I chose to study language and devote myself into Chinese going-out business)
>  "target MBA school: Stanford, Yale, Wharton, Booth, Haas, Columbia, Tuck; "
>

First off, it's really up to you, but most people tend to delete their names from a public post - I've deleted them in my response to you.

In short, I think you're targeting the right range of schools -- a good mix of stretches and sweet spots. However, it seems to be more weighted towards stretches than sweet spots, so it really comes down to what you're willing to live with. If you want more assurance that you'll get in somewhere next year, you may want to add 1-3 more top 16 schools, and subtract 1-2 top 8 schools to balance it out more. But if you're willing to roll the dice a bit, by all means keep the list you have.

With top 8 schools like Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Columbia and Tuck, you have enough of a chance that they're worth applying to (but where you'll still need some luck, even with the best possible applications) - in other words, they're not long shots, but you'll need more luck on your side as well compared to the top 16 schools.

With the top 16 schools like Yale, Haas, UCLA, Ross, Duke, Darden, Cornell and Stern, they are sweet spots where you'll be competitive for (but they aren't safeties, as there's no true safeties in the top 16 for any applicant these days).

You have a solid profile, and what can help you is your background/profile, since a lot of mainland Chinese applicants to b-schools tend to be in finance (IB/PE based in Shanghai/HK/NY/London) or consulting in China (although still more weighted towards finance). Furthermore, the nature of your international experience is also more unique, since most mainland Chinese applicants if they have worked abroad tend to have worked in the US more than anywhere else (and chances are you will be the only mainland Chinese applicant this year to have worked/lived full time in Brazil).

Hi Elaine,

I work with the admissions team at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and noticed that you were interested in MBA programs as an international applicant and wanted to reach out to you to discuss your profile. You may be a good match for the Cornell MBA as Alex mentioned in his response and assessment of your profile.

Also, we actually launched a dual degree MBA program with Tsinghua University this year. Thought you'd like to know. https://eng.pbcsf.tsinghua.edu.cn/conten ... _7998.html

I'd like to connect with you over email so we can discuss this further. Please email me at [email protected].

Looking forward to hearing from you.


Sincerely,
Ann Richards
Interim Director of Admissions and Director of Financial Aid