Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Target Schools:
Stanford GSB (Top Choice)
HBS
Kellogg (2yr program, considering 1 yr)
Haas

Target Round:
Round 1 (applying Fall 2015)

GMAT:
720 @ 94%
V 38 @ 84%
Q 50 @ 90%
AW 5.5 @ 77%
IR 5 @ 53%

Age: 26
Female
Asian

Work Experience:
Total 4.5 years (6 years by matriculation)
Prior: 2 years at mid-tier management consulting firm (with a promotion)
Current: 2.5 years at top tech firm (with a promotion)
Recently started doing pro bono advising for a foreign (Asia) small tech start-up (very very early stage) -- been doing this since Sept 2014

Undergrad:
UCLA
Econ Major
Minor in Accounting
Specialization in Programming
3.8 GPA

Main Concerns:
1. Lack of extra-curricular/non-profit activities. Currently doing some volunteering at pet shelter, nothing significant. Closest thing is the pro bono work for the foreign start-up but since product is early stage, not much to show for it.

2. Lack of recent leadership demonstrations. The company I currently work for has a very flat structure and most people are individual contributors. So no traditional "leadership" type roles like managing a team or such, mostly just being self motivated and cranking out quality work. Had a lot of leadership positions in college in a student org but seemed too far away to reference.

3. Low IR score and percentile. I assume being in the 53%-tile is pretty terrible. Seems like schools initially weren't putting much weight on this score, not sure if it is happening now.

Hi Vrchen,

Sounds like you're in a good place overall: The progression from MC to a top tech firm is great. Good school (UCLA) and a good GPA. GMAT is solid at 720. Have you only sat the GMAT once? I suppose you could sit it again (absolutely won't hurt and you might improve by 10 points) but I'm not overly concerned about the low IR score.

You were concerned about a lack of extra-curriculars and leadership. Although you might not have a formal leadership role at work - I would look for opportunities to highlight any sort of team-based achievements or mentoring at work on your resume. You definitely need to leverage your work with the start-up to the hilt. In the HBS app (as way of an example) they ask you to rank and provide info about your 3 most significant extra-curricular activities and 3 most significant Awards/Recognition.

In terms of a school like HBS or Stanford - both schools tend a bit younger. HBS doesn't look at age - they look at the number of years since you finished undergrad at matriculation (which correlates with age nonetheless). Only 20% of the HBS class is 6 or more years post undergrad. You're on the more experienced/older end for both those schools. HBS and Stanford place a lot of emphasis on leadership/extra-curricular activities...in part because (I think) they just see so many candidates who (like you) check all the boxes that that becomes a way of differentiating between people. I wouldn't discourage you from applying to HBS and Stanford as reach schools, but I don't feel intensely enthusiastic about your candidacy there because of the factors I've touched upon above.

Kellogg and Haas both tend a bit older and will be more flexible with your extra-curriculars. I'd look at top 12-5 schools as target/reach schools.

Hope that helps :)
Best,
Leah

Dear Vrchen,

A few different reflections here:

1. It will be good to understand the nature of your work both at the consulting firm as well as the current tech firm to really get a better sense on the profile's strength. What brands have you worked for? Any achievements there that differentiate you? For the super aggressive school list you have there, merely the objective information is not enough to make an assessment.
2. How recent is the probono effort? If you have effort to show against it, then it is definitely interesting. It also has to be evaluated in the context of your post-MBA goals which you have not mentioned here. The ECs are nice to have but not necessarily a deal breaker.
3. Finally, you may find one of the stories of Stanford Vs HBS something that you can relate to here.

Cheers,

mcbMcK wrote:

1. It will be good to understand the nature of your work both at the consulting firm as well as the current tech firm to really get a better sense on the profile's strength. What brands have you worked for? Any achievements there that differentiate you? For the super aggressive school list you have there, merely the objective information is not enough to make an assessment.
2. How recent is the probono effort? If you have effort to show against it, then it is definitely interesting. It also has to be evaluated in the context of your post-MBA goals which you have not mentioned here. The ECs are nice to have but not necessarily a deal breaker.
3. Finally, you may find one of the stories of Stanford Vs HBS something that you can relate to here.

Thanks, here are more details:

1. The consulting firm is focused on the healthcare/pharma industry, so think S&P 500 pharma firms in terms of the companies I've worked with. From this experience, I've definitely had more leadership type roles b/c I progressed quickly and had the opportunity to train/mentor younger analysts. I even trained and worked with an MBA intern who really depended on me to drive the direction of the project.

At my current firm, as mentioned, I'm an individual contributor to a larger team. However, my role has expanded dramatically over the 2 years I've been there. Started out with an analyst type role. But with a successful track record of launching our product to an international market, I am now tasked with one of our biggest and likely most difficult international expansion efforts.

2. The pro bono effort started in Sept 2014 and is based in Taiwan. My efforts there are mainly providing guidance (remotely, as I am in the US) for identifying and defining KPIs prior to the product's launch.

In terms of my post-MBA goals, to be completely candid, it's still up in the air. I know this is one of the most important part of the application (and for getting an MBA), so I am working hard to really hone in on what I'd like to do. There's a few reasons why I want an MBA:

Reason 1: I felt that I've hit a glass ceiling. My boss is a die hard believer of promoting and hiring MBAs. So without one, I feel I can only go so far within the company (as great as it is).

Reason 2: I want to broaden my business knowledge. Despite the business background, I still feel that I have blinders on and don't fully understand all facets of running a business (e.g. marketing, operations). I think having a holistic understanding of how to run a business is important regardless of whether I decide to stay in the same industry or make a career shift.

Reason 3: I want to potentially work abroad in Asia one day. I am from Taiwan and my family lives there, so I do often contemplate working in Asia to be closer to them. Just as important is the fact that there are fascinating business developments there that I think would be exciting to be a part of. Going to the right business school will give me the education (if I take the right classes) to comfortably do business broad and provide the network to facilitate getting me there.

Hope this provides more context.

mcbMcK wrote:

1. It will be good to understand the nature of your work both at the consulting firm as well as the current tech firm to really get a better sense on the profile's strength. What brands have you worked for? Any achievements there that differentiate you? For the super aggressive school list you have there, merely the objective information is not enough to make an assessment.
2. How recent is the probono effort? If you have effort to show against it, then it is definitely interesting. It also has to be evaluated in the context of your post-MBA goals which you have not mentioned here. The ECs are nice to have but not necessarily a deal breaker.
3. Finally, you may find one of the stories of Stanford Vs HBS something that you can relate to here.

Thanks, here are more details:

1. The consulting firm is focused on the healthcare/pharma industry, so think S&P 500 pharma firms in terms of the companies I've worked with. From this experience, I've definitely had more leadership type roles b/c I progressed quickly and had the opportunity to train/mentor younger analysts. I even trained and worked with an MBA intern who really depended on me to drive the direction of the project.

At my current firm, as mentioned, I'm an individual contributor to a larger team. However, my role has expanded dramatically over the 2 years I've been there. Started out with an analyst type role. But with a successful track record of launching our product to an international market, I am now tasked with one of our biggest and likely most difficult international expansion efforts.

2. The pro bono effort started in Sept 2014 and is based in Taiwan. My efforts there are mainly providing guidance (remotely, as I am in the US) for identifying and defining KPIs prior to the product's launch.

In terms of my post-MBA goals, to be completely candid, it's still up in the air. I know this is one of the most important part of the application (and for getting an MBA), so I am working hard to really hone in on what I'd like to do. There's a few reasons why I want an MBA:

Reason 1: I felt that I've hit a glass ceiling. My boss is a die hard believer of promoting and hiring MBAs. So without one, I feel I can only go so far within the company (as great as it is).

Reason 2: I want to broaden my business knowledge. Despite the business background, I still feel that I have blinders on and don't fully understand all facets of running a business (e.g. marketing, operations). I think having a holistic understanding of how to run a business is important regardless of whether I decide to stay in the same industry or make a career shift.

Reason 3: I want to potentially work abroad in Asia one day. I am from Taiwan and my family lives there, so I do often contemplate working in Asia to be closer to them. Just as important is the fact that there are fascinating business developments there that I think would be exciting to be a part of. Going to the right business school will give me the education (if I take the right classes) to comfortably do business broad and provide the network to facilitate getting me there.

Hope this provides more context.

vrchen wrote:
Thanks, here are more details:

1. The consulting firm is focused on the healthcare/pharma industry, so think S&P 500 pharma firms in terms of the companies I've worked with. From this experience, I've definitely had more leadership type roles b/c I progressed quickly and had the opportunity to train/mentor younger analysts. I even trained and worked with an

<<snip>>

business school will give me the education (if I take the right classes) to comfortably do business broad and provide the network to facilitate getting me there.

Hope this provides more context.

Thanks, yes this helps. What I wanted to understand though was the nature of your work in the Tech company - which seems like a Product (and not services) firm? Are you in a Product Manager role/team? Or Strategy? Or something else? This will determine your post-MBA goals story to a large extent as well as the profile's strength.

You have all the right reasons for the MBA. If Asia is your target, it may be worthwhile exploring some options there. The RoI of a US MBA in an Asian economy almost always doesn't work out at least in the immediate term.

mcbMcK wrote: Thanks, yes this helps. What I wanted to understand though was the nature of your work in the Tech company - which seems like a Product (and not services) firm? Are you in a Product Manager role/team? Or Strategy? Or something else? This will determine your post-MBA goals story to a large extent as well as the profile's strength.

You have all the right reasons for the MBA. If Asia is your target, it may be worthwhile exploring some options there. The RoI of a US MBA in an Asian economy almost always doesn't work out at least in the immediate term.

I currently work in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), but the title is a little misleading. Most of my work is in strategy and data analytics.

vrchen wrote: I currently work in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), but the title is a little misleading. Most of my work is in strategy and data analytics.

Hrumph. Yeah, FP&A can be tough to explain given your consulting background. Strategy will have the right zing to it. Best to get that confusion removed if possible (officially).

Strategy at a Product firm can be pretty interesting. With the right post-MBA goals story, I don't see why you shouldn't have a shot at some pretty interesting schools out there. For reasons mentioned here, I will refrain from providing gut-based school assessment. The school list does look to be on the aggressive side though to me. Of course this is still a high level assessment.

Cheers,