MBA Admissions Strategy / Profile Review

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MBA Admissions Strategy / Profile Review

by matthewengel » Mon Jun 22, 2015 12:54 pm
Hi!

Below please find a summary of my profile and a few application strategy questions. Thank you in advance for your help!

PROFILE
- 25-year-old white male
- Grew up in Poland and am a bilingual dual-citizen
- GMAT: 760
- GPA:3.7
- Undergraduate degree in Economics from "Little Ivy" (Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan)
- 3 years of Strategy & Operations consulting experience at Deloitte Consulting; top ratings and promotion after two years; MBA sponsorship likely

Undergrad EC
- Founded a pro-bono consulting group during undergrad
- General Manager of 100+ student sub-division of the undergrad IT department
- Psychology research lab; lead multiple studies
- Internships in asset management (Dodge & Cox) and economic consulting (Brattle Group)

Post-Grad EC
- Volunteering with Junior Achievement of NY (3yrs)
- Volunteering with Future Leaders Institute Charter School (2yrs)
- Pro Bono consulting volunteer trip to Panama
- Co-founded social impact group/initiative at Deloitte
- Developed proposals to gain Deloitte funding for non-profit projects
- Deloitte NY Analyst Committee networking lead

Goal:
Short Term: Rejoin Deloitte to focus on market entry/growth strategy and build the emerging market practice
Long Term: Return to Poland and Eastern Europe to help renewable energy and smart grid technology penetrate the eastern European market which is currently dominated by shale fracking and "dirty" energy (energy experience from Deloitte and both undergraduate internships)

Target Schools:
Round 1: Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, MIT
Round 2: Haas, Duke


SCHOOL SELECTION
Given my profile detailed below, I would greatly appreciate your input on my proposed target schools by rounds and the distribution of reach/fit/safety. More specifically, should I consider adding another "reach" like HBS, another "safety" like Yale/Ross/Darden?

PERSONAL STORY
I have laid out my goals in term of location and industry. Given my long-term goal does not fit into a specific industry (i.e., I-banking, consulting, asset management),, would my story be improve by including a specific role and company?

RECOMMENDATIONS
Given I will be submitting 6-7 recommendations:
(A) is it advisable to ask my recommenders for all 7 recommendations upfront, or should I ask for round 1 and round 2 separately?
(B) is it acceptable/reasonable to ask each recommender to write all 6/7 recommendations?

Thank you,
Matt

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by Michael@VeritasPrep » Sat Sep 19, 2015 4:29 pm
7 recommendations is definitely a lot. You can ask for round 1 and round 2 separately, but I would try and give them a heads up as to what you are planning. It also wouldn't hurt to have 3-4 people you can ask so you can split up the work a bit. Don't forget to give them a nice thank you afterwards.