Ask Critical Square

Hello,

Could you please give my profile a quick evaluation.

Schools considering - Harvard (2nd time applying), Wharton (interviewed last year), Columbia, Northwestern, Michigan (safety)

-25 year old white male

-3.56 GPA in mech engr, started at 3.0 and trended up each year (3.65 in major) - small liberal arts college in midwest

-740 Gmat (Q50/V40)

- 1 year , mechanical engineer for a major manufacturing company (in charge of getting a manufacturing line fda approval) - worked in operations

-2 years working for a pharma consulting firm - work in operation projects - will have a promotion (did not have during last application)

-Volunteer - have coached 3 separate youth basketball teams, and started a non-profit youth basketball camp - continued involvement in coaching sports

-Goal is to continue to work in the pharma industry as a consultant once i graduate to gain more experience, then long term goal to become a COO of a pharma company to be able to fix some of the problems within the pharma industry - relates back to growing up and my father having a life threatening illness and the bills that ensued after.

Let me know if I have a realistic chance at the schools i stated above and how should I approach my application and camouflage any obvious weaknesses.

Or any schools you think i am leaving out of the mix!

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

First of thanks for the reply!!

The reason i have chose those schools they seem to be a best fit and ideally I'd like to attend and M7.

As far as the deltas my perception is as follows:
1) I think having the promotion will be big for me - last cycle i had 0 promotions on my record since I switched jobs after 1 year
2) I have a clearer vision of my goals - this I believe is a delta
3) I didn't manage my recommendations last year - this year i have done more research about what schools want to here - so recommendations will be better
4) I started volunteer basketball coaching again - minor delta but at least a little
5) will put together a better essay that doesn't duplicate other data points in my profile - i know what my recommenders will say so i will try and create a full picture of myself with the essay

I think that the interview for Wharton was a good sign (i believe making the interview gives you a 50/50 shot). My profile will only be better this cycle, and i have heard that Wharton likes reapplicants (shows dedication to the school blah blah blah).

HBS i have heard is reapplicant "Unfriendly" - however I feel like my profile has changed enough that would warrant a decent change - seeing that all my stats fall in the HBS range. I have also heard that HBS doesn't mark someone a reapplicant until the interview. So when reviewing your profile they don't know your a reapplicant until the interview stage.

WHat are your thoughts? Does this seem like an enticing profile?

Also what other deltas would they like to see?
My gmat is at 740 so i dont think raising that isn't a big issue
My GPA is set in stone
Changing jobs i think would only hurt
Volunteering - which i have already done
It seems to me the only thing i can manage is my promotion - will also talk about taking on more responsibility at work and leading teams which lead to promotion

Thanks that all makes sense!

In your experience what have people done that have made them stand out as re-applicants?

I am trying to get a feel of what makes a successful re-applicant. Since the 2 schools i applied to once already (HBS & Wharton) both require whole new applications - i will be re-doing the entire application.

For example HBS doesn't ask what have you done since your last application on this years application. So they will see im a reapplicant but from what i've heard they wont go back and compare it to the application from last year (same thing for wharton - from what i've heard they only review the interview notes if it comes to that). In my mind these schools will see a checkbox that says i have been denied once, but will only have my current application to judge.

Does that make sense? Or do they just have higher overall standards for re-applicants.

well i appreciate the response! all i can do is put my best app forward!

Thanks! I have been reading other places and in some cases I have heard that the school will tell you why you were "dinged". Is this something Wharton would do if I interviewed? I have reached out to my interviewer twice but never got a response.