Request for a brief profile evaluation

[john.doe.hello.world]

I would like to get some idea about how much (if at all) my GMAT score might help me get into one of the top 10 schools. Please note that I haven't given my GMAT yet. As of now, I feel I'll land up around 700-720.

My profile:
1. Undergraduate in Computer Engineering from India - GPA: 3.8
2. Masters in Computer Science from University of Southern California - GPA: 3.5
3. 2.5 years of work experience working as a software engineer at Apple. No team leading experience. As a side note, its almost impossible to get to lead a team in R&D at Apple in such a short period of time but I can get some good recommendations.

Other:
1. Have completed many leadership/management/communication related classes for prospective leaders at Apple.
2. Have overseen business and operations related activities including creating business plans for a small non profit organization (based in Belgium but operates also here in the US) working directly alongside the founder.
3. I don't know if this counts but although I don't exactly have a management/leadership profile at work, I was a lead for a project (a team of 4) and it turned out to be very successful. My manager can give me some good recommendation based on my work.

Question: Can a GMAT score of 730-750, help me compensate for my weak profile in order to get into one of the top 10 schools. Do I stand a realistic chance at all of getting into such a school? I wanted to have a very general idea about where I stand with my current profile.

Also, there are many volunteering opportunities (mostly community service related activities) at Apple. I haven't participated in any yet, but would it make sense to participate in one after my GMAT, close to the application time frame? Did read somewhere that desperately trying to do some volunteering work before applying raises a red flag. Is that true?

Also, I would be taking help from one of the consultancy companies to prepare my application so I could have an otherwise strongly prepared application.

I guess my question is, would any of the above count?

[mbaMissionJessica]

Hi John.doe -

Thank you for your inquiry. You seem to have a good understanding of your profile right now - strong grades, a good company, and some good leadership experience at work. Yes, leading a team on a project absolutely counts as leadership experience; the admissions committee assess candidates for leadership potential, knowing that early in their careers, many applicants have not had the chance for formal hierarchical management.

However, there are some weaknesses to your profile as you note. A lack of volunteer activities is one of them - and it's better to get involved late than not to get involved at all! If you can organize and plan one, that is much better than simply volunteering. After all, how much of an essay could you really write about 2-3 hours in an afternoon volunteering? Not very much - whereas there is far more potential to write a compelling essay about the process of organizing such an event, recruiting volunteers, motivating them to attend, dealing with the agency/non profit, etc.

I have two other suggestions regarding offsetting how recently you have gotten involved in activities outside of work. The first is to look back to a past time in your life when you did engage in other interests, and re-engage. Then suddenly instead of being new to an activity, you demonstrate a long-standing interest in one which you have recently returned to. The second suggestion is to get involved in something that you already do anyway - for example, if you are a runner, find a non profit that coaches kids in afternoon sports programs or that organizes kids to learn how to run 5k races. If you do yoga, volunteer to teach in an inner city athletic program. These are just some examples, but if you are doing something you would be doing anyway, and it is something you enjoy, that offers more potential for truly engaging experiences.

Finally, remember that volunteer work is not the only way to demonstrate engagement with the world. There are informal opportunities as well, with family, friends, neighbors. You can also write about achieving personal goals or milestones.

I think the biggest challenge you face is that you are in an overrepresented demographic (we have a blog post that may be of interest, called "overrepresenting your overrepresentation"; you can find it www.mbamission.com/blog). So you will really want to differentiate yourself by leadership stories, stories about interpersonal dynamics, etc. not just about software.

You did not give me a specific definition of "top" school and it certainly varies with different people's opinions. I do think though that your time will be better spent focusing on rounding out that volunteer/engagement with the world aspect of your profile than on increasing your GMAT from a 720 to a 750.

Best of luck,

Jessica

[john.doe.hello.world]

Thank you very much for all the advice! Greatly appreciate it!

[mbaMissionJessica]

You're welcome - good luck!