Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi Alex

Thanks a lot for taking out the time to evaluate my profile.
Based on my profile can you please provide some insights on how will I fare as an applicant to schools like UCLA:Anderson , Duke University's: Fuqua School of Business and University of Michigan: Ross school of Business.

Do I have a decent chance in these schools too or they are a 'stretch' for me.

Thanks and Regards
Gaurav

dhody1986 wrote:Hi Alex

Thanks a lot for taking out the time to evaluate my profile.
Based on my profile can you please provide some insights on how will I fare as an applicant to schools like UCLA:Anderson , Duke University's: Fuqua School of Business and University of Michigan: Ross school of Business.

Do I have a decent chance in these schools too or they are a 'stretch' for me.

Thanks and Regards
Gaurav

Top 16 schools are going to be stretches for you -- you're just up against too many other applicants who have profiles that adcoms will prefer even if you put together strong essays (i.e. amongst the Indians, adcoms will prefer those who worked at US/Euro companies over the Indian IT consultancies like Tata, Infosys, Wipro, etc). I would focus on the original list you had.

Dear Alex,

I learned about your website through a friend. I am very interested in working with you on my MBA application.

Please allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Bo and I am turning 27 in July. I come from a science background. I graduated in 2008 from UC Irvine with a B.S. in Chemistry and have spent the last four years working in the biotech industry and completing a Professional Master's Degree at San Jose State. I worked in a laboratory for the most part of my young career. While I enjoyed working in the biotech/pharmaceutical field, I have grown more interested in the business side of things. Specifically, I would like to continue my career in the Marketing/Business Development aspect of this industry.

My work experience includes three years working as a laboratory research assistance at Genentech, Inc., a big biopharmaceutical company (Aug 2008 to Oct 2011).

Currently, I am working at a small laboratory reagent manufacturing company. My title is Business Development Manager and my role is to establish distribution channels, expand our customer base and improve our brand awareness. The company's revenue growth reflects my work.

My extra-curricular includes 8 months, and ongoing volunteer work at a local nonprofit biotechnology education foundation. I worked as a business development "intern" and took part in organizing a big biotechnology conference back in March. I was in charge of researching nonprofit disease research foundations, contacting these foundations and connecting them to our conference. I took this opportunity to develop skills in business development related activities.

I took the GMAT a while back and scored a respectable 730. However, my undergraduate GPA was an abysmal 2.6 average. My GPA from my graduate program at San Jose State University is 3.6. I do not know if this will necessarily help me. My program is a Professional Master's Program that features a few MBA-level courses. My friend told me that this experience may undermine my application because these courses may make an MBA redundant.

I feel I have an unique experience, including some major weaknesses in my academic career. I would like some advice on selecting the right program that can best help my career goal. In addition, I want to know what are my chances of getting into one of the top 20 programs? I think top 10 programs are stretches for me, but I have a decent chance to get into programs ranked 10-20 (anderson, johnson, tepper, usc).

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!

best regards,

Bo

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bodu wrote:Dear Alex,

I learned about your website through a friend. I am very interested in working with you on my MBA application.

Please allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Bo and I am turning 27 in July. I come from a science background. I graduated in 2008 from UC Irvine with a B.S. in Chemistry and have spent the last four years working in the biotech industry and completing a Professional Master's Degree at San Jose State. I worked in a laboratory for the most part of my young career. While I enjoyed working in the biotech/pharmaceutical field, I have grown more interested in the business side of things. Specifically, I would like to continue my career in the Marketing/Business Development aspect of this industry.

My work experience includes three years working as a laboratory research assistance at Genentech, Inc., a big biopharmaceutical company (Aug 2008 to Oct 2011).

Currently, I am working at a small laboratory reagent manufacturing company. My title is Business Development Manager and my role is to establish distribution channels, expand our customer base and improve our brand awareness. The company's revenue growth reflects my work.

My extra-curricular includes 8 months, and ongoing volunteer work at a local nonprofit biotechnology education foundation. I worked as a business development "intern" and took part in organizing a big biotechnology conference back in March. I was in charge of researching nonprofit disease research foundations, contacting these foundations and connecting them to our conference. I took this opportunity to develop skills in business development related activities.

I took the GMAT a while back and scored a respectable 730. However, my undergraduate GPA was an abysmal 2.6 average. My GPA from my graduate program at San Jose State University is 3.6. I do not know if this will necessarily help me. My program is a Professional Master's Program that features a few MBA-level courses. My friend told me that this experience may undermine my application because these courses may make an MBA redundant.

I feel I have an unique experience, including some major weaknesses in my academic career. I would like some advice on selecting the right program that can best help my career goal. In addition, I want to know what are my chances of getting into one of the top 20 programs? I think top 10 programs are stretches for me, but I have a decent chance to get into programs ranked 10-20 (anderson, johnson, tepper, usc).

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!

best regards,

Bo

I think you're in range for the schools you listed. As you know, there are two main corridors for biotech/pharma: California and the Boston area.

So you ideally want to go to schools that are in close proximity to one of these regions - there's a greater chance more people from your class (and also alums) are in that industry, as well as making it easier for you to meet and greet folks in this industry on a regular basis.

Stretch: MIT, Haas
Sweet spot: UCLA, Tuck, Johnson
Safety: USC, Tepper

I think with this will be a good range of schools - of course some of them are hard to get into (MIT, Haas) but you have enough of a chance that it's at least worth giving them a try.

As you said your GPA is an issue, but you have a strong GMAT which helps. What you may want to do is to take 1-2 courses (online extension courses - UCLA offers them as well as other universities and college) in something quantitative like algebra, calculus, stats, accounting, microeconomics, etc (they can be 100-level or freshman level courses) to give the adcom more evidence that you have the ability to handle the academics at b-school and that your GPA was due to lack of effort, not lack of brains.

georgepaul0071987 wrote:Hi Alex,
I was just wondering if I could get your input on my profile .

Academics :

Xth Grade - 91% ( Overall )
XIIth Grade - 90% ( Overall )
Bachelors' degree in Telecommunication Engineering
Overall GPA of 8.4/10 - First Class with Distinction ( The highest possible class that can be achieved ) . I was in the top 5-10% of my class.

GMAT - 710 ( Q50,v35 ,AWA 5.5)

Work Experience -
1.5 years as Business Analyst / QA Engineer at Societe Generale . The project I worked on mainly dealth with Fixed Income Products and Forex Markets . The software was a monitoring tool that was used by the bank to track it's activities in these domains . My roles included speaking to the end user ( requirement gathering ) and acting as a middle man between the software developers on the team and the end user .

1.5 years as a Sales and Marketing Manager at my family business . The family business is a pharmaceutical company with a wide range of patents for a number of products . It is a well established business with clients all over the world . Right now I manage a team of about 30-40 people . I was instrumental in setting up markets in the US and Australia and the revenue for the company from these markets has increased exponentially since I joined the company .

My main aim is to do an MBA and then come back and take over the family business . I feel like doing a course that emphasizes leadership would really help me . Once I take over the business I would need to be in a position to lead a team of about 100-200 people .

My target Schools - HBS ( Leadership ) , Wharton ( Finance ) or Kellog ( For Marketing ) . Although I feel HBS would be the best fit because I would be taking a leadership role once I return to the family business after my MBA .

Extra Curricular Activities -

Captain of the College Football Team
Participated in an International Salsa Dance Congress
Was instrumental in Setting up a school for underpriveleged children in a village that was near the factory of the family business . This school provides free education for children from the age of 2 to 12 .

Look at a wider range of schools.

HBS is a long shot for you. You're up against other applicants that adcoms will prefer over you (bluer chip backgrounds). Keep in mind that their application this year has changed significantly, and the "leadership" buzzword is gone. It's really about your raw profile more than anything else now at HBS.

Wharton and Kellogg are stretches, but where you may have some outside shot of getting in. If you really want to apply go for it, but know that your odds are long with this tier of school (along with Booth, Columbia, Tuck, Sloan or Haas).

Schools that you should focus on are in the range of Ross, Duke, Darden, Cornell, Yale, NYU or UCLA. There are more people of a similar background and caliber as you at these schools, and therefore aren't beneath you. Choose 3-4 from this list.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for taking a look at my profile and below is a summary of my key stats.

Age: 27

Nationality: US born AA

Undergrad: Mid-tier UC school (Econ major)

GPA: 3.2

GMAT: 660 (taken 4 times, but highest Quant: 47, highest Verbal: 38 on different tests. I've taken a prep course and used a private tutor with no success on the real test day. My practice scores show that I can get 750+, but either test anxiety or something else takes over on the real thing)

Work Exp: 2 years Big 4 IT Consulting (IBM/ACN/Deloitte), 3 years blue chip media & entertainment studio (currently in a strategy group)

Extracurricular: Mild in college - did an internship program and received a leadership award out of 1000 interns. Strong after college - ran inner-city school program, held several board seats on different 501c3 organizations, fundraised, etc.

Why MBA: Long term goal is to head up a Studio to make movies that drive social change (i.e. Participant Media) - blending my Studio + non-profit background.

Ideal Schools: Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago, Columbia, Tuck, HBS, Stanford

I'm thinking with my stats the ideal schools I listed are a long shot, and I'm concerned about the GMAT. I'm not sure if taking it 5 times, especially with the IR is a good idea unless you suggest otherwise.

Thanks for your advice!

gtbamb wrote:Hi Alex,

Thanks for taking a look at my profile and below is a summary of my key stats.

Age: 27

Nationality: US born AA

Undergrad: Mid-tier UC school (Econ major)

GPA: 3.2

GMAT: 660 (taken 4 times, but highest Quant: 47, highest Verbal: 38 on different tests. I've taken a prep course and used a private tutor with no success on the real test day. My practice scores show that I can get 750+, but either test anxiety or something else takes over on the real thing)

Work Exp: 2 years Big 4 IT Consulting (IBM/ACN/Deloitte), 3 years blue chip media & entertainment studio (currently in a strategy group)

Extracurricular: Mild in college - did an internship program and received a leadership award out of 1000 interns. Strong after college - ran inner-city school program, held several board seats on different 501c3 organizations, fundraised, etc.

Why MBA: Long term goal is to head up a Studio to make movies that drive social change (i.e. Participant Media) - blending my Studio + non-profit background.

Ideal Schools: Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago, Columbia, Tuck, HBS, Stanford

I'm thinking with my stats the ideal schools I listed are a long shot, and I'm concerned about the GMAT. I'm not sure if taking it 5 times, especially with the IR is a good idea unless you suggest otherwise.

Thanks for your advice!

Even with a 720 or 740, schools like H/S/W will be a stretch regardless, but I think you know that (not because you suck, but because there's so many blue chip folks gunning for these schools and there's only so many seats available). Further, these schools in particular (H/S especially) really love high GPAs (i.e. the kinds of GPAs that could've gotten you into a top med or law school). If you do apply, just know that even with a strong GMAT, they are stretches. With your current score, they are a long shot.

Schools like Kellogg, Booth, Tuck, Columbia, or Haas are slight stretches, maybe even sweet spots -- that is, assuming a 700+ GMAT. With your current score, it's going to be a stretch. Even schools in the top 16 like Ross, Darden, Duke, Stern, UCLA, Cornell and Yale are going to be stretches with your current score.

So that is where you stand. By all means apply, but have some realistic expectations.

I'm sure you were hoping to hear the standard "an exceptionally executed application and strong profile can overcome a lower than average score". Of course, there is that possibility, but it is unlikely.

It's like saying that it is possible to sign on with an NFL team as an undrafted walk on because it's happened before, but the chances of that happening again are unlikely. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try at all if that is what you really want to do.

In your case, by all means apply, but given your strong profile, you should have a plan B in place that doesn't involve b-school at all.

Thanks for the reply. What do you think about applying early decision to Columbia and early action to Tuck? Also, is it detrimental to even attempt a 5th time for the GMAT at this point?

gtbamb wrote:Thanks for the reply. What do you think about applying early decision to Columbia and early action to Tuck? Also, is it detrimental to even attempt a 5th time for the GMAT at this point?

Not sure what your question is -- if you're interested in those schools, then apply. As for the GMAT, I don't think you have much choice if you feel you can improve your score (read: retake it). If it's really the best you can do, then don't retake it.

Hi Alex,

I've been combing throw forum threads and I came across this one and I was taken by your earnestness on the topic. It's been about a year since this thread has been posted on, but I thought I'd give it a shot and see what you think of my profile.

Age: 26

Nationality: US citizenship, Lebanese/Palestinian Decent

Additional Languages: Spanish

Undergrad: Top Tier Small Liberal Arts (Poli Sci Major)

GPA: 3.1

GMAT: 730

Work Exp: 1 years International News (Freelancer)(Al Jazeera English), 1 year mid-sized International Development Firm (project management, proposal development paid intern), 1 year on a U.S. Presidential Campaign (high-level event planning and logistics).

Extracurricular: In a fraternity. Raised 400k for Palestinian students to come to my alma mater. Started a student group that led to the establishment of a new major on campus and upped enrollment in certain classes %300.

Ideal Schools: Sloan, IE Madrid, IESE, LBS, Said, Kellogg, Stern, Darden, Yale, etc.

I know with my work experience and low GPA it will be a challenge, but I'm hoping to make that up with GMAT, essays and interview if I get to that point. Thanks so much for your input!

wazizzyk wrote:Hi Alex,

I've been combing throw forum threads and I came across this one and I was taken by your earnestness on the topic. It's been about a year since this thread has been posted on, but I thought I'd give it a shot and see what you think of my profile.

Age: 26

Nationality: US citizenship, Lebanese/Palestinian Decent

Additional Languages: Spanish

Undergrad: Top Tier Small Liberal Arts (Poli Sci Major)

GPA: 3.1

GMAT: 730

Work Exp: 1 years International News (Freelancer)(Al Jazeera English), 1 year mid-sized International Development Firm (project management, proposal development paid intern), 1 year on a U.S. Presidential Campaign (high-level event planning and logistics).

Extracurricular: In a fraternity. Raised 400k for Palestinian students to come to my alma mater. Started a student group that led to the establishment of a new major on campus and upped enrollment in certain classes %300.

Ideal Schools: Sloan, IE Madrid, IESE, LBS, Said, Kellogg, Stern, Darden, Yale, etc.

I know with my work experience and low GPA it will be a challenge, but I'm hoping to make that up with GMAT, essays and interview if I get to that point. Thanks so much for your input!

To be honest, your list of schools seem to be all over the place (i.e. seemingly chosen at random). You have a strong and unique profile that I think a lot of schools would like to have, assuming you do a great job on the applications (your GPA is what it is - nothing you can do about it, and you scored well on the GMAT so beyond that there's not a whole lot you can do, other than maybe taking 1-2 classes through an online extension program such as UCLA -- enrolling in a freshman level courses in calculus, stats, algebra, accounting, econ, etc. to show that you're not afraid of numbers/quant). As such, I think you can and should focus almost exclusively on the top 16 US schools and INSEAD/LBS in Europe. But the schools you choose to apply to should be dictated by what you're looking for in terms of career goals/recruiting.

Alex, thank you for the response. I think LBS is now my top choices for multiple reasons. That said, I wanted to mention an important caveat. The work experience I mentioned, I was never "fulltime" staff, rather freelance/consultant based. Reading through LBS's profile and average work experience (67 months) and the stress on every facet of your application being excellent, being realistic I'm not sure LBS is in reach at the moment. I wanted your opinion on if indeed LBS is out of reach considering...Thank you!

wazizzyk wrote:Alex, thank you for the response. I think LBS is now my top choices for multiple reasons. That said, I wanted to mention an important caveat. The work experience I mentioned, I was never "fulltime" staff, rather freelance/consultant based. Reading through LBS's profile and average work experience (67 months) and the stress on every facet of your application being excellent, being realistic I'm not sure LBS is in reach at the moment. I wanted your opinion on if indeed LBS is out of reach considering...Thank you!

You have enough of a chance that it's worth applying. Again, you have a relatively unique profile (in a good way) so don't sell yourself short. What adcoms typically mean by "full-time" is less about the legal status of your employment (employee vs contractor) and more about the substance and nature of what you do. If you are effectively working full-time (i.e. it's like a full-time job in terms of hours and responsibility), it's considered full-time experience for b-school applications.

Hi Alex,

Can I please have your views on my profile
https://www.beatthegmat.com/profile-eval ... 14271.html

Cheers