Research MBA Programs

Hey Guys,

I am applying to B-School starting this October. Was going through the Beat the Gmat forums and thought I would seek you for advice. Following is my profile; it would be great if you could help me out.


GMAT: 690 (1st attempt)
GPA: 2.81

Work Experience: Maersk Line (Feb 2011 - present)
Assistant Manager - Customer Services
Certified Green Belt (Six Sigma)

Extra Curricular: I run a Not for Profit Athletics School providing free of cost athletics training in Karachi. We have daily practices and yearly summer camps for children up to the age of 18. We also facilitate events for organizations and schools

I also coach Pakistan team for the street child world cup

Following are the schools I have chosen for my apps. Kindly advise if you think that my profile is good enough to get admission.

1) Ross or Tuck (To pick 1 dream school)
2) Carnegie Mellon - Tepper
3) Georgetwon - Mcdonough
4) Notre Dame - Mendoza
5) Boston University
6) Uni British Columbia - Sauder
7) Indiana - Kelley

I have been advised that USC - Marshall is good with aid.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards,
Zohair Hassan

Hello Bhavik,

Thanks a lot for your response. I am looking for schools from where I can kick start a career in Social Entrepreneurship. That is precisely the reason why I am running the non profit school for athletics. I want to broaden my scope of social impact. And my career shift is aimed at consultancy for organizations with social impact.

Two schools Ross and Mendoza are in my list because they are rated highly on Net Impact and Beyond Grey Pin Stripes. These are two important indicators for schools with MBA offering social entrepreneurship as part of their curriculum and extracurriculars.

As far as my work experience is concerned I have 7 months experience prior to Maersk as well. And following are other achievements at my work place:

- Six sigma project with annual savings of $ 450,000
- Member talent team (future leadership propgram) Working on 2 projects related to Strategy Roll outs and Communication
- Key account manager for top ten cluster customers in Pakistan
- Initiated Visual Management System for Pakistan cluster

AS for my athletics school, I have done following things

- Daily athletics training
- Annual Summer camp targeting around 80 athletes
- First Sports Day for an underprivileged school in Karachi
- Collaboration with another NGO to train Pakistan team for Street Child World Cup


Keeping in mind my profile and aims can you advice any other schools for my application.

Will be looking forward to your response.

Regards,
Zohair Hassan

Dont you think Yale would be a little more out of my league. I am eyeing for some scholarships and I am also willing to take loans for the MBA in the states.

can you tell me any realistic schools ?

Zohair

I'm going to agree with Critical Square on this one... if you're targeting those other schools and what you really want to do is Social Entrepreneurship then Yale SHOULD be on your list of schools TO AT LEAST LOOK IN TO. Don't think about whether or not you can get in... why would you take yourself out of the process before you even try? Let the schools take you out of the process... don't do it yourself. This is something that a lot of applicants do who may surprise themselves.

I'm not saying that you should definitely apply there but again... look in to the school.

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Hello Money 9111

Thanks a lot for the advice and ego boost for application. Over the past week I have researched more on the universities and have looked into the following rankings:

- Beyond Grey Pinstripes
- Net Impact
- Financial Times

Furthermore I have also researched on the universities with a high percentage of graduates going in to non-profits and social entrepreneurship ventures.
Keeping my goals and profile in focus (with an extra bit of hope for good universities) I have come up with my final list as below.

Georgetown - Mcdonough
Michigan - Ross
UBC - Sauder
Boston University - SOM
Notre Dame - Mendoza
George Washington -
Yale - SOM
North Carolina - Kenan Flagler
Melbourne Business School

I would like to know your opinion on this list.
Thanks,
Zohair Hassan

That looks like a good list to start with. Now research those schools more - talk to current students from each school and figure out why each one would appeal to you beyond where they place their students. I say this because let's say 90% of HBS candidates PLACED THEMSELVES into social entrepreneurship. Well then their placement rate would be 90% but that doesn't necessarily mean that HBS is the place for you.