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Hi VP team -

Would you be able to comment on the chances of my profile for the following schools? Thank you in advance for your help and thanks for participating in this forum.

Schools:
Kellog (one yr), Insead (one yr) – Original goal
Harvard, Stanford, Wharton – Considering at this point (given recent GMAT score)

GMAT
750 (98%) V46 (99%) Q48 (84%) – AWA not available yet (could be as low 4 and as high as 5 - I felt like I was still asleep on the first essay – I wrote at 8am)

Languages
Fluent in English and German
Fluent in spoken Farsi
Currently taking French classes (Beginner level II – passed Level I)


Background
Born in Iran (Age 28 in Sep 2008) – I am a bit older as I took a year off after high school to work at a psychiatric institution. Many unique experiences here.
Lived in Europe for 10 years and graduated from High school (B Avg)
Moved to Canada in 2000 and graduated from a mid-tier Canadian University
- Major Finance / Minor Economics
- 10.7 / 12 GPA (Based on some conversion tables I think this is a 3.8)
- University Senate Medal for outstanding academic achievements
- Dean’s list all years
- In my final year I was part of a two person team to make it to the finals of Canada’s most prestigious undergraduate business case competition (top 6 teams out of 30 schools, some from Europe and Asia).

Career
Intern at a global insurance company (4months) – Commercial Risk Underwriting
Financial Analyst at a Dow Jones Company in Canada (15 mths)
– Includes Team Lead roles
Promoted to Advisory Financial Analyst (18 mths)
– acted as the country project manager on a global financial transformation initiative
– Coordinated the efforts of 100+ professionals across Latin America, India and Canada
– Many experiences to share here
Career Switch into Management Consulting at same company (Financial Management – process optimazation, financial transformation and strategy etc) in March 2008
- Currently working as project management office lead on a ground-breaking energy sector project (this is a slight step back from my past job. I traded off very unique opportunities in fianance in order to move into consulting. My LORs will comment on this and put a very positive spin on it). Promotion to Senior Consultant (Associate equivalent) iminent (but will likely not happen until Jun 2009)



Extracurricular:
- Very involved in univeristy and MBA recruitment for my company
- Coordinated various events for new hires (received sponsorship from CFO)
- Mentor to a new hire
- Considering to teach as a GMAT instructor for one of the four major prep companies
- Board of Directors at non-for profit focusing on financial counselling for folks living below poverty line (Been doing this for yr now – unfortunately we may go out of business soon. The org has been around for 20 yrs)

Schools: A bit torn here. Weighing my options as I just wrote the GMAT this week and was a bit surprised by my score.

Here is the list:
Kellog (one yr), Insead (one yr) – Original goal
Harvard, Stanford, Wharton – Considering at this point

Post-MBA Goal:
Consulting

Thanks LSB for your post -

Overall you have great credentials and are a strong candidate for a top MBA program. As you know, this year is going to be ultra competitive for admission into the programs mentioned below, so its hard to truly access your chances.

Remember, most 1-year programs expect you to go back into your same line of work. Since you jumped from finance/banking to management consulting - and you dont have too many years of experience at one firm, make sure you are very focused in your post-MBA goals.

This also applies to the 2-year programs. Explain why you made the transition and also how the experience will impact your post-MBA goals.


NP