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Seeking Expert evaluation

by YTG » Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:19 am
I am an African student wishing to apply to the Wharton school and U. Chicago Booth. My GPA is 3.89 and my GMAT score 710 (Q49 V40). If I couldn't make it to these top schools, I would be interested in Cornell and Duke universities. Please provide me some advice on how how competitive my profile is in these schools. I am an affiliate member of the ACCA (UK), and I will have a total of twelve years work experience on September 2012, my intended date of matriculation. However, only 3 years of post BA experience. I worked as an air traffic controller in Ethiopia (East Africa), and after graduating with a BA degree in Accounting and Finance,I have been working as a senior auditor, and I am expecting promotion to the position of deputy Audit Manager this July. My best favorite school for my MBA is Wharton. How strong is my profile both for the Wharton school and for the other schools I specified above?

I would appreciate if Ms. Linda Abraham could answer my query.

P/S After completing my MBA i wish to pursue an investment banking career.
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by Linda Abraham » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:52 pm
YTG wrote:I am an African student wishing to apply to the Wharton school and U. Chicago Booth. My GPA is 3.89 and my GMAT score 710 (Q49 V40). If I couldn't make it to these top schools, I would be interested in Cornell and Duke universities. Please provide me some advice on how how competitive my profile is in these schools. I am an affiliate member of the ACCA (UK), and I will have a total of twelve years work experience on September 2012, my intended date of matriculation. However, only 3 years of post BA experience. I worked as an air traffic controller in Ethiopia (East Africa), and after graduating with a BA degree in Accounting and Finance,I have been working as a senior auditor, and I am expecting promotion to the position of deputy Audit Manager this July. My best favorite school for my MBA is Wharton. How strong is my profile both for the Wharton school and for the other schools I specified above?

I would appreciate if Ms. Linda Abraham could answer my query.

P/S After completing my MBA i wish to pursue an investment banking career.
YTG, Your post BA work experience and academics are competitive at your target programs, including Wharton. And all these schools warmly welcome qualified African candidates. They are underrepresented at US MBA programs. The big question is how they would view someone with your work history, which relates to "How would investment banks react to a prospective entry level MBA who is in his mid to late 30's?"

My gut feel is that you would get serious consideration and unless their is a glut of African applicants this year, you will do well. At the same time, you can't count on any of these programs, so apply to all 4 target programs and perhaps 1-2 more. You may want to consider LBS, INSEAD, or Kellogg's four quarter program.

You might be interested in "Applying to Regular MBA Programs as an Older Applicant."

Best,
Linda
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by YTG » Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:23 pm
Dear Ms. Linda, thank you for your response. I know my age would be a serious concern for a career change. I would be 35 on September 2012. Meanwhile, I am intending to apply to Indiana U Kelley and Babson College in R2 as my safe schools.
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by Linda Abraham » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:45 pm
Excellent approach.

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by YTG » Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:33 am
Hi Linda, I hope you wouldn't mind some more questions. After a thorough consideration, I have decided to apply to the following schools in R1: Wharton, Booth, Columbia, Fuqua, and Ross (the list indicates my order of preference. I have know started working on the essays. Do you think this is a reasonable mix of schools, given my profile (additional info is that my AWA score happened to be 5.0, and I am a bit wary of the low percentile 56!)? I couldn't get the average and median GMAT scores of Columbia, how does my score compare with their average and median? If my round one applications yield the worst scenario, I would consider applying to Stern or Kellogg, Tepper (CMU), Johnson (Cornell), McCombs (UT), and Kelley or Simon (Rochester) in R2.

I highly appreciate your valuable comments.
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by Linda Abraham » Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:27 pm
YTG,

I think you have a solid plan and approach. Don't worry about the AWA.

Best,
Linda
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