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Profile Evaluation & Recommendation for Consultant

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Profile Evaluation & Recommendation for Consultant

by StanfordGSBorBust » Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:37 pm
US resident & born

Columbia M.S. - Engineering (3.3 GPA)
Columbia B.S. - Engineering (3.5 GPA)

GMAT - 760 (49Q/46V)

Work Experience:
Small Consulting Firm - 1 year and counting, promoted
Big Three Consulting Firm - Management (Supply Chain Consultant) - 2 years, promoted

Short Story:
I'm applying to Stanford GSB exclusively (for a variety of reasons, including its focus on entrepreneurship and its small class size). I'm looking to work in the startup/VC space.

EC: Triathlons

Volunteering: Big Brother

Awards: Leadership at Big Three firm

Thoughts? Will GSB not like my 85% Quant score (esp. given that I have an engineer's profile)?

Also, for consultants, what do people typically do for their primary supervisor recommendation? I don't technically have a primary supervisor, I bounce from project to project with new supervisors each time. Most projects only last 2-3 months, so there isn't much of a close connection there.
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by essaysnark » Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:49 pm
Hey StanfordGSBorBust --

You have a lot going for you in your profile - but you're setting your sights very high, as you surely know. The vast majority of candidates to Stanford are highly qualified, just like you. The GMAT score is great but obviously, on its own, it won't get you an offer - in fact, we've heard that the GSB rejects some huge percentage of its high-scoring GMAT applicants. The deciding factor will be, what impact have you already had on the world? And what impact do you hope to have in the future? No offense but volunteering with BB is a little generic, the adcom sees it all the time, it won't help you stand out. Even the triathalons are fairly common. These factors alone are almost de rigeur with a Stanford app, they're not setting you apart in any important way, unfortunately.

The GSB is adamant that essays don't matter that much in the overall application - they will look at the entirety of your profile, including recommendations and evidence of accomplishment as detailed on the resume. We're not seeing enough with what you've sketched out to offer any opinion whatsoever on how the GSB will respond to your profile. We'd need to see more on what you want to do with the MBA, and specifically why do you want to go to Stanford. And, you'll need to have impressive stories of contribution and achievement coming through in those recs and in your essays of course too.

So, you've got a ticket to play the game, and at this point it will come down to how you position yourself above and beyond the basic "stats" that are qualifying you to play.

On your recommender, you should ask the person who does your performance reviews at your firm. Whoever knows you best professionally, has been in a position to critique your workproduct, and has the most experience in working with you on projects is the right person. If needed, you can explain your choice of recommender in the optional essay.

Hope all this helps - and hope you don't take offense at any of it! We're all about being straight up with applicants instead of shining them on. There's nobody that can tell you much from this profile alone vis a vis Stanford; all that we can say is that you have the bare-bones basics and it's going to be up to you to put the pieces together in a way that moves the needle for the adcom. You should absolutely go for it, but you do have your work cut out for you. If there's other questions we can help you with, feel free to lay 'em down.

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by essaysnark » Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:57 pm
Sorry that was probably confusing - let's try again.

The essays matter at every school... BUT the GSB adcom says that they don't matter as much as candidates think. One reason the GSB says this (we think) to get candidates to quit obsessing about them so much. A less-stressed candidate is going to write more natural and authentic essays. The other reason they say it is because they can actually read a whole lot from the rest of the application. Many times, people have awesome essays but the rest of the app doesn't sufficiently back them up. The GSB adcom is quite sophisticated and they will look at EVERYTHING.

But the essays do matter. The essays are where you get to express your desire to go to the school, and highlight what "matters most" to you (!!) - it's where you have a chance to showcase what you've done and why an MBA from Stanford is the right next step for you.

So anyway... hope this clarifies what could've been a totally confusing message in our original answer.

EssaySnark
EssaySnark has MBA application guides for HBS, Stanford, Booth, Wharton, NYU and pretty much any other school you can name - including a fully revised and expanded 2015 Columbia essay guide!
https://essaysnark.com/bookstore/
* * * * * * *
The Indians' Guide to Getting In maps out everything you need to evaluate your own profile and select your schools. https://essaysnark.com/ssguide/quicksnar ... ans-guide/
* * * * * * *
MILITARY CANDIDATES! We've got some pro bono offers just for you: https://essaysnark.com/military-mba/
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by Jon@Admissionado » Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:08 pm
Stanford only! Go you!

We can say one thing about that: you've got some moxie!
One very nice tip for you: Let them KNOW that you are applying to ONLY Stanford. I've has clients do this a few times in the past (when it was true of course) and they all got in.
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