Unorthodox international profile - pls help!

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Russian national / born in Siberia, work in Moscow
Age at matriculation: 29
Gender: male
Education: one of the best Russian U. - 5 years ("specialist" degree). Graduated 2006.
GPA: 3.84/4 in PolSci (4.8/5 in Russian system, we don't have the GPA metric per se, so I translated myself). Cum laude, award-winning thesis. Literally have a golden medal for studies. .
GMAT 710

Work exp.:

1/ was employed full time for 1 y. while in the university (4th year, quit because wanted to write great thesis, P.S. it worked) 8-)

2/ was invited to join a Ph.D. program at the same university, highly selective. At the same time joined an executive recruitment firm (fairly known internationally). Quit the job after 1y., because was very bold and started my own little recruitment firm. Also quit this Ph.D. program, didn't feel that I am actually making an impact and needed to concentrate on growing business. Signed-up very cool clients. 2 years.

3/ In the middle of the crisis (2009) my last efforts to save the firm failed and I closed down the shop. Was invited to rejoin my old firm, which I did. 2 years.

4/ In 2011 I joined a fairly known boutique recruitment firm and work there since. The firm will be acquired by an international executive search titan, which exactly I had in mind.

MBA goal: I like what I'm doing, literally changing lives, careers and, well, actually, the clients - firms themselves. Over the years I've recruited for the most prestigious firms, the ones people drool to work for. So, the goal is to transfer to the executive search filed, almost every one there has an MBA degree, which makes mba almost a necessity.

International experience: yes (?), traveled former soviet republics on different assignments (never exceeded two months).

Additional info:
Extras: included helping fellow students at the university, now - social activities, heavily involved. White ribbon, white ring, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80 ... n_protests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_ribb ... _2011-2012

guess, old interests die hard.

As for schools, don't know yet. I attended several info sessions (very few schools come to Moscow): Stanford, Tuck, MIT, Darden. Thinking about them. :-)

Pls evaluate & comment!
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:05 pm
Overall your chances look good. You check all of the boxes; now you just need to get your personal story in order - start doing some research about top programs and see if there are particular things that the school does that you want to participate in. That should help you find the right target schools.
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by Yaron@Admissionado » Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:26 am
I think you have an excellent profile. First is golden medal, cum laude, and award winning thesis (like a holy trinity of goodness this is). That is a VERY strong basis. Next, working full time while doing a PhD. (even if you quit later on) very impressive! (Will be more or less so depending upon your achievements at work). then, you started your own firm (read: someone willing to take risks, and with entrepreneurial experience). Although it would have been better if you were wildly successful, even failure at a venture can be grander then just hacking away at it for one more year.

Your goals of "continuing in your field" make sense and will give you a strong application, but you need to get more specific about what and how and when and why.

Overall, you are an excellent candidate and should have a shot at even Top schools. Given your field, any program can likely provide what you desire, the only thing is to choose.

(Perhaps a US trip is in order??)

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by polovinkin » Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:41 am
Thanks Jim and Yaron! That's really reassuaring!
I can certainly bring some interesting stuff to the table, so the task is to communicate it clearly.

As for the trip, yes, sure. Besides the obvious reasons (quality of the program, personal fit, rankings to some degree, etc.), my choice is also depending on the quality of the network in CIS, because I want to go back. I liked the schools I mentioned in the first message, because they actually bothered to come and say: "Hey, we know you are out here, on the outskirts :), and we have/had guys from your country", not just preached that diversity is important. But you never know.

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by Jon@Admissionado » Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:12 am
Makes sense.
It's probably a good idea to check which schools are strong in CIS. Likely the coastal-located schools (especially those close to NY, which has famously large Russian populations) will be good for you too.
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