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Hey Alex,

Education:
BBA Finance & Accounting, cum laude (3.3 overall but 3.5 in last 60)
- GMAT: 710
-VP of Beta Alpha Psi
-good volunteer activities
-worked 25/hr throughout school to support family.
-2 Fortune 200 internships.

WE (32 months upon mat.):
Senior Auditor (middle market international accounting firm, 5th largest here in Houston)
-promoted 3 times in 2 years.
-CPA passed
-Focus on Energy

Personal:
- Grew up overseas, exposed to many cultures.
- will be 25 in summer 2010.
- Going to China in summer for a month to teach English.

Based on my profile if I decide to apply this year, what school should I be competitive at? sweet spots?
I am thinking of applying to following schools
Columbia, Chicago,
Cornell, Yale,
UTexas, NYU?

Any chances?

Dear jslachey,

Thanks for your post! Please see my comments below:

Education:
BBA Finance & Accounting, cum laude (3.3 overall but 3.5 in last 60)
- GMAT: 710
-VP of Beta Alpha Psi
-good volunteer activities
-worked 25/hr throughout school to support family.
-2 Fortune 200 internships.

>>Your GPA of 3.3 is slightly below the average for admitted students at the top schools on your list. I'm glad to see that you improved over time and ended on a high note, since that should help somewhat. Of course, much of how the 3.3 is viewed will be based around what the adcom thinks of your undergraduate institution and the strength of your major. Finally, the fact that you worked 25 hours/week throughout may work in your favor. I'd need to know more about who you were supporting (parents?).

>>Your GMAT score will be right around the average at the top programs on your list. I'd be curious to see the percentile scores for math and verbal. Ideally you will have crossed the 80th percentile in each section.

>>Your activities and internships, coupled with the fact that you worked while in school all sound like they will be assets in your application materials.

>>One thing to keep in mind is that your undergraduate course of study (finance/accounting) is typically over-represented in the applicant pool. As such, the bar may be sligthly higher for you on the GMAT/GPA front. At the end of the day, your numbers here are decent, but certainly not out of this world.

WE (32 months upon mat.):
Senior Auditor (middle market international accounting firm, 5th largest here in Houston)
-promoted 3 times in 2 years.
-CPA passed
-Focus on Energy

>>I presume this means that you will have just a bit more than 2 years of experience when you apply this fall. This places you at the younger end of the applicant pool (often more competitive in terms of academics), but my hope is that your multiple promotions in a short period of time will help keep you competitive. The fact that you are working as an auditor also places you in a fairly well-represented group in the pool, but one approach you might take would be to highlight your prompt rise within the firm and your specialization within the energy sector (the latter of which could make a lot of sense if your goals were in that domain).

>>Keep in mind that one concern the adcom often has with folks that study accounting/finance and then work as auditors and pursue the CPA, etc, is that they are "good with numbers, not with people." You will need to prove that you have great people skills and varied outside interests in order to avoid the 'boring accountant' label.

Personal:
- Grew up overseas, exposed to many cultures.
- will be 25 in summer 2010.
- Going to China in summer for a month to teach English.

>>Did your overseas living experience come with any language skills? Have you used that experience in any way with clients at work, etc? Did you pursue a study abroad in college as well?

>>I presume you are just taking time off to go to China this summer (and then returning to your job)? How does China relate to your long-term career plans? Is this where you lived growing up as well?

>>You clearly have the beginnings of some interesting angles to pursue (which should help prevent you from being labeled as a mere number-cruncher, etc). The key will be to find a way to wrap this all up into a coherent positioning strategy for the applications. I am sensing that there are a number of possibilities involving the energy sector, China and finance, but I'd need more information from you to really help in this regard.

Based on my profile if I decide to apply this year, what school should I be competitive at? sweet spots?
I am thinking of applying to following schools
Columbia, Chicago,
Cornell, Yale,
UTexas, NYU?

>>While you could theoretically be competitive at any of the programs on your list, I'd need to know more about your profile to really assist in this regard (where you went to ugrad, your GMAT splits, your personal background, more about your family, activities, career goals, etc). It probably makese sense for you to send your resume to [email protected] and set up a free assessment with one of our counselors so as to get a more in-depth review of your profile and admissions odds.

Best of luck,

Graham

Hi Graham,
I plan to apply to HBS this year and I would please like to know what my chances are
My details are:

GMAT: 700 (Q47, V40) - 79% 89%; will this be a problem because I didnt cross the 80th percentile in my quant? should i retake the gmat? the middle 50% for HBS is 700-750..

Undergraduate: upper second class honours from Imperial College in Chemical eng. Will my UG degree affect my chances? I have many scores in the 40s and 50s, and although the British mark very differently from the Americans, I am worried that this could be a deal breaker for me.. my grades were on a solid upward trend (from lower second class in the first year to first class in my final year)

Work: Multinational oil company. worked in 3 different countries, 2 promotions, and solid professional record. Upon matriculation I will have more than 3.5 years of work experience

I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks
Kind Regards,
Andy

Thanks for your detailed reply Eliot - i really appreciate it. even though ive researched this to death, u raised some very good points. ill work on my GMAT now..