The Application Process

Hi, everyone!

I am 25 years old russian fellow and just before this year I realized that if I want to achieve something significant in my life and describe to myself what I really want I need to enter the business school (most likely one of the TOP-10). So now I am on my first step and would appreciate any advice about what I have to start from. I want to apply for one of the fall-2012 programme and first of all I want to know if my profile is strong enough for the TOP-10:

Age: 25 (27 at the moment of applying)
Gender: Male
Current City: Moscow
Nationality: RUS
GMAT: --- (I hope something about 750)
GPA: about 3.5
Full Time Work Experience: 5 years experience in sales (7 at the moment of applying)
1.5 year as a trade representative, 1 year as a key account manager and 1 year as a national key account manager in Nidan group of companies (Coca-Cola group)
1.5 year as a key account manager in Heineken Russia
Application year: 2012

I have neither economic nor management education. My education is engineering. Is education really important in case that I have a good working experience?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Alex,

Congratulations on your decision to apply to business school and welcome to BTG!

To answer your question - yes your profile is good for the Top 10 schools but this doesn't mean anything at this point of time. What schools looks for in an ideal candidate is way beyond numbers. It mostly in the lines of how valuable would an applicant be to the business school. For example if you are able to bring to the class some unique experiences that no one else can then you are a valuable member to that class. Similarly there are many aspects to a candidates profile that go towards getting an admit.

Now based on your profile what i can definitely say is that there is nothing in your profile that will keep you out of the top 10 school. So all you have to do is to build your profile. This can be done by getting a good gmat score, taking up more responsibilities at work and indulging in some activity outside work such as developing a hobby or contributing towards community service. These will definitely further strengthen your profile and make you an ideal candidate for the top school.

Hope this helped.

Thanks, hk!

When I am thinking about the application process I realize how many things I need to keep in my mind and how many things I have to do. It is a great challenge for me and I want to prove to myself that there is nothing impossible. So exciting!

Speaking about "activity outside work" - I am a basketball player, playing in the Moscow Basketball League. Also I have my own event company (I opened it with my friends) and trying to leap it forward. It is not big but we already have some very serious clients.

So my preparation begins, let's see what I can do with it!

Big thanks to this site and all of you guys! You inspiring me!