770 GMAT / 9.07/10 GPA

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770 GMAT / 9.07/10 GPA

by kenshin_top » Sun Oct 06, 2013 12:59 am
Dear Sir/ Madame,

Please help evaluate my profile. I currently consider Booth/ Ross as reach school; Darden, Yale SOM, Fuqua as target; and Kenan-Flagler, Georgetown as safe bet.

My problem is that I really need a big chunk of scholarship to pursue an MBA in the US (sth around $30k, after careful fiscal consideration. I have no US co-signer to apply for a private loan). Do you think my reach/ target/ safe choices are rational? Please suggest me some idea to move closer to my goal.

If ok, could you please segregrate your analysis to 2 issues: (1) How much is the chance of my admission?; and (2) How much is the chance of my admission with desired scholarship?

My profile:

Nationality: Vietnam. I have no international experience. I worked with many expatriates and used English as official language during my one year at KPMG Vietnam (does it count?)

GMAT: 770 (Q 51; V 42)
TOEFL: 109 (Reading, Listening:29; Writing: 28; Speaking 23)

GPA: 9.07/10, Valedictorian, BA (International Business and Economics) from Foreign Trade University, the most prestigious university in Vietnam.

Scholarships: Student of the Year (2010). Distinguished Valedictorian (2011). Kumho Asiana Fellowship, POSCO Asiana Fellowship (2008). Vallet Scholarship (2009, 2010). Maths & Physics Prize at High School (provincial level).

WE: At enrolment, 2.5 years since graduation (4.5 years if my real, not part-time (though the schedule is not 8h a day) job during undergrad time is taken into account)
Mar '09 - Aug '11: Editor on International Finance (last position) at CafeF, the most visited online financial newspaper in Vietnam. 2 promotions.
Jul '11: Graduated
Sep '11 - Nov '12: Tax Consultant at KPMG Vietnam. Fields of insight tax knowledge: Mining, Income Tax. 1 Promotion on Jul '12, Highly Effective Performer rating (highest among tax staffs)
Dec '12 - now: Managing Editor (last position) at CafeBiz, an affiliate of CafeF, focusing on business. Manage a 8-member team. Responsible for all published content. 1 promotion on Aug '13.

Activities:

Sep' 07 - Jun '11: Class President. Represented over 600 students in a petitioning effort to successfully alter university-wide exam schedule. Organised a fact-finding tour for 110 students to the largest port in North Vietnam.
2007 - now: Wikipedia volunteer. Focus: Japanese history. Tireless Contribution Barnstar (2008). Militarily History Distinguished Service Award (2011)
2007 - 2010: Moderator, Vietnam History Forum.

Hobbies:
Stock picking. Favourite strategy: Distressed assets. Performance: returns over 155% since inception (Feb'12) as compared to 14% gain of the Vietnamese benchmark index in the corresponding period. Pass CFA LV1 (Dec'12).
Jogging (2 miles a day), Sudoku (nightmare level, record: 5'04'', average: 12'36'')


Many thanks & Best regards.
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by Heidi Granner » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:24 am
kenshin_top,

Thanks for your post. You have many aspects to your candidacy with should be particularly compelling: strong GMAT and GPA, Class President, success in less common professional background (journalism), and unique interests (Japanese history, military history).

The weaker areas of your profile will be: less years of work experience (~3 versus average of 5), leaving KPMG after one year, and varied career progression. It will be particularly important to tie these pieces together through specific career goals which leverage your background and interests.

I suggest considering Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Yale as "reach" schools (about 1 in 4 chance of acceptance at each), Ross, Darden, and Fuqua as "target" schools (about 1 in 3 chance of acceptance), and UNC and Georgetown as "safety" schools (1 in 2 chance). If you want to be "certain" of admission, I suggest targeting 2 reach schools, 2 target schools, and 1 safety school. If you are more open to an option where you don't get in this year, then I suggest 2-3 reach schools and 2-3 target schools.

Scholarship chances are very difficult to measure. A couple helpful resources: article on Poets & Quants with a table showing percent of students receiving financial aid (https://poetsandquants.com/2011/01/08/ho ... gree-cost/), Clear Admit's Guide to Financing an MBA (https://www.clearadmit.com/ca-products/f ... g-the-mba/), Clear Admit's School-by-School International Scorecard (https://blog.clearadmit.com/2009/05/scho ... scorecard/) - dated, but should serve as good basis to work from.

Good luck!

Best,
Heidi
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by kenshin_top » Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:47 pm
Thanks Heidi, your advice is a great help!