Profile Evaluation, Please ...

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Profile Evaluation, Please ...

by bidnessowner24 » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:58 am
Was hoping to get an honest evaluation of my potential B-School prospects. Here are the vitals:

- Applying for 2012 Fall admission, full-time MBA programs, will be 28 then.
- 2006 BA in Political Science from a state school, 3.5 GPA, studied abroad in Amsterdam, wrote a senior thesis that was published in an academic journal.
- Test GMAT scores: 680 - 720 range.
- Spent first year out of college as (decently successful) self-employed undergrad college admissions consultant. Traveled and drank extensively.
- Worked for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. for two years in sales/trade marketing. Exceeded every qualitative and quantitative goal set by management.
- Quit RJRT after I acquired my own smoke shop/convenience store. Became, at 25, youngest downtown business owner in my city's history. Utilized much of what I learned @ RJRT as an entrepreneur. Grew gross sales of $277,000 from FY:2009 to $484,000 in FY:2010, a 74.7% increase.

Extracurriculars:

- Elected member of neighborhood council for two years, just elected chairman this year.
- Member of city's police advisory board.
- Landlord, member of city's landlord association.
- Various political campaign volunteer work/donations.
- Frequent charitable donor to city's homeless shelter.
- Wrote sports column for undergrad university newspaper.
- International travel (visited 15+ countries).

Other:

- Have fantastic letters of recommendation, one from board member of local development authority, who was basically my business mentor, and the other from rescue mission employee, discussing my character/leadership/etc.
- Will undoubtedly write good, focused essays.

My business is now solvent, and can be run completely absentee. I want to attend business school to kind of pick up where I left off with RJRT, in terms of developing more of a brand management/marketing skill set. (I left RJRT because I saw a business deal that was almost too good to be true, and had to take it.) I also think I have a natural inclination towards retail consulting, particularly in that I can say while some others can only theorize about retail solutions, I can say that I have implemented them successfully.

With all of this said, any idea how competitive (or not) of a candidate I am? What appear to be my strengths/weaknesses? What schools are within reach for me?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated ... thanks!
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by paulsbodine » Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:37 am
bidnessowner24,

The unusualness of your impressive profile is your main asset. There are some potentially negative aspects that you will need to tread carefully around (i.e., the tobacco angle), but I could see how you could work around that. Your entrepreneurial success and extracurricular involvements not only show the leadership that schools love, but do it in a very distinctive way, so combined with your solid academic/test numbers, I think you can aim relatively high. Strong marketing schools like Kellogg, Michigan, and Duke and perhaps Wharton should be in play. How well you package and sell your unusualness will be decisive. Feel free to shoot me your resume.
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
[email protected]
(858) 869-1959