which schools to aim for?

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which schools to aim for?

by TalalK » Sat May 25, 2013 2:44 am
Hi ClearAdmit,

Could you kindly review my profile and suggest a set of schools that I should apply to? (for reach, match, and safety). Please find below my profile
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Male, Pakistani, 25
- Work Exp - 2 years at Unilever, one of Pak's largest FMCG. (3 years by matriculation), Managed one of UL's largest brand's relaunch. Now ABM on one of UL's smallest brand- and working on a turnaround. Already managed to improve Gross Margins in 3 months by 260 bps (key company target for the year) through cross-functional project. Now working on recouping volume growth - should have good news in a couple of months on this too.

- GMAT: 770; GPA: 3.9 - graduated top of class from LUMS BSc. (LUMS is Pakistan's best ranked university) I managed to study at LUMS through a fully funded need based scholarship - since my financial background isn't great. Also, went on an exchange program to Japan - where we spent 6 months with students from 20+ countries. So that I feel would cover global exposure partially. Also, I come from a financially humble background - so could only study at LUMS by securing the full NOP scholarship - getting which is a competitive process.

- Leadership: Presidency of ShARE- LUMS chapter of ShARE (int'l non-profit research body, https://www.share-share.org/) We turned around a near dead society- membership applications grew by 250% compared to last year - also, we placed 3 junior members into Int'l VP positions in Share global - we got a sponsorship for research, and churned out 16 research pieces. Arranged for a live lecture by Dan Ariely- renowned behavioral economist.

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Many thanks for your time!

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by Heidi Granner » Wed May 29, 2013 12:14 pm
Hi TalalK,

Thanks for your post. Your academics, work experience, and extracurricular activities all have strong dimensions. The years of work experience looks to be the biggest risk factor in the application process for you this year. HBS and Stanford average 4 years of work experience and most others 5, so think about developing a strategy to mitigate this weakness.

Based on the information you have provided, I suggest thinking about schools such as HBS, Stanford, Wharton, and Sloan as "reach" schools (which I define as schools where your profile would be competitive and you would have about a 1 in 4 / 1 in 5 chance of acceptance). Target schools (about 1 in 3 chance of acceptance) would be Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Tuck, and Yale. Safety schools (about 1 in 2 chance of acceptance) would be Fuqua, Ross, Darden, and Anderson.

Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] for a free detailed profile evaluation. And good luck!

Best,
Heidi

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by TalalK » Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:25 am
Hey,

Thanks for your response! I'm also trying to manage debt and keep it at the lowest level possible. So of this set of schools, which schools are known to be the most generous? (including H, S which offer need based aid)

Also, in order to improve chances of scholarship - which round is it advisable to apply in, 1 or 2?

Regards

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by Heidi Granner » Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:12 pm