Profile Evaluation Please! 700gmat, 2.75GPA, 3.5 yrs exp

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Hello everyone,

I am applying for second round Booth and kellogg and wanted to know how strong my profile is and what I can do to better it besides the GMAT (which I am re-taking in 2 weeks).

GPA - BA Economics, 2.75 GPA (top 15 state school in the US). It is low because I took all biology classes first year as I was pre-medicine and completely bombed them. My econ GPA is much better.
Secondly, I took pre-mba classes at graham school (part of university of Chicago) which are like first semester classes at booth and are graded. I have a 3.5 GPA from that program.

GMAT - 700(49Q, 36V) first try. I am taking it again and feel comfortable getting around 740.

Work Experience
1.5 years - eCommerce Analyst supporting a major eCommerce retailer.
- Most of my achievements revolved around generating incremental income through testing/optimization on ecommerce platform
- Second aspect of this work was to propose new marketing tactics for customer base to increase goal metrics. Again this was done by analyzing behavior and purchase data. I do have a list of achievements driven solely by me.

2 years - working at a tech Startup (~20 ppl, funded by well known VC's) as a analytics and strategy manager, building out the infrastructure for analysis, working cross-functionally with product and marketing to identify opportunities for growth, figuring out the unit economics, and testing/optimizing various customer decision points. I have worked with all types of data here, and doing tons of stuff that is not always what an analyst/data scientist does. Ex includes financial modeling, reporting kpis and explaining them to our board/investors, managing the marketing team. I was promoted after 9 months to lead the marketing team (4ppl) in addition to having ownership of analytics.
Overall I achieved a lot at this company. Significantly improving the KPIs and creating/driving strategies for growth. I was also leading the charge to optimize pricing and have hard numbers to show the impact. At bigger companies this would be seen as a corporate strategy role, but at a startup things are at a much smaller scale so you can't really make that claim. Manging direct reports is also a good experience and shows growth in my career.

Why do an MBA?
- I feel like I am at a point in my career where I have gained lots of skills in my area of practice, analytics, and some in strategy in my previous role. But my previous role was on a much smaller scale vs a corporate strategy function for a fortune 500. I want to do strategy consulting and I can't get that position without doing an MBA. I like booth because it is more quant focused, which will help me better my analytical capabilities and I also have some connections to the school (my recommendation is coming from a booth alum and also taking the pre-mba classes at UofC).

Extra Curricular -
Volunteered with an organization that teaches kids and young adults about money management

Working as a pro bono consultant to help local non-profits solve their particular business challenges

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:05 pm
Hey there - quick demographic question - gender / ethnicity / citizenship?

Bhavik
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by mvyas2 » Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:08 pm
demo - male,Asian, US citizen.

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:15 pm
Awesome! Thanks for that - I ask because, unfortunately, it makes a difference! So let's see what we've got here:

[Academics] Your GPA hurts but a few mitigating points. The courses at the Graham school are a wonderful proactive step in the right direction! Also, the fact that you have major bifurcated performance (i.e. bad at bio, good at econ) is at least a story you can point to. Additionally, your GMAT is at a solid base. A 740 would be perfect so really try for that. Overall, you can't change your undergrad and while it's definitely attention grabbing in all the wrong ways, you're being really proactive about it. Love that. Will it hurt your chances at the ultra elite? Yes. Will it relegate you to the bottom of the barrel? No.

[Involvement] It's good that you're involved but this won't be the differentiator in your profile. Don't take that the wrong way - for most people that's the case. ~25% have nothing which hurts and another 10% blow the other 90% out of the water. But the rest fall somewhere in the middle. So I like that you're involved and I like what you're involved in.

[Experience] This is the gem in your profile. Startup experience? Yup. Leadership? Check. Impact? Yes. Scope? Double yes. I'm less concerned when you say you have things that can be solely attributed to you - that's important, sure, but I want you to focus on your collaboration and leadership more so than pure impact. For those who have no leadership, impact is good. For those who do, however, it's great to show how you drove impact through others!

[Schools & Path Forward] At this point, nothing. I mean, in 2 months what COULD possibly be done? Retaking the GMAT is a good choice just make sure it doesn't cannibalize your applications too much. You're targeting some tough schools so be aware of that. But if you're ok with being aggressive (and taking the risk that comes with it) for R2 and reevaluating in time for R1 next year, I say go for it!

Also, spend some time chatting with your recommenders. Help them understand exactly where you're coming from. What your flags are. What you'll be emphasizing. And really focus on researching those schools and getting to know the programs inside and out. Show passion and interest! Go above and beyond!

I hope that helps and let me know if you have any questions!

Bhavik
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