Ask Stacy Blackman

Good morning everyone.

I'm a long-time reader, first time poster on these boards. I love the support of the Beat the GMAT Community as well as the Expert posters, which is why I wanted to ask for a profile evaluation myself. Having said that, I'll share my story with you guys (a rather long one!). I have to say I'm really insecure due to my low academic results.

To start off, let me say that I'm a 26 year old Peruvian Male. I wanted to apply during R1 this year, so as to start the MBA during fall 2017 (I'll be 28 by then).

My main concern is my UG GPA. I studied Business Administration & International Business at one of the top 5 schools in my country (5-year long program), but it is not a renowned school worldwide. I have a cumulative 3.4 GPA, but there's more to that. Due to immaturity and (badly) dealing with my father's decaying Health, I've failed 8 classes. Several of those classes are lower quant courses. My school allows re-taking the class, and in most cases the retake has wound up with an A, though in 2 cases a B. The F is not taken into consideration for the GPA calculation, the re-take grade is (but the F will be shown in the transcript). Most failed classes are during the same year, which was the toughest year for me. I understand it is not an excuse, seeing as how I didn't have to work to pay for my UG (family support), but that's what happened. I deeply regret my attitude and bad study habits developed from being academically successful at High School in spite of never really having put effort.

My GPA increased during the second half of my time in college. Failed 2 of the 8 classes during the beginning of the second half (re-takes were A's). I managed to be in the 80th percentile in spite of the failed classes during this second half.

I did a Grad course on Finances (included statistics, finance, accounting classes; as well as a couple of complementary ones), which included 12 classes and a Pass/Fail one, over the course of a year. I failed one due to work commitments that rendered me unable to attend the final (no excuse. Bad call on my behalf). To make things worse, this course was a Quant course (the last one) - Financial project evaluation. I retook it and got an A. Other than that, I got 6 As and 5 Bs. Most finance courses were aced.

That's my academic background. A little bit of extra information:
I work in a major retail company in Latin America as a junior project analyst. I'm currently being contemplated for a promotion (according to my boss) to middle analyst, though he said I could be promoted to senior due to good performance. This will be decided in March.
I've worked here for close to a year, but spearheaded a major project on self-service solutions in the company (first retail store to have these in my country). I have participated in some quant-related activities, such as the 2016 budget for our 90 stores, as well as worked on efficiency and cost-reducing solutions.

I haven't taken the GMAT yet, but as of my practice tests, I should be getting somewhere between 710 and 730.

I worked for two years in my country's biggest construction company as a project assistant. Nothing much to be said here, did some analysis but not much. Before that, did an internship for a year for a company that did the exclusive distribution of all Fox and WB movies in my country (interesting work experience, to say the least!).

I currently have an internet services company with my brother. We are thinking about selling it this year though. It has been working since 2010 and has some clients that re-subscribe every year so it can sustain itself without getting any new clients.

I also created a small company with 5 friends as part of a project to graduate from school. It was a natural yogurt business. We kept it going for six months (the time required by our course), then closed it down. This was in 2011. This is no longer necessary to graduate from my UG program, as it was removed the next year.

As part of extracurricular activities required by my school (though I won't say this was the reason in an essay) I was a volunteer in a very small program that tended to emotional health of hospital patients. I actually enjoyed this activity and performed well, to point that after three months I got promoted to head of one of the areas in the hospital I was in. This was around 2012 (my last semester) and I kept at it for three more months. I left because of the toxic behavior of the people in charge, which included racism towards volunteers.

I participated in the organization of a Christmas event in 2013, in which we collected donations and went to a very underprivileged town and gave them food and presents. We were intending to repeat this activity the following years, but due to time restraints it wasn't possible.

I don't think there's anything else of importance. Perhaps a funny story is that during 2011 and 2012, my weight went up from 165lbs (the average/recommended weight for someone my height is 155lbs, so I was slightly over that) to 210lbs. With a lot of hard work and discipline I managed to lose weight. By the end of 2013 I was at 150lbs with much healthier eating habits and exercising often. I have stayed around that weight ever since.

If someone read through all of that, I greatly appreciate it. I apologize if this was too long, just wanted to share as many details as I remember. My profile makes me insecure, as I said before. I wanted to know if you guys consider I stand a chance at a top 10 school. I would dream of Stanford and Wharton, but perhaps it is more realistic (according to my profile) to think of Sloan, Booth and UC Berkeley.

Thank you for your time.