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Profile Eval Pls (IBD>PE>HBS/Wharton/Stanford GSB)

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Profile Eval Pls (IBD>PE>HBS/Wharton/Stanford GSB)

by masapo98 » Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:23 am
GPA: 3.55 / 3.76 (Overall / Major)
UG: Boston College - Carroll School of Management
UG Major: Finance, Info Systems, Philosophy
GMAT: Pending
Age: 24

Work:
- 1 year UBS Investment Bank (Technology Investment Banking). Top bucket bonus (~top 7.5%).
- 1 year Private Equity (Focus on mid-market tech buyouts). $1bn fund. Youngest associate hire of firm history (firm has been around for 17 years)

Other:
- K-12 at an international school (which is a big reason for wanting to go back to school. would like to increase exposure to western education)
- Korean American
- Male

Questions
1. How long should I wait before applying to HBS/Wharton/GSB
2. Are these schools beyond my reach if I apply for 2010?
3. What should my target GMAT range be? (e.g., 680-730+?)

I am thinking about applying for 2010 admission. (too early?)
Any other feedback would be much appreciated.
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by Jen Kedro » Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:40 pm
Hello,

It sounds like your concern is whether you will have sufficient work experience for the top-ranked schools for 2010. If you began in 2010, you'd have 3 years of full-time work experience then, correct? That is not far off from average, so would not necessarily be much of a negative factor. The bigger question is often QUALITY of your work experience, if you have 3 years +, rather than just quantity-- so what did you do during that time, what progression and promotions have you had, what did you learn and accomplish, what people and project management skills did you develop, etc. And then part of your application will be explaining why the MBA is right for you NOW.

Certainly a great target GMAT score is at or above the average at the schools you are applying to, so that range you mention would be ideal, yes. As I've said elsewhere, it may depend upon what your starting GMAT score level is, if you've taken any practice tests...then you can see how realistic those goals might be.

And again, don't forget that much of the b-school admissions decision depends upon your personal factors, such as essays and interview.

Best of luck!
Jen Kedrowski
Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions
GMAT Teacher
MBA Admissions Consultant
National Product Team Member
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by Graham » Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:53 am
Dear Masapo98,

Thanks for your post. I have a few thoughts:

1) You are clearly off to a nice start in building your candidacy. You have a solid GPA, a strong foundation in business coursework via undergrad and an impressive move into PE at an early stage of your career.

2) If you apply next fall to start in 2010, you will have three years of experience at the time of application (I'm assuming you graduated in 2006 based on your comments). This is perfectly fine for HBS, Stanford and Wharton (in fact, these schools seem to be trending younger and younger each year). As such, I have no concerns about your ability to be competitive with 3 years of experience at the time of application. In fact, I would not wait beyond next fall to apply.

3) Some admissions officers may find it odd that you only completed the first year of the IB analyst program.

4) While it's great that you've got a business ugrad and solid experience in both IB and PE, I am wondering if you have anything else of note in your background. For example, how have you pursued your interest in philosophy? What outside actvities do you pursue regularly (sports, music, volunteer work, etc)? Have you lived or worked abroad to any extent (perhaps as a young person, given your comment on the int'l school)? What unique aspects of your background can you share with the MBA community? What are your career plans and how will this interest help you get the most out of b-school while giving back to your peers?

5) In short, you will need to have much more than a decent GPA from a 'top-30' type school and decent work experience (Note: I know that BC's ugrad business program is more top-15, but the fact remains that BC on the whole will be viewed in a different light than Princeton, Penn, etc).

6) If you are truly targeting Wharton, HBS and Stanford as candidate who falls into an over-subscribed group (Asian, male, finance professional, ugrad business degree) your GMAT target should be more in the 710-750+ range. I suspect that 680-700 won't cut it.

Feel free to send us your resume if you'd like to set up a free initial session with one of our counselors. ([email protected])

Best of luck,

Graham
Graham Richmond
Clear Admit, LLC
[email protected]
215 568 2590

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