Another Profile Evaluation...kind of

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Another Profile Evaluation...kind of

by fluidian » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:19 pm
I applied to a bunch of schools in R1, and managed to get into Booth with a very hefty scholarship - yeah me! That said, there were a few schools that I didn't apply to (largely Harvard and Stanford), and I was curious to get some feedback on whether or not it's worth applying to these schools in round 3, given my profile (i.e. is it worth tossing out the few hundred bucks, or is the chance of admission nearly zero?).

My profile is a bit different, so soak it all in. My largest concerns are my age as well as applying to the most competitive schools in R3 (although I've heard that the app distribution this year is funny, and may actually provide a marginal benefit to R3 - has any one heard about this?).

That said, my profile:

Age: 29 (think of this in context of H/S - trending younger)
GMAT: 720

WE:

4.5 years at at biotech start-up - first employee and helped them through VC financing (21 million); now the company is ~25.

Recently started a new company and am pitching to VCs...have already received marginal angel investment and recruited a world class founding team.

Am doing some BD work as a consultant - and will likely found a protein development group at a very large synthetic gene manufacturer.


U-GPA: ~3.75 - in top 3 chemical engineering program
Grad-GPA: ~3.35 at UC Berkeley in Chemical Engineering

Awards: NSF Fellowship at Harvard
NIH Fellowship at Berkeley
MOT Fellowship at Haas

Extra curriculars:
Founded entrepreneurial group - now 24 members
Founded wine group - 6 members
Active participant in weekly inline skating group
Avid outdoors fan
Active participant and contributor to Cure Cancer type organizations


Goals: Learn the business skills to supplement my technical prowess to help bring novel cancer cures to market...my new company is of the cure cancer variety. My general impression is that entrepreneurs in this space frequently have either the business sense or technical sense, but rarely both - I seek to harmonize these disciplines and take on leading roles within these organizations and/or join a healthcare VC.
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

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by Cindy Tokumitsu » Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:10 am
Hello,

Congratulations on your Booth admission and funding.

While HBS and Stanford generally trend younger, that’s not absolute, and it seems that with stellar applications you would have a shot – they’d be what I’d consider reasonable reaches for you. I wouldn’t say it’s likely that you’d get admitted, but there’s enough chance to make it worth the effort in R3, again, with great applications.

Since Booth admitted you, probably you already covered this point, but just in case you didn’t I’ll mention it here. Since you’re actively involved in managing ongoing enterprises, if you do apply, somewhere in the application explain how your businesses will function without you for the MBA term. This issue has sometimes been a concern for top-tier MBA program adcoms, who want their students to be fully focused on the program and the MBA activities during their two years.

Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com

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by fluidian » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:01 pm
Thanks for the response Cindy...I actually didn't address the how my enterprises will function without me in the Booth, or other applications, but it's god to know. Do you have any general tips for a slightly older applicant applying to say Stanford, in R3? Given my location (Menlo Park), and my current connections to Stanford, if I fire off a R3 app, Stanford would be the likely target over Harvard, although given the ~1 month between app deadlines, both are more than reasonable.

Thanks again!

James