Profile evaluation request

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Profile evaluation request

by rory55 » Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:43 pm
Hi there,

I'm wondering if you could give my profile a rough evaluation...

I'm particularly attracted to the European programs for their short duration, good value for money and international outlook, and am therefore planning to apply in R1 this year to:

- INSEAD
- Cambridge
- LBS
- Oxford


Nationality: Australian/Caucasian
Age: 28
Gender: Male

Undergrad: Top 5 Australian university, Bachelor of Architecture, 76/100 average, roughly equivalent to a 3.6 GPA (hard to compare)
Masters: Top 3 Australian university, Master of Management, 73/100 average, about a 3.5 GPA

Work experience: By the time I apply I will have had ~3.5 years experience at Deloitte Consulting (Digital, focusing on strategy and customer experience design). I've achieved 2 promotions in that time.

GMAT: 700

Other info:
- I have worked in both Australia and Europe (transferred from Sydney to Brussels with Deloitte). I chose Brussels over London because I wanted to experience life/work in a totally different culture, environment and language.
- I speak French to a good conversational level.
- I'm currently involved in efforts to help Middle Eastern refugees in Belgium with accommodation, provisions, etc.
- I won 2 academic/leadership scholarships during my time at uni, and a couple of other academic awards.
- I started a company during my Masters and worked on it for 18 months in my spare time. Though it never turned over revenue, we won or placed in several innovation/entrepreneurship competitions, generated interest from some major players in the industry, and learned a great deal! We eventually had to put it to one side due to the complexity of the idea and our full-time career commitments.
- I've had solid ECs throughout uni (student ambassador, volunteer work, committee member, student societies).
- I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania earlier this year to raise money for charity (personal family connection to the particular disease).

Post-MBA ambitions: I enjoy the professional niche I've found (intersection of strategy and customer experience), so I would like to find a more senior role in relation to this either in industry or in a higher tier consulting firm (i.e. MBB). Alternatively, I'd like to explore the start-up world again, depending on the opportunities that arise.

I'd love your thoughts in regard to how my profile looks for the schools I've mentioned, and any tips on what I need to strengthen or focus on. It'd be great if you could also give your two cents regarding a couple of US schools (as a point of comparison) - Kellogg is particularly interesting to me, but also Harvard.

Many thanks in advance!

GMAT/MBA Expert

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by mbaMissionJenK » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:26 pm
Hi there,

Thanks for your post; you've shared a lot of useful information and it sounds like you have a lot to bring to the table for a potential business school, and that you've started putting a decent amount of thought into the process and decision points.

You have quite a few strengths to your profile at this point from what I can gather, including:

-solid grades
-grad school degree BUT there could be a bit of question of why the need for the MBA when you have the Masters in Management, so be sure to make a strong case there for how this degree will help you educationally and career-wise
-international experiences
-startup experience
-EC's
-interesting life experiences (including Kilimanjaro), helping the refugees etc
-solid work experience with promotions

In terms of areas of concern or weakness, I'd say the main thing at the moment would be the GMAT, as it could be just a touch higher for even stronger chances, and scores continue to increase; not sure when you took it or if one more try is an option but if it were you could see, just in case it were to give you an additional plus. Other than that, just the small potential q about having a masters in management, but you could likely address that.

I do think you have enough strengths to stand out and, with strong applications, get some interview invites to the schools mentioned and go from there. As a European MBA grad myself ;) I agree with your assessment of some of the attributes some feel are benefits, and the international class is quite phenomenal in my view. ;) Kellogg is great in the US, of course HBS too though I'd say that would be just a bit more of a reach given their selectivity. In any case, do as much research as you can, read blogs, attend events, reach out to students and alumni!! NOW in the coming months, you'll appreciate it in the late summer/fall as you work on apps.

If you are interested in a free 30 minute consult at any point just let us know at www.mbamission.com/consult. And/or feel free to chime back in here with further q's. Good luck!
Jennifer Kedrowski
MBA Admissions Consultant
www.mbamission.com
[email protected]

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