Profile Evaluation : South East Asian Female

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Dear Expert,

It would mean so much to me if you could help review and evaluate my profile.

My background
- Female, 27, Thai nationality
- Bachelor of Business Administration (International program) from local university, Finance and Banking major (GPA 3.76, 2nd Class)
- GMAT score (August 2015) : 690 (Q 46/ V 39/ IR 6/ AWA 5.5)
- IELTS : 7.5
- 4.5 years of work experience at Unilever

In 2011, I was first recruited as a temporary staff in Finance department, Indochina Business Unit under a 1-year contract, then got promoted to a permanent position 6 months later.
- fully handled management account and financial account operations for Unilever Myanmar representative office
- Coordinated with representative office, importers, distributors, and suppliers in Myanmar to ensure accuracy and timeliness of payment, invoicing, and price structure
- led several projects related to marketing aspects such as Turbo Payment, A&P Budget Control, etc.
- took temporary responsibility for financial operations of Unilever Cambodia office during a transition period and managed to create a better control of payment process to Cambodian suppliers
- was responsible for preparing and analyzing weekly turnover/sales report of all 4 Indochina countries (Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Mongolia)

In late 2012, I was promoted to Purchasing department as a supervisor.
- Reported to Regional Supply Manager based in Singapore and assisted Procurement Assistant Manager based in Bangkok
- Delivered savings of 120,000 USD in Y2013
- Managed day-to-day operations and resolved issues when they arose
- Was responsible for the tracking and reporting of overall compliance status of all suppliers under Asia cluster (SEA, Australia, North Asia, and South Asia)

In late 2013, after 11 months of working as a Purchasing Supervisor, I was promoted to Purchasing Assistant Manager. I have been in this position for almost 2 years now. My responsibility covers Unilever Thailand and Myanmar.
- Report to Regional Supply Managers based in Singapore and Indonesia
- Manage 14 OEM suppliers under Foods and Refreshments categories (Business size : 25 million USD per year) and 5 Copackers for all product categories (Business size : 2 million USD per year)
- Lead cost saving and complexity reduction projects by working with marketing, R&D, raw and packaging material suppliers, OEM suppliers, and Copackers. (Delivered savings of 850K USD in Y2014 and have identified savings of 1.03 million USD in Y2015)
- Have established an exclusive Copacker, created process alignment, and developed copacker strategy for Myanmar business
- Have initiated Copacker transformation project for Thailand and is now working with stakeholders to execute. The purpose is to simplify ways of working and gain volume leverage
- Lead the implementation of Unilever Responsible Sourcing program for suppliers in Asia.

I participated in several extracurricular activities during my college years and I continued to volunteer to lead several Unilever CSR projects and arrange employees' trips. I also plan to do more volunteering services before applying this year.

I have met with an admissions consultant in my country. I told him that I was interested in Booth, U of Wisconsin - Madison, Notre Dame - Mendoza, Carnegie Mellon - Tepper, and U of Washington - Foster. However, he suggested that with my profile and test scores, and with his services, I should aim for Top schools such as Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, and Duke. The thing is his service fees are so expensive I can never afford...

I know that my GMAT score is still below average for those big names, but since the consultant told me I had potential to get into top schools, I just want to get second opinions here.

If I do not use any admissions consultant services, do I have a chance to get into top schools that the consultant suggested, given my overall profile and test scores? Is my profile considered attractive?

Please help evaluate my profile and give further suggestions.

Many thanks in advance,
Jan

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:36 am
Hi Jan,

Thank you for your post and all the amazing details! We can't speak to chances with / without that particular consultant. What we think strange is your list of schools is already targeting at least one of the top schools. Having more than Booth in there will make things risky. If you applied to Harvard, Wharton, Booth, and Kellogg all at once, we really view that as a stretch set. Should you apply to one or two? Sure! You have a great professional track record. But your GMAT is a bit on the lower side (not enough to knock you out of the running) and your undergrad performance / institution leaves a bit to be desired. So do we think you should try for the top schools? Yes! Do we think you should try ONLY for the top schools? No.

Cheers,
Critical Square | MBA Admissions Services

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