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US Profile Seeking Honet Reality Check for Top Tier Schools

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US Profile Seeking Honet Reality Check for Top Tier Schools

by overmind1632 » Fri Oct 11, 2013 3:13 pm
Hey guys,

I would sincerely appreciate an honest critique of my current profile and targeted schools/programs. Are my targeted schools within acceptable range or are some schools way too far of a reach? Thank you very much.

US Male, American Born Chinese
Age 25
Undergrad: Topish Liberal Arts School (Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette etc...)
Major: BS Biology BA Economics
GPA: 3.4 Overall, 3.5 Biology, 3.8 Economics
GMAT: First Score 690 (47 Quant, 38 Verbal) Second Score 660 (50 Quant, 29 Verbal) 6.0 AWA both times, 8 IR first time, 5 IR second time
Work Experience- 2-3 years- Investment Banking Internship at Middle Market Firm, Analyst at SK-China Real Estate (Property acquisition and management), Portfolio Management Analyst at MetLife China
Leadership Roles in College and NPO
Work Experience in both USA and China
Learned how to read and write Chinese in just a year (Goal was to be able to read a Chinese newspaper within a year) and lived in China for 2 years, Did not previously know Chinese even though I am a Chinese Born American
Personally invests in both US and Chinese Stock Markets

Goals: To get a solid financial education given my science background and work in areas like Healthcare or Cleantech IB/PE (Like I did during my banking internship) but with China, Chinese financial opportunities (Capital raising, project/deal sourcing, etc....), work at a managerial level for a Clean tech/Waste management firm, or any new possible areas I may find interesting during the course of my MBA education.

Targeted Programs: Wharton Chinese Lauder Program, UC Berkeley MBA+Masters Public Health Mgmt or MBA+Master International Relations, Duke MBA+Master of Eniv Mgmt, Columbia, NYU Stern, and Dartmouth (The latter 3 are just full time MBA programs)

Thanks guys for your help
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by overmind1632 » Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:54 pm
Any opinions out there?
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:49 am
Hi there,

Well you've definitely got some great work experience! I'm really impressed with the fact that you learned Chinese in a year actually. That's something. So let's talk about your profile real quick before we chat about schools.

Work Experience: You've got this fairly well covered. Given your industry and background, it's a little more standardized and your differentiating factors (industries, geographies, asset classes, etc.) are a little off the beaten path. Additionally, they tie really well into your story. You lack a little bit in terms of pedigree of firms (i.e. not bulge) but your exposure to and work in a foreign market offset that.

Extracurriculars: You haven't mentioned much here so if you could expand a bit that would be great. You mention leadership positions in undergrad so that's good but nothing about since you graduated. That's most important because your inclusion of college involvement, generally speaking, is limited.

Academics: You have a fairly strong major specific GPA but an average overall one. Additionally, your GMAT is good but not great. It's your verbal that's holding you back. To be honest, a score 30 - 40 points higher would be nice.

Goals: in your case, these make perfect sense. Regardless of what you may explore in your MBA, the story you put forward in your application has a lot to work with.

Ok, so onto schools.

The Lauder Program makes a lot of sense BUT it's incredibly competitive. Your GMAT is pretty low when it comes to it. It's actually pretty low when it comes to Wharton in general. Their 80% range stops at 690. I think you should still apply to it because it makes a lot of sense for where you're coming from and where you want to be but the rest of your application is going to have to be stellar.

Your school choice has some better programs than others for what you want to do. For example, Dartmouth makes more sense to me than Stern. Regardless, overall, I think you need to include a few schools in the 10 - 20 range. You're really stacked near the front and that's going to introduce a lot of risk.

I hope that helps - let me know if you have any questions!

Bhavik
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by overmind1632 » Sun Nov 03, 2013 11:10 pm
Hi and thank you for the reply,

Extra Curricas: College- Founding Father at now one of the top/most popular/successful fraternity, sat on a lot of committees and boards for the fraternity,AIDs walks, Habitat for humanity, Bucknell buddies (tutoring program) etc....
Post-Grad: Leadership at NPO with successful projects in China, mainly helping underdeveloped areas and children

As far as the schools go, I actually determined that I will not be applying to Wharton Lauder and Columbia. I believe my Chinese and knowledge of China is too strong for the program and thus, I will not gain much from it (language and region knowledge)

My Final School list is now: Haas MBA/MPH, Fuqua MBA/MEM, Tuck MBA/MPH, and Stern. Sill considering Yale SOM.

May I ask you a question, why is it that you find Stern an odd (or Non-fit) school choice for me?

Thank you for all your insights
CriticalSquareMBA wrote:Hi there,

Well you've definitely got some great work experience! I'm really impressed with the fact that you learned Chinese in a year actually. That's something. So let's talk about your profile real quick before we chat about schools.

Work Experience: You've got this fairly well covered. Given your industry and background, it's a little more standardized and your differentiating factors (industries, geographies, asset classes, etc.) are a little off the beaten path. Additionally, they tie really well into your story. You lack a little bit in terms of pedigree of firms (i.e. not bulge) but your exposure to and work in a foreign market offset that.

Extracurriculars: You haven't mentioned much here so if you could expand a bit that would be great. You mention leadership positions in undergrad so that's good but nothing about since you graduated. That's most important because your inclusion of college involvement, generally speaking, is limited.

Academics: You have a fairly strong major specific GPA but an average overall one. Additionally, your GMAT is good but not great. It's your verbal that's holding you back. To be honest, a score 30 - 40 points higher would be nice.

Goals: in your case, these make perfect sense. Regardless of what you may explore in your MBA, the story you put forward in your application has a lot to work with.

Ok, so onto schools.

The Lauder Program makes a lot of sense BUT it's incredibly competitive. Your GMAT is pretty low when it comes to it. It's actually pretty low when it comes to Wharton in general. Their 80% range stops at 690. I think you should still apply to it because it makes a lot of sense for where you're coming from and where you want to be but the rest of your application is going to have to be stellar.

Your school choice has some better programs than others for what you want to do. For example, Dartmouth makes more sense to me than Stern. Regardless, overall, I think you need to include a few schools in the 10 - 20 range. You're really stacked near the front and that's going to introduce a lot of risk.

I hope that helps - let me know if you have any questions!

Bhavik
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by AppleBees » Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:29 am
Haas, Fuqua, Tuck all great schools but may I ask why you're not applying to Wharton and Columbia? Could you not take the GMAT again and try to get 700+?

1. Wharton without Lauder is still an amazing program! Many believe it to be top 3, but generally in the top 5.
2. Why stern over Columbia? I dont want to stir the NYU vs. Columbia debate, but even based on rankings, Columbia is a notch above NYU. I am just wondering why you made your choices.


TBH, we have similar profile and I think yours is stronger than mine! As much as I dont want more competition at my target schools, are you sure you would not consider Wharton and Columbia?
overmind1632 wrote:Hi and thank you for the reply,

Extra Curricas: College- Founding Father at now one of the top/most popular/successful fraternity, sat on a lot of committees and boards for the fraternity,AIDs walks, Habitat for humanity, Bucknell buddies (tutoring program) etc....
Post-Grad: Leadership at NPO with successful projects in China, mainly helping underdeveloped areas and children

As far as the schools go, I actually determined that I will not be applying to Wharton Lauder and Columbia. I believe my Chinese and knowledge of China is too strong for the program and thus, I will not gain much from it (language and region knowledge)

My Final School list is now: Haas MBA/MPH, Fuqua MBA/MEM, Tuck MBA/MPH, and Stern. Sill considering Yale SOM.

May I ask you a question, why is it that you find Stern an odd (or Non-fit) school choice for me?

Thank you for all your insights
CriticalSquareMBA wrote:Hi there,

Well you've definitely got some great work experience! I'm really impressed with the fact that you learned Chinese in a year actually. That's something. So let's talk about your profile real quick before we chat about schools.

Work Experience: You've got this fairly well covered. Given your industry and background, it's a little more standardized and your differentiating factors (industries, geographies, asset classes, etc.) are a little off the beaten path. Additionally, they tie really well into your story. You lack a little bit in terms of pedigree of firms (i.e. not bulge) but your exposure to and work in a foreign market offset that.

Extracurriculars: You haven't mentioned much here so if you could expand a bit that would be great. You mention leadership positions in undergrad so that's good but nothing about since you graduated. That's most important because your inclusion of college involvement, generally speaking, is limited.

Academics: You have a fairly strong major specific GPA but an average overall one. Additionally, your GMAT is good but not great. It's your verbal that's holding you back. To be honest, a score 30 - 40 points higher would be nice.

Goals: in your case, these make perfect sense. Regardless of what you may explore in your MBA, the story you put forward in your application has a lot to work with.

Ok, so onto schools.

The Lauder Program makes a lot of sense BUT it's incredibly competitive. Your GMAT is pretty low when it comes to it. It's actually pretty low when it comes to Wharton in general. Their 80% range stops at 690. I think you should still apply to it because it makes a lot of sense for where you're coming from and where you want to be but the rest of your application is going to have to be stellar.

Your school choice has some better programs than others for what you want to do. For example, Dartmouth makes more sense to me than Stern. Regardless, overall, I think you need to include a few schools in the 10 - 20 range. You're really stacked near the front and that's going to introduce a lot of risk.

I hope that helps - let me know if you have any questions!

Bhavik
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Mon Nov 04, 2013 1:43 pm
Hi there,

You're quite welcome. I'm glad you found it helpful. When it comes to Stern, a lot of people can get misled by its location and high level placement stats. Being in NY, they place a lot of folks into finance but if you dig a little deeper, you see a difference between the types of finance roles that they place into compared to a Wharton, Columbia, or Booth. Given what you're looking to do, in both role and industry, other programs are a better bet. For example, Columbia is a great program and it should find its way onto your list, in my opinion.

I hope that helps clarify my earlier point!

Bhavik
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by overmind1632 » Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:47 pm
AppleBees and CriticalSquareMBA,

The reason I am not considering programs like Wharton and CBS is that I do not like big schools. As you can see from my targeted programs, they are some of the smallest. In addition, although Wharton and CBS indeed have a very strong MBA program, I'm looking for something else to combine with an MBA. Thus, all my targeted programs (except Stern) have an interesting dual program degree path.
CriticalSquareMBA wrote:Hi there,

You're quite welcome. I'm glad you found it helpful. When it comes to Stern, a lot of people can get misled by its location and high level placement stats. Being in NY, they place a lot of folks into finance but if you dig a little deeper, you see a difference between the types of finance roles that they place into compared to a Wharton, Columbia, or Booth. Given what you're looking to do, in both role and industry, other programs are a better bet. For example, Columbia is a great program and it should find its way onto your list, in my opinion.

I hope that helps clarify my earlier point!

Bhavik
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:56 am
That makes sense - in that case I'd like to revise my previous statement. Stern might be a great way to cover off NYC while still getting that smaller class size that you're looking for. They're all fantastic programs - you can't go wrong!

Bhavik
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