Profile Evaluation - Social Enterprise/Nonprofit Focus

[ph0429]

First, I wanted to thank this forum and its members for putting together this site - the forum has been extremely helpful. Also, I wanted to thank the MBA Admissions consultants in advance for your feedback on my profile.

Short one-liner on Why MBA - transfer passion for community service and helping nonprofits be more effective/efficient to a career by focusing on a Social Enterprise concentration with a specific interest in nonprofit management/consulting, foundation investment management, and international development

Short one-liner on post-MBA goals from near term (3 yrs) to long term (10-15 yrs) - leadership position at nonprofit, international development assignment abroad, start my own social enterprise, CEO/executive director of nonprofit

Age: Asian male, 27 years old, based in the US
Current work experience: Senior consultant at a top management/IT consulting firm (5 yrs). Led small teams and mentored others
Undergrad GPA: Business degree at top 10 school for business per US News 2009, MIS major with 2 minors. 3.3 Overall GPA, 3.6+ Major GPA
GMAT: Projected score of 680-710 based on practice tests. Projected to take GMAT in Oct 2009.
Languages: English (fluent), 1 Asian language (good) and 2 Latin American languages (basic)
Hobbies: Traveled to 15 countries in past 6 years

College Volunteer/Extracurricular Activities:
Elected to 2 executive/leadership positions in a student organization. Elected to community service chair in 2 student organizations.
College internship at large national nonprofit as a grant review intern
Study abroad program in Europe

Post-College Volunteer/Extracurricular Activities:
6 month volunteer consulting program with team members from across the globe to help an international NGO (in-country for 1 month) develop a strategy to define and improve relationships with its many constituents
3 month consulting project as a volunteer consultant to help a local nonprofit develop a business plan/financial model
Online mentoring program for K-12 students, participated each semester for 5 years
Volunteer grant reviewer for large national nonprofit for past 2 years

Interested Schools:
Based on my research, I have defined the following shortlist of MBA programs -
1st choice - Columbia ED 2011 (Projected ED application deadline starts in Aug 2010)
2nd choices - NYU R1 2011, Kellogg R1 2011
I am looking to visit schools and contact students this semester (hopefully this is early enough given the Columbia ED deadline).

My questions to the MBA Admissions consultants:
How competitive is my profile for all 3 schools esp Columbia? My main concern is my GMAT score considering my UG GPA.
I have the opportunity to pursue another 3 month volunteer consulting project after I take my GMAT in Oct 2009 - do you think I should start focusing on my applications at this time? The project averages 50 hours over 3 months.
Any other recommendations/advice/suggestions?

Any feedback is much appreciated, thanks again in advance!

[erins]

Hi -

Thank you for the inquiry.

You seem to have a compelling candidacy that combines solid work experience and extracurricular involvement. Further, it seems as though you have given much thought to your goals and how business school fits into achieving those goals.

While your GPA may be a bit below average, it is within the 80% range as provided by Columbia. A GMAT score of at least 700 or above will help to mitigate the GPA, so focusing your efforts on that will be time well spent.

From there, I don't necessarily think another non-profit assignment will be that incrementally beneficial to your candidacy given that you already have meaningful community involvement. I would focusing on developing your essays, speaking with your recommenders, visiting schools and talking with students (as you mentioned).

I hope this helps.
Best,
Erin

[ph0429]

Erin,

Thanks for your quick response - your feedback is much appreciated.

As for my GMAT, I am definitely focused on scoring at least a 700 (my target is 720) given my GPA score. My current plan is to take the GMAT in mid-late October depending on how ready I am.

As for the additional non-profit assignment, I was thinking about doing this only because I enjoyed the experience and I plan to focus on nonprofit management/consulting. Also, given that I plan to apply next Sept 2010 for Columbia ED, I will see how much time I will need to focus on applying (essays, recommendations, school visits, talking to students, etc) to determine if there is time to focus on this nonprofit assignment.

Do you have any feedback as to whether a longer nonprofit volunteer assignment would be more helpful or should I continue to focus on my current volunteer efforts which are less time-consuming?

Thanks again for your feedback!