Scientifc background & HBS, ST and LBS

[aatraveler]

Please give me some light as I am a bit lost. It seems pretty difficult to benchmark my profile against other candidates as my history is a bit different.

Target schools: HBS, ST & LBS
Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 28
GMAT: Male

Undergrad major: Pharmacy & Biochemistry with 8.4 (out of 10) GPA - graduated in 2005
Masters of Science in Canada, 4.4 (out of 4.5) GPA - graduated in 2008

Work experience:
- 2 years as a Research Assistant (Canada): I am claiming my graduate work as work experience since I was doing full time research and have produced 8 scientific papers of my authorship;
- 30 months as a project manager (Switzerland): global R&D centre of a blue-chip consumer goods company. Led a significant project implementation in Asia which has achieved outstanding results.

Leadership and extracurricular:
- Quite a bit: internships in Germany and UK while in undergrad in Brazil, founded a junior consulting company in Brazil, won several academic and extracurricular awards, trainer in NGO-run leadership development events.

GMAT: 720

Would I have any chances with well written essays and strong recommendations from different sources (academic from Canada, corporate from Switzerland and community from UK)? I am putting my package together as an individual who indepentendly designed his roadmap for an international career and who tries hard to make an impact along his journey in spite of the adverse conditions (languages, cultural shocks, etc). I also speak Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Thanks for your feedback!

Alex

[jkhousto]

Dear Alex -

I find your profile very unique and interesting! It is not every day that I see a Brazilian, scientifically-geared project manager who has worked in Switzerland. Asia, and Canada and can speak four languages. I think your recent work as a Project Manager for the consumer company's Asian implementation sounds really quite relevant for many of the business school essays. How were you an effective leader? What did the team overcome/accomplish/etc.? Also, spend some time really exploring why you want/need an MBA.

You have a shot at the schools you mention. On additional note - HBS has a preference for younger candidates, so while you are counting your research time as work (and not school years), this needs to be clearly explained in terms of what your responsibilities where then and what they are now.

I hope this helps.

Best,
Jennifer

[aatraveler]

Many thanks Jennifer! I will share the outcomes of my applications as soon as available. Your feedback is highly appreciated!