Profile Evaluation - Please help!

[skalevar]

Hi,

I know that top tier U.S. schools are hyper-competitive. Would applying to these schools be a waste of my time? Are there any schools that I would have a better chance at given my background?

I don't work for a brand name company (Microsoft, etc.) and although I think I've done very well in my career, I don't know how it will be recognized.

POST-MBA Goals:
1. Entrepreneurship
2. Management Consulting

DEMOGRAPHICS

Age: 25
GMAT: Male
Race: Mixed Philipino-Indian; born in Canada
Languages: English, French
Born: Toronto, Canada

ACADEMICS

Top-Tier Canadian Business Undergrad: Queen's University 2007
Student Exchange to HEC Paris in 2006

4-year GPA: 79.4% or roughly 3.3 (I'm not sure exactly where the conversion stands);
Last Two Years: 82%

GMAT: 720 (Q44, V42) / 6.0 AWA

WORK EXPERIENCE

3 years at a large Canadian technology company (TSX: CSU) in Business Development and M&A. The company acquires, builds, and manages portfolio companies.

Synopsis: Extensive business development experience in technology, with end-to-end hands-on experience in the M&A life cycle (sourcing acquisitions, valuation, negotiation, due diligence, post-merger integration, operational improvement) and proven results of improving portfolio businesses

2010 - Business Development Manager
- lead team at an acquisition to grow recurring revenues by 30% through pricing optimization plan
- voted MVP for Q2 2010
- sourced acquisitions

2009 - Operations Manager
- responsible for professional services, support, marketing and administration divisions for a portfolio company
- grew recurring revenues by 75%

2008 - Business Development / M&A Analyst
- M&A valuation, due diligence and post-merger integration
- began as inside sales, but was promoted to work with acquisitions due to demonstrated leadership potential


VOLUNTEER

Consultant, Endeavour Consulting for Non-Profits
- part of pro bono consulting team that is currently developing a strategic plan for a non-profit called PAAC (Public Affairs Association of Canada), which is a professional development association for public affairs professionals

Board of Directors, Youth Assisting Youth (YAY)
- helped re-brand and re-position YAY to potential donors in the corporate sector; results tbd

TARGET SCHOOLS

Stanford
Booth
Kellogg
M.I.T./Sloan
Wharton
London Business School
Insead

Should I consider applying to these schools or is it a waste of time?

Any help or insights you can lend are much appreciated!

[Jessica@VeritasPrep]

Hi Skalevar -

You are right that top tier schools are competitive, however, there is nothing in your profile that makes me think it would be a waste of your time to apply. There is no guarantee that you will be accepted so you may want to apply to a few schools in the next tier as well, but, with strong LORs and compelling essays, I think you could have a shot (particularly at Sloan or Booth). Stanford might be a waste of time and I usually recommend that applicants only target five schools so I might leave this one off your short list. I might consider schools like Duke (Fuqua), NYU (Stern) or Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) as well.

I wouldn't worry about your non-name brand employer - what you did is more important than where you did it!

Good luck!

[skalevar]

Hi Jessica,

Thanks so much for your reply. Two follow-up questions for you:

1) What kind of profile would you recommend apply to Stanford? I'm just curious as to what would be considered good enough for Stanford (and to find out what the key differences would be between my profile and that of a Stanford-quality applicant)

2) Do you know of any solid U.S. schools that look at only the last two years of undergrad? At least two Canadian schools (Ivey and Rotman) only consider the last one or two years, but I haven't seen any brand name U.S. schools that do the same. Lastly, do you know what conversion charts U.S. schools use for undergrad grades? I've seen different charts showing dramatically different results, and I'm not sure who to believe. Depending on the chart, my GPA could go from a 2.9 to a 3.4, which I think is a big difference.

Thanks so much!

[Jessica@VeritasPrep]

Here is my attempt at your follow-up questions. I'd love to hear what other consultants would say as well (especially for part one - it is a hard question to answer!!)

1) I don't think that there is anything specific in your profile that would make it impossible for you to be admitted to Stanford. However, Stanford is arguably the most difficult school to be admitted to in the US so it is really a long-shot for anyone. Your profile is strong but nothing jumped out at me as particularly unique or outstanding (I am only going on the information that you provided - but, I didn't see huge struggles that you overcame in your life or extraordinary achievements - either professional or personal). Most candidates who are accepted at Stanford will have something that will really stand out in their profile. It doesn't mean that all have started a company, graduated college at 17, speak five languages or won an olympic medal, but, if you don't have something "special" then you probably have very strong grades at a top-tier university, excellent letters of recommendation and a very high GMAT. I don't want you to think that there is any "key difference" between you and someone at Stanford. In fact, I'm sure you could be successful there. But, with such a low acceptance rate and such a highly qualified pool of applicants, it is a long-shot for anyone!!

2) If you provide a transcript, most schools will do their own "conversion". If you are confused, I'd call the school's admissions office and ask how you should convert your grades. While I don't know of US programs that only look at the second two years, most will look favorably on a positive "trend" (better grades in later years or better grades in quantitative/major classes). It could be worth writing a very short "option" answer - something that just says that your grades improved significantly in the last two years of college and you believe these grades are more indicative of your ability to perform in an academic setting.

Hope this helps!