Profile Evaluation

[tsiniat]

Hi: I was hoping to get an assessment of my profile. Just wondering about my chances particularly with HBS. Thanks.

Male

29 Years (at matriculation)

Black (African descent)

Senior Analyst Financial Services Industry - 7 years work experience (including 3 promotions)
Other work experience -Intern- Sales and Trading at investment bank

3.37 undergrad cumulative (Top 20 private US university)
3.49 undergrad BBA (Finance)

GMAT 730 (96%)
47 Quant (77%)
44 Verbal (97%)

Extracurricular/work related- Director of school radio station, College radio show host, performing disc jockey (owner of own entertainment company), Exec board member of Black business alliance, Volunteer Symphony Orchestra (3 years), Volunteer Art Museum (1 year), office leader for Business continuity plan, created mentorship program for students through local community center, volunteer at local community centers helping with refugee reassignment and acclimation, Business Analysis Certification

Additional background - first generation immigrant and first generation to attend college, parents immigrated as refugees, speak native language fluently and self-taught in French (conversational)

Target Schools: Wharton, Kellogg, Yale, NYU, HBS

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi,

Thanks for your post. You have a great profile with solid professional experience and extracurricular activities. Your GMAT score and GPA are also top notch and help round out your profile.

The only issue I see, in regard to HBS, is something you can't do anything about - your age. HBS tends to trend toward younger applicants and thus they may find your level of experience a bit overqualified for their program. The adcom may question your timing and wonder why you didn't seek out an MBA 3-4 years ago.

Overall, you do have a solid and competitive profile. However, as I stated above, you should be prepared to clearly articulate your post MBA goals since you are above the average age/experience level for all the schools on your list.

Lastly, have you considered applying to any part-time programs? You experience level is on par with my top US part time programs and thus you might stand a good chance of being admitted.

Regards,

Stacey

[tsiniat]

Thanks Stacey! I have definitely heard the age thing at HBS. Well I was thinking I might redirect time and money elsewhere but I have decided to go ahead and apply to HBS before the R2 deadline.

What part time programs would you recommend? That is my fall back plan if things don't work my way this spring.

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi,

There are a lot of great part time programs out there. Depending on your location, I would check out Wharton (or Wharton West), Berkeley-Columbia and Stern. There are a quite a few more top programs, it all really depends on where you live.

Best of luck,

Stacey