Profile evaluation - pls advise. Thanks!

[klouie8441]

Hey how is everyone?

I am looking to apply next fall to business school full time (and matriculate into the class of 2015).

Here's some background information about me:
- I am a 26 years old, Asian American male.

Work experience:
- I have worked at a large telecommunications company for 5 years within the Internal Audit department.
- I started right out of college as a senior analyst, but then was promoted twice to Team Lead. I've led audits with a staff of 3-4 team members for 2 years.
- I plan on taking the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) exam this month.

Past education:
- Graduated with a BA in Economics, Business minor at Johns Hopkins University

Extra curricular:
- Volunteered with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization of NYC for 2 years.
- Currently looking to volunteer in numerous events in NJ

GMAT:
- Took the GMAT in November 2010
- Overall score: 680
- Math: 48 (82%)
- Verbal: 35 (73%)
- 680 was actually one of my highest scores on my practice exams after studying for 5 months, so I currently have no plans on trying to reach the 700 mark and work on all other aspects of my application.

Possible letters of recommendations:
- My current director in audit
- My past manager in audit
- Note: I've been in the same department since I started with the telecom company

I plan on going back to school full-time to move towards the corporate strategy field or continue to advance my career in audit and possibly change industries from telecommunications to technology or social media.

Schools I'm currently interested in: Duke (Fuqua), University of Michigan (Ross), Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper), UNC (Kenan-Flagler), NYU (Stern), Indiana (Kelley), Boston U, University of Maryland (Smith), Johns Hopkins University (Carey).

I was going to apply this year, but decided to use another year to continue to improve my profile. I was thinking of taking additional undergrad finance courses, getting more involved with volunteering opportunities (since I no longer am able to work in NYC) in NJ, and get to know the potential schools a lot better (have great contact with admissions, attending upcoming MBA fairs).

Please let me know what you think, as any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

[essaysnark]

Hi klouie8441 - it looks like you're doing your homework here! You have a lot to work with and it's great to see someone planning so far in advance.

EssaySnark actually recommends that you consider applying to bschool this year. Unless your college GPA is very low and you *need* a class to make up for a poor academic record, there's not much else that you need to do to boost your profile -- particularly if you are definitely not going to retest the GMAT. Five years of work experience is actually at the top end for many schools, though you are certainly younger than most candidates who've got that much time under their belts. Schools like Duke and NYU do prefer more work experience and so your profile will be in good shape there. However if you have five years of experience NOW then that means if you apply next year, for entry in Fall 2013, you'll have SEVEN years... and that's definitely starting to get to the high side. Again, your age is right in range today, and in two years, for any of these schools - not sure how it happened that you ended up starting work so early, but nice job! That shows the schools that you're motivated.

Additional volunteer experience is not going to make a huge difference for you. Getting the CFE will be a nice little addition but again, it's not a huge differentiating factor for you (and it sounds like you'll get that right away anyway). If you have some life situation that prevents you from applying this year, then that makes sense -- but other than that, there's not anything that we can see that would give you a real advantage in delaying things. Of course, this is a very personal decision, and so if you'd rather wait, then there's no problem with that either!

You want to know the most compelling reason that you might consider applying now, though? The GMAT. The 680 score would likely be totally fine (with good essays of course!) at any of the schools on your list - you could even get an offer at a great school like Duke with a 680. The issue though is that every year, the pool of GMAT test-takers gets more competitive, so the breakdwon of quant/verbal percentiles actually gets WORSE over time. Your score is already a year old, and those percentile rankings might nudge down another notch or two by the time you get your apps done in 2012. Believe it or not, the percentiles you've reported below are off - now the score looks like this:

Math: 48 80%
Verbal: 35 74%

So you got a bump on verbal which is good! But that math score moved down a little. Not enough to be a problem for you, but still.

The choice of schools largely depends on career goals (plus personal factors like what type of MBA experience do you want etc). Of your list, Stern is the tricky one. Most of the others are potentially in range for you (again, depending on the positioning in the essays!). The best part of what you're presented is that you're obviously taking this very seriously!! That's always great to see.

Hopefully we haven't thrown you off completely with this answer - you could absolutely be successful next year, too - but our position is, why wait? If you know what you want to do with your career in the future, why not get started now?

Best of luck!
EssaySnark

[Jon@Admissionado]

Well, I'm gonna allow myself to be a wee bit contrarian here and say "What's the rush?"

If next year is good for you and we are already approaching R2, and you can learn new things and advance at work, there's no disadvantage really to applying next year. Your not so old that it will make any relevant difference in terms of chances, and the "GMAT shift" mentioned above is negligible IMHO.

I have to say, I DO really like your school choice. It's well balanced, and well researched.

As for what to do this year, other than what you have mentioned, to take leadership in any way possible is great. Even if it's something that may at first seem silly, like volunteering to be "events organizer" at the office and organize Christmas and Halloween parties. Anything like that could be great.

And as for when to apply, chance-wise, to be honest it makes little to no difference if you apply this or next year, so I suggest deciding in terms not of chances, but of what is best for your work and personal life.

Cheerio!

[FutureWorks]

Consider these points when building your profile. Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. Since you don't plan to retake it, GMAT alone won't determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics will also help you in determining your candidature and your work experience plays a vital role as well. In general most of the Indian applicants are from engineering background with a good 4-5 years of work experience. So you would need to differentiate yourself from others . Start thinking what makes you unique and what's that 'hook' that will be key to your application. Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc. So you need to ensure that in 4 years of work experience you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for. This could still put in a strong set of essays for you. Doing a double bachelors wouldn't really make such a difference so if you are doing it just to boost your profile this may not be the best idea.