Chances at HBS, 27 African female PhD engineer

[larache1988]

I would really appreciate your input on how I can reinforce my profile to be admitted to HBS.
Gender: female
age and origin: 27 from North Africa
GMAT: not taken yet
Degrees: PhD (GPA 3.65) in Chemical Engineering from top 10 US engineering school
Accomplishments: hold a unique visa for persons with extraordinary abilities in the sciences, 9 research publications, over 10 international conference talks and invited talks, Excellence Medal from the Minister of Education of my home country, various press releases.
work experience:
post PhD: 1 year as a research scientist in R&D at a top 5 US Pharma company
during PhD: 3 months research collaboration at ETH Zurich (home of Einstein), researcher at a software company for 6 months moving between London and NJ.
Business interest: semi-finalist (16th out of 200) at the Clean Tech Business competition, semi-finalist in 2 business plan competitions during grad school
Community leadership: volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House
Goals: move from R&D to portfolio or product management

Questions:
!) Do I need to do a short term assignment (6 months) in Product Management at my company to prove why I am interested in b school? (in my current role, I only focus on the science aspect)
2)What type of leadership roles do b schools look for?
3) how many years of work experience are needed post PhD?

I truly appreciate the help.

[Jon@Admissionado]

Hey there,
So first of all, you have a fantastically unique profile. PhD in chem engineering is awesome! And you seem to have done really really well.


I don't think you necessarily need to more to project management to explain why you need to go to a B-school (although yes, any management experience will help with your application). On the other hand you DO need to have clear concrete goals that will make sense in terms of your experience and what you have in mind.

Post-PHD you can probably get away with less experience than most people. Right now you have one, and would have two at matriculation, and you could apply now if you feel it's better for you. I think you can very reasonably wait one more year, esp. if you are still learning things at work. It will allow you to develop your network more, come to an MBA with more experience, and will also strengthen your profile somewhat.... but it's up to you.

Overall, you have a very interesting profile, and I'd love to see what you would do with it.

Best,
JF