Profile Analysis - Fall 2016 Intake

[minsoolyo]

Dear Admissions Experts,

I'd really appreciate it if you could have a look at my profile and let me know of my odds of getting into B-school.

US, UK citizen; Ethnically Asian; 27 year old male.

BS Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University
GPA: 3.67/4.33, GMAT: 760 (Q:49, V:44, IR:8, AWA:6.0)

PPE Fellowship program
Internship at NGO (3 months)
Co-owner, Manager of restaurant (1.75 years)
Internship at Health Systems Company (3 weeks)

Post-MBA goals: Healthcare
Short-term: Healthcare consulting
Long-term: Strategy position at healthcare provider, medical device, medical IT company

Target Schools:
Already rejected from: Columbia, Wharton
Waitlisted at: Duke, Michigan
Awaiting decision from: Cornell (Dual Degree MHA/MBA)
Considering applying Rd3/4 to: UNC, Vanderbilt

Questions:
My greatest concern is my lack of traditional/formal work experience. Also, I have a lots of gaps in my work history where I was exploring/contemplating career values etc.
I have heard great things about Vanderbilt's Healthcare MBA, but am concerned that I might be going too far down the rankings. Any advice on attending schools outside of the top 20 with regards to reputation, ROI, experience?
Would I be better off looking for work and re-applying in a few years time?.

Your assessment and insights would be very much appreciated. Thank you!!

[Edison@VeritasPrep]

Thank you for posting your profile.

You demonstrate strong academic potential, but your career does not show a clear focus, which is important for most MBA programs.

If you do not get admitted to your top choices, it may be a good idea to take on a role that is related to your post-MBA goal. Not only would this be better for your profile when you apply in a year or two, but it would also allow you to gauge if it is indeed the path for you.

Hope this helps!

[Edison@VeritasPrep]

Thank you for posting your profile.

You demonstrate strong academic potential, but your career does not show a clear focus, which is important for most MBA programs.

If you do not get admitted to your top choices, it may be a good idea to take on a role that is related to your post-MBA goal. Not only would this be better for your profile when you apply in a year or two, but it would also allow you to gauge if it is indeed the path for you.

Hope this helps!

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hi there,

I think you should consider focusing this year on gaining some solid work experience as that is your big gap at the moment and something the AdComm weighs heavily. Gaining relevant work experience int he HC field will allow you to claim industry knowledge and hopefully get you some strong leadership experience. If you're keen on going forward now, what is your reasoning? With your stats/test scores, I think filling the work experience hole will put you in prime position a couple years down the line for a top program. Best of luck!

[Personal MBA Coach]

Dear Admissions Experts,

I'd really appreciate it if you could have a look at my profile and let me know of my odds of getting into B-school.

US, UK citizen; Ethnically Asian; 27 year old male.

BS Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University
GPA: 3.67/4.33, GMAT: 760 (Q:49, V:44, IR:8, AWA:6.0)

PPE Fellowship program
Internship at NGO (3 months)
Co-owner, Manager of restaurant (1.75 years)
Internship at Health Systems Company (3 weeks)

Post-MBA goals: Healthcare
Short-term: Healthcare consulting
Long-term: Strategy position at healthcare provider, medical device, medical IT company

Target Schools:
Already rejected from: Columbia, Wharton
Waitlisted at: Duke, Michigan
Awaiting decision from: Cornell (Dual Degree MHA/MBA)
Considering applying Rd3/4 to: UNC, Vanderbilt

Questions:
My greatest concern is my lack of traditional/formal work experience. Also, I have a lots of gaps in my work history where I was exploring/contemplating career values etc.
I have heard great things about Vanderbilt's Healthcare MBA, but am concerned that I might be going too far down the rankings. Any advice on attending schools outside of the top 20 with regards to reputation, ROI, experience?
Would I be better off looking for work and re-applying in a few years time?.

Your assessment and insights would be very much appreciated. Thank you!!

Thank you for your post. While your varied experiences are interesting and certainly could make for strong stories, developing a powerful application with a background like yours is tricky and if it isn't executed to perfection, it could be causing some problems.

How did you convince adcom of your healthcare interests? While you don't want to wait too long given your age, it would be good to do something to show them you are on the path to accomplishing your goals. If your internship turns into a full-time job, this could happen earlier than later, so you don't necessarily need to wait a couple years, but you should at least put it off until round one this fall.

I would rather see you work a bit more and go for a top 20 program than go further down the list. That should be possible this fall though. If you are interested in setting up a call to chat about how I could help you get there, let me know. [email protected]

Best,
Scott