Profile Evaluation - Chemical Engineer

[lnskoog]

Hello,
I am looking to apply to a top 10 B-school first round for start date of Fall 2017.

I am currently 28 years old (and will be at the time of application)
White Female
I have nearly 6 years of work experience
3 years for a major consumer products company as a Process Engineer
3 years for a major Chemical company as a process engineer and Engineering Quality manager

BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University

GMAT: 760
GPA: 3.58

Leadership positions held:
Secretary of the Toastmasters club for my office (chemical company)
Vice-President of Professional Development for our LBGT Resource group (chemical company) - just started this
Leader of the Volunteer committee for our manufacturing site (Consumer products company)
Historian of Alpha Chi Sigma (professional chemistry fraternity) in college

Volunteering:
Produce Cooperative in Houston - Veggie sorter/Retail (for about 2 years)
Humane Society volunteer - This was short term and three years ago

Certification:
Engineer-in-training
Considering getting my professional engineering license but I don't think it would be relevant with my career goals.

Career highlights
- Steady increase in sizes of projects managed
- Quantifiable cost savings on projects
- Leadership in directing engineering partners on their work and managing their work
- Leadership in current role as Quality manager
- training on new procedures
- managing teams of 2 people (not direct reports but for smaller initiatives)
- Running quality workshops and finding root causes to problems in our projects (basically small scale consulting for projects - how can we do projects better?)

Career goals:
Short-term: Transition to consulting to pursue a career in consulting for technical and engineering firms - I love problem solving and being challenged. I am extremely passionate about finding and implementing solutions that solve problems in the work place, or with a project I am working on.
Long-term: Grow in a consulting firm and manage multiple clients.

Concerns:
My age - Older than the average
Lack of conventional Leadership experience (not a manager - Engineering is a lot more about individual contribution than other fields, however, I have some leadership experience as stated above that I can build upon)
Not being able to use my current manager as a recommendation - I've only been working for her for a short time. My previous manager would also not be a good fit as she doesn't see any value in an MBA. I am also concerned about alerting my company to my plans to leave to pursue an MBA as I believe there would be negative ramifications for me at work. I would have to reach out to my managers at my first company whom I've not worked for in 3 years. I could, however, find some peers who could write recommendations for me from my current company as well as my previous company (one of whom went to Sloan for her MBA).

Schools considering (still doing research - Is this reasonable or am I aiming too high?):
Target: Stanford, Kellogg, Booth, Haas
Stretch: Harvard
Safety: Anderson (maybe)

[Edison@VeritasPrep]

Thanks for sharing your profile.

Your age should not be a concern so don't worry about it. Regarding formal leadership experience, it is common not to have formal leadership titles especially for more technical work. As you have mentioned, you do have experiences leading teams and projects, make sure to present the human dimensions of these when you write your essays, aside from substantiating them with figures ($$ and %).

For recommenders, I agree it would be a good idea to use someone from your current company so that your more recent work and personal development could be represented. You may also consider those from your extracurricular activities, if they will be able to add interesting dimensions to your profile.

Regarding your target schools, it would help to research further what the school looks for and how you can tailor your essays to present a strong case for admissions. For instance, you may need to show strengths in innovation and creativity for Stanford, and emphasize leadership for Harvard. As you are aware, these schools are very selective. Thus, it is a good idea to apply to several schools as you are intending to.

Wish you all the best!

[mcbMcK]

Consider the following points lnskoog:

1. Your academic arc is pretty awesome and is a clear area of spike. That should already put you in the race for the top schools out there, so take heart from that.
2. You have not mentioned the name of your employer. Brand and scale are important; so are the achievements. Leadership is not of people alone. There are several flavors and varieties of it. Consulting firms are not really looking for formal leadership roles as you won't get a team to manage for a while there either. What's more important to understand is whether the achievements are really differentiated enough. Some of the things you have described are part of any process engineers job - so think of how you will articulate your selling points better.
3. The ECs and non-profit work will add good color to the overall profile. But taking a reco from there could be a bit of an overkill. If not a direct manager, surely you must have mentors/seniors at work, maybe from other departments, who are you more comfortable with? Peer recos again are not great and avoidable. This is a definite area you need to get a better grip on to avoid doing unnecessary injustice to your profile.
4. I wouldn't really speculate on your school list, but at a high level, it seems headed in the right direction.

Hope this helps some.

Cheers,