Aiming for entry into H/S/W 5 years from now

[achieve2210]

I am an international student at a Big 10 university (Penn State, University Park) majoring in Computer Engineering and graduating in 2017.

Here are my stats:

Nationality: Indian
Major: Computer Engineering
GPA: ~3.2 by the time of graduation (downward trend because of too much involvement in extracurricullars) (2-3 Fs in upper-level programming courses)
CFA Level 1 while in school, Hope to get completed with CFA by the time of MBA
GMAT (expected): 760

ECA's:
1)President of Eta Kappa Nu- Electrical & Computer Engineering Honors Society for top students

2)College of Engineering Envoy & Scholar (1 out of 6 students selected)

3) Undergraduate Advisory Board Member- School of Elec. Engg & Computer Science

4) College of Engineering Dean's Committee on Internationalizing Engineering Education

5) Founder of College's Alumni Network in India

6) Worked 20hrs/week while managing full-course load:
-Worked 10 hours/week as a Teaching Assistant for an Undergraduate Computer Science course with >150 students
-Worked 10 hours/week as a Study Group Leader and held extra help session for a course with over 2700 students.

7) Global Shapers Fellow at World Economic Forum
8) Outstanding International Student Leader Award- Three Students annually out of 6000
9) Award for significant contribution towards advancement of the
international mission of the University- 3 every year

10) Will be offered a position on Young Alumni Advisory Board of College of Engineering post graduation.

Post Graduation Plans: Investment Banking- TMT at a leading boutique bank

How can I prepare my application to get into Harvard Business School/Wharton/Stanford 5 years from now?

1) What are the kind of community service involvements B-Schools like HSW like to see?
2) Would I need supplementary transcripts? I had all A's in my quantitative mathematics coursework.

Basically, what can I do to get into HBS 5 years from now?

[MargaretStrother]

What a great question! I wish everyone would plan this far ahead.
First thing you need to do is get rid of those Fs. HBS, Stanford and Wharton will be less likely to look at you if you have a GPA below, say, 3.5, so before you graduate, do absolutely everything in your power to re-take any courses you got low grades on. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be totally competitive in the GPA department to earn admission to top MBA programs such as Harvard.

If you can't do anything at this point about that GPA, you may want to plan on eventually taking more graded coursework, even a low-pressure Masters Degree program, in order to show that your ability to thrive academically is higher than these grades would indicate.

Community Service: the most important thing is leadership in the community, especially if you are going into investment banking, where you probably won't get to lead very much in your first years. I'd recommend not lots of little involvements but rather up to two significant involvements, one in a well-known organization, another in a smaller but important community organization where you can lead teams doing stuff in the community. Stay with the same organizations for several years.

One-on-one volunteering, such as mentoring, is of less value than leading groups, and Young Professionals Boards, where you basically get together with other young people and plan fundraising parties, also less valuable. Your first job will probably have you working 70 hours a week, but if you simply plan to have that as part of your life between now and the MBA, you can work something in.

Leadership+Impact -- that's what top business schools are looking for; a "habit of leadership", which you clearly have in university. Just find ways to keep that level of engagement going after you enter the work world.

Good luck!

[achieve2210]

Thanks Margaret! What advice would you give if I choose to apply to HBS 2+2?

[MargaretStrother]

2+2 might be more problematic because of your GPA issues. Probably best to stick with the longer-term plan, which will give you more space to build positive data that can outweigh the GPA.

Margaret