Need honest profile evaluation

[hisoka]

I want to apply for R1 Sept 2010 for. I would like to know what my chances are for the top 5 schools, and how to improve my profile.

Chinese Canadian (1st generation immigrant), male, 26

Gmat: 760 (Q49, V45)
GPA: 2.80, top Canadian University, Engineering program
I have an alternate transcript with 11 business courses, including Accounting, Statistics and Marketing from another university with GPA 4.00.

I have 3 years work experience in the public sector. Promoted twice. Working mostly on Public health systems (food safety, safe drinking water). Started off as an IT guy (developer), but after promotions, I am doing mostly project/systems management.

I have a lot of extracurricular activities. I am President and Founder of a small social enterprise online that supports charities with causes in Africa. I have been profiled by a newspaper, an alumni magazine, a TV reporter, and at least a half dozen blogs.

I am a script writer for a weekly radio program on a prominent radio station for an ethnic minority.

I lead various activities for my church. (Youth related events for 200 or so participants)

In college, I held executive positions in student organizations such as IEEE student branch and FROSH Week.

I have ample time to do some extra preparation before the next R1 deadline. So I need to decide what to do with that time. Should I spend it on expanding my alternate transcript? Would CFA exams be good to further prove my academic ability? Or should I build more leadership experience, since HBS emphasizes leadership?

Please advise. Thanks.

[Graham]

Dear Hisoka,

Thanks for your post!

It's wonderful to see that you are thinking ahead and mapping a course to next fall's application cycle. As Clear Admit has just come out of the R2 admissions process for this season, we've seen dozens of applicants who left things more or less to the last minute - so it's refreshing to see someone who is getting a head start!

In terms of your profile, you must already know this, but you should be fairly competitive at top programs based on the information you have provided in this forum. Your ugrad GPA is the principle liability, and I'd like to know more about your performance as well as exactly where you went to school (McGill?). How did you rank vs. your peers in the program? Keep in mind that the grading system in Canada tends to be less forgiving than in the US, so this might help you somewhat.

It's great that you've built an alternative transcript (11 courses is MORE than sufficient) and that you have scored well on the GMAT. In short, I do not recommend that you focus further on your academic profile - I'd merely like to know more so as to help understand how the schools might view your 2.8 GPA.

As to your main question, I'd focus your efforts on additional leadership opportunities in the workplace. I would not focus on taking more courses (as I said above, 11 is already more than 3x the number that most applicants would take), nor would I take the CFA as the schools do not view this in the same light as employers and applicants seem to.

The other principal thing you should be doing this spring is devising a recommender strategy and drafting your MBA resume. You might also begin working on some of the key essay topics, as the majority of them will not change. You may want to look into Clear Admit's Strategy Series for detailed advice on preparing your resume and tackling the recommendations process (www.clearadmit.com/guides). Also, feel free to send your resume to [email protected] to set up a free chat with one of our counselors about your plans.

Best of luck,

Graham

[hisoka]

Hello Graham,

Thank you for your detailed post! I really appreciate your advice.

Some extra questions:
I may be able to obtain a Professional Engineer designation in 6 months or so. Will the designation help my application?

I will be getting the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification soon through my employer. Will this help my MBA application?

Thank you again for your help!