Booth/CBS chances profile review

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Booth/CBS chances profile review

by KhaleisGood » Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:30 am
I've spent the last few years (currently 25 yo) working in various industries and am not sure how to frame my story in a cohesive way for adcoms. Info/stats below:

Academics:
- Top 20 University, 3.34 GPA, Economics, minor Finance. I was very immature in college only reason for my grades, though senior year I got almost all A's
- GMAT 760, 8 IR, 6 AWA
- Taking 2 upper level quant classes now to show my maturity with coursework has improved. Will likely take more classes before I apply.

Extracurricular:
- One of 2 people to start a social fraternity at my school. Were able to gain our charter in my first year. Worked as a new member educator and rush chair. Grew fraternity to the largest on campus by my graduation. (would adcoms even care about this?)
- Started a real estate company. We rent properties to incoming refugee families through a partnership with a local non-profit. 12 units under ownership, ~500k in assets. 40% returns each year
- Spent time working with refugees setting up homes for their move. Have more recently started mentoring/tutoring families.

Work Experience
- Worked 1 year as a business analyst for a healthcare IT company. Promoted and spent 1.5 years as a strategist taking ownership of pricing and positioning of new offerings across several product lines. One of the best firms in their market.
- Started new job in management development for an industrial distributor/ecommerce company. Work currently as an internal consultant improving processes. Will be promoted in a couple months to supervise a team. Private company, but prestigious program. Pay and recruiting on par with i banking. Not sure how to convey that.

As you can see my experience is all over the place. I like working in different industries and I think my skills have translated well. I like the challenge of learning new business models and markets. Obviously, I'd like to go into consulting. I'm also wondering if it'd even be worth applying to Harvard/Wharton any advice is welcomed.

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by CriticalSquareMBA » Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:47 am
Hi there,

Great to hear from you! I'm assuming you plan to apply R1 later this year for matriculation in 2018. If not, the guidance below wouldn't apply, but there would be a separate strategy I could recommend for R3 this cycle.

I think you have a solid profile and can make a strong push for some of the schools across the M7. CBS and Booth definitely make sense for you, especially Booth. Would you be willing to apply to CBS ED? You could make a case for Wharton as well, but it's a tougher hill to climb along with HBS. One of these could fall into the "stretch" category, but definitely worth applying to. I think the biggest thing to distinguish which schools are best for you is fit. There are a lot of things that go into this factor - take a look at our thoughts on the topic here. Another component is going to be what you anticipate doing after consulting? Or, do you see yourself growing into a Partner role at a top consulting firm? Some schools may be better than others depending on where you want to land 7-8 years from now. We'd love to chat about your school selection as well as how we could potentially help frame your story. Let us know if you'd like to chat! Best of luck!
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by KhaleisGood » Sun Jan 15, 2017 5:15 pm
Thank you for the feedback! I'll take some time to get more aqquianted with the schools to see what might be the best fit for me. In terms of schools that I could pursue as targets & safties do you have any suggestions?

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by Donna@Stratus » Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:01 am
KhaleisGood wrote:I've spent the last few years (currently 25 yo) working in various industries and am not sure how to frame my story in a cohesive way for adcoms. Info/stats below:

Academics:
- Top 20 University, 3.34 GPA, Economics, minor Finance. I was very immature in college only reason for my grades, though senior year I got almost all A's
- GMAT 760, 8 IR, 6 AWA
- Taking 2 upper level quant classes now to show my maturity with coursework has improved. Will likely take more classes before I apply.

Extracurricular:
- One of 2 people to start a social fraternity at my school. Were able to gain our charter in my first year. Worked as a new member educator and rush chair. Grew fraternity to the largest on campus by my graduation. (would adcoms even care about this?)
- Started a real estate company. We rent properties to incoming refugee families through a partnership with a local non-profit. 12 units under ownership, ~500k in assets. 40% returns each year
- Spent time working with refugees setting up homes for their move. Have more recently started mentoring/tutoring families.

Work Experience
- Worked 1 year as a business analyst for a healthcare IT company. Promoted and spent 1.5 years as a strategist taking ownership of pricing and positioning of new offerings across several product lines. One of the best firms in their market.
- Started new job in management development for an industrial distributor/ecommerce company. Work currently as an internal consultant improving processes. Will be promoted in a couple months to supervise a team. Private company, but prestigious program. Pay and recruiting on par with i banking. Not sure how to convey that.

As you can see my experience is all over the place. I like working in different industries and I think my skills have translated well. I like the challenge of learning new business models and markets. Obviously, I'd like to go into consulting. I'm also wondering if it'd even be worth applying to Harvard/Wharton any advice is welcomed.

I think there is a lot to like here! And consulting may be the perfect choice because it will give you a diversity of experience and that plays to your background. I think the 760 GMAT is going to help a lot- and also taking those extra classes. I see no reason why any school is out of reach- but given your background I do think an admissions consultant could really help you best tell your story. Here is a link to our website to learn about our free consults to get more info on how we could help you.
https://stratusprep.com/
Don't fret too much about what you can't change- the past. Just focus on moving forward and sharing your many successes! Best wishes to you!