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MBA Profile Application

by PE Guy » Thu May 05, 2011 12:34 am
I was wondering what you all thought about my chances to get into HBS, Stanford and Wharton. My impression would be that I've got a very solid chance of getting accepted at Columbia, MIT, U-Chicago, etc, but that I might have some trouble going up against the superstars fighting for spots at HBS and Stanford.

UG: Dartmouth/Cornell/Brown w/ 3.50 GPA majors IR & Chinese. Studied abroad at Tsinghua (best uni in china) and had excellent internships in technology and consulting during UG.

GMAT: 730, skewed towards verbal, but still respectable in Q

Work Experience:

(1) after graduating in 2008, I spent 3 months as summer analyst at best in class real estate private equity and development firm in London. I got great training and traveled extensively throughout Europe. This firm, unlike the majority of my experience, has a well respected name (think Carlyle Group)

(2) After London I moved to Beijing/Shanghai, where I live now. I've been here almost 3 years now, working at a small private equity firm focused on making investments in real estate throughout mainland China. I've executed deals across the country and become fluent (or very close) in mandarin Chinese (I'm a white guy). I was promoted from analyst to associate after 2 years. THE ONLY TWO PROBLEMS WITH THIS EXPERIENCE are that (a) our firm is new and essentially unknown in the U.S. even though it's owned by U.S. citizens (b) while we've had some success and are growing, we still have small AUM of under 200m which admittedly could be considered "bush league".

EXTRA CURRICULAR / Leadership:

(1) actively involved in my Uni's club here in China (no formal position, but I could get one if I asked) and I am also a counselor to the kids who come over and study abroad in China in the program. I am in close contact with all the profs etc.

(2) basically nothing else... but i could add something if need be. I have plenty of money and resources around... the problem is I want to apply in 5 months time.

Anyways, sorry for the long winded post, but I wanted to give you the best possible outline of my profile. The central question is HOW IMPORTANT is the NAME RECOGNITION of the firm where you work? Ostensibly working in PE in China is about the best possible pre-mba experience you could ask for... but I'm afraid that the size / relatively lack of prestige of my firm might destroy my chances.

Thanks,
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by MBAApply » Thu May 05, 2011 7:11 am
There have been so many PE firms popping up in the last 10 years that it's hard for anyone in the industry let alone an admissions officer at a b-school to keep track of. The adcoms may know at most a handful of funds, but just because they haven't heard of your fund won't preclude you from getting admission.

What they will look at is the pedigree of your undergrad -- all schools care about this to an extent (as b-schools are part of universities after all), but H/S/W in particular like undergrad pedigree. The fact that you went to an Ivy will certainly help a lot. Your fund being considered "bush league" will only be seen that way if you talk about it in a way that suggests it is. If the fund is doing some pretty unique and compelling stuff in China, then that's what you should talk about. As they say, size doesn't matter but it's how you use it (or that it's better to be a grower than a show-er).

Anyhow, what an adcom will see is Ivy + PE at a reputable/known firm + PE at an unknown -- the fact that 2 out of 3 are known and reputable will mean that they will be more willing to give your current PE fund a benefit of a doubt (i.e. they are more likely to take what you claim to say about the fund at face value).

At this point then, it's just a matter of applying to the b-schools you want to go to, and then hoping for the best. It's a crapshoot as always, but if you apply to H/S/W and like 3 of Sloan/Kellogg/Booth/Columbia/Tuck, you should have a reasonable shot of getting into some of the schools.

Good luck
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by PE Guy » Thu May 05, 2011 5:51 pm
Thanks Alex,

Your words are very encouraging! It makes a lot of sense to me that the AdComs won't be able to keep track of all the PE firms out there. There's certainly a lot of more "grown up" things about my firm that I can stress, like the fact that our top Chinese guy was formerly with Blackstone and Goldman, etc... but I was a little more concerned I might get some alumnus interviewer who came from a more standard PE type path (i.e. 2 years at Bulge Bracket followed by 2 years at megacap fund) and looked down on me as an amateur. Anyways - I'm a paranoid person. I guess looking at the Wharton resume books and so forth it just strikes me that a lot of the finance people came from top firms... but I guess that's party just because they all stayed in America / their native country. Had a stayed home, I would have started at one of the "big boys" too....

Thanks again.

Anyone else thoughts on the profile?
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by PE Guy » Fri May 06, 2011 6:59 am
no "expert" ops?
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by paulsbodine » Tue May 10, 2011 10:41 am
PE Guy,
You shouldn't worry about the relative brand of your firm. You should focus instead on your own fast-track performance in it. If you want to get into Stanford or HBS you will need a stronger profile than you have, however. You appear to lack leadership outside of work, for example. I recommend getting into a leadership position in your alumni club ASAP and start accumulating some impact. Your numbers and 'pedigree' are strong enough for Wharton etc. and your ability to master Mandarin and succeed in China are significant assets, but you will need more to get into HBS or Stanford.
Hope this helps,
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
[email protected]
(858) 869-1959
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by PE Guy » Tue May 10, 2011 9:04 pm
Paul,

Thanks for your reply. Your thoughts seem to be pretty much in line with my own in terms of my chances at various schools.

We'll see if I have time to become more of a 'leader' outside of work... sometimes I wonder if the people on these adcoms know the type of hours a young guy pulls working in finance. To compare what someone like myself (working in a PE firm with very few associates and insane hours) does outside of work vs. someone working at a f500 firm would be complete fallacy - but I guess I can hope they understand that to a degree.

Anyways,

Thank you.
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