chance at top mba? (Manufacturing family business; 770 gmat; international)
Hey guys,
I'm new but have lurked around for a while. I talked to a few consultants and got mixed response, so I'd like to hear what you think. To elaborate on my profile:
China national male Undergra: LAC. It places well in academia but has basically 0 presence in business. GPA: 3.3 in philosophy GMAT: 770, LSAT: 174 Extracurricular: president of college chess team (top 1% tournament player myself); poker; rugby; baseball in high school Work: work at my father's manufacturing company. It employs about 2000, half billion USD in revenue and about $100M in EBITDA. It recently got a permit from the government to build a mega factory, so hopefully it'll become a multi-billion dollar company soon. I plan to return to the company after graduation to help lead and expand.
I talked to a few consultants. HBS Guru (Sandy Kreisberg) thinks I have a very good shot at HBS/Wharton and a bit tougher at GSB. The other 2 consultants I talked to, however, was not impressed and thought Wharton is a stretch and applying to HBS/GSB will be a waste of money. So I'm a bit confused in terms of where to apply. What do you think? Thank you in advance!
Your test scores are out standing but beyond that, I'm not seeing something that jumps out as a compelling narrative. What are you actually DOING in your work for your father? What contributions have you made? What impact have you had? What are the explicit goals behind 'help lead and expand?' This could mean lots of things. Are you expecting to improve/develop the corporate culture to make it a great place to work? Or are you interested in simply growing revenue? Do you want to expand the customer base into new industries or geographies?
Your outside activities seem somewhat self focused and you didn't mention anything that you have done since graduating from college.
You need to figure out why you want an MBA and what skills, knowledge and relationships you need to develop to achieve your goals. THEN you can determine which programs likely ones beyond H/S/W have the resources you need to get where you are trying to go. You might look at programs that have curriculum around family business which will present unique challenges - Columbia comes to mind.
Wishing you the best on your application journey. Susan
Hi Susan,
Thank you very much for the detailed response. A lot of insights there. Thank you. Let me supply a bit more info/narrative regarding my work and the company. My father's company is a traditional manufacturing company but the industry is rapidly changing due to various social, political and economic changes in China. This means huge volatility but also massive opportunity.
My daily work is regular sales but I do international market research in additional to that. I have played the leading role in two attempted acquisitions of foreign factories. For some policy reasons, we were compelled to do that and I was deeply involved in the process. Working in the company taught me keenly the challenges the company is facing and as the son of the founder, I have deep emotional connections to it. I wish it prosper and at the same time I realize the lack of business education is limiting my contributions and hence the interest in MBA. I wish to first of all develop basic technical skills such as accounting, secondly grow leadership (be better at negotiation, etc.), and lastly grow my network. A North American business network will be very helpful because due to policies, we will need some operations in NA to secure raw material.
Susan, given the narrative, do you think I have a good shot at HSW? Secondly, what are the other business schools I should look into? I was thinking that I'll apply to HSW, booth and yale som round 1. Now that you suggested Columbia, I'll look into that for sure. Any other schools? Thank you very much.
Of H/S/W, I think your best shot is Wharton. Your narrative needs to capture more than just what you will TAKE/learn from an MBA but the perspective that you will bring and how you will provide value to your classmates in the classroom and the broader community.
Do your homework so you can understand the ethos of each program beyond the rankings. I'm not seeing anything in your notes about how you intend to 'Change the World' - so why would Stanford offer you a spot? Similarly, 'Engaged Community Citizenship' isn't jumping out so what value would you add at HBS?
In terms of other schools to look at, check out https://stratusadmissionscounseling.com/mbanalysis-blog-part-of-a-famil…</a">Part of a Family Business? An MBA is Right For You. by my Stratus colleague, @harold.simansky.
Join me and Harold for a free webinar - Business School Selection - How to Create Your Own Top 10 List - https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/2279890534278161165</a">Register Here .
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