Honest feedback - Applying to H/S/W for Fall 2010 enrollment
Have always admired this forum from my college days, hence thought I'd post on WSO for generous comments. (Apologies for the long post)
Just need your thoughts on my profile as I am applying to H/S/W this year for next Fall's enrollment. Feel free to give me ideas, identify loopholes etc. Many thanks.
Profile:
1.Indian, Male, Age 26- Did my highschool in a boarding school in Himalayas
2.Undergrad: Bits Pilani, Dubai (U.A.E) - Top ranked private engineering college in India which has a very popular campus in Dubai. (Summer 2005)
3. Major: Computer Engineering; GPA: 3.2/4.0 (Yea, I know what you mean)
4. Undergrad extra-curricular: Varsity cricket and soccer
- Grad school: North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh (Dropped out from Masters in Computer Science) (Fall 2005 to Summer 2006)
"I dropped out from the above school after 2 semesters(GPA: 3.2/4) upon realising I am not going anywhere professionally, or improving my personality in a classroom environment, and felt I could do much more in a business oriented program."
6. Went to Harvard summer school (Summer 2006) to study "Valuation" for the first time (Didnt know what B/S, I/S looked like till I entered the class). Was quite amazed meeting people from different business backgrounds for the first time, as I was the only engineer in that class. It was taught by an HBS prof - Jake Cohen who is now the dean of MBA program at INSEAD. For the first time, it opened my mind to what other non-research/technical areas look like. In the middle of the summer, was prompted to apply to a business like program for Grad School (Not MBA) for the coming Fall 2006 session.
7. Applied to Masters in Engieering Management at Duke University (Offered with Law school, business school) but have to be an engineer. Program director said its too late, but kept on persisting for a week. Luckily, someone dropped out or they added a seat (not sure) and I got in. All excited to start a new career/academic path. Not to mention, parents back home totally freaked out about what I am upto.
8. Duke Univ - first semester. Only wanted to take MBA electives (finance electives were mostly not allowed), but many professors turned me down. Somehow managed to enroll in Corp Fin, Valuation and Derivates. Got a 3.6/4.0 by the end of it. Eventually, more professors opened up to me taking second year Fuqua electives. Hence, academically, was getting what I wanted.
9. Fall 2006 to Summer 2007: Co founded a medical device company to provide cervical cancer screening for women in the developing world by creating a portable colposcope. Enrolled in the Duke Start Up challenge which has a non-profit version called CUREs with the winning team taking US$100,000 in seed money.
10. April 2007: Won the US$100,000 Start up Challenge, and started the round 1 of product development. (Details omitted)
11. Summer 2007: Figured, amidst all this transition, I have never worked in my life. Got into UBS Asset Management, NYC (Summer Analyst). It gave me ample time to focus on the start up as well and figure out, whether I am cut out for the financial industry, NYC, etc etc.
12. Fall 2007: Come back to Duke, had finished most of my program electives with a GPA of 3.5/4.0. Put in most of my effort in the start up, and shifted the operations to Haiti under a OBgyn doctor where its currently making great progress. Distributed 10 prototypes from round 1 product develop to Haiti, Guatamela, Pak etc to collect feedback/viability and looked encouraging but figured its a time consuming process with work needed from local health centres and gyno doctors in Haith which I can track on my end to deliver the data to analyse...estimated time for the data collection was more than 12 months.... and thought that i better not lose out in gaining real world corporate experience, branding etc
13. Started applying by Oct 2007 and got into Goldman Sachs IBD as an analyst and been there for last 14 months...They called me earlier as I was graduating in Dec 2007 to start as class of Analyst 2008.
14. Recently, managed to get some funding for two more medical devices through Goldman to go ahead with beta development, but I am going to pitch for more in the next few months. This prompted me to think in other direction...
- B School? Want to go back and formalise this whole thing and execute the remaining start up plan and think about my options. Liked the work in GS, but wont die for it. So, hoping for an honest feedback from WSO folks:) on how to manage this entire random-looking set of events from number 5. to number 15.
Thanks...
I think you would have a good shot and its going to really depend on your essays. Also, whats your GMAT?
OK, you'll need to prove success with the business and with your employer recs from GS
You'll also want to frame the transitions as facing adversity and showing your ability to make a tough decision and that you are certain now, not that you have been flipping back and forth for 5 years
Have like 8 native english speakers proof read, people that will be honest with you
Thanks Emerging Alpha, for thr feedback. Makes sense! I am giving my GMAT in mid May so hopefully will have more color on that later.
In my opinion I think your background is both (1) impressive and (2) complicated. Meaning that (I think) it could formalize out to make you a great candidate or a below-par candidate- depending on the context and phrasing. I usually dont believe in college/bschool admission experts but in your case it might actually be useful, I think.
There's a whole lot going on there but if you trim it down to a concise and compelling (but truthful) story, you have a good shot.
I think you definitely have a good shot, you've been successful in a variety of things, and if you can show WHY bschool makes sense, you should be a very strong candidate.
background seems impressive, but wishy washy "all over the map" experiences. are you indian? if so, be prepared score very, very high on your gmat.
you need to turn all that crap above into a cohesive story "i've been working my entire life towards this one moment when i am applying to harvard" type of deal. know exactly what you want to accomplish after school.
your gpa isnt great for undergrad or grad and there's thousands upon thousands of applicants who will have done far better. 3.5 is okay.
i would say you're a toss up candidate, you'll have to work VERY hard to convince them that you have rock solid goals and with your unusual mix of UBS/Goldman and Startup/Medical Device and Engineer/Summer School/Duke it's going to seem to them that you don't have clear goals. to me it seems as though you've rarely been at a single place for more than 1 year!
you have lots of very impressive stats and hsw will appreciate all the brand name companies ubs/goldman and winning the start up funding - just turn them into a good story, nail your GMAT (750+ if you are indian) and write some awesome applications!
good luck
Thanks all for the feedback. Yes, GMAT is my next hurdle. Trying to manage it, though given the hours of an analyst (even in these times), its quite frustrating at times. Yes, I am an Indian so understand that the average GMAT is about 750 i guess.
Yes, I havent stayed in one place for more than 12 months while I was in the U.S, and have been changing countries/continents every 4 years since high school (Currently in Asia). Hence, hoping to make something thoughtful out of all this....
Actually the average GMAT to H/W/S IS 710 - 720, and a 750 would be an excellent score.
Go to mba.com to register for the GMAT (you will have to anyway) it's free and you do not have to pick a date yet. There, you can download two practice GMAT tests with real GMAT questions from previous tests; and the format is the exact same as on the real exam. Take one of these exams as if it was the real deal and you will know what your score is going to be and adjust your study time accordingly.
Good Luck!
competition among indian applicants is extremely tough and gmat scores for indians tend to be much higher. i dont know if you are an indian-american or if you are actually a real indian, but if you are the latter you will be competing for a limited number of slots against a very impressive indian applicant pool. One thing though, your experiences should make you stand out among the many indians who have very similar backgrounds such as Engineering, IT work exp., 770gmat.
with your exp you have all the great pieces to put together a great story and anything around the mean would give you a shot.
Sure, Thanks again. I am actually, a real indian. haha.. so yes I am aware of my statistical disadvantage.
well its only a little bit of consolation but at least employers know this. if you get into HWS then they'll know you beat out a gazillion other native indians and must be the best. And since schools like HBS are all about "admissions credential" (skills actually taught are soft or sparse), then that will be a very good thing indeed.
I agree with all the comments above. What you really need to do is tie all your experiences together and present your story in a compelling manner. You have a lot of cool experiences that differentiates you from many "typical" applicants - use that to your advantage. Make sure to address why b-school and why it would benefit you in your future endeavors - like others have mentioned before, your experiences are pretty eclectic so you have to show that you are more focused.
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