Profile Evaluation - Hoping for top school

[olso4052]

Hello, I was wondering if I could get my profile evaluated for MBA admissions. I've done a ton of research online about the programs I want to go to, as well as the admission requirements, but after a while I just kind of hit a wall in regards to what I'm able to find out - particularly about how each school weights the various factors, and what my odds of acceptance are.

Anyways, my profile is below. Please let me know if you need any extra information.

Bio
25 year old white US male, will be 26 at matriculation. Looking to apply round 1 for Fall 2014 start.

Education & GMAT
BS in Mechanical Engineering from Midwest Public Ivy
GPA: 3.2 (3.5 last 2 years)
GMAT: 730 (might retake, how much would that help?)

Work Experience
3 years (at matriculation) of experience as an Application Engineer at a large (~$1B revenue), but not well know fiber optic cable and component manufacturing company. I don't think I'll get any bonus points for the company itself, but we do large business with pretty much every major US internet and TV service provider, which makes it at least relateable.

Despite having a technical background, my job gives me access to pretty much every aspect of our business (this access is actually one of the things that made me interested in an MBA). I work with our customers and sales team to recommend products and receive feedback for new products. I work with our design team and product management to design and prototype new products, and I work with our manufacturing team to help implement and manufacture our products.

During my career I've done well and been able to take on additional responsibilities. I started working with one product set in a single market (customer based, not regional) and now work with all our products in two of our three largest markets.

Awards and Activities
A few minor awards and commendations at work.
Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Standard volunteer experience - spend time with Youth Advocate Program, and another local at risk youth program.
Run a website and blog dedicated to helping independent shops and artists gain promotion.

Goal
My goal is to be able to merge my passion for technology and business and help guide high-technology firms. In the short terms I'd like to work in a technology management position for a tech firm like Google, or work as a technology consultant. In the long term my goal is to become a chief officer in a position where I am at the forefront of technological advances.

Schools
This is where I have trouble. I want to get into the best school that will take me, but I don't want to waste time and energy applying to places that I have no shot.

My dream school would be Stanford, for the prestige and technology roots, but I'm not sure if that is even worth the time. After that I am curious where I would stand at:

Harvard, Booth, Columbia, MIT, Kellogg, Ross, Haas, Tepper


Any advice would be greatly appreciate. It would be really great to know where I would stand with those schools, and which would be most receptive to my application. Also, any other recommendations for schools would be great.

Thank you.

[mili]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your profile. Academically, I think you're in good shape - no need to retake the GMAT (the difference is not going to change the outcome for any school). In terms of your professional experience, it sounds pretty strong. It's definitely a disadvantage to come from an engineering background, but honestly, the combination of an MBA+engineer is a killer one at a lot of companies, and I'd think that certain schools recognize that. (GSB, Haas, MIT for example). But, to your point, I would play up your business exposure and experience. Extracurriculars are okay - nothing super stand out, but I think you check the boxes.

Actually - your website and blog could be stand out if you are able to position it as an entrepreneurial endeavor, but it depends how successful it is, etc.

So, based on what I'm seeing, I'd say that HBS and GSB are stretches (as they are for pretty much everyone!), Columbia, MIT and Haas are reaches, Booth, Kellogg, Ross and Haas are targets and Tepper should be a good safety.

I'm curious about your Booth, Kellogg and Ross interest based on what you've outlined. The other schools are great fits, but I can think of some other more tech-oriented schools that might be better fits than these ones - e.g., UCLA, USC, NYU, UT. A lot of that is based on geography - being in a tech hotbed really helps in terms of recruiting and such. You might also look at schools that have Management of Technology (MOT) programs.

Hope this helps,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com
 
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
 
Download [url=http:// http://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide/]mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide[/url]
 
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[olso4052]

Hey Mili, thank you for the response - I appreciate it.

I actually didn't know it was a disadvantage coming from an engineering background. I thought schools generally liked it because of the quant skills. Is the reason because it is over-saturated, or because they worry about the interpersonal skills?

Either way, great advice, I will definitely heavily focus on the business side of my experience.

A few thoughts about the schools, and I'd be interested to hear your take. Ideally I'd go to a school with a great tech background, but I've kind of been under the impression that it is best to get into the best school that will take you (and to be honest, I'm not sure what exactly I will be wanting to do in 3 years - I won't tell them that though, haha). So with that in mind, I've targeted Ross, for example, as a great school that is a bit easier to get into.

Same with Kellogg and Booth. Two great school that are highly ranked, but accept more people than some of the other top schools.

How much would getting a degree from Ross or Kellogg put me at a disadvantage to do something like tech consulting on the West Coast?

[mili]

Hi,

Great questions.

Re: Engineering - it's pretty saturated (but mostly by Indian engineers, so you're at an advantage there), but also because it's a very different type of skill. Shows that you are a great problem-solver, likely pretty patient, very smart/analytic - but it doesn't necessarily mean you can think in terms of big picture, manage projects, teams, or think in terms of business strategy/bottom line. So the soft side and the business side are not things they can take for granted with you vs. a McKinsey consulting. Make sense?

Re: school choices - if you don't know for sure that you want to be in the tech world, then absolutely apply to schools that have a great brand and where you think you'll be competitive. Those schools are good choices in that sense. As far as disadvantages for doing anything on the west coast - there is a disadvantage in terms of recruiting. On campus recruiting tends to be pretty geographically centered - so you'll see a lot of mid west companies recruiting at Kellogg/Chicago, but not so many west coast tech companies. To verify this, take a look at the employment stats for these schools and see if any of the companies that people work for are ones you think you'd be interested in. And remember, you can always do whatever you want - in this instance, you might have to do a more self-initiated job search vs. being able to rely on on-campus recruiting/career services.

Hope that helps,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com
 
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
 
Download [url=http:// http://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide/]mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide[/url]
 
Visit the mbaMission Blog
 
Follow mbaMission on Twitter