What Are Your Odds Of Getting In?

 

Mr. GE

  • 780 GMAT (Q: 51%, V: 45%)
  • 3.40 GPA
  • Undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and Japanese from the University of Florida
  • 3.56 GPA (Master’s)
  • Graduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida
  • Work experience includes more than two years with General Electric in its aviation engineering department
  • Goal: To work in strategy consulting with McKinsey or BCG’s Tokyo office, focusing on manufacturing operations
  • Long-term goal: Leading the Asian branch of a global manufacturing firm in the aviation, energy or automotive industries.
  • 27 year-old white, American male

Odds of Success:

Harvard: 20% to 40%

Stanford: 20%

Wharton (Lauder Program): 40% to 50%

Chicago: 50+%

MIT: 50+%

Northwestern: 50+%

Sandy’s Analysis: Well, that’s a barebones profile but we got the basics. A 780 GMAT and a two-year gig at GE in their Aviation Engineering Department with the added plus of having contact with customers on a cutting-edge project is a pretty darn solid base. One could wish for a higher GPA, but 3.4 is serviceable in this circumstance, given the GMAT and the fact you were in an engineering discipline.

Grad grades (3.56) help a bit, but often graduate school grades go from A to A-.  You got a tight story, and the Japanese fluency helps.  I’d say you’d be real strong at Lauder given all this, and you would be worth a serious look at HBS, given your engineering/GE background, which they like. The University of Florida is an off-the-grid school, but HBS likes solid regional universities, especially when they turn out guys with a 780 and GE pedigree.  Your long-term goals of being an innovative leader in manufacturing (in Asia or elsewhere) is solid and saying you want to start at M/B/B makes sense.

I think you got a real solid chance at all your schools, although I am not seeing this as particularly Stanford-y. They take diamonds in the rough like you, and so does HBS.  Your outcomes at those schools will turn on what you claim are solid recommendations and extra-currics and how you position them. You could blow an HBS interview by nerding out, but so do many smooth cats from Goldman and KKR (well a few do, anyway).  I think chances at Sloan and Kellogg are solid, if you can convince them you want to come, Booth does not seem like an obvious choice but they will like you too.

Not much more to say: You are a solid guy with a real tight story, a jumbo GMAT and a good enough set of grades in a tough discipline. You should be successful with adequate execution at most places and could luck into Stanford.

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