Your Odds Of Getting Into A Great School

Mr. Entrepreneur

• 720 GMAT (lower Quant, higher Verbal)
• 3.2 GPA
• Undergraduate degree from a second-tier state university
• Work experience includes a three-year stint as an entrepreneur of a start-up that shutdown when the economy went south; at its peak, the business employed eight people and had monthly revenue of more than $1 million; then performed marketing role for a family small business before becoming a government analyst for a Fortune 20 healthcare firm
• Extracurricular involvement as the founder of a campus political organization, active in a campus parish as well as an active campaigner and volunteer for Congressional campaigns, volunteer at a hospice, captain of a flag football team, committee member overseeing a program to help troubled children
• Goal: To work internationally as either a strategy consultant or in micro finance
• Long-term goal: To work for an organization like the State Department, the United Nations or the World Bank
• 30-year-old
American Latino male

Odds of Success:

INSEAD: 40%

Columbia: 20% to 30%

IESE: 50+%

IE: 50+%

Duke: 40%

London:
40%

Sandy’s Analysis: Phew, you got a lot to like, to wit, being a Latino with a 720 GMAT, and a guy who started a business and grew it to employ eight people with monthly volume of over $1 million.  You also currently work for a Fortune-20 healthcare firm as government analyst.  Also, extras are better than average, and you seem like a nice guy. The analytical work might help offset the low quant score on GMAT.

You say goals are to “Use my international business expertise, global perspective and interest in the intersection of business and politics to work for an organization like the State Department, UN, or World Bank.”  Hmmmm, while I see a lot of politics in your background, what I do not see is international experience (maybe you left it out) or gigs that normally lead to State Department or UN or World Bank (those gigs usually being 1. Working for those very organizations already, 2. Working for super-creamy and ultra-selective places like the White House or the Peace Corps).

Soooooo, my suggestion would be to not say that, or anything like it, as your goals — since the type of schools you are interested in are really focused on getting kids jobs. Instead, make goals much more humble, along the lines of working for a consulting company that itself deals with health care companies very similar to the one you are currently working for. That combines your politics, health care management, and most importantly current job, into a neat little package.

And schools love kids who want to be consultants, well, because, they often get those jobs and each  school’s work is done.

1. You paid them.

2. You came.

3. You got a job.

THE END.

Everyone is happy. So try to make yourself seem employable. And the best way to do that is be realistic and modest and play off your strengths.  One more thing, why are you applying to INSEAD, IESE and London Business School? You got a flakey enough story already with your several jobs and low GPA. Going to Europe just adds another twist in your story that already has too many twists. Retool yourself as a consultant and apply to a mixed bag of schools ranked 8-20 by U.S. News or Poets&Quants.