Candidate:

Mr. Impact Underdog

About Me:

I’m looking to bring a strong sense of purpose in my career by transitioning fully to social impact. I’ve always wanted to go into social impact full-time, but I needed to build a niche and valuable skillset before doing so. Regarding marketable skills, I feel ready now, but I need an MBA to help me transition. (Work experience: I’m a Product Manager for Internet Business in a Multinational Telecom organization, with a total of 5.5 years of full-time experience. My organization is part of the 10th largest mobile network operator globally. I’ve won regular, formal awards, such as the Marketing Award, for multiple quarters, Employee of the month, for multiple months. My portfolio has also increased with time. On the side, I’m a director at my family business in government and non-profit sector consulting. I do business advisory for non-profits, and one of these non-profits was founded by an Oxford Said MBA alum. My area of expertise is “mobile tech & communications for development”.) (Nationality: Bangladeshi) (Undergrad: Graduated from the best business school in my country. Alma mater has alums in top business schools all over the world. My 3.13/4 CGPA, with a major in Finance, is measly though. I dived into ECAs during my first two years, achieving great success at the expense of my academics. Reprioritized and did very well in academics during my third year. During my fourth year I contracted Hepatitis E just before my final exams, and my CGPA took a nosedive. My last year’s GPA was 3/4 versus my third year’s GPA of 3.7/4)(GRE: I plan to repeat the GRE to raise my Quant, but I’m not sure if I’ll find the time to, given my hectic workload.)

Schools:

Target School: Said Business School

Considering: Cambridge Judge, Cornell Johnson, Tuck, Yale, Berkeley Haas, Kellogg SOM

See More Profiles For: Said Business School

Application Status: Open

Details:

Undergrad School: University of Dhaka

Undergrad Major: Finance

GPA: 3.13/4

GRE: 328

Age: 27, Ethnicity: Asian or Indian

Other Degree/Certification: MBA Math (100% score)

Extracurriculars: Social entrepreneurship & impact business competitions, Business advisory to non-profit & development organizations, Voluntary school teacher (and full-time nerd) of English, History, World Affairs, Sociology, Geography, & Film

Work History:

Title: Manager, Internet Business

Industry: Technology

Company: Global

Length of Employment: 2 yrs, 9 mos

Title: Specialist, Data Business

Industry: Technology

Company: Global

Length of Employment: 2 yrs, 6 mos

Big Life Wins:

(ECA highlights: I’ve won multiple international & national awards in social entrepreneurship competitions, the top one being Global Health Prize in Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition, organized by the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. My team had beat out MIT in that competition. I was also awarded by Nobel Peace Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus for Yunus Centre’s social venture challenge. I’ve also coordinated nationwide CSR funded charity drives with 100+ people reporting to me.) (Career highlights: I’m a former Management Trainee with fast track progression to a managerial role, within only 2.5 years of my career. I was a Project Manager for the first telecom merger in Bangladesh. I was the Product Manager for Facebook’s Freebasics program in Bangladesh, which focuses on giving internet connectivity to the bottom of the pyramid, launching it for the first time in my country. I qualified for a 1-month international assignment & placement in my company’s global headquarters, where I won a strong recommendation for my work.)

Post MBA Goal:

Working in social impact on the side has inspired me to enter social impact full-time post-MBA, perhaps joining my family’s business full-time, and/or starting a sister organization to the family business focused on my area of expertise. My area of expertise, Telecom, is very important for social impact in my country, Bangladesh, where internet connectivity is mostly mobile communications dependant. Working in a large private organization has not given me the training I need to embark to do the above, so I need an MBA to make me ready.

Odds:

Join in! Click here to assess the odds of Mr. Impact Underdog

The Experts Rate The Odds At: 40%

See what the industry experts have to say:

Odds Assessment: 50%

Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. Congrats on a great professional profile so far and also on all your ECA’s. Really like your achievements and how its dovetailed to your future goals. There are a lot of “spikes” in your profile – 1) The experience in telecom being one, commitment to social businesses, number of awards which show a history of achievement orientation, rare background being from Bangladesh. if you can get close to 80-85 percentile on both sections of the GRE, and with good execution re your undergrad GPA reasoning (why its low explanation) – you are in play at all schools on your list. If I was in your situation, I would definitely look to top 10 schools and execute really …

Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. Congrats on a great professional profile so far and also on all your ECA’s. Really like your achievements and how its dovetailed to your future goals. There are a lot of “spikes” in your profile – 1) The experience in telecom being one, commitment to social businesses, number of awards which show a history of achievement orientation, rare background being from Bangladesh. if you can get close to 80-85 percentile on both sections of the GRE, and with good execution re your undergrad GPA reasoning (why its low explanation) – you are in play at all schools on your list. If I was in your situation, I would definitely look to top 10 schools and execute really well on them. The entire Grameen story has set the benchmark of how a social business can be scaled and with your family being from this space, every business school would love to have you share your perspective in class. I would also go as far as to say that if you dot all the i’s and cross the t’s really well, you can even add one of the H/S/W to your list. Don’t aim lower than necessary. Said is a wonderful program and your chances there are great. But don’t let anyone convince you that you don’t have a shot at multiple top 10 global programs. good luck

5 years ago Read the full review
mbaMission Odds Assessment: 30%

Hello Mr. Impact Underdog!
Krista Nannery from mbaMission here. Thanks for posting!
Social impact is a very popular goal these days but what I love about you is you’ve actually done it! I love that you have an award from Prof. Muhammad Yunus! That’s amazing. B-schools will appreciate the golden thread running through your application and they’ll love seeing big names like Facebook on your resume.
Now to be honest with you, we don’t see many candidates from Bangladesh. This could work in your favor I think but at the same time, I’d encourage you to do some research. Are there graduates from your university in the alumni or current student pools of any of the schools on your list? Not to say that means you’ll definitely get …

Hello Mr. Impact Underdog!
Krista Nannery from mbaMission here. Thanks for posting!
Social impact is a very popular goal these days but what I love about you is you’ve actually done it! I love that you have an award from Prof. Muhammad Yunus! That’s amazing. B-schools will appreciate the golden thread running through your application and they’ll love seeing big names like Facebook on your resume.
Now to be honest with you, we don’t see many candidates from Bangladesh. This could work in your favor I think but at the same time, I’d encourage you to do some research. Are there graduates from your university in the alumni or current student pools of any of the schools on your list? Not to say that means you’ll definitely get in if so, but it’s good research to do.
With Oxford and Cambridge, you may want to reach out to them about your GPA. Both schools have minimums on a 4.0 scale, and you’ll want to make sure that 1. you are converting your GPA correctly and 2. that you meet their requirements. This makes me a little nervous about your chances at these programs, but you can resolve this quickly by calling or emailing them. For all the schools that you apply to, I also recommend that you do a short optional essay about your GPA…give them some insights into your results because on the surface, the number looks a little low.
In short, I think you are deeply interesting and a super candidate — and although I think Yale and Haas both seem perfect for your goals, I love that you are keeping an open mind on schools by keeping programs like Cornell and Tuck on your list.
All the best for this exciting journey!
Krista

5 years ago Read the full review