HBS Profile Review : Harvard

* 26M, African international but lived and worked in the US for a decade (Full tuition undergrad scholarship + started college at 16 years. 5 ish years of work experience)
* GPA: 3.51 ECE + Math minor (non-target)| GRE: 161Q/166V (worried about this but hope STEM degree + work experience speak to ability to handle analytical rigor)
* 5 YOE/will matriculate with 6 years.
* Hardware engineer @ F500 mfg giant -> tesla -> Meta -> another FAANG -> AI startup
* Co-founder of an Africa focused startup on the side
* R1: HBS, Columbia, Sloan
* EC: Led community org on campus for 2 years. Drove community involvement efforts for F500 company. Started an org during covid to help black/African immigrants find their community.
* Post MBA Goal: Entrepreneurship - looking to build an AI + mfg startup.

HBS is the dream, but Sloan would be great too. If I only get CBS, then it's likely GSB/Haas R2. (Ranked in order of likelihood of meeting co-founder + boost in fundraising prospects)

I'd appreciate thoughts!

nir4l wrote:* 26M, African international but lived and worked in the US for a decade (Full tuition undergrad scholarship + started college at 16 years. 5 ish years of work experience)
* GPA: 3.51 ECE + Math minor (non-target)| GRE: 161Q/166V (worried about this but hope STEM degree + work experience speak to ability to handle analytical rigor)
* 5 YOE/will matriculate with 6 years.
* Hardware engineer @ F500 mfg giant -> tesla -> Meta -> another FAANG -> AI startup
* Co-founder of an Africa focused startup on the side
* R1: HBS, Columbia, Sloan
* EC: Led community org on campus for 2 years. Drove community involvement efforts for F500 company. Started an org during covid to help black/African immigrants find their community.
* Post MBA Goal: Entrepreneurship - looking to build an AI + mfg startup.

HBS is the dream, but Sloan would be great too. If I only get CBS, then it's likely GSB/Haas R2. (Ranked in order of likelihood of meeting co-founder + boost in fundraising prospects)

I'd appreciate thoughts!

nir4l hope you are doing great!

You possess strong foundational elements for your HBS candidacy. While there's room for improvement in your Quant score, your Verbal score stands out impressively. Your overall score closely aligns with the U.S. average at top schools, and your full tuition undergraduate scholarship, coupled with your quantitative background, provides robust support for your candidacy.

You feature strong feeder brands on your resume. Admissions committees (Adcoms) at top B-schools believe that an MBA should not mark your initial foray into exploring your passions. They seek indications of passion in your background. If you are genuinely enthusiastic about establishing an AI startup, your transition to an AI startup and prior experience with entrepreneurship on the side read very well on your application.

As you may know, HBS's mission statement is to “educate leaders who make a difference in the world.” Successful applicants at HBS are accomplished, having demonstrated impressive feats in a variety of areas such as entrepreneurship, social impact, arts, sports, government organizations, and so on. Therefore, your roadmap to landing at HBS should focus on highlighting your stellar growth trajectory, leadership experience, and the uniqueness that you could bring to the cohort.

I am particularly intrigued by the multiple job switches you have made in your career spanning 5 years.
The key to building your case for multiple job switches is to leverage your whole application to structure your career development toward the decision that has finally taken you to consider an MBA. Having many job switches is okay. However, if they have been aimless, it is a gap area. Regarding job hopping, you do not want to seem directionless or without a meaningful vision. It would help if you constructed a compelling story that shows that each change was a strategic move to achieve your career or personal goals.
Bring onboard strong advocates from your previous organizations as recommenders, especially for schools where you are asked to submit more than one letter of recommendation.

I am extremely optimistic about Haas. But HBS and Sloan don't seem out of reach either if you strategize effectively.

Best wishes

Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, former INSEAD admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

Thanks for your detailed response.

On my job switches: I've had a consistent role/title at all the places I worked. F500 mfg co + Tesla were both in automotive manufacturing after which I transitioned to the data center industry at Meta and the other FAANG. Additionally, one of the job changes (from Meta to the other FAANG was forced on me by Meta's layoff earlier in the year). My job experience has been progressive, seeking to deepen my technical expertise, and increase my impact by moving to bigger companies to work on technical infrastructure supporting billions of world wide users,

This is also the reason I couldn't prep for and retake the GRE(my above score is from 2019). I was focused on recruiting for a new role. I expressed this in the optional essay.

As with everyone else, I'm anxiously awaiting interview decisions next week to know whether my application journey will continue or whether its hit a dead end.

nir4l wrote:Thanks for your detailed response.

On my job switches: I've had a consistent role/title at all the places I worked. F500 mfg co + Tesla were both in automotive manufacturing after which I transitioned to the data center industry at Meta and the other FAANG. Additionally, one of the job changes (from Meta to the other FAANG was forced on me by Meta's layoff earlier in the year). My job experience has been progressive, seeking to deepen my technical expertise, and increase my impact by moving to bigger companies to work on technical infrastructure supporting billions of world wide users,

This is also the reason I couldn't prep for and retake the GRE(my above score is from 2019). I was focused on recruiting for a new role. I expressed this in the optional essay.

As with everyone else, I'm anxiously awaiting interview decisions next week to know whether my application journey will continue or whether its hit a dead end.

nir4l

Thanks for clarifying. That does seem very reasonable and well-intended, given that you transitioned from manufacturing to big data and also navigated the mass layoff crisis in the industry before taking a step toward gaining experience in a startup.

Wishing you the best of luck and success as you await your results!

Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

nir4l wrote:* 26M, African international but lived and worked in the US for a decade (Full tuition undergrad scholarship + started college at 16 years. 5 ish years of work experience)
* GPA: 3.51 ECE + Math minor (non-target)| GRE: 161Q/166V (worried about this but hope STEM degree + work experience speak to ability to handle analytical rigor)
* 5 YOE/will matriculate with 6 years.
* Hardware engineer @ F500 mfg giant -> tesla -> Meta -> another FAANG -> AI startup
* Co-founder of an Africa focused startup on the side
* R1: HBS, Columbia, Sloan
* EC: Led community org on campus for 2 years. Drove community involvement efforts for F500 company. Started an org during covid to help black/African immigrants find their community.
* Post MBA Goal: Entrepreneurship - looking to build an AI + mfg startup.

HBS is the dream, but Sloan would be great too. If I only get CBS, then it's likely GSB/Haas R2. (Ranked in order of likelihood of meeting co-founder + boost in fundraising prospects)

I'd appreciate thoughts!

👋 Hey nir4l,

Here is what I would suggest:

🌍 Your journey from Africa to the USA, with a passion for startups, stands out. Your transitions between Tesla, Meta, and FAANG denote adaptability and high performance.

📈 Strengths:
➡️ Work Exclusivity: Roles at Tesla and FAANG companies underline your proficiency in tech. You've likely dealt with billion-dollar projects and groundbreaking innovations.
➡️ Entrepreneurial Zeal: Your Africa-focused startup shows initiative and passion to drive change in your homeland.

🔍 Areas to Enhance:
➡️ GRE Quant: While your Verbal score is impressive, the Quant score may be viewed as a bit low, especially considering your STEM background, but overall score is an impressive one.
➡️ Clarity of Goals: With such diverse experiences, you need a crystal-clear narrative on why an MBA is the logical next step.

🌐 Recommendations:
➡️ Highlight projects where you applied quantitative skills, such as improving a product's efficiency by 15% using data analysis.
➡️ Detail the specific gaps an MBA will fill for you. Maybe it's scaling startups, and you aim to use the MBA to learn growth strategies employed by giants like Tesla or Meta.

Target Schools:
➡️ Dream - Chicago Booth, Oxford, Wharton, CBS
➡️ Competitive - Duke, Kellogg, NYU, Ross, Cornell
➡️ Safe - Vanderbilt, UNC, USC Marshall

If you need more help, we'd be happy to set up a FREE call and give more pointers on how to improve your profile and the right schools you should target.

👉 Click Here to Set-Up a FREE Call 👈