Please GMATbong and others, evaluate my profile!

[Kiril]

Hi everybody!

I'd like to attend an MBA at London Business School, NYU, MIT, UCLA.
Hoping you can give me some feedback about my personal profile and my real possibilities in these schools and, in case, some advice about others.


Personal

Male 33 years old
Italian


Education

- MASTER of ENGINEERING in Electronic Engineering at “La Sapienza” University, Rome with grade: 100/110
- GMAT 650 (82%) Q48 (85%) V31 (60%) - Toefl 103

Work

- 2.5 years in a satellite communication society with satellite failure analysis, responsible for project timing and coordinator of a team of 5 engineers;

- 5 months in Antigua & Barbuda: project and program electronic control units, organizer and coordinator of a team of spanish workers

- 2,5 years in the most important italian research center: scholarship for my thesis. I started to work there for my thesis project but I worked about 1.5 years more to some research projects


Extra Curriculum

- Vice President and Treasure of an international student association: participated in many international meetings as italian delegate
- Football referee for 12 years
- Founder and actor of a Theater amateur company
- Player of my university Rugby team
- Member of IEEE student branch
- Founder and player of an amateur Basketball team


My greatest lack is that I graduated at 30 years old...

Do you think I have any chance at theses schools or do you suggest me to change my aim? Any suggestion to improve my chances?

Thank you in advance!

[Kiril]

More than 50 views and neither a comment...

C'mon, guys, let me know what do you think about my profile, please!

I really appreciate any comment, even negative one!

[nontraditional]

I'll chime in, although I'm no GMATBong. I'm just a guy who applied to four programs this year and who has read a few hundred profiles and responses. So this is my opinion. Take it or leave it. But all you haters out there can just hit the back button right now.

Because of your age and low GMAT score I think you have an uphill battle at all of the schools you've listed. If you could confidently raise your score, do it. If you're not sure, don't try. A 660 will hurt you. Maybe a 680 would help. Maybe. But I would only retake it if you can get 700 on the GMAC prep tests.

Also, about your 100/110 grades: are those just for your graduate degree? Unless your master's degree is also your bachelor's degree, MBA programs are going to care more about your bachelor's degree when they tally your "undergraduate GPA". On the other hand, your good marks will help offset the low GMAT score.

I think your overall application needs to clearly answer the question of why you graduated when you were 30. For example, I graduated at 26, but I worked full time at a clearly professional job for the last four years of it. I led a team of local and offshore engineers, all of whom had bachelors' degrees, for a year, before I graduated. You need to show that you're not wandering through life, but that you've had a plan for X years.

That's the worst I can think of. On the positive side, if you can come up with awesome essays about the work experiences you have had, then I wouldn't be surprised at all if you got in to any of the schools listed.

If it were me, I would pick a school or two from your list that's kind to re-applicants and that has a deadline later this month, and I would apply. Your chances are very slim because the competition is higher this round, but at least you'll get some experience filling out the applications. And you might get lucky.

Then I would spend weeks putting together applications in the first round for next year at two or three of your listed schools.

Then I would choose two schools that are 15-20 range, and two schools that are 20-30 range.

Six or seven applications is not too much if you're serious and if you start the day they come out this summer.

This is long winded, and it's not worth much. Just my opinion. Good luck.

[chan_space]

yes I would agree with nontraditional....your GMAT score is not well rounded. You did a great job in quan., however, your verbal score is not enough to get into the b-schools that you have mentioned above. They always look for a well rounded candidate. Good luck!

[Kiril]

Thank you for your kindly opinion guys!

I have, more or less, the same doubts about my career and I appreciate a lot your ideas to overlap this gap.

I'll try, if I'll have enough time, to do another time my GMAT looking for a 700

Thank you!

Any other impression/idea?

[nontraditional]

Yeah, there's no accounting for the application. All the numbers in the world won't get you in without an awesome application. People with 770's get denied from your listed schools all the time. People with 650's do get in to your listed schools, but I guarantee every one of them either has put together a "perfect" application or is the child of someone people think is really important. Plan to put together a "perfect" application.

Good luck.