Profile Evaluation - Any improvement suggestions?

[aldo]

Hi All,

Could you please help me evaluate my profile/make improvement suggestions (application wise)?

Personal Profile:
Male, 26 yrs
Greek Citizen
Undergraduate - Computer Engineering and Informatics (7.2/10 - top 80% of the class)

GMAT 2nd Attempt:
680 (88%)
44Q (72%)
40V (89%)
1st Attempt: 560

Experience - 4+ years by the time I ll start MBA
1.5 year self-employed during my undergraduate studies (this was a full time job since I had to pay for all my expenses during studying) - Technical services & support for internet stations.
1 year at wireless products manufacturer - Wireless systems engineer.
3 years at Telco solutions provider (among the largest multinational in Southern Europe) - Title: Senior Engineer - Actual work: technical manager/ pre-sales engineer.

Extra Curricular:
Among the founders of the wireless metropolitan network community in my town.
Participated in open-source projects (either as developer or a manager).
member of the university pc lab support group

Other:
Scholarship for the uni registrar examinations.

Hobbies:
Traveling/Snowboarding/Surfing

Target Schools:
Ny Stern/ Berkeley/ Stamford/ Insead/ Cambridge/ Oxford/ HEC

Career Goal:
10 year - elevate in the higher managerial positions in a telco/it company. Build strong business network and start my own telco solutions company
Short Term - Move to the sales force as solution architect. / IT consultant possition


Thanks in advance.

[MBAApply]

You seem to be a middle-of-the-road engineering applicant - solid career, but nothing that really stands out, other than the fact that you're Greek, but how your nationality plays into admissions decisions is way overstated - in reality, it's not going to make a huge difference; what makes the most difference is your pre-MBA occupation more than anything else.

As such, Stanford is a no go. I don't see you getting in there.
NYU, Berkeley, and INSEAD are schools where you have a shot at - you may get in, but you may get dinged as well even with a strong app. But still worth it to at least give them a shot.
Cambridge, Oxford and HEC are good backup schools where I think you have a decent chance so long as your application is well executed.


Alex
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

[Guest]

Hi Alex,

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

So, in order to strengthen my application do you think I should emphasize my current job's managerial activities and/or extracaricullar activities?

Cheers,
Alex

[MBAApply]

Focus on both -- show that you're well rounded, and play to your strengths.

Remember that that's all you can do -- an application can't turn you into someone you're not.

Alex
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com