Hi Veritas,

First of all, many thanks for offering this amazing service to provide initial feedback to prospective applicants.

I would really appreciate it if you could quickly review my profile and let me know what your initial feedback is.

My profile is as follows:

Target Schools for MBA Programs:

Columbia, Harvard, NYU Stern, Chicago Booth, Stanford

Personal Information:

Nationality: Moroccan
International Experience: studies in Morocco and Canada and the UK. Work experience in the UK and Canada
Languages: Arabic (native), French (native), English (fluent), Spanish (beginner)

Education – Undergraduate (Canada)

Program: Bachelor of Business Administration – Major: Finance (at a Canadian business school)
GPA: Cumulative GPA of 3.85 (top 7%), Major GPA of 4.0
Honors: Yes, the Quebecer equivalent of Summa Cum Laud
Scholarships: Entry scholarship for academic excellence + tuition exemption scholarship for the last 2 years of the program

Education – Post-graduate (UK)

Program: Master of Science – Major: Finance (at a leading UK university, top 3 of the country)
GPA: 69.5 (equivalent of a GPA of about 3.6-3.7)
Honors: Merit

Work Experience

• Investment Banking Analyst in London (UK) at international investment bank
• Private Equity Analyst at a private equity fund in Toronto (Canada)

Academic Extra-curricular Activities:

• Country Correspondent (currently) for the UK university from which I graduated. I am responsible for networking with the university’s alumni who work in Toronto, organizing get-together events with them and taking part to marketing events with prospective applicants who are located in Toronto
• Student Ambassador (previously) for the UK university from which I graduated. I was responsible for contributing to the program’s brand, networking with prospective applicants in Europe, attending events, etc. I was awarded “Student Ambassador of the Year” by the admission team
• Equity Analyst (previously) at my undergraduate school’s student investment fund. I obtained the best performance of the fund and contributed to our team’s victory of an international investment competition
• Involvements in other activities within my undergraduate business school, including AIESEC, the consulting club, etc.

Charity Extra-curricular Activities:

• Volunteer Reader (previously) during 1 year for a Colombian child with learning difficulties
• Volunteer (previously) for an association in Montreal dedicated to organizing charity events and raising money for various social causes in Morocco
• Volunteer (previously) for a charity association dedicated to helping children
• When I was in high school, I volunteered for 7 years with an association that used to take food and toys to hospitals for children each 2-3 months
Note: Now, I am not involved in an official association. However, whenever I go to Morocco for holidays, I spend some time talking to children at schools deemed “difficult schools” to make them aware of the importance of education, etc

Other Information:

Passions: Wine, foreign languages, classical music and ballets
Post-MBA: First join a private equity firm as a private equity associate and stay there for a few years. Then, I would like to join an international organization such as the IMF and take on responsibility positions. Then my ultimate goal is to go back to Morocco and become a political leader
Concerns: Morocco might not seem “glamorous” to the admission team. Moreover, the admission team might think that my very long-term goal (think in 20+ years) to become prime minister in my country might be too idealistic. Finally, I have not taken the GMAT yet, so I am concerned with the score that I might obtain

Many thanks for taking the time to review my profile.

Toman04

Any chance someone can help me?

Thanks a lot

There are many aspects of your profile which will be an advantage in the admissions process. Firstly, as a diversity play, being from Morocco is actually a pretty big deal since it's under-represented at top b-schools and therefore offers a perspective that would be valued in the classroom. You will be compared to other applicants with a banking background and will really stand out in the crowd as "atypical" in a good way. Your leadership and education achievements are impressive, so your ethnicity won't be viewed as a card to play but rather just a really cool differentiator from the pool of similar applicants (professionally). Having international experience will also be a good thing since most bankers are regional in their experience. Two things concern me about your profile: one, your GMAT score and 2) your post MBA plans. Since you are applying to the top schools in the world, your GMAT score will need to be competitive with top applicants. Even though your schooling and your diversity will give you extra points, you will still need to post a score well within the 80% range for your target schools and ideally, at or above the average if you really want to seal the deal. As for your post MBA plans, it's pretty widely thought that private equity jobs are non-existant for freshly minted MBA grads, so if you stick to that as a short term goal, it may be seen as immature by the adcoms unless you have some kind of convincing story how you will be able to make this happen. This also holds for your longer term goal. Without a background in politics, it will be difficult to come off as much more than a "dreamer" to say you will hold a lofty governmental position, again, unless you have a compelling story behind this. Having said all that, I think you have real potential at a top tier school, especially if you can hone your vision a bit more and post a good GMAT score. Let us know if we can be helpful as you prepare.

VP Bryant,

First of all, many thanks for the quick turn around and for taking the time to enlighten me. Below are a couple of comments with regard to your answer:

1) GMAT: I would not really consider the GMAT as a concern for the time being, as I have not taken the test yet. I have enrolled in the Veritas preparation programs and will take the test by the end of February / early March.

2) Career vision: you are totally right, even though I still believe in my idea. Once I take the GMAT, my plan is to purchase one of Veritas' MBA preparation programs for the essays so that a professional consultant can help me. Will you be around?

3) Applications: I am planning on applying in the fall 2013 for the 2014 entry, so I am doing this very early just in case I have to re-take the GMAT or re-work on my plans, etc.

Best
Toman 04

Hi Toman04,

Regarding, 2) Career vision: you are totally right, even though I still believe in my idea. Once I take the GMAT, my plan is to purchase one of Veritas' MBA preparation programs for the essays so that a professional consultant can help me. Will you be around?

If you'd like to find out more about our consulting services, you can contact us here at headquarters at 800.925.7737 (Monday to Friday from 8am-5pm US Pacific) and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Also, if you have an online student account with us, you can sign up for an MBA Workshop through the "Resources" tab.

Hope this information helps.

Best,

The Veritas Prep Team