Harvard Business School - 09-26-2023

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September 26, 2023 12:07am ET

Applying: Harvard Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2024

Pre-MBA Career: Project Management, Oil and Gas Industry

Post-MBA Target Industry: Other

GMAT: 710

GPA: 7.7

Years of Work Experience: 7.1

Location: Vietnam

Notes:

EC:
- Union President at my department for over 5 years, raising funds for union members and families with financial/ emotional hardship, organizing children's events, teambuilding events.
- Captain of current project's soccer team
- Red Cross volunteer for 18 months in the US, taking care of blood donors before and after donation process.
Work experience:
- Company size: 2000-5000, revenue: $100-300MM annually, work with global clients
- Managing oil and gas projects (constructing offshore platforms) in terms of commercial and contractual issues, resolving disputes with clients, collaborating with project team to deliver project successfully.
- 3 promotions: Estimator, to Lead Estimator, to Project Control Lead, to Project Control Manager. Salaries x2.5 after 6 years.
- Part of project team that won several major projects for the company ($1B domestic gas-processing platforms, $400MM wind-power offshore platform)
Short Term Goal:
- Portfolio Manager in a renewable developer (such as Orsted, GE)
Long Term Goal:
- Return to Vietnam to work in the Energy industry, transforming oil and gas business into renewables.
Others:
- 1st gen college student
- 31 years old at matriculating in fall 2024
- Family background ties to USA-Vietnam War

Like (1)

Show Comments (5) Last: October 2, 2023

andy-nguyen Likes Earned: 1 More info: - Male - Professional certifications: PMP, RMP, PMI-SP (all related to project management) - Awards: Red Cross Rookie of the Year, consistent Excellence Employee of the department since 2018, Excellence Awards from PetroVietnam (a government entity that controls Vietnam's oil and gas industry) - A regular blood donor (after my experience with the Red Cross) (1)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 Looks like you have a very interesting background, strong work experience (showing impact and growth at work, backed up by strong recs is key). Activities outside of work also very decent.

Being slightly older, nailing “why now” and fit will be important. 710 GMAT will be below the median of these programs. Is it well balanced? Do you know your class rank?

(1)

andy-nguyen Likes Earned: 1 Thanks Alex, my recs are 02 direct report/ supervisor and they're more than happy to discuss with me before writing. Being older because in this industry/ job function, experience is key to get promoted. If I applied earlier, I would not have that extra promotion. My GMAT is skewed with 50Q 35V. I could retake but my gut feeling is that the score won't be significantly higher. I'd like to ask if there is anything I could do/show to strengthen my profile. Thank you. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 Are you targeting Round 2? If so, then retaking the GMAT has the greatest potential improvement on your profile, I would think. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2023/10/mba-wire-taps-311/ (0)