Hi everybody. Could you please evaluate my profile.

German

710 GMAT (47Q, 41V, 4.5 AWA)
Toefl ibT: 110/120

3.4 Undergrad GPA in Business Administration from German University

Work
- 5 yrs experience in Corporate Restructuring and Performance Improvement Advisory with focus on the automotive industry
- Have spent the last 4 years on projects in Central Eastern Europe and the Middle East where I was acting as project lead for several performance improvement projects in the Automotive industry
- Managed teams up to 10 people
- Was also responsible for the acquisition of one of the biggest consulting projects our office had up to date

University
- Several internships for blue chip companies in France, Germany, Hong Kong and the US
- Exchange semester at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (one of the top rated universities in Asia)
- University swimming team

Want to get MBA to obtain general management knowledge and focus on business of innovation and technology.

Short term I would like to spend some more years in consulting (eg McKinsey, BCG etc), in the long run i would like to start my own business or work as turnaround consultant or interim manager (CRO)

Exracurriculars:

Triathlon, Marathon Ironman
Backcountry skiing
Travelling (been now to 44 countries, remaining 150 I hope to cover in the next few years)

Considering Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and UChicago

Would be great if you could give me some feedback if I would stand any chance of getting admitted

Harvard: you're in. I aint kidding. With that profile of yours!!

you have several things working against you for HBS:

-you are a few years over the mean age. HBS is trending young. 25-26 is the sweet spot nowadays.
-your GPA is below average
-your GMAT is below average

That said, you have some great work ex/extracurriculars. I would say its a toss up there but not a sure bet.

His GMAT is a tad below average but he's German - they'll make allowances for non-native English speakers if toefl is good. Work history is great. Good international exposure. Can't guarantee getting into any one school but top 5 is the right ballpark for this guy IMO! But he can always apply to one or two 5-15 schools for safety.

Don't listen to criticisms of your GPA.  Foreign universities have very different systems than American ones, and adcoms know that.  Here in America we have a lot of grade inflation, but Americans unfamiliar with other systems don't realize that many other schools don't have grade inflation.  It's best to show what your rank in your class is.  If you weren't told what your rank is, contact the registrar and try to have them calculate it for you.  (Not sure how easy that might be done in Germany.)

The same goes for GMATs, I suspect.  I read in Montauk's book that internationals score on average 50 points lower than Americans.  It's not fair to expect foreigns to perform as highly as a native speaker.  I mean, even I as an American did know all the grammar rules tested on the GMAT, and I'm really good at grammar.  The foreign nationals that are put up to the biggest scrutiny with GMATs tend to be Indians, as the pool is super competitive.

I think you have a competitive profile.  However, ultimately it's going to come down to your essays.  A person with a good profile might not get in if the essays aren't solid.  If you want to get into Harvard, you'll need six weeks to work on the essays, if it's the first application you do.

Ich wuensche Ihnen viel Glueck!  :-)

Oops, meant to write "I didn't know all the grammar tested on the GMAT."  Totally different meaning!  :-)

Oh, btw, I also thought... you should probably use the original German way of grading, with 1's, 2's, 3's, etc., if that's what was used. Converting it to the American grading system makes your GPA look weaker, and it makes people think that the German system is identical when I'm guessing it probably isn't.

Your scores are within HBS's range, it is neither a shoo in nor a barrier. You might get some leniency for your GMAT given you are not a native speaker and relatively few Germans apply for B-school. HBS is familiar with the German grading system. Your career advancement is impressive, ticks all the right boxes and you complement your profile with solid ECs. Make you you address the fit element in your essays and add some meat to your application/interview. The HBS age factor might be a problem. but it is nothing you can do now. Maybe explain the German educational system add up a few years with Abitur, national service, MSc.

Oh, do you mean cross country skiing?

Thanks all for the positive feedback. Sounds encouraging even though I know it will be up to the ad committee and whether they see me fit in HBS or any other schools.

Just finalized my application for Tuck Dartmouth. With MIT Sloan and Berkeley I also made it in Round 1. Guess I have to be patient now and wait till they reviewed the applications.

Still working on the HBS, Stanford and Booth ones (finally managed to get the powerpoint presentation for booth somehow right, lets see if they like it)

@ cazari I didnt mean cross country skiing (way too boring ;-), backcountry skiing would be doing ski tours, walking up the mountain with skis and then going down again (much more fun, as you get to ski areas where others dont have access to)

Thanks for clarifying about backcountry skiing, I am a flatlander and don't do much skiing, hence my ignorance. Just something about non US referees writing recommendation even when they are native speakers. My English prof who worked in the US noticed that Brits tend to be more factual, compose between the line whereas US referees talk more in superlative terms. His point is that he needs to beef up his statements for US grad schools. Do you have the some dilemma with German writers?

I looked at Tuck and noticed that the class of 250 students has 4% from Western Europe, this translates into only 10 (something like 2 each from UK, France, Germany and 1 from Benelux, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia).

Regarding the rec letter I completely agree with you. I worked on one of the rec letters with my boss and it took me quite a bit of effort to convinvce him to use some more superlative terms. something that would not really be that appropriate in a german letter

I know Tuck is quite small, chances for international studendts are probably better in the bigger schools, nevertheless I really liked what i read about the schools tight knit community and the close contact to its teachers - I only know the opposite, my undergrad school had around 25,000 students so to establish direct contact with the teachers was hard, sometimes impossible