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jasonc · Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:49 pm

How competitive is the pool of applicants with the profile below, relative to other profiles?

Race: Asian American
Gender: Male
Function: Online advertising sales/online advertising sales support/marketing

Thanks

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VP_MBA_Guru · Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:34 am

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your post! As you know , there are many factors that influence the admission process, so its always difficult to truly gauge one's candidacy based on race, gender, background. Can you provide more information?

Regards,

NP

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jasonc · Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:58 pm

Hi NP,
I apologize for not being more clear in my initial post Smile

I meant to ask, in general, how competitive is the pool of applicants with the background I've stated?

For example, I've heard that being an Indian male (international) in IT is the toughest pool & being a Chinese male (international) is a similarly tough pool.

Also, I've heard that being in consulting/IB is a pretty tough pool, given the other people with the same background who apply.

Thanks

EDIT:
added in my profile/basis for my application, and would appreciate an assessment/any advice for what I can do to improve my profile.

Short term plan is to switch industries after B-School & do management consulting - in order to gain broader exposure to different business challenges.
Longer term plan is to leverage my experiences in management consulting and help passionate people achieve their dreams. More specifically, spending some time doing management consulting for businesses in developing countires. Then move on to upper management in the non-profit sector, specifically this education reform non-profit in Taiwan that my mother helped start.

I'd like to attend a business school with a great brand, strong alumni network, extremely solid courses, and a diverse class experienced with different challenges across various industries. (MBAs with have programs that provide experiences/exposure to real life consulting is a plus)

GPA: 3.42 (played too hard in undergrad & did not focus on academics)
Major: Economics
Undergrad School: less prestigious ivy
GMAT: 760 (49Q/44V)
AWA: 5.5

Resume:
undergrad - different leadership positions within clubs (treasurer, publicity chair, etc)
Company - a highly regarded tech company, my core job is related to online advertising.
promoted once (avg rate @ the company). Will have ~38 months of work experience by fall of 09.

Born in taiwan. Studied abroad in japan for 3 months. Summer internship in beijing one undergrad summer. Short 1 month volunteer gig with a non-profit in taiwan (the one my mother helped to start).

I'm involved in a mentoring program for minority students so I'll be mentoring 3 undergrad kids during their internship this summer.

I'm also on the planning committee for an annual company outing event this year for 10,000+ people.

I'm finishing up the 4th MBA class that I've been taking in the evenings. (taken marketing, org behavior, operations management, & negotiations)

Thanks.

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VP_MBA_Guru · Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:55 am

Hi Jason,
Thanks for your reply! Sorry for the earlier confusion.

Overall, you have great credentials and are a strong candidate for top MBA programs. As you know, it is hard to gauge your candidacy based on profile/stats, as much of the decision is also based on your essays, LORs, interview.

I wouldn't worry about your GPA score. First of all its relatively strong and your high GMAT score does offset any concerns AdCom might have of your academic abilities.

Yes, unfortunately in one of the most competitive applicant pool - Asian applicant. Therefore your biggest challenge is how to best differentiate yourself. What makes you different from the thousands of Chinese applicants that will apply to the same schools with similar profiles.

Your interest in non-profit/social interest is an interesting angle and could be a way of differentiate yourself. The key with non-traditional post-MBA career goals is really selling your interest/passion in the field and how an MBA would help you achieve your career goals.

Moreover, how did you come to this decision? What evidence in your previous experience demonstrates either your interest in this field or skills necessary to succeed (i.e. leadership/managerial skills).

Since you have strong stats - they key will be selling yourself and your interests.

Good luck!

NP

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jasonc · Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:44 pm

Hi NP,
Thanks for your help Smile

I didn't clarify this in my last post - I'm Asian American (more specifically Chinese/Taiwanese American; moved to the US when I was 7) and not an international student. Hopefully that means I'll be competing more with Asian Americans and not as much with the general international Chinese population? Haha...

In terms of how I came to the decision, it has to do with my previous experiences with people in non-profit/volunteer work (also did some minor volunteer projects every now and then, but not continuous), and also with my experiences on the job dealing with different for-profit & non-profit clients. Their passion and level of commitment is vastly different, and this directly affects how much I am able to help them, how much impact I have.

My short term goal is to attend business school (preferably case method heavy schools) and do management consulting because I've seen one aspect of business challenges - online marketing & advertising - but want to experience and challenge myself on other aspects like managing operations, etc, that will help me fulfill my long term goal of managing a non-profit and help many passionate people like myself make a difference.

I think a short summary is as such:
I love helping people/organizations (in my current job I do a lot of this, in a consultant like role).
I want to make a bigger impact than I'm capable of right now.
Therefore, I want to
1) attend business school to increase my exposure/knowledge => increase my impact on NPOs, i.e. the number of passionate people I can help in achieving their goals.
2) work in management consulting to increase my exposure/experience => increase my impact on NPOs, i.e. the number of passionate people I can help in achieving their goals.

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