Dear Stacy,
I'm preparing to apply for INSEAD MBA. I'm just in the planning stage and need your comments and advice. I'm going to present myself holistically covering my characteristics, academics, success in work experience, leadership skills, and management skills. Hopefully I can tie these all up and link them to my MBA application purpose and goal with sufficient evidence to substantiate all these. Please take a look at the following points and approaches:
Education - graduated from UBC (Canada) with a mechanical engineering degree. The grades aren't that good due to some personal issues (79%). I'm trying to counter this weak point by getting as high grade in GMAT as possible (700+). I did really well in high school but I guess that's too long ago to mention? But I'll most likely mention about my diversified education background as I had education in Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.
Approach - I'll draft a curve to show my academic progression over the years and explain the setback in college and how I was able to catch up with my school work. Eventually, with my GMAT score, hopefully I can prove my academic strength. In case you are wondering, the setback was that I had to fly to LA to take care of my sick girl friend for a few weeks that year. I don't regret that a bit. I'm now happily married to her with 2 beautiful kids. I guess this shows my determination huh? Should I include this story in my presentation?
Work Experience - I have a total of 4 years experience in the same company. I worked as a sales engineer at my first year, then I was transferred to QA as the QA lead/supervisor, managing 2 persons. While I was a QA lead, I successfully installed quality management system in the company and was successfully certified by TUV and GMP. In the 3rd year, I was titled 'special assistant to General Manager' with responsibilities such as project management and management representative. In the later of the 3rd year and throughout the 4th year, I was the sales manager, leading 9 sales.
Approach - I'm getting recommendation letter from 2 of my customers (they are the world leading companies in our industry). The purpose of their letters is to show what I have achieved in the 2nd and 3rd year of my work experience as QA leader and project manager. The letters will also show my characteristics, specifically my strong management skill and people skill. They'll also show my very internationalized experience working with companies in US, Europe, and China. I'll have a 3rd letter of recommendation from my General Manager (direct supervisor) showing how I have contributed to the company throughout the year.
Since this is my stronger point, I'll emphasize on this area more with resume and bibliography/cover letter.
Extracurricular - I do not have volunteer experience and I do not have any membership from clubs (nothing meaningful to mention). I see a lot of people have these written in their resume. I'm not sure how these types of extracurricular helps in truely reflect a person's character... I mean some people pay for the certificate of some memberships... What do schools look for in this part?
These are what I would put: I have worked with a partner on developing a internet website company for exotic car sourcing, I enjoy sports (particular on the achievement of cycling over 100km - personal goal), took classes for 3D modeling and animation. I have 2 years military experience, should I add this as well?
Goal & Post MBA -
I like to earn a MBA in a reputable school to stay competitive (not sure if I should put this in so bluntly?). Furthermore, I like to apply school MBA to real life MBA. I have the opportunity to run a company or to be in the management position. Where I come from (Asia-Taiwan), there's often cultural conflicts in management. I like to equip myself with a solid background and especially to directly expose myself to international environment (such as INSEAD) and experience/work with differences in thoughts/mindsets.
I'll also most likely be doing a SWOT analysis on myself applying to MBA in my coverletter/bibliography.
That's all I can think of right now. Sincerely appreciate any feedback from you.
Thank you.
I'm preparing to apply for INSEAD MBA. I'm just in the planning stage and need your comments and advice. I'm going to present myself holistically covering my characteristics, academics, success in work experience, leadership skills, and management skills. Hopefully I can tie these all up and link them to my MBA application purpose and goal with sufficient evidence to substantiate all these. Please take a look at the following points and approaches:
Education - graduated from UBC (Canada) with a mechanical engineering degree. The grades aren't that good due to some personal issues (79%). I'm trying to counter this weak point by getting as high grade in GMAT as possible (700+). I did really well in high school but I guess that's too long ago to mention? But I'll most likely mention about my diversified education background as I had education in Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.
Approach - I'll draft a curve to show my academic progression over the years and explain the setback in college and how I was able to catch up with my school work. Eventually, with my GMAT score, hopefully I can prove my academic strength. In case you are wondering, the setback was that I had to fly to LA to take care of my sick girl friend for a few weeks that year. I don't regret that a bit. I'm now happily married to her with 2 beautiful kids. I guess this shows my determination huh? Should I include this story in my presentation?
Work Experience - I have a total of 4 years experience in the same company. I worked as a sales engineer at my first year, then I was transferred to QA as the QA lead/supervisor, managing 2 persons. While I was a QA lead, I successfully installed quality management system in the company and was successfully certified by TUV and GMP. In the 3rd year, I was titled 'special assistant to General Manager' with responsibilities such as project management and management representative. In the later of the 3rd year and throughout the 4th year, I was the sales manager, leading 9 sales.
Approach - I'm getting recommendation letter from 2 of my customers (they are the world leading companies in our industry). The purpose of their letters is to show what I have achieved in the 2nd and 3rd year of my work experience as QA leader and project manager. The letters will also show my characteristics, specifically my strong management skill and people skill. They'll also show my very internationalized experience working with companies in US, Europe, and China. I'll have a 3rd letter of recommendation from my General Manager (direct supervisor) showing how I have contributed to the company throughout the year.
Since this is my stronger point, I'll emphasize on this area more with resume and bibliography/cover letter.
Extracurricular - I do not have volunteer experience and I do not have any membership from clubs (nothing meaningful to mention). I see a lot of people have these written in their resume. I'm not sure how these types of extracurricular helps in truely reflect a person's character... I mean some people pay for the certificate of some memberships... What do schools look for in this part?
These are what I would put: I have worked with a partner on developing a internet website company for exotic car sourcing, I enjoy sports (particular on the achievement of cycling over 100km - personal goal), took classes for 3D modeling and animation. I have 2 years military experience, should I add this as well?
Goal & Post MBA -
I like to earn a MBA in a reputable school to stay competitive (not sure if I should put this in so bluntly?). Furthermore, I like to apply school MBA to real life MBA. I have the opportunity to run a company or to be in the management position. Where I come from (Asia-Taiwan), there's often cultural conflicts in management. I like to equip myself with a solid background and especially to directly expose myself to international environment (such as INSEAD) and experience/work with differences in thoughts/mindsets.
I'll also most likely be doing a SWOT analysis on myself applying to MBA in my coverletter/bibliography.
That's all I can think of right now. Sincerely appreciate any feedback from you.
Thank you.
