Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry. I believe that your relatively low GMAT will be largely mitigated your very strong undergrad performance (congratulations!).

Your unusual work experience has both pros and cons: con is what you mentioned, not high level of responsibility (I think adcoms will have an idea of this level but won’t have detailed knowledge, though your resume will clarify/reveal that point); pros are differentiated industry/experience, familiarity with top TV shows. The challenge and opportunity for you is to turn this experience into a clear positive, especially if it relates to your goals. Do that by discussing what you learned/gained from the experience (whether skills, industry knowledge, personal growth, etc.) – which also will provide something fresh for the adcom readers, who don’t see a lot of apps from this industry and especially from this part of it. That said, HBS and Stanford seem a little out of range, but I can’t tell without further probing into the specifics of your profile/background.

Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com

cindytokumitsu wrote:Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry. I believe that your relatively low GMAT will be largely mitigated your very strong undergrad performance (congratulations!).

Your unusual work experience has both pros and cons: con is what you mentioned, not high level of responsibility (I think adcoms will have an idea of this level but won’t have detailed knowledge, though your resume will clarify/reveal that point); pros are differentiated industry/experience, familiarity with top TV shows. The challenge and opportunity for you is to turn this experience into a clear positive, especially if it relates to your goals. Do that by discussing what you learned/gained from the experience (whether skills, industry knowledge, personal growth, etc.) – which also will provide something fresh for the adcom readers, who don’t see a lot of apps from this industry and especially from this part of it. That said, HBS and Stanford seem a little out of range, but I can’t tell without further probing into the specifics of your profile/background.

Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com

Cindy,

Could you please further comment on why you think Harvard and Stanford are out of range for me? Doesn't it matter that I was valedictorian of my college? And my GMAT (690) is certainly within range for either of those schools (though slightly below). Since Harvard and Stanford see few applicants from the tv industry, shouldn't that give me advantage over the throngs of bankers and IT professionals?