I'm planning on applying in Round 1 this fall to HBS, Wharton, Columbia, and MIT.
Age: 30 (will be 31 at time of entry)
GMAT: 720
Education:
College -- Completed a BA/MA program from a top 40 school according to USNWR national university rankings. (Turned down offers from top 10 schools to attend the top school in my home state on a full ride). GPA was 3.86 in my BA and 3.89 in my MA (health care field). Graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa w/r/t the BA, which included a triple major in 3 liberal arts disciplines and a science minor.
Law School -- Ivy league top 10 law school. GPA was a 3.21.
Years of experience: 4 years FT (49 months to be exact) of big law firm Commercial Real Estate/M&A experience. Resigned from job and took a "break" for 7 months for personal reasons. (Did some non-profit consulting work part-time for 3 months during that 7 month stint and also remained very involved with community activities and did some GMAT prep and self-exploration while also taking care of mother who was going through chemo.) Will have about 18 months of FT work experience as a law school administrator at point of application, 25 at point of matriculation.
I've seen that on some apps the schools also count up FT internships during college/law school. In that case, that would add another 19 months onto my tally, not to mention the time between November '12 - Summer '13 before starting grad school (apparently some factor that in as well?) All in all, that would put me at 93 months of FT work experience.
Other/"Extra's":
-Have served in leadership positions of 3 non-profit Associate Boards in my city (one dedicated to domestic violence and two to empowering minority high school students), eventually becoming the Chair/President of 2. Was also very active in my firm's diversity and pro bono committees (and led sub-committees/programs for 2-3 years there). Also the director of a pro bono legal clinic for victims of domestic violence (with personal experience handling family law and immigration cases for some of these clients) and handled an interesting international human rights case while at the firm. Also a VP of an ethnic bar association that has 6000+ members across north america.
-Award recipient of 5 awards in the past 2 years for my community involvement, pro bono legal work that I do, and law student mentoring I've done, 1 of which was a national ethnic bar association award.
Why the MBA Story:
I entered law school thinking I wanted to practice health law and be a hospital administrator. I worked at a hospital law department my first summer and found that I did not enjoy practicing health law but I fell in love with real estate law and really enjoyed the real estate work I got to assist with that summer. The hospital was buying up properties in low-income neighborhoods and building hospital facilities thereby improving the surrounding neighborhoods. I also grew up in that city and saw how blighted neighborhoods were redeveloped through various new businesses and homes being built so always had a strange fascination with urban development. (Added to which, I moved from my Midwestern home to a South Asian country at the age of 9 and spent a few of my formative years struck by the stark contrast of wealth and poverty and again, saw how different neighborhoods were improved by commercial real estate development while, in that case, still preserving historic buildings.)
I came back to law school after that summer experience and took courses in urban policy and real estate from the business school at the university and also some real estate law courses. I entered a big law firm that did public finance/commercial real estate in Fall 2006 but the market for that work dried up FAST and the group ended up cutting people so I ended up doing M&A/private equity in the Corporate Law department instead before leaving after 4 years.
During my time at the law firm, I also did a 9 month real estate training program for minorities from '08-'09 which again, was a terrible time for real estate jobs, and so the 7-10 jobs that were promised to be available for the 25 people in the program at the start of the program ended up going down to 2, both of which required a relocation. Hence, I could not transition to the industry as I had hoped. I also met with various urban housing authority people (many of whom had JDs) and did informational interviews with them to try to get some advice about breaking into the market. All of them said that if I want to do real estate and urban development work, I should go back to school and get a MBA and also possibly pick up more courses in urban policy and urban design. I applied for jobs that made next to nothing in the hopes of just breaking into the market but had no luck despite making MANY contacts and connections and attending several professional real estate association networking events. As such, I'm now looking to apply to programs with solid real estate offerings but that also have great urban policy and social entrepreneurship course offerings.
Target Schools (reasons):
-Harvard (great social entrepreneurship track at the b-school, few real estate course offerings at the b-school as well, ability to take up to 4 RE courses from their school of design and from MIT as well as the public policy offerings at Kennedy)
-Columbia (great MBA with a focus in Real Estate, though it's more finance-based. They also have a wonderful RE Development Masters that has awesome design and development training that is 12 months -- would even consider doing that as an add-on to a MBA (which would teach me the finance stuff I need) but again, am afraid of looking like a degree collector.)
-MIT (great MBA with a focus in Real Estate; also has a Real Estate Masters)
-Wharton (great MBA with a focus in Real Estate)
-also considering USC and Cornell but for the fact that with USC, I don't want to be too far from my parents (who live in the Midwest), and Ithaca seems like a depressing place to live.
Areas of Concern (ordered by greatest concern --> least concern):
-My age/work experience. I've been told that certain schools will view me as too old/too experienced, Harvard especially. I had hoped to apply in Fall 2010 but got derailed because my Mom got sick (more on this below). Essentially, this has meant that I'm tacking 2 extra years of WE onto my resume and the work that I'm now doing fits a "side" passion but has nothing to do with what I want to do with a MBA.
-Fighting the Degree Collector Stereotype. I'm concerned I will be viewed as indecisive or as a degree collector because of my love of learning and diverse areas of interest and also as someone running away from the law. I've got a reason for wanting the MBA. I haven't been in school for a while so I clearly have thought this whole thing through and done my due diligence as to why I want the degree. But, still concerned about this.
-Law School GPA being so much lower (3.21) compared to the (3.86/3.89 in my BA/MA program). (a) law school was wicked hard, b) I was studying at a much better school than my undergrad, and c) my Mom was first diagnosed with cancer during this time and it was my first time living in a city away from home).
-Weight. I know that this one might sound silly to some but I'm a plus-sized girl and I've been told by friends who conduct admissions interviews for top 10 B-Schools that one of the questions on their evaluation forms is appearance. While I'm a fairly confident person and also have learned to dress in suits that are more flattering to my figure (as much as that is possible), I know that I've faced weight discrimination in the past. I'm working with a personal trainer to try to drop some weight before the fall and have also scaled back on my outside activities to focus more of my time and attention in the next few months on the application process and my health but I don't anticipate being able to get out of plus sized clothing by the time of my interviews.
-The 7 month gap. I was the only person who could care for her and b/c of all of the layoffs going on at my firm and the fact that I was not being given the option to take a leave of absence, I up and quit and moved 350 miles to be at home. I don't regret the decision in the least (especially since I had determined that I wanted to change routes and go back to grad school). But, not sure how the adcomm's will react to such an explanation.
Age: 30 (will be 31 at time of entry)
GMAT: 720
Education:
College -- Completed a BA/MA program from a top 40 school according to USNWR national university rankings. (Turned down offers from top 10 schools to attend the top school in my home state on a full ride). GPA was 3.86 in my BA and 3.89 in my MA (health care field). Graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa w/r/t the BA, which included a triple major in 3 liberal arts disciplines and a science minor.
Law School -- Ivy league top 10 law school. GPA was a 3.21.
Years of experience: 4 years FT (49 months to be exact) of big law firm Commercial Real Estate/M&A experience. Resigned from job and took a "break" for 7 months for personal reasons. (Did some non-profit consulting work part-time for 3 months during that 7 month stint and also remained very involved with community activities and did some GMAT prep and self-exploration while also taking care of mother who was going through chemo.) Will have about 18 months of FT work experience as a law school administrator at point of application, 25 at point of matriculation.
I've seen that on some apps the schools also count up FT internships during college/law school. In that case, that would add another 19 months onto my tally, not to mention the time between November '12 - Summer '13 before starting grad school (apparently some factor that in as well?) All in all, that would put me at 93 months of FT work experience.
Other/"Extra's":
-Have served in leadership positions of 3 non-profit Associate Boards in my city (one dedicated to domestic violence and two to empowering minority high school students), eventually becoming the Chair/President of 2. Was also very active in my firm's diversity and pro bono committees (and led sub-committees/programs for 2-3 years there). Also the director of a pro bono legal clinic for victims of domestic violence (with personal experience handling family law and immigration cases for some of these clients) and handled an interesting international human rights case while at the firm. Also a VP of an ethnic bar association that has 6000+ members across north america.
-Award recipient of 5 awards in the past 2 years for my community involvement, pro bono legal work that I do, and law student mentoring I've done, 1 of which was a national ethnic bar association award.
Why the MBA Story:
I entered law school thinking I wanted to practice health law and be a hospital administrator. I worked at a hospital law department my first summer and found that I did not enjoy practicing health law but I fell in love with real estate law and really enjoyed the real estate work I got to assist with that summer. The hospital was buying up properties in low-income neighborhoods and building hospital facilities thereby improving the surrounding neighborhoods. I also grew up in that city and saw how blighted neighborhoods were redeveloped through various new businesses and homes being built so always had a strange fascination with urban development. (Added to which, I moved from my Midwestern home to a South Asian country at the age of 9 and spent a few of my formative years struck by the stark contrast of wealth and poverty and again, saw how different neighborhoods were improved by commercial real estate development while, in that case, still preserving historic buildings.)
I came back to law school after that summer experience and took courses in urban policy and real estate from the business school at the university and also some real estate law courses. I entered a big law firm that did public finance/commercial real estate in Fall 2006 but the market for that work dried up FAST and the group ended up cutting people so I ended up doing M&A/private equity in the Corporate Law department instead before leaving after 4 years.
During my time at the law firm, I also did a 9 month real estate training program for minorities from '08-'09 which again, was a terrible time for real estate jobs, and so the 7-10 jobs that were promised to be available for the 25 people in the program at the start of the program ended up going down to 2, both of which required a relocation. Hence, I could not transition to the industry as I had hoped. I also met with various urban housing authority people (many of whom had JDs) and did informational interviews with them to try to get some advice about breaking into the market. All of them said that if I want to do real estate and urban development work, I should go back to school and get a MBA and also possibly pick up more courses in urban policy and urban design. I applied for jobs that made next to nothing in the hopes of just breaking into the market but had no luck despite making MANY contacts and connections and attending several professional real estate association networking events. As such, I'm now looking to apply to programs with solid real estate offerings but that also have great urban policy and social entrepreneurship course offerings.
Target Schools (reasons):
-Harvard (great social entrepreneurship track at the b-school, few real estate course offerings at the b-school as well, ability to take up to 4 RE courses from their school of design and from MIT as well as the public policy offerings at Kennedy)
-Columbia (great MBA with a focus in Real Estate, though it's more finance-based. They also have a wonderful RE Development Masters that has awesome design and development training that is 12 months -- would even consider doing that as an add-on to a MBA (which would teach me the finance stuff I need) but again, am afraid of looking like a degree collector.)
-MIT (great MBA with a focus in Real Estate; also has a Real Estate Masters)
-Wharton (great MBA with a focus in Real Estate)
-also considering USC and Cornell but for the fact that with USC, I don't want to be too far from my parents (who live in the Midwest), and Ithaca seems like a depressing place to live.
Areas of Concern (ordered by greatest concern --> least concern):
-My age/work experience. I've been told that certain schools will view me as too old/too experienced, Harvard especially. I had hoped to apply in Fall 2010 but got derailed because my Mom got sick (more on this below). Essentially, this has meant that I'm tacking 2 extra years of WE onto my resume and the work that I'm now doing fits a "side" passion but has nothing to do with what I want to do with a MBA.
-Fighting the Degree Collector Stereotype. I'm concerned I will be viewed as indecisive or as a degree collector because of my love of learning and diverse areas of interest and also as someone running away from the law. I've got a reason for wanting the MBA. I haven't been in school for a while so I clearly have thought this whole thing through and done my due diligence as to why I want the degree. But, still concerned about this.
-Law School GPA being so much lower (3.21) compared to the (3.86/3.89 in my BA/MA program). (a) law school was wicked hard, b) I was studying at a much better school than my undergrad, and c) my Mom was first diagnosed with cancer during this time and it was my first time living in a city away from home).
-Weight. I know that this one might sound silly to some but I'm a plus-sized girl and I've been told by friends who conduct admissions interviews for top 10 B-Schools that one of the questions on their evaluation forms is appearance. While I'm a fairly confident person and also have learned to dress in suits that are more flattering to my figure (as much as that is possible), I know that I've faced weight discrimination in the past. I'm working with a personal trainer to try to drop some weight before the fall and have also scaled back on my outside activities to focus more of my time and attention in the next few months on the application process and my health but I don't anticipate being able to get out of plus sized clothing by the time of my interviews.
-The 7 month gap. I was the only person who could care for her and b/c of all of the layoffs going on at my firm and the fact that I was not being given the option to take a leave of absence, I up and quit and moved 350 miles to be at home. I don't regret the decision in the least (especially since I had determined that I wanted to change routes and go back to grad school). But, not sure how the adcomm's will react to such an explanation.
Last edited by LawGirl30 on Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
