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Profile Evaluation

by cyclone8570 » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:31 am
Profile Evaluation please...

Male, Caucasian
Age: 25
GPA: 3.4
GMAT: 660 (Don't remember exactly but it was something like: 53% Math, 93% Verbal)
Undergrad: Engineering
Work Experience: Work for Fortune 500 (Top 5) company in Oil and Gas, 2.5 Years of Work Experience
Current Salary: $110,000+

Looking at: UT-Austin, TCU, SMU, UT-Dallas
Looking at only Part time programs
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by paulsbodine » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:53 am
cyclone8570,

Your quant score may concern the schools, so you may want to retake the GMAT. Luckily, your engineering background and GPA will reassure them to some extent. UT Austin looks like a stretch, but you should be competitive at the other schools.

--Paul
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
[email protected]
(858) 869-1959
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by cyclone8570 » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:32 am
Paul,

I am concerned that my 2.5 years of work experience will hurt my application.

I had a recent interview with a business school counselor for one of my schools listed, and it appeared like the only thing that matters is "how many years you have been working," not "who you have been working for and what you have been doing at your job, and how important it is." This is somewhat discouraging and surprising.

All other factors aside, Who would MBA schools view as the stronger candidate:

Person 1: Someone like me who works for a Top 5 fortune 500 company in an important engineering position and makes well over 100K a year. But only has 2.5 years of work experience.

Person 2: A teacher who teaches elementary school education and has 8 years of work experience. Makes < 40K a year.

Also, do schools take into where you graduated from? Or does a community college count as much as the best college in the state?

Thank you for your assistance!
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by paulsbodine » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:48 am
cyclone8570,

For most U.S. schools two years of work experience is a safe minimum, even if they prefer three to four. So you may want to ask someone more senior at that school or drop them from your list. Obviously, quality of work experience should matter more than quantity.

Your Person 1 vs. Person 2 scenario is not an obvious one, because B-schools like to attract diverse classes and would generally probably like to admit an elementary school teacher, given how many engineers they admit (no offense). The salary differential is not important, but the teacher's impact and career curve within her profession would be. Your hypothetical teacher would be hurt a bit by her age (~30). The crucial metric in comparing two candidates (GPA, GMAT aside) is their relative impact/leadershp track record, career pace, not the brand of their company, their salary, or their title.

Regarding quality of school, yes, schools are very sensitive to the relative rigor of your schools. They will understand the difference between a high GPA at a weak school or in an easy major and a lower GPA at a tough school or in a tough major. No worries there.

Good luck,
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
[email protected]
(858) 869-1959
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by cyclone8570 » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:53 am
Thanks for the excellent response Paul. You are a big help! =)
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