Ask Clear Admit

Hello,

I'm a 28-year old African American who received a B.S. in Business Administration and B.A. in Chinese from a top 2 private school in California. I studied abroad for 1 year in Beijing, China, and speak advanced-level Chinese.

I have 4 years of work experience in South Korea. I spent 2 years working as an English teacher and 2 years working as the Academic Director of the biggest English academy in South Korea where I managed over 10 instructors, recruited new instructors, and handled all administrative tasks in my branch. I speak advanced-level Korean as well.

I hope to use an MBA to transition from the Education industry to international trade. My parents are from Kenya, so I would like to get involved with trade between Kenya and East Asian countries.

If it helps, I'm a dual passport holder (USA & Kenya) and I've written a short book in Chinese which chronicles my times in China. I'm currently working on a short book in Korean.

I got a 720 GMAT (V41/Q48) on my first and only try. What are my chances of getting into a top school?

Thanks for your help.

Hi Greatone2687,

Thanks for your post.

It sounds like you have had amazing experiences over the last four years! Your international experience (particularly in a management role) will be an asset to your candidacy. In addition, with your strong GMAT score and unique interests (writing), you should have an excellent shot at top schools.

I recommend continuing to refine your career goals. International trade is not a common post-MBA route, so it will be particularly important to demonstrate that you thoroughly understand your career path and can be successful. I suggest aiming to include in your essays company names and job titles for the positions you would like to recruit for as an MBA student.

A couple important items you did not mention are your GPA and extracurricular involvement (college and post-college). Presuming both are in line with top schools (~3.5 GPA, a couple leadership roles in extracurricular activities), then I suggest thinking of HBS and Stanford as "reach schools (~1 in 4 chance of acceptance), Wharton, Sloan, Booth, Kellogg, Haas, and Columbia as "target" schools (~1 in 3 chance of acceptance), and Fuqua, Ross, and Anderson as "safety" schools (~1 in 2 chance of acceptance). A suggested recommendation strategy is targeting 2 reach schools, 2 (of 3) target schools, and 1 (or 0) safety schools.

Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] for a free detailed profile evaluation. Good luck!

Best,
Heidi