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Hi,

I'm considering the possibility of aplying to an MBA, in fact I'm working on it, but I'm having doubts about my real possibilities.
I am chilean, woman, studied Engineering in Chile (in one of the top5 of the country) and also participated in a Double degree program so I studied my last 18 months at Italy (Politecnico di Torino). My final grade was a 5,3 over 7, I was one of the best of my promotion.
After my graduation I worked in a IT project in Chile for a month and then I came to Spain to work in an Environmental Consultancy (not a very big one).
I took the GMAT and scored 680 (Q47 V37) but I'm retaking it in one month.
My idea is to take an MBA focused in International Cooperation, Non-for-Profit Management, Environment, etc, therefore my top preferences would be Columbia and Berkeley.
Do you think I have possibilities or I should think about other grad-school?

Thanks,

Fernanda

Dear Fernanda,

Thanks for your post!

You have a very unique background as a Chilean female with work experience in South America and Europe and a focus on environmental consulting. These elements alone (your gender, international background and experience in a niche industry) will give you a nice advantage in the MBA applicant pool. On the surface, I should think you could be competitive for Berkeley and CBS, but I do have a number of questions to ask and points I would like to make:

1) Your undegraduate performance sounds very solid. It helps that your degree was quantitative, as this will ease the fears that the adcom might have about your ability to excel in subjects like statistics, accounting, finance, etc. Beyond the academic performance, were you active as a student? Did you participate in any clubs, sports, cultural activities?

2) Your GMAT result of 680 is slightly below the average for your target schools, but you did manage to achieve a very balanced result (judging from your raw scores, I presume you are close to the 80th percentile in each section). If you think you can score 700+, you should certainly consider a retake. If you fail to boost the score, however, I still think you could be competitive.

3) Your post isn't terribly clear on the work experience component of your background. The key question I have for you is how long you have been working in Spain for the environmental consulting company - 1 year? 5 years? This information will be important in assessing this key aspect of your profile. I am less concerned with the fact that the firm you work for isn't a major international player - the key is what you have accomplished while you have been there.

4) Will you have recommendation letters from your present employer? This will obviously be an important component of the process.

5) What sort of outside activities/hobbies/community service have you participated in? Do you belong to any organizations in Spain? Activities are an important aspect of the MBA admissions process.

6) What exactly do you hope to do post-MBA? Can you name some target firms/NGOs that you would want to work for? What would your role be?

Assuming that everything is solid in terms of your work experience, recommendations, GMAT retake, XCs, etc you could be a very competitive applicant to top b-schools. In fact, you might even expand your scope to include programs like HBS, Stanford or Wharton.

Of course, in order to best assist you in this regard, I'd need to see a full resume and better understand your goals, past experiences, etc. Feel free to send your resume to [email protected] if you'd like to set up a free initial session to discuss your candidacy.

Best of luck,

Graham

HI!
Thank you very much for your overall evaluation, I am a bit doubtful about my chances so this is really useful.
Regarding your questions, here you have a bit more information.

1) I have to say I was not the most active student, I did participate in the schools events, and was always available for helping in organizing things, we did some nice things like a Business game, etc. But I did work as an assistant professor for the lecture of Operation Research for three semesters.

2)you are right about the Gmat it's I think it is around the 80th percentile for both sections and I really hope this time it is going to be more.

3) About my work experience. I've been working here in Spain for almost three years now. I've participated in many different kind of projects soing really very different kind of things. Since we are a small company all workers participate actively in many parts of the projects. I also manage directly a number of clients and their particular problems regardind environmental things and also other areas.
During my years in School I also did two internships of just one month each (so I don't know if it is worth mentioning them), one was in the Production PLanning Department of a Coin Industry and the other one was on the Ministry of Foreign affairs.

4)My employer will certainly give me a recomendation letter. I was planning on getting one from the professor i worked for at university.

5) In Chile i was a volunteer at a Center for "teen mothers" were I helped doing administrative works, for almost a year. Right now i'm not very active but I'm searching. I don't do a lot of sports, just yoga and I love it. I love travelling, i try to travel as much as i can.

6) Post-MBA? My goals are: UN (or other related agencies), primarly in Countries development (UDPN) plans and Environmental plans, I'll like to participate in the definition of the plans and also in the start-up of them and in-field work.

So, you still think I have some chances?

Thank you so so much for doing this! You've already been very helpful!.

Regards,

Fernanda

Fernanda,

Thanks for your follow up post and clarification.

Based on this information, I still believe that you can be a competitive candidate fo the top schools. The key variables at this point are how your application essays and other materials turn out and how the next GMAT sitting goes.

As a side note, I am not so sure I would have a univeristy professor write the second recommendation. If you've been out of school for 3+ years - and most of that time with the same employer - I should think you could have two letters from your employer (or one from a supervisor and one from a client, etc). Obviously, this is something we'd ideally need to discuss at length (our clients fill out an extensive questionnaire with information on each of the prospective recommenders, etc), but on the surface that's my initial thought.

As to your goals, they are certainly unique - just be certain that you look at where the leading MBA programs are typically sending their graduates in this field, so that you don't sound like you are a poor match for the degree, etc. In other words, you may want to mix in some additional organizations (beyond just the UN) - perhaps even major consultancies that do work in your field - to ensure that you aren't better suited for a policy degree at the Woodrow Wilson School (Princeton) or the Kennedy School (Harvard).

As I mentioned in my earlier post, you should feel free to send along your resume ([email protected]) and take advantage of Clear Admit's free initial session with an admissions counselor.

Best of luck,

Graham

Thank you very much!!! This was helpful