Lead me the way...

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Lead me the way...

by DavidLynch » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:07 pm
Hey guys

I am a newbie both for this forum and for this mba journey.. So there are a lot of things for me to learn from you all... right now i just wanna share my concerns about it and try to get the courage to success. I am from Turkey and i've graduated from from Top5 university of my country as an electronics engineer in 2005. After that without any break i started to graduate education in #1 university of my country in my technical field. but things didnt go well there for me , somewhere in the middle i've lost my passion for my own major field and left the graduartion in 2008 after taking 8 grad. lessons and with a gpa of 2.8 but i didnt give my thesis so i guess my gpa doesnt count ... Anyways last month i evaluated myself about my future and suddenly it hit me that i want to be in the bussiness side of my field not in the technical side.. So i've planned to apply for B-schools ... And along this journey i'd require your asistance so much.My undergrad GPa was 75,19/100 which is not good i guess but i think it doesnt kill my chances right? I am gonna take TOEFL and GMAT respectively in 2 months but as a guidance i can say that in 2005 i got 263 from TOEFL CBT. I' started to study GMAT today. BUt yesterday without knowing anything about it i took the GMATPrep1 and got 640 which is ok i guess for starters.. My goal is getting 700+ ...My first choice of university is Berkeley HAAS but i don't think i stand a chance for there cause my references and e.c activities is not gonna help me in this journey.. i got 4 years of work experience but i achieved nothing stellar in this experience..thanks for reading this long piece and lead me the way ))

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by beatthegmat » Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:43 pm
Congrats on starting your MBA journey! You've come to the right place, since we're a very friendly community community that wants to see you succeed.

It sounds like you are planning to apply to business school Fall 2010, correct? It's a little late in this current season to get started with you applications.

A couple notes I took from your profile: you are off to a great start with your GMAT prep. Scoring a 640 on your first GMATPrep test is a really great sign, and getting to a 700+ sounds feasible. Focus on preparing a GMAT prep study plan that spans 8-12 weeks. There are plenty of resources here to help with forming your own strategy.

Try to take your first GMAT test in March/April. That is an excellent time to take the test because it will give you enough of a buffer to retake if necessary.

It sounds like you have plans to study internationally. Haas is an awesome school and very competitive. If you are targeting top US schools, I highly recommend that you purchase 'How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs' by Richard Montauk. It's a big book but a fast read, and a great resources to orient yourself on what it takes to get admitted to competitive programs.

Hope that this post gives you a good start. Keep asking your questions in this community. And welcome to Beat The GMAT!
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by DavidLynch » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:54 am
Dear Eric

Thank you for helping me out... Right now i am very sure that i came to the right place... Unfortunately you're right about the timing.. It's gonna be late for me to apply for Fall 2010 but i guess some schools have R3 deadline in April ? Anyway after my first GMATPrep i looked over my mistakes and saw that i have to study for the Sentence Correction and i got Manhattan SC book right away ... and i also got OG12 .... my quant was Q50 so i don't think i have to study for the Quant section other than solving lots of tests... I am planning to take Gmatprep2 next week to see how much progress i make with studying to verbal..then according to that result i am gonna set my real test date... what do you think about my ideas ?
About the university i chose , as i told i have a BSc degree on Electronics Engineering so MBA on Information Systems would be good for me ..? and aside from my love for California , i think UC schools or Stanford would be great being in the neighbourhood of Silicon Valley ...these are my initial thoughts and i am open for suggestions ..thanks again for everything...

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by beatthegmat » Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:05 am
Hi David,

It seems like you're taking the right next steps for your prep, however I urge you to take your second GMATPrep test right at the end of your GMAT studies to gauge your improvement. While you prep, use other practice tests.

I think it would be a good idea to book your test date anyway, say early April. Why? If you invest in the test now it will make you more invested in your prep since you have a hard date to work toward. Just my two cents.

As you investigate your prospective MBA programs, start by first understanding what you want to do after an MBA. For example, if you wanted to do finance, I would then work background to see what good finance MBA programs are out there. In your case it sounds like you may want to do something in tech. Think about what roles within tech, like entrepreneurship, product management, marketing, etc. Once you've narrowed down your career vision, picking schools should get easier.

Good luck!
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by DavidLynch » Tue Dec 01, 2009 12:46 pm
Hi again Eric,

Thanks for your guidance again and you don't how much i need for it ... I will take the gmatprep2 later as you said... But then again i am thinking to take the real test in January to get acquainted with it..Who knows may be i'l get a good score :)
And as for the programs , i think i'll pass the entreprenurship cause i've been there and done that :) I had my own company for 2 years as an IT consultancy and reseller of products to big foundations but thanks to the great economic crisis , i had to shut it down :( But along that way i realized something i want to be in this bussiness with the exec positions of big brand names such as Dell,HP, Apple etc.. i've met few important people of these brands Turkey Office staff.. and i think i can get one or two solid references from them ..(One of them is Fujitsu Siemens Marketing Director and Wharton Alumni ) ...Would that be much of a help cause the experience and references sides are my two negative points in the application.. With this little more info what can you suggest me ? Which schools which programs and etc... i am all ears :) Thank you...

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by beatthegmat » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:27 pm
I may not be the right guy to ask about specific programs. For those questions, definitely ask our Admissions Consultants in this community, under the 'Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant' forum. There are plenty of experts there to help you narrow down your search. Prior to asking them though, I recommend that you do your own personal due diligence by examining various rankings sites (USNews, BusinessWeek) and visiting individual school websites. It's a worthwhile exercise!

Good luck!
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by DavidLynch » Fri Jan 15, 2010 3:22 pm
Hi again for everyone ...

It's been a while since i first posted here and here is what happened since then.. as you know i've started to study in December but till now i only finished one book which is MGMAT Sentence Corr. i didnt have time to review it again and i've already booked my test date on 23 Jan.. and i think this wont be the only gmat i'd take.. in my first week of study i took the gmatprep1 and got 640 and today i took gmatprep2 and got 690 .. this may be promising but for now i wont be able to put it any higher with the time remaining. i almost understand my weak areas with the exam which is Reading Comprehension.beauce english is not my native lang. i have quite difficulty in understanding reading para. do you have any suggestions besides vocabulary improvement ?

Thanks in advance...