Ask Stacy Blackman

Hi I just graduated few weeks ago and I just started to putting together the admission package for MBA admissions for the fall of 2011. Hopefully I can turn everything in by R2. Please take a look at my record.

Here are the list of schools I want to get into

Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, USC, UCI

Lets start with my information

- 3.45/Business Economic/Fullerton College-Cal State Fullerton 2007-2010 (Finished School in less than 4yrs)
- Haven't take the Gmat yet. I just started on the 60 day study plan.
- I served 4 years in the Marines from 2002-2006 as an enlisted deployed to Iraq three times Got promoted to Segregant in the 4 years
- 2006-2008 Group Fitness Instructor 2007-2008
- 2008 Tutor for kids for an non profit company
- Started my own company(Self employ doing fitness bootcamp and mainly contract with cities to work with kids)

Here are few questions I got

- extracurricular involvements
Got a question here. I spend a lot of time helping out local Marine recruiters but we didn't log in any hours, how can I prove this?

Also is it worth it if I start to volunteer in the tutoring center at the local junior college? Because first I enjoy helping other students with Econ (Of course I would only tutor Econ), and second I can also use that time to study for the gmat. I see a lot of volunteers in the tutor center before when they planned to transfer to a good school from the junior college. (I never did much with extracurricular involvements because I never thought about going to an elite school until my senior year, also I didn't have much time because I always took 15+ units and work at the same time. And I thought spending 4 years in the Marines would be good enough, but now I would like to increase my chance if I can.)

- awards, patents, publications, etc...

Should military awards includes in here?

- interesting personal facts - countries lived in, challenges faced, unusual interests

I grown up in Hong Kong and moved to the US when I was 13. First in the family to attend college(No one attended high school in my family). I was a 2.0 GPA student in high school (I am going to write an essay on how the military changed my view on education). lived on my own since I was 18 and my family relocated back to China. Had to paid for everything on my own.

Questions on letter of reference
Who should write my letter of references? Like Stanford ask for 2 professional/workplace references and a peer reference.

You must obtain at least one recommendation from your current direct supervisor.
If you are unable to provide a letter from your current direct supervisor, include a brief note of explanation in the Additional Information section of the online application.
College seniors may use a direct supervisor from a summer, part-time, or internship experience. Alternatively, you may ask someone who oversaw you in an extracurricular, volunteer, or community activity.
Your second Professional/Workplace Letter of Reference must come from someone else in a position to evaluate your work
-another supervisor, a previous supervisor, a client, etc.

Since I am self employ do I just get my recommendation from my clients? Also how about professors? I had close relationships with most of my professors so it wouldn't be a problem for me to get a letter of references from my professors or clients. Also what about people that I work with through the city? Like the city members that I work with to run my fitness camp in the city?

Also letters of reference from my clients would it be smart if I ask people from the school I am applying to to write the letter? Like I got clients from USC, UCLA, UCI and they would write a letter of reference for me, so I think it would be smart if I just match them up when I send in the letter of reference right?(As you can see I am currently living in So Cal)

1 Peer Reference
An individual with whom you have worked on a team or on a project, in a position equal to your own, should complete this recommendation. This person should not be a supervisor or subordinate. You may choose this person from any of your team experiences: charitable, extracurricular, professional, or other.
The peer recommender cannot be your supervisor or subordinate.

Same problem since I am self employ, would this be a fellow student? or who else should I ask to write this?

This is a lot of information. So please let me know if you can answer few of my questions and help me improve my resume. Thanks alot!