Ask Stacy Blackman

Hello Stacy,

I am considering applying for HBS 2+2 and similar programs but I have no idea if my profile is competitive enough. Could you please give me your opinion? Thank you

I am a 24 year old female from New Caledonia (a French territory in the South Pacific. Ethnicity: Pacific Islander).
I have not taken the GMAT yet. I had 118 on my IBT (but I am not sure if this score matters since I got my Bachelor from a US institution).
You will also notice that I do not have a lot of professional experience aside from a few summer internship. That is because as an F1 student, I am unfortunately not allowed to work Do you think that this will be a big disadvantage for the 2+2?
My GPA and campus involvement could also be higher but I had quiet a hard time my first semesters. I was adjusting to the US school system and was my fiance's sole care giver (he was in and out of the hospital for years for severe medical problems.)

*Academics:

"¢San Diego State University (top 15 schools in the country for international business according to Business Week)
B. A. magna cum laude in International Business, GPA: 3.79 (I am still a senior. I am hoping to raise my GPA to 3.80 and graduate Summa Cum Laude)
Emphasis: Management, Portuguese, Latin American Studies

"¢Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil GPA: 3.68
Semester Abroad

"¢Harvard Summer School, GPA: 4.00

"¢California School of International Management
Professional Certificate in Business and Management


*Professional experience:

"¢Geron'immo Real Estate summer internship (New Caledonia)
My responsibilities included scheduling meeting with clients and website maintenance.
I actively participated in the extension of the company translating documents and meeting with English speaking clients.


"¢VACSEE - 6 months internship
VACSEE is a not-for-profit French company that organizes linguistic exchanges for high school students.
My responsibilities included event planning, negotiating prices for the activities, correspondence with the host families and general logistics.


*Leadership experience:

"¢Microfinance Global Brigades SDSU
Founder and President
Plan and oversee students' trips to Honduras to assist in the creation of local businesses and in the implementation of banking systems in under-privileged communities.
Responsibilities included raising awareness of the program both on and off campus, recruiting members, fundraising, planning joined events with other local Brigades, reporting to national headquarters and general logistics.

"¢SDSU Aztec Core Leadership Training
3 days volunteer leadership retreat for on campus student leaders.

"¢Global Brigades Leadership Training
3 days volunteer leadership training.

"¢BLINK Founder and President
Supervise officers and prepare marketing strategies for community service events (mostly large canned food drives for the benefit of the San Diego Food Bank).

"¢SDSU International Student Association
Vice President of Community Service and Outreach.
Planned and advertised several community service events and networked with local community service organizations for join projects


* Extracurricular activities:

"¢SDSU Chair of Calendar Production.
Supervised the design and production of the school's daily planner for the 2012-2013 academic year.

"¢International Studies Education Project of San Diego
Intercultural Ambassador - Received 30 hours of public speaking training
Prepared and gave presentations in elementary and high schools about New Caledonia. The goal of the presentations was to open young students to the world and inform them about future study abroad opportunities.

"¢San Diego House of France Volunteer

"¢Talent Search Literacy Tutor for underprivileged high school students.

"¢Member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society member
"¢Member of Scholars Without Borders Honor Society
"¢Member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
"¢Member of Mortar Board Honor Society member


*Languages spoken:

"¢English
"¢French
"¢Portuguese



Thank you for your time,

Nathalie