Question about community service and work experience

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GMATcoming: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 8:37 am

by GMATcoming » Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:17 pm

Hello

I had a few of questions:

1. When B-Schools ask students to list out months of full time experience, can one include the summer internships that one had in college?
I have a Masters degree and I had 4-5 different internships adding to a total of 11-12 months. That is a substantial amount of time and I don't know if I should add that to the months of full time experience when I am applying?

2.I belong to the most doomed profile for B schools (Indian/IT male),although I am working in USA currently. I have been a volunteer fire fighter with my county's fire department (20-25 hrs/week) for 2 years. Do you think this experience would be something I can write about in my application to differentiate myself?

3. I have worked very closely with the fire chief of my department. Do you think I should consider getting a recommendation from him ?(I will be applying next year so I have plenty of time to talk to him)Could it be my second recommendation or will it have to be the optional third recommendation (if schools allow)?

THank you for your response

Source: Beat The GMAT — Ask mbaMission | Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:17 pm

GMAT/MBA Expert

mbaMissionJessica: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 148; Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:26 pmFollowed by: 9 members; Thanked: 12 times

by mbaMissionJessica » Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:36 pm

Hi, and thank you for your question. To take them in order:

1. For a question this specific, you should probably call the admissions committee directly to ask how they would like you to handle it. If you make a decision about how to include those months and want to explain your reasoning, use the Optional Essay to address that.

2. YES!!! Being engaged 20-25 hours a week in something outside of work is significant almost regardless of what it is, because of the depth and passion that time commitment shows. But on top of that to have it be something civic-minded, risk-oriented, and meaningful...it sounds like a wonderful source of topics.

3. If he has supervised you in that role for 2 years and can discuss your strengths and skills in depth and detail, then I think you could use him as your second reference.

Good luck.

Jessica Shklar
Senior Consultant
mbaMission (www.mbamission.com)
646-485-8844

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