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NeinWunOne
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:20 am
Questions to pose to our advisors (and thanks in advance, I know this is taking away from your busy schedule in posting in these forums).
1.) Do the schools look like the right mix pursuant to my career objectives?
2.) Are my chances competitive, realistic, or far-fetched for the target schools?
3.) Are there any other schools I may want to consider given your experiences in working with applicants?
4.) Should I be concerned about my GMAT score? I realize that 680 falls about 1/2 standard deviation under the mean of my target schools, but it was actually the highest in all of my practice exams. I would prefer to spend my time on essays, not on freaking out over this exam (again), but I would like to hear your advice regarding this since I'm sure you've encountered many others in this same "on the fence" spot.
Profile
Race: 2nd generation Chinese American
Age: 28 (29 at presumed matriculation)
Born: Seattle, WA
Current Location: Seattle, WA
Career Goal: Games industry - executive producer or studio manager (general manager); this was a childhood dream of mine
Undergraduate
Alma Mater: University of Washington with double bachelors (totaling 225 credits instead of 180 for single) in
(1) B.A. Mathematics
(2) B.A. Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems
GPA: 3.6 overall; 3.5 mathematics; 3.7 business
Years Attended: 1998-2002
Honors: Phi Eta Sigma (inducted freshman year), National Society of Collegiate Scholars (inducted sophomore year), Golden Key (inducted junior year)
Extracirriculars:
* Very active throughout undergraduate: about 10 hours a week for four years was devoted to various causes split among the three honor societies (Primary PES) including Northwest Harvest (food bank), Special Olympics, and teaching mathematics at an underprivileged high school.
* I was also very active in supporting my former high school in assisting them with coaching and debate judging for my first two years at UW. (National Forensic League: Rank of Distinction from high-school cross-examination debates and judging while in college)
* I've been practicing Taekwondo for over 16 years and am still very active in it. I was a student of it during college (4 hrs/wk), and now I am volunteering about 5 hours a week teaching young teen + adults at a local club as a 3rd degree black belt instructor. Most of my "leadership training" neither came from work nor school; it came from my devotion in teaching this art to others and effectively "managing success through others".
* For the last 3 years, I also took up kendo and iaido (classical Japanese swordsmanship) to help compliment my martial arts training and to help provide mental and spiritual guidance for myself; approximately 3/hours a week.
* Other passions: piano (although I'm not very good at it), backcountry downhill skiing, and hiking in the Pacific NW
Languages:
(1) English; native
(2) Cantonese Chinese; conversational
(3) Japanese; basic - 4th kyu (elementary) certified
(4) French; used to be conversational but very much out of practice since I haven't used it in about 10 years
GMAT
AWA: 6.0 (90%)
Quantative: 48 (83%)
Verbal: 35 (73%)
Total; 680 (86%)
Attempts: 1
Undergraduate Work Experience (3 years) - I supported myself through college by taking on a series of part-time jobs, one of which I created myself as an entrepreneur:
1.) During sophomore and junior years: Founded a small business entrepreneurial project with roomate (also a UW business school student) to understand the inner workings of how to run a small business. Started with $1000 seed money and netted about $17.5k in two years. [10 hrs/wk]
2.) During junior and senior years: Took on a series of academic jobs, including tutoring mathematics at the Mathematics Study Center, grader for an business (Operations Management) course, and most interestingly, an undergraduate Teaching Assistant post for an information systems lab for first-year Foster MBA students. The circumstances were fairly unusual - at the time, there was a graduate student strike which disrupted and caused work shortages. Normally reserved for MBA or graduate students, I was given the chance to fill in one of the TA slots. [10 hrs/wk]
3.) An internship with a startup technology company that started from my summer between freshman and sophomore years, but it ended up lasting until I graduated (3 years). Was promoted twice during my 3-year "internship". [10 hrs/wk]
Postgraduate Work Experience (6 years):
* The job market around 2002 was ugly due to the tech market collapse + Enron/Arthur Andersen collapse. My plans to go into business consulting were abruptly stopped. I had to "re-invent" myself quickly and found that software engineering, although not ideal, was a suitable alternative career path.
1.) 2003-2005: 2 years as an entry-level software test engineer; promoted once
2.) 2005-2009: Landed my first gig at my dream industry found a job as a software test engineer at Microsoft Game Studios; promoted once.
About two years into this position is when I finally felt mature enough to consider an MBA, but I wanted to get more leadership and project management experience before applying. While I was able to get 1 great year of project management experience, and while I was currently shifting into project management and operations when...
* Earlier this year, I was laid off from my position; it was not due to performance but a business decision to shift resources from test into other engineering and business / managerial positions.
3.) 2009+: I found a 1-year contract job back at Microsoft Game Studios as a entry-level tester (definitely not ideal, but the decision was made to accept this because it would have avoided being unemployed or having a break in employment history, but this does reprsent literally 3-4 steps back in career)
* While not ideal, this does create an even more exigent need for me to pursue my MBA, but at the same time, I don't want to sound like I am pursuing an MBA strictly as a means to get out of this economic mess. It was a long-term goal, and the timing of my layoff was right where I felt I was about to take off and soar.
* I have strong recommenders, including my former manager who can attest that I was laid off not because for performance reasons (otherwise he would not have accepted my request for a recommendation).
Target Schools:
1.) Stanford (stretch)
2.) Harvard (stretch)
3.) MIT (semi-stretch); "realistic" dream school
4.) Haas; my brother graduated from Berkeley in Economics and sold me on its business program
5.) Northwestern; the "other" realistic dream school - also my Microsoft mentor just left to attend Kellogg
6.) Anderson (UCLA) under consideration because of its close ties in media entertainment / games
7.) Foster (UW), but with some reservations about applying to alma mater for MBA - however, the application round for the TMMBA program is in August so I will apply to this next year if I do not get accepted to the other schools.
Areas of Interest:
Industry - interactive entertainment ("video games")
* Operations/Process Management
* Business Strategy
* Marketing & Teamwork
Career Goal: The same as it ever was, games business management / project manager in games as a producer
- Dave
1.) Do the schools look like the right mix pursuant to my career objectives?
2.) Are my chances competitive, realistic, or far-fetched for the target schools?
3.) Are there any other schools I may want to consider given your experiences in working with applicants?
4.) Should I be concerned about my GMAT score? I realize that 680 falls about 1/2 standard deviation under the mean of my target schools, but it was actually the highest in all of my practice exams. I would prefer to spend my time on essays, not on freaking out over this exam (again), but I would like to hear your advice regarding this since I'm sure you've encountered many others in this same "on the fence" spot.
Profile
Race: 2nd generation Chinese American
Age: 28 (29 at presumed matriculation)
Born: Seattle, WA
Current Location: Seattle, WA
Career Goal: Games industry - executive producer or studio manager (general manager); this was a childhood dream of mine
Undergraduate
Alma Mater: University of Washington with double bachelors (totaling 225 credits instead of 180 for single) in
(1) B.A. Mathematics
(2) B.A. Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems
GPA: 3.6 overall; 3.5 mathematics; 3.7 business
Years Attended: 1998-2002
Honors: Phi Eta Sigma (inducted freshman year), National Society of Collegiate Scholars (inducted sophomore year), Golden Key (inducted junior year)
Extracirriculars:
* Very active throughout undergraduate: about 10 hours a week for four years was devoted to various causes split among the three honor societies (Primary PES) including Northwest Harvest (food bank), Special Olympics, and teaching mathematics at an underprivileged high school.
* I was also very active in supporting my former high school in assisting them with coaching and debate judging for my first two years at UW. (National Forensic League: Rank of Distinction from high-school cross-examination debates and judging while in college)
* I've been practicing Taekwondo for over 16 years and am still very active in it. I was a student of it during college (4 hrs/wk), and now I am volunteering about 5 hours a week teaching young teen + adults at a local club as a 3rd degree black belt instructor. Most of my "leadership training" neither came from work nor school; it came from my devotion in teaching this art to others and effectively "managing success through others".
* For the last 3 years, I also took up kendo and iaido (classical Japanese swordsmanship) to help compliment my martial arts training and to help provide mental and spiritual guidance for myself; approximately 3/hours a week.
* Other passions: piano (although I'm not very good at it), backcountry downhill skiing, and hiking in the Pacific NW
Languages:
(1) English; native
(2) Cantonese Chinese; conversational
(3) Japanese; basic - 4th kyu (elementary) certified
(4) French; used to be conversational but very much out of practice since I haven't used it in about 10 years
GMAT
AWA: 6.0 (90%)
Quantative: 48 (83%)
Verbal: 35 (73%)
Total; 680 (86%)
Attempts: 1
Undergraduate Work Experience (3 years) - I supported myself through college by taking on a series of part-time jobs, one of which I created myself as an entrepreneur:
1.) During sophomore and junior years: Founded a small business entrepreneurial project with roomate (also a UW business school student) to understand the inner workings of how to run a small business. Started with $1000 seed money and netted about $17.5k in two years. [10 hrs/wk]
2.) During junior and senior years: Took on a series of academic jobs, including tutoring mathematics at the Mathematics Study Center, grader for an business (Operations Management) course, and most interestingly, an undergraduate Teaching Assistant post for an information systems lab for first-year Foster MBA students. The circumstances were fairly unusual - at the time, there was a graduate student strike which disrupted and caused work shortages. Normally reserved for MBA or graduate students, I was given the chance to fill in one of the TA slots. [10 hrs/wk]
3.) An internship with a startup technology company that started from my summer between freshman and sophomore years, but it ended up lasting until I graduated (3 years). Was promoted twice during my 3-year "internship". [10 hrs/wk]
Postgraduate Work Experience (6 years):
* The job market around 2002 was ugly due to the tech market collapse + Enron/Arthur Andersen collapse. My plans to go into business consulting were abruptly stopped. I had to "re-invent" myself quickly and found that software engineering, although not ideal, was a suitable alternative career path.
1.) 2003-2005: 2 years as an entry-level software test engineer; promoted once
2.) 2005-2009: Landed my first gig at my dream industry found a job as a software test engineer at Microsoft Game Studios; promoted once.
About two years into this position is when I finally felt mature enough to consider an MBA, but I wanted to get more leadership and project management experience before applying. While I was able to get 1 great year of project management experience, and while I was currently shifting into project management and operations when...
* Earlier this year, I was laid off from my position; it was not due to performance but a business decision to shift resources from test into other engineering and business / managerial positions.
3.) 2009+: I found a 1-year contract job back at Microsoft Game Studios as a entry-level tester (definitely not ideal, but the decision was made to accept this because it would have avoided being unemployed or having a break in employment history, but this does reprsent literally 3-4 steps back in career)
* While not ideal, this does create an even more exigent need for me to pursue my MBA, but at the same time, I don't want to sound like I am pursuing an MBA strictly as a means to get out of this economic mess. It was a long-term goal, and the timing of my layoff was right where I felt I was about to take off and soar.
* I have strong recommenders, including my former manager who can attest that I was laid off not because for performance reasons (otherwise he would not have accepted my request for a recommendation).
Target Schools:
1.) Stanford (stretch)
2.) Harvard (stretch)
3.) MIT (semi-stretch); "realistic" dream school
4.) Haas; my brother graduated from Berkeley in Economics and sold me on its business program
5.) Northwestern; the "other" realistic dream school - also my Microsoft mentor just left to attend Kellogg
6.) Anderson (UCLA) under consideration because of its close ties in media entertainment / games
7.) Foster (UW), but with some reservations about applying to alma mater for MBA - however, the application round for the TMMBA program is in August so I will apply to this next year if I do not get accepted to the other schools.
Areas of Interest:
Industry - interactive entertainment ("video games")
* Operations/Process Management
* Business Strategy
* Marketing & Teamwork
Career Goal: The same as it ever was, games business management / project manager in games as a producer
- Dave
