Background Info...
School:
University of California, San Diego - Class of 2003
Graduated Magna Cum Laude (top 4%) with a BS in Computer Science
GPA 3.81
Weakness: No extracurriculars, only some part time work
Strength: Stellar GPA, Quant heavy major
GMAT: 720, 49Q/40V with 5.0 AWA.
Weakness: 5.0 AWA was only 55%; counteracted with good essay writing in apps
Work:
1st Job
Associate Software Engineer promoted to Software Engineer after 6 months. Left after 18 months
Weakness: No direct management & no leadership opportunities, but this is to be expected as a college grad
2nd Job
Software Engineer II
Co-lead a team of 4 in designing, developing and integrating a complex software component. Expatriated to Paris, France to work at the sister location for 2 years. Proposed, designed, and implemented small innovations to the code base as the most trusted and reliable engineer on the team.
Weakness: Still no direct management opportunities, but gained opportunities to lead
Strength: Lead a small team to develop a software component
Enlisted my two French managers (technical lead and supervisor) to write my b-school recommendations for all 4 schools. Recommendations included points about how I would have been entrusted to directly manage a team of 4 or 5 had I stayed longer in France. Written in French and translated to English with originals provided to the schools.
Strength: Recs written by French supervisors who described how I joined the team and quickly became their most trusted engineer (even above the French engineers that had already been on the team for years). Mentioned that I would have been given direct management opportunity (to counter my weakness described above).
(JUST FYI, TRANSLATING 8 RECOMMENDATIONS WAS VERY EXPENSIVE!!)
Return from France - Given new role as software coordinator between the French and American teams on my program. Role involves coordinating, managing and resolving software dependencies between the two teams. Involves a lot of people management, getting people to work together, and thorough knowledge of the software.
Strength: Highlights the non-engineer related qualities - communication, influence, people skills, time management, prioritization, etc.
Volunteer:
3 months working in the youth ministry of my church as a youth leader; watched over a group of 3rd grade boys and communicated weakly message
Volunteer Managing Director BeatTheGMAT.com for more than 1 year now. Help community members formulate personal study plans and strategies.
Lockhaven Investment Group - formed with several coworkers for fun and to learn
Strength: Volunteerism to counteract lack of extracurriculars in college; started very early relative to the application process to avoid the perception that I did these things to "boost" my application in the few months preceding the app. Note, did not do the "cliche" things like Habitat for Humanity and instead did things I really care about (children and BTG.com).
School Applied to...
Columbia, UCLA, Haas, LBS - all of these were chosen for two specific points: entrepreneurship and international business. In essays, specifically mentioned how the schools matched these criteria and how I would take advantage of what they have to offer.
Strength: Was very clear about my two critical criteria for schools and did not choose any schools that did not fit this (may be asked in interview or in application which schools were applied to and if your list is top 5 verbatim that can be seen as a weakness)
Interviews and Impressions...
Columbia and Haas waiting...
LBS dinged without interview
UCLA - On campus interview; informal with a current student. Questions were very go-with-the-flow ...he asked follow-on questions to delve deeper into my experiences. For example, when I mentioned the technical side of my co-leading a project, he asked what I did on the people side (what challenges did I face and how did I resolve them). I was very comfortable with the interviewer because he was a current student and when he mentioned talking points that were of interest to me, I asked him for more details about it. Prepared by studying the canned questions that every interview will ask (why MBA? why now? why UCLA? etc.).
Tips & Suggestions...
Sit down and really think about why you need an MBA - why can't you accomplish what you want to do by doing what you are doing now? Determine your goals and figure out exactly why your goals cannot be met on the road you are on now. Then find a few underlying themes (for me it was entrepreneurship/innovation & international business) and find the schools that stress those themes.
Communicate the route - use your essays to tie your experiences together and explain exactly how you will use your skills/knowledge + the MBA from such and such school to reach your end goals.
Prepare yourself - understand the weaknesses in your application (like I have done above) and your strengths. Try to find ways to overcome your weaknesses by doing things after the fact (low GPA take college courses later and do well, no extracurriculars in college then volunteer afterwards, no direct management focus on leadership).
Differentiate yourself - make sure you stand out from the rest of the pack. I am an Asian-American engineer applying to UCLA. I figured there are 5000 applicants (recession after all...) and roughly 30% are engineers so I am up against 1500 other engineers of which a significant amount are asian-americans (southern california after all). So estimate that 30% of that set are Asian which leaves us with 500 other Asian engineers. Granted they wont all be in Round 1, but that's still a large number. How did I differentiate? Very, very clear about my goals and a strange combination (entrepreneurship with international business). Expatriation to France knowing that those 4 schools are big on international business. Excellent Recs written by French managers. Essays that are written in a very personal style.
Last edited by
mayonnai5e on Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
:twisted: 
