Hoping for your opinion, Stacy...

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Hoping for your opinion, Stacy...

by Ulysses » Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:30 pm
Hi, Stacy -

I was looking for an opinion on my prospects as a MBA candidate. I am looking at ~top 10 business schools (I think I will go in another direction if I can't get into a business school at that level).

GPA: 3.0, English, Dartmouth. I took a handful of undergrad business school courses, and did well in a few, poorly in a couple others.

GMAT: I haven't taken it yet. I've done very well on standardized tests in the past, and I intend on taking the Manhattan GMAT course.

Resume Highlights:
I work for an industrial supply company that draws management recruits almost entirely from Ivies, etc. The company has a history of sending former managers to top 10 business schools.

I will have 5 years of experience in July. I have managed two different departments over the last 4 years - 2 years in the warehouse, 2 years in marketing. I've had 1 supervisor and 10-20 employees reporting to me.

During college, I ran a software consulting business with a few friends. We opened and maintained an office in Seattle, and employed between 5-10 people.

Extracurricular involvements: some interesting things in college (started a newspaper), but nothing significant since I began working. I read a lot...literature, criticism, political journals...but I haven't produced anything of interest.

I think I interview pretty well. I should be able to write some fairly compelling essays.

---

My plan is to leave my current job in July after taking the GMAT. I'm either going to try to find work with a political campaign, or I'm going to look to work overseas (Africa, Middle East) with an organization like the National Democratic Institute. I'm hoping to spend a little over a year doing that before coming back to begin B-school.

What do you think? I'm concerned about my GPA. I'm also concerned about not having undertaken interesting extracurricular activities since entering the workforce. Hopefully, the work I'll be doing when I fill out my applications will help with the latter.

Thanks for your time-
Ulysses
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by Lisa Anderson » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:38 pm
Dear Ulysses:

It appears you have a good grasp of what your potential weaknesses might be in your application. With your 3.0 GPA, you will want to aim for a GMAT score that starts with a 7 to be competitive for the top 10. Your work experience sounds strong--so be sure to highlight your accomplishments and where you added value. It will also be important to write targeted essays for each school demonstrating why that program is a good fit for you. Overall, I think you have a good action plan for schools in your target range.

Good luck!
Lisa
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