Profile Evaluation Please! Product Marketing to Nonprofit

[sammylee831]

Hi mbaMission,

I would greatly appreciate it if you could take some time to evaluate my profile.

UC Berkeley, Media Studies B.A., 3.2 GPA
GMAT: 740
Planning to take Calculus and Statistics in CC and getting A's in them

Work Experience:
Marketing Associate at Safeway 1 year
"¢ Research white space topics to define health and generational opportunities.
"¢ Manage the production of private label products to get them from concept to the shelf.
"¢ Conduct category analyses and provide recommendations for product flavors based on sales and trends.
"¢ Create new item proposals and help build forecasting for future products.

Product Marketing Associate at Intuit- 2 Years
4 Rotations:
1 in Product Management- led cross functional team to develop a key product to a $10 Million business
1 in Social Media Marketing- developed the social media strategy for a new customer base
1 in Product Marketing- managed the marketing from concept to execution for a new business
1 in Bus Dev- worked w/ different business to create new business opportunities

Associate Product Marketing Manager at Intuit- 1 Year
Currently managing a key function in a new product that's currently in development
Possibility of being promoted to Marketing Manager next year if I do a good job this year

Volunteer:
Coaching Corps (part of Americorps)- 3 years
I coach a 6-8 year old team throughout the year for under-privileged areas in the Bay Area

Church- Worship Team
Play the bass every week on Sundays for my church

Basketball Camp-
Take a week every summer to help coach youths in the Bay Area for a basketball camp

Reason I want to go to B-School:
I've wanted to always combine my sports passion, religion, and work skills, and I believe this is a way to do it. The reason I had this revelation is because an experience w/ my volunteer work w/ Coaching Corps. Long story short, one of the youths on my Coaching Corps team has a lot of potential for basketball, but his family can't afford to pay his basketball development. I ended up paying out of my pocket for him to attend. Because of this, I want to go to B-School to create a national nonprofit sports/basketball camp for the underprivileged, so that everyone can have a chance to get better at a sport.

Targeted Schools:
I want to be in an urban area because I want to be in the heart of a basketball mecca. I do not want to attend a Sports MBA program because I want to learn from the best general MBA programs. In addition, I might apply next year or this coming year, not sure. Is it possible to give me a breakdown for next year, assuming I get promoted as well?

-Columbia (Social Enterprise)
-Kellogg (SEEK)
-Haas PT- so I can continue what I've been doing locally
-HBS (non-urban)- Sports Club
-Wharton- Sports Club
-USC- School of Sports Management
-UCLA- LA Area

Thank you!

[mbaMissionBrianE]

Hello sammylee831, thanks for your question.

You have a unique story that could potentially serve to differentiate you when you apply. That said, it's quite hard to handicap your specific chances at programs.

I think you application is solid all around. You GMAT is solid, your GPA is fine (perhaps ever so slightly low), and you have interesting professional and extracurricular actives.

Your competitiveness will come down to the quality of your leadership experience in and out of work. Can you draw upon "moments" when you truly led: influenced individuals and organizations, drove results, took initiative?

My one recommendation is to think hard on how business school will specifically help you achieve your future career goals. How will a sports or non-profit curriculum enable you to start your camp? Which resources exactly? The better handle you have on this, the more compelling a candidate you will be. Broadly speaking, paint a picture that cohesively ties together your past, present, and future.

I hope this helps.

Best of luck,
Brian