Religious/Unconventional Background

[Woodencrawdad]

My profile:

30 years old (applying at age 31)
3.2 GPA from top 50 school, Business Admin./Philosophy Minor (C's in business classes, high grades in liberal arts, particularly philosophy and English)
GMAT: 720
Member of MENSA (High IQ Society)
Lots of varied and successful hobbies (state ranked tennis player, state ranked musician)
Excellent community service, maturity, leadership potential
Unconventional Background: Religious non-profits and now a religious retail chain (with leadership role).

Do Top 10 schools make a place for people from the religious community? I have quite a few great accomplishments in my work - the challenge is translating those into language the admissions committee can understand. The admissions committee will not be familiar with any company I've worked for.

Any advice on how to better round-out my application? My goal is a top 10 program.

[milimbamission]

Hello,

Great question and thanks for sharing your profile. Top programs definitely make a place for religious candidates, though coming from a religious professional background is non-traditional. I think if you can successfully demonstrate your leadership capability (and leave out any religious overtones), you'll be considered just like anyone else.

Your academic profile is average for top programs(you'll probably want to address the Cs in your business classes by pointing to your GMAT and Mensa stuff). This means your competitive, but you're not going to standout on the basis of your academics.

I'm not getting a clear sense for what your professional experience actually is - you have a leadership role at a retail chain that is religious in nature? Do you mean something like Chick-fil-a or a company that actually sells religious goods/services? It really depends more on your role in the company than on what the company does -- if you can demonstrate that you have business experience and strong teamwork/leadership experience, then professionally, you should be on solid ground. I just can't say without knowing a bit more of the details of your work experience.

Sounds like you've got great achievements and leadership experience in the community/extracurricular realm - this is somewhere you could definitely stand out (in addition to your non-traditional professional background).

To conclude, I think it is possible generally speaking for a candidate with a religious background to get into a top program, but to assess your profile specifically, I need more details about your actual function/role in your company. Feel free to send me some additional info!

Thanks,
Mili