MBA Gameplan Advice

[lifeliver]

Hello,

I am a black male with 1 year and 7 months of experience as an aerospace engineer thus far. I have a really poor undergraduate performance (~2.2 gpa) b/c I was lazy and was more interested in socializing/partying amongst other complicated situations I would not like to discuss. I majored in Aerospace Engineering at an elite undergrad (Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Cornell). I took the GMAT fall of 2011 and got a balanced 730 (Q49 V40) 6 AWA. I currently work for a top 3 defense contractor (Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop). I have leadership positions in two extra-curricular activities post-college, one is sports and one is volunteering.

I have recently started working on my father's political campaign for the upcoming presidential elections in a third world country. I will be leading a team dedicated to youth campaigning/recruiting/involvement in order to obtain their votes.

I will be getting promoted to level II Engineer this June. I also have a small leadership role in my group (lead peers hired the same year as me).

2) Will it matter if I apply this upcoming fall 2013 (3 years experience upon matriculation) vs 2014 (4 years experience)? Assume there are no significant leadership gains in the extra year.
3) Will an external transcript with finance courses help much? If so how many courses will suffice?
4) Anything else I can do between now and next fall to improve my profile?

Post MBA I'd like to start my own foreign tech-startup or work for an investment firm focused on third world start-ups. (Still doing some soul-searching...)

Which schools should I realistically target?

Thank you

[Stacey Oyler]

Hi lifeliver,

Thanks for your post. Please see my comments below:

2) Will it matter if I apply this upcoming fall 2013 (3 years experience upon matriculation) vs 2014 (4 years experience)? Assume there are no significant leadership gains in the extra year.

Keep in mind that adcoms consider work experience at the time of application and not at matriculation. They do this because there is frankly no guarantee that an applicant would keep their job or even a job between the time they are accepted and the time they matriculate.

In response to your question about timing, it's not how long you've been working that matters as much to adcoms as the decision around the timing of your MBA. It is necessary that you indicate a clear turning point in your career and an essential need for an MBA. Those two items are much more significant than how long you've been in the workforce.

3) Will an external transcript with finance courses help much? If so how many courses will suffice?

Additional coursework can indeed boost an applicants profile. It's ideal for candidates with low GPAs or GMATs or with non-traditional majors to take additional coursework. Just be sure it's from an accredited US institution and ideally a four year college and not a junior or community college.

4) Anything else I can do between now and next fall to improve my profile?

It appears as though you have a solid profile academically and professionally. The work on your father's campaign will strengthen your leadership and extracurricular profile. Keep up the good work!

Best,

Stacey