Profile evaluation for a transgender applicant

[transmbaapplicant]

Hi all,
I was hoping to get some insight on my chances for M7 schools. Let me know if there is any other information to include that would be helpful!

Round: Applying round 1 in fall 2018, for matriculation in fall 2019
Age at time of application: 28
Demographic: Caucasian, transgender (born female, living as male)
Undergraduate Program: 3.2 GPA at a Penn-state equivalent large state school, chemical engineering degree with biotechnology focus. No extracurriculars, but worked 2-3 part time jobs throughout school to support myself
Graduate program: 3.5 GPA for research-based M.S. from the same school and same engineering program, with one first author publication, one citation in another paper, and one poster presentation (took almost 3 years to complete the master's though). no extracurriculars.
Work experience: 1.5 years as a process engineer with a cutting edge diagnostics company (did many cost savings, cycle time improvement, and organization projects with significant results). 1.5 years as an engineer at a small but also very cutting edge pharmaceutical company that focuses on curing ultra-rare genetic diseases in children. My work here is developing data to support high-level strategy decision-making--my work often goes to VPs and the exec board.
GMAT: 780
Certifications: Six Sigma Green Belt
Community Service: At time of application, will have spent 1 year volunteering for a transgender-specific suicide hotline (10+ hours a week of volunteering), and 1 year volunteering for a transgender legal support center (doing phone intake for people experiencing discrimination and seeking legal advice; 10+ hours a week here as well). Total over 1000 hours of volunteer experience in the year leading up to my application.
MBA Goal: I want to dive more extensively into biotech/medical device strategy development, with a focus on life-saving technologies and spinning them up as quickly as possible.
Essays: Should be very strong
Recommendations: Should be decent

Thank you for any insight you could provide! I'm primarily interested in Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, and Wharton.

[Donna@Stratus]

Hi all,
I was hoping to get some insight on my chances for M7 schools. Let me know if there is any other information to include that would be helpful!

Round: Applying round 1 in fall 2018, for matriculation in fall 2019
Age at time of application: 28
Demographic: Caucasian, transgender (born female, living as male)
Undergraduate Program: 3.2 GPA at a Penn-state equivalent large state school, chemical engineering degree with biotechnology focus. No extracurriculars, but worked 2-3 part time jobs throughout school to support myself
Graduate program: 3.5 GPA for research-based M.S. from the same school and same engineering program, with one first author publication, one citation in another paper, and one poster presentation (took almost 3 years to complete the master's though). no extracurriculars.
Work experience: 1.5 years as a process engineer with a cutting edge diagnostics company (did many cost savings, cycle time improvement, and organization projects with significant results). 1.5 years as an engineer at a small but also very cutting edge pharmaceutical company that focuses on curing ultra-rare genetic diseases in children. My work here is developing data to support high-level strategy decision-making--my work often goes to VPs and the exec board.
GMAT: 780
Certifications: Six Sigma Green Belt
Community Service: At time of application, will have spent 1 year volunteering for a transgender-specific suicide hotline (10+ hours a week of volunteering), and 1 year volunteering for a transgender legal support center (doing phone intake for people experiencing discrimination and seeking legal advice; 10+ hours a week here as well). Total over 1000 hours of volunteer experience in the year leading up to my application.
MBA Goal: I want to dive more extensively into biotech/medical device strategy development, with a focus on life-saving technologies and spinning them up as quickly as possible.
Essays: Should be very strong
Recommendations: Should be decent

Thank you for any insight you could provide! I'm primarily interested in Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, and Wharton.

Hi TransMBAapplicant, happy to provide some comments on your profile. First- wowsa- the 780 GMAT is super helpful- so congrats there! I think you have a great background for B school with the engineering background and some strong work experience too. Your desire to pivot to biotech/med device strategy - and leverage your process engineering background and Six Sigma Green Belt training also should be attractive to adcom. Your extracurricular activity of volunteering for transgender hotline also shows a real passion for service and leadership- so as you elaborate on this experience- be sure to think about impact and results- how many people you have talked to? Any stories of significant impact- here you are saving lives so I would think there are some. And I would lead with all of this- and then absolutely your own personal experience of transitioning will be part of your story- and will add to the diversity of MBA programs so I think really you have an excellent profile - I would feel confident that every MBA program can be an option so think about where you really want- I see all you mention: Haas, GSB, HBS, MIT and Wharton as options- it can help to write compelling applications- and we have great experience helping people through this process. We'd love to do a free consult to help you more and for you to get to know us better- to start that process- go to this link: https://stratusadmissionscounseling.com/free-consult/
Be sure to explain key accomplishments in your professional work experience and how this background can be leveraged in the biotech/med device space. I encourage you to visit programs and really understand WHY each program is a good fit for you. But overall, congratulations on some very impressive academic, professional and community service accomplishments!