taxiecabbie,
I think you can reach higher than Northeastern and Williamette. Assuming your get about a 700 GMAT score (even a bit lower), given your strengths -- good GPA at selective college, languages, Peace Corps experience, startup experience, nontraditional career choice (writing), even your rugby
-- you would be an attractive applicant at several highly ranked schools that have strong social entrepreneurship resources such as Columbia, Yale, Chicago Booth, Michigan, Cornell, etc. If you send your resume to me I can give you more focused feedback:
paulbodine@yahoo.com.
--Paul Bodine, Great Applications for Business School,
www.paulsbodine.com/testimonialstaxiecabbie wrote:
Hello!
I'm just getting started with the MBA admissions process, and... I'm having some trouble figuring out how to whittle down what schools I should be looking at based on my experience and what I actually wish to use the MBA to do. I would appreciate a nudge in the right direction.
Stats
Sex: Female
Age: 27
Nationality/ethnicity: American, white
Languages: Japanese (spoken and written), Russian (spoken - I learned it in the Peace Corps)
Education:
Bachelor's: Smith College
Year: 2008
Major/Minor: Government and East Asian Languages and Literature
Honors: Graduated with High Honors due to thesis work (Highest Honors on the defense)
GPA: 3.56
Extra curricular: rugby all three years on campus, president of the team senior year. Red Cross Disaster Management training and volunteerism. Part time job at local library.
Vocational: University of Washington (this was a one-year professional certificate, not an MA)
Year: 2012
Field of study: Technical Writing and Editing
GPA: 3.98
Employment:
2008-2010: Peace Corps, Kyrgyzstan. Primary assignment teacher. Taught primary/secondary children English, taught English and poetry analysis in Bishkek universities. HIV/AIDS awareness work and education. Japanese language classes. Worked with FLEX/ACCELS to get Kyrgyz schoolchildren scholarships to study in American high schools. Habitat for Humanity. Bilingual teacher training workshops. Grant writing and management.
2010-current: I was a freelance writer for a year before being offered a 50% stake in one of the startups that I wrote for. I bought into the company and currently we're doing quite well. This time last year we were making $700 per week, and now it's closer to $7000 per week. We have 15 employees located all around the world, since we're a virtual writing business and it doesn't matter where anybody is. My job duties here are all over the board - I process payroll, work with CPAs, conduct billing, deal with taxes, and generally manage a lot of the money. I also provide trainings to new employees and write/design/produce a lot of our promotional materials. I know HTML/CSS/JQuery, and design/manage the website. A little bit of everything, like a lot of new businesses.
I have not taken the GMAT yet, but am planning on doing so this summer. (Which is why I am here, heh.) I do reasonably well on standardized tests, however - I got a 32 on the ACT and I'm currently blanking on what my SAT was, but it was a decent score.
Here's the deal: I'm not sure what sort of program is right for me. What I ultimately would like to do with the MBA is work with microloans in developing countries - I like international work, and the entrepreneurial schtick was sort of a surprise, but I do genuinely enjoy it. However, I'm not sure if I'd want to have a focus in nonprofit... I would like to stay in the profit world for at least another 10 years if possible, since I'd like to have some really good experience before I go across the world and try and tell somebody how to run a business. So I would like the degree to be relevant to what I am doing right now, as well.
As with most people, I'm also concerned about money. I have decided to apply for Northeastern and Willamette University already, since both of them offer the potential for full scholarships for former Peace Corps Volunteers. However, I also don't want to discount a degree from a higher-ranked university just by going through sticker shock and not knowing who to talk to in order to figure out how to make it affordable.
I apologize for rambling, I'm just not sure where best to start. Any advice is very much appreciated.