Hi Alex,
I always read your advice, and find them very enlightening. I hope you can help me out a bit.
Just to give you some background on myself -
1) I'm asian
2) 6 years of Work Experience in Wall Street Brokerage firms doing IT program management; currently managing a small team. I don't code.
3) Decent record in extracurricular activies, and hobbies (in my opinion
)
4) GMAT - 670 (Q46, V37), AWA 6.0
5) GPA Undergrad from Big Ten public university - 3.5 overall, my business major was 3.8 I believe.
Throughout my essays, I'm working hard to break the "asian" stereotype. I mean, I don't play the piano, violin, and suck at math. So that's a start right?
I do have leadership activties, such as managing not just at work, but also some outside activities. So my goal is to show that I'm a very well rounded individual.
As I started working on my essays, few things came up:
1) I made the switch from Engineering to Business my 2nd year of Undegrad, primarily because I just hated Engineering. I'm also not the most Quantitative person (V46 on GMAT) either. I can definitely spin this in the positive light, especially in regards to lessons learned through introspections about life and failure (honestly, it was definitely one of the best decisions I've made in my life to date). However, you already know that Engineering is a much more academically demanding field than business, though that is not the reason why I "quit". Will the Adcom's bias on this come back to haunt me? Will they say
that I was not able to hang in with engineering, rather than see
that it took courage admit a mistake and then turn things all around. I believe my story of
WHY I switched is good, but I'm not sure whether it's worth the risk anymore of telling. But I presume they'll look through my transcript anyway and figure it out. Those adcoms are smart
Question: I'm wondering whether mentioning why I switched majors during my undergrad is a good idea, and whether there is a better way of telling the story.
2) I'm applying to HBS, Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, with aspirations in learning about the front office trading business to one day further develop technology to deliver to clients (you have to understand their needs before you can deliver). I've been with technology a long time, and it fits in my long term goals. I'm looking to remain in the big cities with finance intensive schools, hence my limited choices.
My long shots (no way you're getting in, but rather spend $250/each than wonder what if) are HBS, Wharton, Chicago.
My targets are Columbia, NYU
Question: What are my chances?
3) This is a pretty good summary of where I stand at the moment.
Question: What is your take? What do you think I need to focus and strengthen, knowing the bias that asians face? What else should I do?
Thanks again for insight.