Background:
BS - Computer Science - U of Missouri - St. Louis - 3.2 GPA
MS - Computer Science - U of Chicago - 3.4 GPA
GMAT:640 (38V/40Q)
About 5 years work experience, no real management experience although I have been in charge of several teams at work.
I am currently working on my essay questions for the Kellogg part-time program. One of the questions asks for my greatest personal accomplishment (in 250 words). Here is what I have:
Code:
My greatest personal accomplishment is the life that I have built for myself. As a teenager, I was rather lost and confused, and ended up joining a gang. Through this gang I ended up living a rather wretched lifestyle, which eventually led me to dropping out of high school, and later going to prison. I was 18 when I made these mistakes and have since built a rather remarkable story. Just before prison I did manage to earn my GED. While in prison I started to work with computers and found I had a knack for it. I started taking college courses, evaluating the choices I had made in life to get me where I was, and planning how I was going to turn my life around. I was released in 1999, and immediately continued my college career at the local community college. Eventually I went to the University of Missouri – St. Louis and graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. While in college, I met my wife and married her. Determined to achieve more, I enrolled at the University of Chicago to pursue my Master’s degree. I received my Masters in Computer Science in March of 2005, one month before my first child was born.
While it is somewhat hard to tell this story in 250 words or less, I hope you get the general idea. I have overcome the odds, learned from my past mistakes, and have never stopped seeking to be the best I can.
Given my low GMAT and next non-existent extracurricular record, is the above helpful, or harmful? Is this the "moving personal story" admission committees are looking for, or will they peg me for being an "ex-con"? This is my greatest personal accomplishment, and I am sure it isn't one they see every day.