NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 07 May 2024, 02:40 It is currently 07 May 2024, 02:40
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
User avatar
enkie
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 13 Jan 2011
Posts: 364
Own Kudos [?]: 44 [0]
Given Kudos: 29
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, International Business
Schools: Wharton '14 (D) LBS '14 (WL) INSEAD '14 (A) Oxford '14 (A)
Send PM
Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy [#permalink] New post   28 Feb 2011, 15:37
Hi Alex

I'm a 31 year-old east Asian American female aiming to apply in R1 for Fall 2012 matriculation. My big questions are:

- What are my chances for getting into my target schools?
- Given my Post MBA plans and current credentials, what other schools should I consider?
- In my current profile, what are my weakness areas that I should improve on?
- I keep hearing about HBS and Stanford's age discrimination, should I not even bother applying to those two schools?

Education
-College - Studied fashion design 2 years at top art school (Parsons School of Design -- transferred).
-Bachelors in International Trade and Marketing at a not well known school with 3.85/4.0 GPA, Dean's List.
-MPA in International Economic Policy and Management from Columbia University (3.89/4.0 GPA). Was elected as my program's student chair.
-A+ in economics at Columbia.

*note: I worked full time through college and graduate school with full time course load.

Work Experience
-5 years as Web designer and developer at medium sized education NGO.
-4 years as Assistant Director of Web Communications at Columbia University.
-1.5 years as Director of New Media at a well known, mid-sized environmental NGO.
-Just started new position (also related to new media and Web) at the US Treasury.

GMAT
Aiming for 700+, realistically expecting 680 - 720. Just took a full length CAT exam on Manhattan prep and scored 670. I plan to take the GMAT in 3 months, so I have some time to study.

Leadership Experience & Volunteer
-Was elected student chair for my program at Columbia University. Participated in Columbia's dean search committee for the School of International and Public Affairs. Represented Columbia University on policy study tours to Japan, Nigeria and Ghana.
-Hired and Managed teams of designers, developers and vendors at all my jobs except for the very first one.
- Negotiated contracts and managed budgets.
-Lead strategy discussions at senior levels at my two previous jobs (current job is too early to tell), as well as implemented those strategies with my teams.
-Served, several times, on a panel of judges that determined scholarship awards for my undergrad school.
-Lead a viral campaign targeting Discovery Communications and Sarah Palin that received national media attention.
-For my master thesis at Columbia, I worked with a team of graduate students to produce a paper, examining the economic relationship between China and Africa. This paper was used in a Beijing briefing conference for African officials hosted by the World Bank.
- Volunteers regularly for local area cleanups and holiday toy drives.


Language & Travel & Extras
Native fluency in English and Mandarin Chinese
Basic proficiency in Japanese and Taiwanese
Extensive travel in North America (US & Canada), South America (Chile, Argentina, Peru, Easter Island), Africa (Nigeria, Ghana), Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Monaco, Austria), and Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong)
I am pretty good at art things like drawing (charcoal, pencil, pastels) and painting (oil, acrylic, gauche). Designing for online medias. Photography.
Did I mention I make a delicious four-cheese bacon macaroni and cheese that is to die for? :)
I played dodge ball and am absolutely horrible at it.

Target Schools
Wharton
London Business School
INSEAD
Oxford

Post MBA Plans
Would like to focus on business strategy and foreign market penetration for one of the big name mobile firms in US or Europe. Would also be very interested in exploring innovative mobile technology that targets business and education use in developing and third world countries -- possible entrepreneur route. Would like to leverage my past experiences in new media and viral campaigns and my MPA in international econommics to help me go in this direction.


Thank you in advance,
Enkie
User avatar
AlexMBAApply
MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 2457
Own Kudos [?]: 598 [0]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Send PM
Re: Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy [#permalink] New post   01 Mar 2011, 12:11
Mmm.... bacon.

You're targeting the right range of schools. I would say you can expand that list to include more US schools - but that really depends on where you really prefer to live/work post-MBA. If you are leaning towards Europe, focus on the Euro schools (and maybe just add Columbia to your list in addition to Wharton). If you prefer the US, then maybe limit the Euro schools to one (or even none - since it's going to be hard for you to find US-based jobs with a Euro MBA right after school), and then expand your list of US schools to include Columbia, Kellogg, Booth, and Sloan.

Note that I didn't include schools outside the top 8 really, because I think at your *ahem* age and overall profile, I don't know if it's worth spending a bundle of money and lost wages to look beyond that. You're not a shoe-in for these top 8 schools (plus INSEAD/LBS), but you have a strong enough and dynamic enough profile that I don't know if you'd want to go beyond that. If you're really unsure, what I suggest is to maybe visit a few schools before class gets out in May -- if you're in NY, definitely visit Columbia and NYU. Then visit Wharton. Then maybe visit a few schools outside the top 8 in addition to NYU like Duke or Darden - just to see whether you want to spend the money to go outside the top 8 given where you're at in your career already.

As for HBS and Stanford, they are certainly targeting younger folks, but that doesn't mean they will automatically ding those who are on the older side -- it really depends on the applicant. The older (i.e. 28+) applicants who have the slimmest chance are men in traditional industries (finance, consulting, engineering). Those who are older tend to be non-traditionals (nonprofit, military, sports, film/music, clergy, etc.). In your case, if you really want to apply, go for it.
User avatar
enkie
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 13 Jan 2011
Posts: 364
Own Kudos [?]: 44 [0]
Given Kudos: 29
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, International Business
Schools: Wharton '14 (D) LBS '14 (WL) INSEAD '14 (A) Oxford '14 (A)
Send PM
Re: Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy [#permalink] New post   01 Mar 2011, 13:15
Hi Alex

Thank you. This is incredibly helpful. And I agree that at this stage of my career, it would not be the best investment (time and $) to attend anything other than the top schools.

In your opinion, would it be difficult to get jobs in the US if I attended LBS? I am entertaining the idea of working abroad, that's why I initially included the European schools in my target school list. (I've also heard that European schools tend to skew toward an older demographic versus the US schools.)

Thanks again. I really appreciate your feedback!

Enkie
User avatar
AlexMBAApply
MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 2457
Own Kudos [?]: 598 [0]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Send PM
Re: Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy [#permalink] New post   01 Mar 2011, 15:44
Take a look at the recruiting stats for the Euro schools, such as LBS and INSEAD, and you'll see that very few people actually end up in North America post-MBA. It's a combination of self-selection (those who make living/working in Europe a priority will go there) and opportunity.

The thing is, outside of consulting and investment banking, fewer companies/corporates in North America are familiar with the Euro schools (and some may not have heard of them at all). As such, you have to really make a big effort (and log a lot of trans-Atlantic air miles) back and forth visiting companies, especially when they have plenty of people (of all nationalities) to choose from at the US b-schools.
User avatar
enkie
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 13 Jan 2011
Posts: 364
Own Kudos [?]: 44 [0]
Given Kudos: 29
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, International Business
Schools: Wharton '14 (D) LBS '14 (WL) INSEAD '14 (A) Oxford '14 (A)
Send PM
Re: Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy [#permalink] New post   02 Mar 2011, 07:10
Thank you Alex. This is a helpful perspective. I'm going to conduct more research on target schools and decide on a final list of R1 and R2 schools.

Thanks again!
Enkie
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Re: Profile Eval - Female going into Mobile Business Strategy [#permalink]
02 Mar 2011, 07:10

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions