Hi there! Definitely the right venue, that's what we're here for
As far as GMAT...the overall score is first and foremost important so your score is great. That puts you in a great position for your target schools. I started to be concerned about your Quant score too - I'd love to see it a few points higher, especially considering your OK GPA and liberal arts major. But then I got to your graduate degree in economics and figured that you had to do a decent amount of stats and other quant work in that program, right? If so, then I would not worry because I think that helps a lot to show you can handle MBA level work, especially since that was pretty recent, it was a high caliber program, and you did well. So overall, I don't think it's worth retaking given how strong your overall score is.
Otherwise, your profile seems strong and quite interesting. Definitely make sure you can weave together a cohesive and compelling story about your past work experiences and how they've led you to your post-MBA goals. Seems reasonable but tying that all together will be important. Perhaps your upbringing in rural SD is another way to differentiate, not very common!
Harvard will be a reach still, and possibly Wharton, but give them a shot as I think you've got an interesting story to tell!
Good luck, and keep us posted if we can help with anything else!
Kate
ebouche3 wrote:
Hi there! I hope this is the appropriate venue for a profile request!
I am a 29 year old American male from rural South Dakota.
Target Schools: Harvard, Booth, Tuck, Wharton, Ross
GMAT:
Only one attempt: 740 (Q44, V49)
Undergraduate:
Philosophy/Religion, Bowdoin 2010 (3.3 GPA... rural midwest public schools...)
Graduate:
International Economics, LSE 2013, specialization in labor economics and political economy (3.7 GPA)
Work Experience
- Out of college, worked as an intern in the US Senate focusing on immigration and net neutrality in DC (6 months)
- Ran front-end research for a multi-million dollar legislative campaign on the electric utility sector in DC (6 months)
- Boren Fellow performing economic research on refugees and translating Arabic in Middle East (1 year)
- Summer associate at a sovereign risk analysis firm for Middle East (between first and second grad school years)
- Strategy consultant and project manager for public-private partnerships for large R1 public research university with a focus on the cybersecurity, energy, and drone sectors. I am also an adjunct professor in the department of political science teaching Middle East Politics (1.5 years to today)
Other projects:
- Translate documents and provide assessments for charities delivering aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan for NGO in Ireland
Related skills/interests:
- Professionally proficient in Modern Standard Arabic, as well as the Shami dialect
- Culinary technique/chemistry nerd
- Python programming
Mainly interested in doing market entry to the Middle East in the management consulting industry or something similar for private equity post MBA.
My biggest concern is that my quant score is too low, despite a solid overall GMAT. Frankly, as much as I want it not to be true, my forte is in verbal/writing, but I like my consulting-type work and hope to move into that space with a decent salary. There is a chance I can do better on the quant, but retaking the GMAT will require I reschedule my applications from the first round to the second round (harvard and wharton, specifically). I understand I am a weird applicant coming from a public policy-heavy background.
I thank you for your time.