MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 25 Jan 2010
Status:Admissions Expert
Affiliations: Founder, Amerasia Consulting Group
Posts: 1081
Given Kudos: 264
Re: Profile Evaluation Request - Reapplicant
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15 Jul 2011, 12:06
Hi kidchaos:
Based on the information you provided below, you do look like an attractive candidate. Of course it would be nice if GMAT was about 20 or 30 points higher. However, I get the sense that your GMAT or "numbers" were not the issue.
I get the feeling that your rejection at the schools you apply to last year were based primarily on your ability to articulate your work experience properly. Of course, I have not seen your essays, so I cannot make this an absolute statement.
What I see with respect to your work experience is someone who has not demonstrated a lot of leadership. I know that you have two parallel professions -- one as a coordinator for an NGO in the other as a small business entrepreneur. The issue that I see is that it may not look like your work experiences are significant enough to justify management experience or any type of formal or informal leadership. Initially, the title of "coordinator" does not strike me as being leadership oriented, but rather administrative in nature.
The small business experience does not seem to be team oriented, and this would lead the admissions committee to believe that perhaps this outside of the office activities, was something more of a hobby and certainly not leadership oriented. Of course this all depends on how you would write about it in your essays. if you did not articulate the magnitude of this extracurricular business activity, then the admissions committee would view it just as you described it in your post -- one person who is designing a relatively simple product that may have a small number of sales. If the admissions committee views this as more of a hobby, then there could be the possibility that they would view your percentage of sales donation to philanthropic causes as a feeble attempt to demonstrate your commitment to the greater good. This is just something to keep in mind. Most likely, they would not view it this way because of your full-time role with an NGO. Again, this is something to be wary of.
The other thing I wanted to point out is that the nature of your current full-time professional work activities is not within marketing. Admissions committees are always leery of career changers. I know that you are actively marketing your entrepreneurial initiatives and perhaps selling a few products, but if they view this as more of a hobby, that it will not necessarily provide the support needed for you to say that you know absolutely that your goals lie within marketing. This year if you reapply, you need to stress the growth of your small business, and what you learned. You need to stress how this has absolutely convinced you that going to marketing how is the right way to go. While I do not have the benefit of reviewing your essays, it would be interesting to see how you connect your business activities with a greater good -- thus logically connecting your entrepreneurial activities with your passion for community and philanthropy.
My recommendation is that you work on retaking the GMAT and getting about 20 to 30 points higher. I also recommend that you pay particular attention to schools that offer up essay questions that revolve around your personal background and that will allow you to address why it is that you even want to be involved in this type of philanthropic activity or charitable organizations. As I stated above, you need to be very aware that you will be required to connect your entrepreneurial interests to your goals, as well as your NGO activities. This is all under the umbrella of how you view the world, leadership and your ability to affect change through your goals. This is the challenge of any applicant -- to weave that thread and consistent candidacy.
Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti