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Hi delain ! Great to meet you -- let's dig in:


Did your undergrad degree give you an opportunity to take any quant classes, like calculus, statistics, etc.? I'm not flat-out WORRIED WITH A CAPITAL "W" about the GMAT... if you've got any evidence of strong quant skills from elsewhere, then that might help balance out the GMAT score. Like -- it's not a "bad" score -- I just have a personal preference to see it be at the average or above If you asked me if a re-take were absolutely necessary, I'd say no -- BUT since it seems that you think you could do better with a re-take, then go for it (you have my blessing)!

Ok, so in total you have 2.5 years of work experience (the collegiate activities don't count -- esp don't focus on the research positions on, e.g. , your resume, since "research" is usually a solitary pursuit and thus tells the AdCom nothing about your ability to work on / lead teams.

I do have a slight concern about applying with 3 years of experience, since that puts you just a smidge (by about a year) of the average. The question to figure out is: "Has my current job allowed me to demonstrate the sort of leadership potential that will make me competitive vs. other candidates?" . That is, the lower-level stuff like paperwork, interpreting, and coordinating meetings might not move the needle much. But -- have you led any projects? Have you introduced some cool new process or idea to your company that helped it? You don't need to have FORMAL LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE to apply, necessarily, but at least some sorts of accomplishments that show potential for future leadership.

For example, the first Kellogg essay asks you to talk about a leadership experience where you have created, and I quote, "Lasting Value". Do you have a story that could answer that question, or would it maybe be better to wait a year and try to create "lasting value" at your job (or a non-profit) over the next year?

I like the recurring theme of cultural exchange -- first of all, if you introduced English classes at your job, then that shows leadership potential! My gut is saying that we try to combine the "cultural exchange" idea with your current experience (somehow!!!) for your career vision rationale.

How do we weave together the previous dedication to cultural exchange (in work, extra-curriculars, and as a participant) with the sort of "out of left field" switch into import/export? What was driving you to take your current job?


Very cool! Also since you DID exchange programs yourself, you have a personal connection to why the theme of "cultural exchange" matters so much to you.

Ok, so I like the story of working for a consulting firm first and then opening up your own consulting firm later. If you want your future career to revolve around marketing then ideally you could find specific branches of the consulting firms that match that. I guess there's nothing wrong with saying that you'd be a "generalist" but then you might end up doing a supply-chain project for a truck manufacturer in Nebraska or something like that that doesn't really get you where you want to go.

Another suggestion, as mentioned above, could be to run with the "international exchange" angle and come up with a career vision that involves you putting a unique spin on the "educational travel" market?

Is there any way you can get yourself to Evanston for the open interview season at Kellogg? Your other schools make sense. You know, a school you might want to check out is Georgetown. They have a big international focus (I recently visited the campus and learned that SEVENTY PERCENT of the incoming class there has experience living / working overseas!!!!

Ok, so this is tricky but not insurmountable. First of all, many schools allow you the recommender to submit the recommendation in their native language and then also submit a "certified" translation of it into English. You can not do the translation yourself, since you are not supposed to know what your recommender has written.

Secondly, you can work with the recommender and give him a document with your "greatest hits", point you want him to emphasize, etc. to try to guide him. Again, you can't put direct words in his mouth, but you can provide suggestions.

Thirdly, you can write an "Optional Essay" explaining why your current boss isn't your recommender.

Again, a voice in my gut is asking myself if you might be a stronger candidate a year from now -- you'll have had the chance to make more impact at work, you'll have a stronger recommendation from the non-profit person (since then by that point you will have been working with her for over a year, vs. only 6 months).

My advice is to go ahead and apply this year, since you can always re-apply in the future (most MBA programs are very re-applicant friendly; that is, they don't penalize you for re-applying should the first attempt not work out)


I think you're an "OK" candidate with that score -- if you told me that you knew deep down that 710 is the best you can do and that you suspect that a re-take would not yield better results, then I'd tell you not to worry about it. But if you think you can do better, then I think you should try -- it won't hurt!

Hope this was helpful!


-Maria