lagomez
zemi10
Hey Everyone,
So I am planning on applying to a couple schools through CGSM this fall which I am VERY excited/hopeful about, and I have a couple of questions. I'm actually going into my senior year at a big east coast state school and will be applying for the Fall 2012 semester without any full-time experience. I understand that pretty much every business school wants some type of full-time work experience, but will it hinder my chances that much?? I currently intern at a top ten global law firm and spent the greater part of my upbringing in the Caribbean speaking two other languages. So I feel that what I lack in work experience, I kind of make up for in life experience and a decent internship?
Also, I have spent countless hours looking through the other threads on this site and I have to say...I am very intimidated by the amazing numbers which others are posting and yet they still get W/L or DINGED. I currently am floating around a 3.2 and am planning on taking the GMAT next month, but seeing consistent scores around 720+ is making my chances seem a lot thinner than I thought. I was shooting to break 700 before seeing this site, hah...
Now, I am not planning on applying to any of the ivy schools as I want to try and stay relatively realistic, but would schools such as UT-Austin, USC, or even UCLA be a reach for me as well?
Thanks in advance to anyone who responds, I will be paying close attention to this thread throughout my application process.
you definitely have an uphill battle....never say never i guess...realistically, you need full-time experience
[I'm gonna rush this b/c I'm at work (pre-MBA internship woot!) but thought you'd appreciate a young MBA response]
Uphill yes, impossible no. I am American but from the carib and applied to CGSM and non CGSM schools one year out of graduation. I got a scholarship to Sloan, Dinged after Summer WL at Wharton w/interview and dinged after WL at Yale (I didn't submit updates as requested because I knew I was going to Sloan so I'm not surprised I was dinged).
I took the GRE, had a 3.3 GPA, journalism background, started the app process a couple months before the deadline and just about anything you could think of that would put the odds against me lol. I still got in but I think it was the fact that age aside, my app was strong. I'm an entrepreneur, did internships in the double digits at top companies, worked for a top co. part-time for two years managing six, and freelanced professionally while undergrad for two years (positions usually given to college grads). I had a lot of experience as well as awards, scholarships and service. The trick is to be in the top 1% of your peers in addition to having a "wow" factor. But even then, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was tough.
If you know age is what holds you back, every other component of your application should be rockstar status.
Think:
- Essays
- Test Scores
- Experience
- Extracurriculars
- Service
- Personal/Life
- Career Goals
- Maturity
- Interviews
- Recs
My application statuses with the schools I applied to probably had more to do with the fact that I didn't have enough time to spend on them than the fact that I was young; although age I'm sure was a deal breaker for many schools. I think it was something around 12 of the top 20 schools that did not admit a single young applicant. In addition to age and not having enough time to dedicate to the apps, my app's main pitfalls were taking the GRE (some say it doesn't matter, others say it does), coming from a non-traditional background, wanting to enter a field that generally doesn't require an MBA, and not visiting all of the schools I applied to. Had I found GMATClub BEFORE I applied, I would've been much more successful so you are on the right track with research and your profile is likely less complicated than mine. Sloan was my top choice though so no complaints here!
You haven't said much about your profile, but having just one internship upon graduation doesn't put you in the top % of your peers in terms of exp. Did you start a business? You said life experience, what does that entail? Like if you were displaced by the earthquake in Haiti and developed a strategy to salvage destroyed businesses or coordinated the distribution of resources at ground-zero, that'll sway some admissions staffers in your direction. It's not formal professional experience but it took skills pertinent to business. Two languages alone might not make up for lack of professional experience, languages help more in distinguishing you from similar young applicants. Also, a challenge for young applicants is having well-defined career goals and why you are unable to progress to the next step without an MBA, i.e. a sense of urgency like "hey I own a business that needs to move to the next level!" What's your reason for not waiting?
If you have stellar responses to all those Qs and can hit the core elements of your applications well, you stand a shot! To me, the worse they can say is no. Go for it (!!) but manage your expectations. If it doesn't work out, your app will be even stronger for the following round.
Feel free to ask for clarification, I rushed and likely rambled
16 Jun 2011, 06:08
