Hello Experts. I am applying for the R2. Please kindly help me on some questions:
1) I plan to write the essay and Post-MBA goal separately, means they don't really relate to each other. Do you think it is okay? My plan is:
- In the essay: I will try to show Adcom who I am; how I overcame difficulties and how such experience affect to what I am today; and how the experience affect how I lead (I am from an ethnic minority group in a developing country, had to work all the time during my college to earn my tuition & living fee but finally landed a government scholarship to support myself)
- In the post MBA goals: I plan to tell them about a technological project that I have planed for a long time with my friend who is a scientist. In this project, I will take part on the business strategy side. We have earned agreement to join us from 30+ scientists around the world and from some influential people such as a very well known astronaut. We also gained some significant funding from Europe to train our scientists as well. This project is to help providing the advanced technologies to my own country to improve people's lives. The project is still on planning stage and still needs lot of skills/expertise to make it happen so I thought I need an MBA for this purpose.
So as you see, the essay and my goal are not really related so I wonder if it will be a question mark to the adcom. I am thinking about showing the adcom different aspects of myself but please advise if I should make them connected.
2) I know 4 langues and English is my 4th. My TOEFL is okay (108/120) but my GMAT is much lower than the HBS's average (only 650; Q was 49 so maybe not terrible?). My question is can my academic performance cover this weak point ? (I graduated as valedictorian from Undergrad program which is Economics; 2/3 of my courses were in math related such as Econometrics/ Calculus/ Statistics/Business game/ Finance etc and all were A or B grades)
3) I am already 34 years old. Will it be a problem ?
4) I have a Master in Finance already and have 9 years experience in this field. Will it be a pause to adcome such as: maybe he doesn't need an MBA ...?
I am sorry if my questions sound like I am bragging out about my app but I just want to get as more specific advice as possible. I've finished almost everything for the writing now and in the re-reading/revise process so still have time to correct where I need to. Thank you a million and good luck to everyone!