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02 May 2017, 10:51
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi, thanks for taking the time to look through my profile.
- Korean male (28-29y)
- Seoul National University (top school in Korea) with 4.0/4.3 GPA majoring in Business Administration
- GMAT 760 (taken 4 years ago) / TOEFL 120
- Worked at/cofounded a couple of startups in my undergrad (nothing big or successful at all, but a good experience)
- 2-year military service in US Army based in Korea (in leadership role as squad leader)
- 2 years as investment banking analyst at bulge bracket (one of Citigroup/BAML/Credit Suisse) in Hong Kong
- 2 years as associate at Asian regional private equity firm in Korea
I'm quite confident in my story/essays/experiences. My concern is that I'm older than my four years of work experience because of my two years in mandatory military service (dunno if that would count as work experience) but I was fortunate enough to serve it as part of the US Army stationed here in Korea (through a special program), with lots of good experiences as a leader to recount. Hoping that counts as a "diverse" experience or whatnot. Also, I'm guessing my non-US undergrad (though it is the best school in Korea) with no experience in the US would go against me? Not too sure about that, would love to hear your thoughts.
Overall, I know it's not enough info and depends on other factors as well, but just curious if this type of profile would have a shot at HBS/Wharton/Stanford.
Any feedback would be highly appreciated.
Thank you!
Posted from my mobile device
- Korean male (28-29y)
- Seoul National University (top school in Korea) with 4.0/4.3 GPA majoring in Business Administration
- GMAT 760 (taken 4 years ago) / TOEFL 120
- Worked at/cofounded a couple of startups in my undergrad (nothing big or successful at all, but a good experience)
- 2-year military service in US Army based in Korea (in leadership role as squad leader)
- 2 years as investment banking analyst at bulge bracket (one of Citigroup/BAML/Credit Suisse) in Hong Kong
- 2 years as associate at Asian regional private equity firm in Korea
I'm quite confident in my story/essays/experiences. My concern is that I'm older than my four years of work experience because of my two years in mandatory military service (dunno if that would count as work experience) but I was fortunate enough to serve it as part of the US Army stationed here in Korea (through a special program), with lots of good experiences as a leader to recount. Hoping that counts as a "diverse" experience or whatnot. Also, I'm guessing my non-US undergrad (though it is the best school in Korea) with no experience in the US would go against me? Not too sure about that, would love to hear your thoughts.
Overall, I know it's not enough info and depends on other factors as well, but just curious if this type of profile would have a shot at HBS/Wharton/Stanford.
Any feedback would be highly appreciated.
Thank you!
Posted from my mobile device
VantagePointMelody
Joined: 19 Apr 2016
Last visit: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 203
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 1
Schools: CBS '13 (A)
Expert reply
02 May 2017, 19:36
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! Love your username! And wow, great profile! Coming from PE generally makes for a nice story in terms of career progression as well as leadership. I expect your military experience to serve as a nice differentiator for you given that you were part of a special program that presumably offered some exceptional experiences – I would recommend providing context around that in your application so the reader can appreciate how unique your situation was. And of course, your stats are excellent for the top schools. So all that goes to say that I see no reason why you wouldn’t be competitive for H/S/W. Your years of experience is not an issue since nearly all applicants from Korea have fulfilled the military service requirement, so the schools are used to seeing that. (It’s important to put yourself into the context of who you’re competing against.) Same goes for your undergrad institution. You’re not the first Korean applicant to a top MBA program and the schools are very well-versed in the top universities in countries around the world. I have no doubt that they’ll be familiar with Seoul National University. I hope that’s reassuring for you!
As you probably know, though, it takes more than a great profile on paper to gain admission to the top programs. Packaging and communicating a compelling story that combines your past experiences, your future goals, and how an MBA is going to help you achieve great things is going to be key. You want that story to be inspiring! You don’t mention what your goals are for post-MBA so it’s tough for me to weigh in on those but generally they should be ambitious and tie back to a strong reason “why”. I would recommend starting to think through all that now so that you can be ready to hit the ground running when the applications go live in another month or so.
Lastly, even if you decide to throw your name into the hat for H/S/W, I also recommend considering a couple of additional schools within the top 10-12 to hedge your bets. There are a lot of great programs out there that will be just as well-positioned to set you up for post-MBA success no matter your goals. Something to keep in mind!
I hope that was helpful! A lot goes into to putting together a winning application so it’s great that you’re starting early. I’m happy to chat further about any of this if you’d like. You can reach out to me directly at melody@vantagepointadmissions.com or you can take advantage of my firm’s free 30-minute consultation here. Either way, best of luck!
Kindly,
Melody
Thanks for reaching out! Love your username! And wow, great profile! Coming from PE generally makes for a nice story in terms of career progression as well as leadership. I expect your military experience to serve as a nice differentiator for you given that you were part of a special program that presumably offered some exceptional experiences – I would recommend providing context around that in your application so the reader can appreciate how unique your situation was. And of course, your stats are excellent for the top schools. So all that goes to say that I see no reason why you wouldn’t be competitive for H/S/W. Your years of experience is not an issue since nearly all applicants from Korea have fulfilled the military service requirement, so the schools are used to seeing that. (It’s important to put yourself into the context of who you’re competing against.) Same goes for your undergrad institution. You’re not the first Korean applicant to a top MBA program and the schools are very well-versed in the top universities in countries around the world. I have no doubt that they’ll be familiar with Seoul National University. I hope that’s reassuring for you!
As you probably know, though, it takes more than a great profile on paper to gain admission to the top programs. Packaging and communicating a compelling story that combines your past experiences, your future goals, and how an MBA is going to help you achieve great things is going to be key. You want that story to be inspiring! You don’t mention what your goals are for post-MBA so it’s tough for me to weigh in on those but generally they should be ambitious and tie back to a strong reason “why”. I would recommend starting to think through all that now so that you can be ready to hit the ground running when the applications go live in another month or so.
Lastly, even if you decide to throw your name into the hat for H/S/W, I also recommend considering a couple of additional schools within the top 10-12 to hedge your bets. There are a lot of great programs out there that will be just as well-positioned to set you up for post-MBA success no matter your goals. Something to keep in mind!
I hope that was helpful! A lot goes into to putting together a winning application so it’s great that you’re starting early. I’m happy to chat further about any of this if you’d like. You can reach out to me directly at melody@vantagepointadmissions.com or you can take advantage of my firm’s free 30-minute consultation here. Either way, best of luck!
Kindly,
Melody
