kryzak wrote:
hey there,
Um, people know that my opinions of the admissions consultants aren't that high, especially the ones who tell you "you have no chance" just so they can get you to sign up and work with them. Ok, rant over.
You have a pretty strong profile! To answer your question, you are NOT too old for the schools you listed. Right now only Harvard and Stanford are known to go younger, and the rest still have average ages of 27-28. If it helps, I'm 31, have an engineering masters, worked 5 years as an engineer and only decided to get an MBA after working 2 years in business development. So if you can tell your story of WHY you wanted to switch to marketing from engineering, HOW you did it, and WHY that prompted you to get an MBA (if you're already in marketing, why do you need an MBA? That sort of questions), then you should have a good chance.
Your EC leadership is great, your GPA is fine, your GMAT will NEED to be above 700 (to make you competitive), preferably 720+ for the schools you're looking at. The one weakness I see is that you didn't list any MAJOR work leadership experience. You've done some good work, but if you can talk about the leadership and teamwork aspects of those jobs in your essays, then you can mitigate the issue.
DO NOT be negative. You need to get a good GMAT score. Once you do, it'll depend solely on your essays. Also, DON'T let the consultants get you down. I'd trust people on GMATClub much more than those consultants, who told me most of the schools I've applied to were "unlikely" for me.
Anyway, my 2 cents, take it with a grain of salt though.
Wharton - reach, this will be a very tough one, but age will not be a factor there
Kellogg - smaller reach, depends on great essays and how well you convey your leadership/teamwork characteristics
Yale SOM - Tough just because the class size is so small, but on target.
Tuck - Tough, but doable.
MIT - small reach, emphasize your marketing background and how you're NOT a typical engineer
Haas - Tough because of the acceptance rates, but very doable with your stats and with good essays.
Have you considered any "safety" schools? Like Michigan, UCLA, or Duke for Marketing?
Hi Kry,
I am sorry for the previous subject line. My mood was very negative when I typed that. Even when I read your words "You have a pretty strong profile", my inside still kept telling me "Kry just tried not to be too mean". : (
I know your "unlikely" story, which I guess is well-know here. I admire that you could overcome the noise and finally put your feet in Haas.
Thanks for telling me that I am still young : ). That is the only thing I can't change. But still, I will put more effort to explain why I started MBA relatively late.
Regarding the essay, I think I can prepare a good one because I am a careful writer who can think clearly, deeply and critically. Of course I still need the help from the experts here.
Yes, I do not have direct reports because I am relatively new in this industry and I am working in a representative office of my company. The services we provided here are mainly sales and marketing, so not labour intensive. Even though i do not have major work leadership experience. I will mention some projects/ tasks where I took lead. I am also the chairman of a committee in my company. Our committee cooperates well in with other offices internationally.
I really appreciate your advices on schools because I know that the likely vs unlikely issue is difficult to tell. Thanks!
I am not native in English, so I am afraid I misunderstand the terms here. What I guess is: reach (most unlikely) > smaller reach > small reach > very tough > tough > doable, very doable. Am I right?
I did think about backup. But some of the backups advised by the consultant are unknown to me, for example, Wisconsin and UNC Kenan-Flagler. As MBA is a big money and time investment for me, I don't want to end up failing to achieve my career goal. In other words, I am afriad that companies such as P&G, Unilever, Mckincy, BCG will not consider my application if I come from Wisconsin.
You mentioned about Michigan, UCLA, or Duke for Marketing. They are good schools as far as I know. But are they "elite" school? Are there many good S&M and consulting companies hiring their graduates?
Anyway, thank you again for your reply. Now I can totally focus in GMAT.
close
30 Jul 2008, 11:04
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