Hi plasticplastic,
Thanks for posting. See below for my notes on your profile, and feel free to reach out to us for a free 30 min phone consult if you want to discuss further:
https://www.mbamission.com/consult/-Kate
plasticplastic wrote:
Hi there!
I'm looking to apply to b-school for R2 and with a very mediocre GMAT score (660 Q47 V34), I'm hoping to find a way to ensure that my application doesn't get thrown out right away. Well first, schools don't throw out applications right away! They will read everything you submit and give you a fair shot. Second, is retaking the GMAT possible? Probably not if you're trying to do R2.
There's a lot of emphasis on internationality and demographic diversity in some of the schools that I'm considering (LBS, Oxford, Cambridge, USC, and HKUST), so I was wondering if there was any opportunity to use my dual citizenship as some kind of advantage? I hold both UK and British passports, as well as citizenship in Hong Kong. Yes schools do value diverse backgrounds and nationality is one component of that. Also think about highlighting in your essays how this multi-cultural viewpoint has influenced your values and goals, and how it will influence your contribution as an MBA student.
I was wondering if declaring myself one or the other could be to an advantage for different schools? (e.g. for the UK schools, apply as a Canadian so that I am considered "more foreign"; for USC apply as a British national for the same reason) Yes I think you're on the right track there. For most schools, Chinese applicants will be more over-represented, so I would apply as one of the other two (if possible given the way their demographic questions are phrased).
Curious to know what the opinion is on this!
In case other parts of my profile would be interesting to evaluate:
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Chinese (but with the confusing dual citizenship situation listed above)
Undergrad GPA: 3.85 liberal arts degree from NYU Great! This will help with the GPA.
Work experience: I've had a bit of a confusing trajectory -- I had a solid uphill climb in the fashion PR world, but after 3 years of that I decided I wanted to change drastically and took an assistant position in public affairs (I plan on addressing this heavily in my application -- my reason for going to business school is because I want to run with the public affairs stuff. I think corporations are becoming increasingly sensitive to public affairs issues and will need to learn to properly engage with the government)
Yes definitely use the essays to explain your thinking here. Sounds like an interesting story though.
_________________
Kate Richardson
mbaMission Senior Admissions Consultant
Chicago Booth Alum, over 80 5-star reviews on GMAT Club
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