Hi all,
Appreciate you taking the time to take a look at my profile!
Background: Female, 27 (will be 28 when I start the program), married, no children
Born in Russia; left home at 15 to attend boarding school in the UK
Languages: - russian (native)
- english (fluent)
- french (just started earlier this year; plan on going back to intensive learning once I am done with the GMAT/apps)
Education: finished high school in the UK (A-Levels): Psychology, Economics, Politics, Maths
attended Syracuse University (USA) for undergrad; graduated with a B.S. in Communications and Rhetoric (2.94/4 GPA)
- no quant courses at all; low GPA because I was immature and needed some time to adjust to a new educational system (UK vs US)
- as an avid music fan, for the longest time I wanted to get into music industry
- while in college, I interned as a Spotify campus ambassador
- worked at a music venue off-campus as a promoter and led a marketing street team of 5 people
- wrote and did photography for a few campus magazines
- summer internships included marketing for a French social media company (Moscow, Russia), event marketing for a Russian media company (Moscow, Russia), marketing for a music startup in (NYC)
GMAT: 680 (42Q 41V IR6)
Professional:- 4.5 years of experience post-graduation
- have a somewhat non-linear path; multiple industries, but most roles were in client relations in some capacity
- got into a highly competitive internship program with Red Bull (culture marketing) right after college in Atlanta, GA
- moved to NYC to start my career; ended up working at a digital agency as a project manager (bilingual environment; offshore team in Eastern Europe; US-based clients); consulted in UX and web design, managed client assets, received and shared technical specs
- was forced to leave my job and take a break due to a pending immigration case (did not have a work visa); spent this time volunteering for an events/music organization company, doing photo retouching, and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity as a Resource Development specialist
- joined an Ad-tech company in a rush to minimize unemployment, which backfired. for a brief time worked as an account manager until I realized I derive zero pleasure from working in advertising; left my job after 9 months to do some soul searching and decide what I wanted to do
- been working for an international ed-tech company (publicly traded) in NYC for close to 3 years; started as a coordinator, got promoted to manager after 1 year (and switched departments); got promoted a second time in October (two promotions in less than 3 years); my role is unique and involves project management and client relations, as well as instructional design consulting; I work with professors from top universities (currently: LSE and Harvard Business School); no direct reports
Extracurricular/Hobbies:- avid traveler (been to 6 continents and 40+ countries)
- as mentioned above, I always wanted to work in the music industry but got discouraged when I saw the amount of discrimination women face in the music industry; nevertheless, I have been to hundreds of concerts and have proudly maintained a monthly favorites Spotify playlist consistently since 2016
- I have been doing photography since I was 15 (street, travel, portrait)
- volunteered for Sofar Sounds (an organization that puts on intimate concerts in bizarre venues, including people's living room around the globe); acted as the Show Lead for 2.5 years and organized dozens of concerts
- volunteered for Habitat for Humanity when I couldn't work
- huge cinephile, I adore film
- learning French for fun
Misc:- my dad graduated from INSEAD
Goals and Aspirations:- would like to lean into my strengths and continue on a path of client relations, but on a larger scale; interested in strategic partnerships and customer success in the tech industry (would like to stay in Europe and relocate permanently through the MBA); specifically interested in roles at Salesforce, Atlassian, Google, Amazon
- also interested in product marketing (also in tech)
My general thoughts/questions:- my quant score is low for INSEAD; my instinct is to retake to make my score a bit more balanced; given that the R1 deadline for Jan2022 is not until March, I have the time to improve my quant (but also don't want to waste my time on a retake if it's not exactly needed) -- should I retake the GMAT? I know the average is 709, but I am also considering my profile as a Russian female with a lot of international experience
- is MBAmath something I should consider? I did not take a single quant course since high school
- does legacy help at all at INSEAD?
- curious to hear your general thoughts and feedback
Thanks!