Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2310:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Admissions committees evaluate the GMAT/GRE in context — your background, your representation in the applicant pool, the strength of everything else in your file. The same score works for one candidate and falls short for another with identical numbers.
Apr 2312:00 PM PDT
-01:00 PM PDT
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!
Apr 2408:30 PM IST
-09:30 PM IST
Join us for a Live Coffee chat with Jenifer Turtschanow where we talk about enhancing your MBA profile and fixing gaps in just 4 months.
16 Feb 2017, 15:52
Kudos
Bookmarks
I'm 27, the deputy director (2nd in command) of an international non-profit in DC.
The org is relatively small (budget is only a few million) but has generated some prestige (e.g. White House invite and well-known donors). It is relevant to b-school because our mission involves business.
As much as I love my job, I don't make enough money to support my family in the long run. (I have a wife, baby, and mortgage.)
I love reading about and discussing strategy, finance, and tech. Tons of post-MBA jobs appeal to me, but I think I'd choose corporate finance; the lifestyle is better than consulting or banking.
I went to a top-tier public school (e.g. UVA, UNC, UCLA) with a 3.4 GPA, but Cs in a couple econ classes.
Outside of work, I'm on the board of a startup non-profit. Nobody has heard of it.
Questions:
1) If I can score 700+ on the GMAT, do I have a chance at getting into Harvard, MIT, Booth, Columbia, Kellog, Wharton, etc?
2) Am I nuts to be considering a full-time MBA with a baby (or 2 by then)? We don't have financial support from family, and my wife is not a big earner, so it will involve a huge amount of debt. Childcare is at least an extra $1k per kid per month.
3) We own a home near DC. With great friends and lots of work we've put into our house, we'd love to keep the place and stay in DC long term. Should I forget the elite programs and just aim for Georgetown, Maryland, and GW?
(Preferring an elite school has nothing to do with ego. I've witnessed that people saying they have a Harvard MBA automatically opens doors.)
4) Am I too settled? So I should just try to find a way to make it work in the non-profit industry? As you can tell, I set up my life with an assumption of no more school. But I am fast realizing that life is getting unaffordable.
Thank you for your help!
The org is relatively small (budget is only a few million) but has generated some prestige (e.g. White House invite and well-known donors). It is relevant to b-school because our mission involves business.
As much as I love my job, I don't make enough money to support my family in the long run. (I have a wife, baby, and mortgage.)
I love reading about and discussing strategy, finance, and tech. Tons of post-MBA jobs appeal to me, but I think I'd choose corporate finance; the lifestyle is better than consulting or banking.
I went to a top-tier public school (e.g. UVA, UNC, UCLA) with a 3.4 GPA, but Cs in a couple econ classes.
Outside of work, I'm on the board of a startup non-profit. Nobody has heard of it.
Questions:
1) If I can score 700+ on the GMAT, do I have a chance at getting into Harvard, MIT, Booth, Columbia, Kellog, Wharton, etc?
2) Am I nuts to be considering a full-time MBA with a baby (or 2 by then)? We don't have financial support from family, and my wife is not a big earner, so it will involve a huge amount of debt. Childcare is at least an extra $1k per kid per month.
3) We own a home near DC. With great friends and lots of work we've put into our house, we'd love to keep the place and stay in DC long term. Should I forget the elite programs and just aim for Georgetown, Maryland, and GW?
(Preferring an elite school has nothing to do with ego. I've witnessed that people saying they have a Harvard MBA automatically opens doors.)
4) Am I too settled? So I should just try to find a way to make it work in the non-profit industry? As you can tell, I set up my life with an assumption of no more school. But I am fast realizing that life is getting unaffordable.
Thank you for your help!
16 Feb 2017, 21:03
Kudos
Bookmarks
I think you have the type of profile top MBAs like so if you can land in the +720 range you will be in play. Your GPA is a bit lower than the 3.6 avg at some of the top programs you mentioned, so your performance on the GMAT will be very important if you aspire that high.
Business school is expensive so you will certainly have to figure how much of a lifestyle change you really are looking for, also make sure this is a joint decision with your wife as she will probably end up making tons of sacrifices as well. The top schools will make a much greater impact on your career than the local schools but keep in mind if you are planning to return back to DC the type of industries that are most common in the area. It will be different than financial hubs like NYC.
Business school is expensive so you will certainly have to figure how much of a lifestyle change you really are looking for, also make sure this is a joint decision with your wife as she will probably end up making tons of sacrifices as well. The top schools will make a much greater impact on your career than the local schools but keep in mind if you are planning to return back to DC the type of industries that are most common in the area. It will be different than financial hubs like NYC.
VantagePointMelody
Expert
Expert reply
17 Feb 2017, 11:29
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi there,
Thanks for sharing your candid thoughts and concerns around pursuing an MBA. I think a lot of folks don’t give enough attention (or if they do, it’s privately) to the points you raised so bravo
Before you get hung up on the specifics of which schools you could get into, I would urge you to think about why you’re pursuing an MBA in the first place. An MBA is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor so it needs to be part of the journey towards something you want vs. simply moving away from something you don’t want (i.e. your current job). Getting an MBA should be a strategic decision, not a transactional one. So getting really honest with yourself, doing some research, speaking with mentors/friends/your wife, etc. about what you want to do with your career moving forward is a great place to start. What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What are you passionate about? How do you see yourself making an impact? Then you can assess if an MBA makes sense to get you there better and faster. While your motivations may be driven by a higher paycheck it needs to be about more than just money (for the purposes of your applications, at the very least).
Once (and if) you’ve decided that an MBA is right for you and why, you're absolutely right to bring your personal life into consideration. It’s not “crazy” to enroll in a full-time MBA program as a parent but it will require sacrifice and discipline. (Every top MBA program will include a handful of mothers and fathers; I went to Columbia Business School and one of my classmates was the father of newborn twins, for example, so it’s doable but he would never say it was easy.) Ultimately, that’s a decision that only you and your family can make based on what's right for y'all.
So getting down to the specific schools – there’s a lot to like about your profile. Your non-profit background and senior leadership position will definitely help you differentiate yourself. Your undergrad GPA is slightly below average for the top schools but with a great GMAT score, you could help mitigate that. What’s going to be most important, though, will be your story – who you are, what you achieved in your career so far, why you’re pursuing an MBA, exactly how you will use your MBA to do great things in the future, etc. With some killer essays, you very well could have a shot at the top programs. Now whether you aim for the top programs or keep your focus local to the DC area will depend on what you and your family decide is best on a personal level and what you’re hoping to do after graduation professionally. If your target industry/companies recruit actively at Georgetown, for example, and you’re committed to staying near home post-MBA, then Georgetown seems like a great fit. On the other hand, if you want to maintain the optionality of the top 10 schools and you and your family are open to moving, then you should give them a shot.
Anyways, I hope this was helpful in giving you some more things to consider and think about. I realize I didn’t give you any black & white answers but the decision to pursue an MBA and where is anything but formulaic. Best of luck!
Kindly,
Melody
Thanks for sharing your candid thoughts and concerns around pursuing an MBA. I think a lot of folks don’t give enough attention (or if they do, it’s privately) to the points you raised so bravo
Before you get hung up on the specifics of which schools you could get into, I would urge you to think about why you’re pursuing an MBA in the first place. An MBA is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor so it needs to be part of the journey towards something you want vs. simply moving away from something you don’t want (i.e. your current job). Getting an MBA should be a strategic decision, not a transactional one. So getting really honest with yourself, doing some research, speaking with mentors/friends/your wife, etc. about what you want to do with your career moving forward is a great place to start. What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What are you passionate about? How do you see yourself making an impact? Then you can assess if an MBA makes sense to get you there better and faster. While your motivations may be driven by a higher paycheck it needs to be about more than just money (for the purposes of your applications, at the very least).Once (and if) you’ve decided that an MBA is right for you and why, you're absolutely right to bring your personal life into consideration. It’s not “crazy” to enroll in a full-time MBA program as a parent but it will require sacrifice and discipline. (Every top MBA program will include a handful of mothers and fathers; I went to Columbia Business School and one of my classmates was the father of newborn twins, for example, so it’s doable but he would never say it was easy.) Ultimately, that’s a decision that only you and your family can make based on what's right for y'all.
So getting down to the specific schools – there’s a lot to like about your profile. Your non-profit background and senior leadership position will definitely help you differentiate yourself. Your undergrad GPA is slightly below average for the top schools but with a great GMAT score, you could help mitigate that. What’s going to be most important, though, will be your story – who you are, what you achieved in your career so far, why you’re pursuing an MBA, exactly how you will use your MBA to do great things in the future, etc. With some killer essays, you very well could have a shot at the top programs. Now whether you aim for the top programs or keep your focus local to the DC area will depend on what you and your family decide is best on a personal level and what you’re hoping to do after graduation professionally. If your target industry/companies recruit actively at Georgetown, for example, and you’re committed to staying near home post-MBA, then Georgetown seems like a great fit. On the other hand, if you want to maintain the optionality of the top 10 schools and you and your family are open to moving, then you should give them a shot.
Anyways, I hope this was helpful in giving you some more things to consider and think about. I realize I didn’t give you any black & white answers but the decision to pursue an MBA and where is anything but formulaic. Best of luck!
Kindly,
Melody
