Thanks, Alex. I will take your advise and emphasis on my people skills.
The truth is that I am probably too social to be an engineer, at least judging form the work experience I had so far. Maybe I need to convince the committee that my ability to influence people and to make friends will eventually translate into effectiveness in Business.
The biggest challenge I had so far at work is not how well I deliver results but the fact that I do not fit in the traditional engineer hat. I can strike a conversation with just about anyone. Perception is that if you are an "I" and "A" type engineer, you are not as technical or do not work as hard as the other ones who usually are quiet. It is also one of the top reasons why I wanted to go to B-school - to leap to a role where both my abilities and my skills are appreciated and exemplified.
AlexMBAApply wrote:
It really comes down to ONE thing:
Can you convince the adcoms that you are as good (or even better) with people as you are with numbers?
It's clear that you're a near math genius. But beyond a certain level of math skills, it's irrelevant whether you're "reasonably good" at math or "exceptional" at math. Because in business, quantitative skills are valuable only up to a certain threshhold (and that threshhold is significantly lower than what most engineering types have). Ultimately, if you're going to be managing a business large or small, it's about your effectiveness with people and your ability to communicate a compelling narrative about what the company is all about that people can rally around.
If you can show that you have that potential through the extracurriculars and work experience, then you certainly have a shot at all the schools you mentioned. If you don't, then you'll have a tough time getting into the top 16 schools.
And whether you are as good or better with people as you are with numbers is obviously subjective - it's not something that one can quantitatively measure, but is something that an adcom will make a judgment call on based on what you've written, what your rec letters write, and your interviews.
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19 Dec 2009, 12:24
