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523561
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Joined: 25 Jul 2012
Last visit: 03 Nov 2013
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Please evaluate my profile 21 Aug 2012, 13:07
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Here is my brief profile:

Age: 24 (25 by program start)

Country: Ukraine (Eastern Europe)

Education: Moscow State University of International Relations, studied international economic relations (Top 3 University in Russia), GPA 4,0 (top 10 students in the university)
graduated with honors, awarded Dean's scholarship

GMAT: 750 (Q50 V 40), TOEFL 109

Work experience:
self employed as an English language and mathematics tutor - 1 year
KPMG (audit) - 1/2 year
family business (approx. 15 employees) - 1 year (lots of leadership experience + dealing with customers, clients, logistics, etc)
Government job (Ukraine) - 1.5 years (work with international economic organizations, manage a technical assistance project (jointly with the
local United Nations office) with a budget of more than 0.5 mln USD (hire scientists to conduct research, organize conferences and seminars, organize visits of foreign experts to Ukraine, lead work on translation of Ukraine's foreign trade legislature into English), member of an intergovernmental working party, lead work on trade facilitation with the country's business cycles, participate in negotiations on creation of Free Trade agreements with other countries ). Have other achievements at work, recently promoted.

Extracurricular activities: a lot. Swimming (first-class degree, participated in international competitions); head of the debate club at the university, have supported the club after graduation, convener and organizer of multiple international debating competitions hosted by my University, represented the university in debating championships in Europe; editor-in-chief of the University's newspaper; now help an animal shelter at home, do community work, etc

International exposure besides work: internship at Humboldt Uni (Berlin) - 1/2 year;
as a student visited Geneva-based international economic organizations and presented a project based on experience

Post MBA goals: finance, strategy

I'm highly motivated to apply for an MBA program, but I am not sure how b-schools might perceive my work experience.
Should I aim at applying to Booth/Wharton/Stanford/Columbia, Ross/Cornell, Darden/Tepper/Emory/Kenan-Flagler/Yale or the ones not in Top 25?

Also, i have obtained some of my work experience while being a student, and I'm not sure whether schools will count it as full-time experience (although I worked full-time). I have 15 months of full-time work experience after graduation by now, so it's gonna be 26 months when classes start (hope it happens).

Thank you in advance!
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Please evaluate my profile 21 Aug 2012, 23:15
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523561
Here is my brief profile:

Age: 24 (25 by program start)

Country: Ukraine (Eastern Europe)

Education: Moscow State University of International Relations, studied international economic relations (Top 3 University in Russia), GPA 4,0 (top 10 students in the university)
graduated with honors, awarded Dean's scholarship

GMAT: 750 (Q50 V 40), TOEFL 109

Work experience:
self employed as an English language and mathematics tutor - 1 year
KPMG (audit) - 1/2 year
family business (approx. 15 employees) - 1 year (lots of leadership experience + dealing with customers, clients, logistics, etc)
Government job (Ukraine) - 1.5 years (work with international economic organizations, manage a technical assistance project (jointly with the
local United Nations office) with a budget of more than 0.5 mln USD (hire scientists to conduct research, organize conferences and seminars, organize visits of foreign experts to Ukraine, lead work on translation of Ukraine's foreign trade legislature into English), member of an intergovernmental working party, lead work on trade facilitation with the country's business cycles, participate in negotiations on creation of Free Trade agreements with other countries ). Have other achievements at work, recently promoted.

Extracurricular activities: a lot. Swimming (first-class degree, participated in international competitions); head of the debate club at the university, have supported the club after graduation, convener and organizer of multiple international debating competitions hosted by my University, represented the university in debating championships in Europe; editor-in-chief of the University's newspaper; now help an animal shelter at home, do community work, etc

International exposure besides work: internship at Humboldt Uni (Berlin) - 1/2 year;
as a student visited Geneva-based international economic organizations and presented a project based on experience

Post MBA goals: finance, strategy

I'm highly motivated to apply for an MBA program, but I am not sure how b-schools might perceive my work experience.
Should I aim at applying to Booth/Wharton/Stanford/Columbia, Ross/Cornell, Darden/Tepper/Emory/Kenan-Flagler/Yale or the ones not in Top 25?

Also, i have obtained some of my work experience while being a student, and I'm not sure whether schools will count it as full-time experience (although I worked full-time). I have 15 months of full-time work experience after graduation by now, so it's gonna be 26 months when classes start (hope it happens).

Thank you in advance!
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How the schools view your work experience and job switching will depend partially on how you present them and the reasons for the jumping around. It will be a concern.

On the other hand, the schools will love your academics and extracurricular activities. The programs you list above are good choices for you and you may even want to try for one or two schools that are higher ranked. However, a lot will depend on the reasons for that job switching.

School look most closely at the post-college work experience, but they will weigh it all.

Best,
Linda
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523561
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Please evaluate my profile 22 Aug 2012, 01:16
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Thank you for your explanation, Linda!

You say I'm targeting the right schools but I mentioned completely different ones like Wharton/Stanford on the one hand and Kenan-Flagler/Tepper on the other hand.
Could you please clarify what could be my stretch and safety schools provided I offer the admission staff good reasons for switching jobs?

I would greatly appreciate your reply!
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Please evaluate my profile 22 Aug 2012, 22:16
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523561
Thank you for your explanation, Linda!

You say I'm targeting the right schools but I mentioned completely different ones like Wharton/Stanford on the one hand and Kenan-Flagler/Tepper on the other hand.
Could you please clarify what could be my stretch and safety schools provided I offer the admission staff good reasons for switching jobs?

I would greatly appreciate your reply!
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Sorry. I really wasn't clear at all.

I think you should apply to a range of schools but target more those that are friendly to younger applicants including Stanford, Wharton, Chicago. and Carnegie Mellon. The other programs will certainly consider you, but I think they will prefer more -- and more consistent -- work experience.

Finally, if you are planning to grow your business and spend the next year doing so and then apply with two years of self-employment, you may be a much stronger candidate, because you would then have two years in this role and would appear more stable. THis would be especially true if you are successful as an entrepreneur. On the other hand, if you are just doing the tutoring to pay the bills and mark time until you do what you really want to do, I think you are going to have a harder time convincing schools to accept you and post-MBA you'll have a harder time persuading employers to employ you.

Best,
Linda