ryanshoe95
Hello,
I am a 21 year old college senior with very little idea of where I stand in the realm of MBA programs and my realistic possibilities.
Profile-
College Senior in Oklahoma, Native American who is involved with tribal events, planning to apply to the Consortium even though it is probably a long shot.
GMAT- 720 (Q 48, V 41) AWA- 6.0 Integrated Reasoning- 8
Undergrad- Management/Entrepreneurship Double Major, 3.30 GPA from a mid-level state school
Experience- No full-time work experience, part-time work every summer (nothing prestigious, just typical college kid jobs), work during school the past year in the school's Professional Development office, which has provided me with more real world applicable skills than a normal student job, but still a part-time student job nonetheless.
Extracurriculars- Very involved at school, member of a number of major related clubs, including more selective organizations who have the opportunity to represent the school and work with faculty, also involved in other clubs, very involved in my fraternity
Significant volunteer experience in a number of different areas (YMCA, reading at schools, special needs work, work with elderly, Humane Society, camps, etc.), over 700 hours total in just over 3 years so far in college
I know that having no work experience is a big drawback, but I don't know whether my strong GMAT score, average GPA, and good extracurricular involvement are enough to make up for that. I just need some advice on what level in the MBA rankings I can/should realistically target, and which, if any, schools weigh work experience less heavily that I could possibly be a more attractive candidate for. Also, does being Native American provide me any advantage in this process and how much should I work that aspect of myself in to applications? Thanks for any advice you can give.
Hey there,
Great to hear from you.
Now although your profile is very interesting and your minority status as a Native American will give you a huge boost without any real work experience, an MBA is quite simply not the right degree. You have some options like HBS 2+2, Stanford deferred, Yale Silver scholars which I think are worth giving a shot at and are directly geared towards people with no experience. And with your involvement, likely the strongest story you could build would revolve around some volunteer/NGO work (although I dont know if this is what you want).
Other options you might have are Masters in Management programs, or other Masters that might be appropriate that you are interested in (Finance Economics, etc.) that require no prior work experience.
Let me know your thoughts, and a bit about your short and long-term goals, and we can converse!!!
Best,
Jon