Profile Evaluation - non traditional IP work experience - 730 GMAT
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Updated on: 31 Mar 2015, 06:26
Hello, I was hoping to get some guidance on school selection, chances for admission, and improvements to my profile that I can make before the fall applications. I am also considering possibly doing a late round application but don't know if that would be advisable given my profile. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thank you!
My profile: My background is intellectual property, specifically patent prosecution.
Nationality: USA
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Academic Background:
Graduated from a top state university engineering program in electrical engineering (top ten out of public engineering colleges).
-GPA: 3.2
-GMAT: 730 (Q47 - 68%, V44 - 98%, AWA 6.0, IR 6)
Work Experience:
-Total 4+ years
-2 years as a patent examiner examining and adjudicating electrical engineering patents for the US
Patent Office, with 2 promotions in less than 2 years
->2 years at an IP research firm, with final position as manager/team leader
-Informal English tutoring in Russia (<1 year)
Personal Background:
-Interests: Athletics (boxing and muay thai, weightlifting, yoga); Foreign Affairs; Travelling (Spent a total of 16 months abroad in 5 different countries) and Reading.
-Languages: Russian (attained fluency in Russian); Spanish (currently learning); Native English Speaker.
Career goals
-Primary: starting and/or developing a technology firm in an emerging market economy
-Secondary: using my intellectual property experience to evaluate investment opportunities in technology firms
Target schools:
-INSEAD
-Wharton
-IESE
-ESADE
-HEC Paris
-Columbia
-Stanford
I am open to other business schools, my main criteria are excellent reputation and international mobility for graduates, with a goal of working in Europe or Asia. I took the GMAT very recently, and I was a bit disappointed with my quantitative score since I had scored a 49, 49, and 50 my last three GMAC practice tests. I'm considering doing a retake but I'm not sure if it would be worth the effort since no improvement is guaranteed. If I did do a retake I would probably do it in the next 2 weeks while the material is still relatively fresh.
I also am aware that my work experience is non-traditional and I'm not sure how this will effect my application. I've heard from some people that non-traditional experience can help an application stand out, while others have said that I will need to excel in other areas (i.e. GMAT) to have a shot. To counter my lack of traditional work experience I've considered trying to switch jobs to something in a more traditional field, like consulting, to get at least a couple months of experience before the first round for September '16 intake but I'm not sure that it will make a difference, and if my time would be better spent elsewhere.
I also want to add some volunteer experience and leadership experience since my current role does not require much teamwork, though my previous job was in management.
Originally posted by
bidnisstudent on 30 Mar 2015, 08:15.
Last edited by
bidnisstudent on 31 Mar 2015, 06:26, edited 1 time in total.