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.
May 0408:30 AM PDT
-09:30 AM PDT
A low GMAT score does not automatically end your MBA admission chances. Every year, top business schools admit candidates whose GMAT scores fall below the class average — not because the score doesn’t matter, but because the rest of the application....
May 0507:00 PM EDT
-08:00 PM EDT
In this live 60-minute masterclass, How to Get Ahead of MBA Recruiting Now, we’ll walk through the four biggest mistakes incoming MBAs make and how to avoid them so you’re not scrambling to catch up once recruiting begins.
May 0710:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions Founder Susan Berishaj is covering this live on YouTube, May 7: how admissions committees actually evaluate goals statements, who is in the room, and why the goals statement most applicants submit wouldn't survive that conversation.- May 08
08:00 AM PDT
-08:30 AM PDT
Join the special YouTube live-stream for selecting the winners of GMAT Club MBA Scholarships sponsored by Juno live. Watch who gets these coveted MBA scholarships offered by GMAT Club and Juno.
29 Aug 2012, 09:02
Kudos
Bookmarks
Profile evaluation:
Background: 30 year-old male Asian American, married, has a 4 and a 5 year-old (does that matter?). Multicultural - Born in China and immigrated to US at age 18. Proficient in both English and Chinese.
GMAT score: 740 (50Q / 39V)
Undergrad School and GPA: SUNY Binghamton, Computer science major, 2.95 GPA (no special reason for the low gpa, it is just due to immaturity)
Post-MBA goal:
Short term: Career change - like to change from working in small business to working in big corporation. Interested in general management and/or entrepreneurship (can i put both as my areas of interest??), like to get into a good management trainee program after MBA.
Long term: Becoming a operational leader, in Asia-Pacific region, of a US or international company (utilize my multicultural background).
Work experience (6 years total):
I started working in a small computer networking company. The company implements internet networks for hotels. I was a team leader in the tech-support department. My work duties include overseeing tech-support staffs, monitoring the client’s networks, and maintaining a good relationship with the clients.
After the networking company, I worked in a small retail business (a chain of two local cellular phone stores). I started as a IT Consultant. In one year, I was promoted as an assistant GM and became a business partner. In two more years, I became the General Manager (my current title). Under my supervision, the company structure was enhanced, new positions and departments were created, the total revenue was significantly increased, and four more new stores were opened in the upstate New York region.
Target Schools: McCombs, Cornell, Darden, Stern, (or something better?)
Questions:
1. Am I getting a good chance get accepted by the above schools? I understand my weaknesses include low under-grad GPA and lack of corporate exposure. Are my working experience and the 740 GMAT going to offset the weakness in my application? I heard about taking courses in community college to offset low undergrad GPA, but I don’t have such time because of work.
2. About recommendations: As a general manager, the only person above me is the business owner. He is going to give me a good recommendation demonstrating my achievement at work. I am planning to have my counselor at Christian fellowship to write me the second recommendation. I worked with her closely as I coordinated a couple music events for the fellowship. She should be able to give me some good words about my leadership skills. Is that a good combination of recommendation letters?
3. About area of interest, i am not so sure about entrepreneurship or general management. can i put both? or if i have to pick entrepreneurship, will it go with my long term goal just fine? I want to put entrepreneurship because i feel like it is closer to what i am doing at my job, therefore increases the change of acceptance.
4. My salary is significantly lower than average. Is that something bad for my application? That is because as business partners, both I and the business owner agreed that it is the best now to reserve the money for the company growth. Should I use the optional essay to make that clear?
5. According to my profile, would it be a waste of money to try one of the top 10? like sloan?
Background: 30 year-old male Asian American, married, has a 4 and a 5 year-old (does that matter?). Multicultural - Born in China and immigrated to US at age 18. Proficient in both English and Chinese.
GMAT score: 740 (50Q / 39V)
Undergrad School and GPA: SUNY Binghamton, Computer science major, 2.95 GPA (no special reason for the low gpa, it is just due to immaturity)
Post-MBA goal:
Short term: Career change - like to change from working in small business to working in big corporation. Interested in general management and/or entrepreneurship (can i put both as my areas of interest??), like to get into a good management trainee program after MBA.
Long term: Becoming a operational leader, in Asia-Pacific region, of a US or international company (utilize my multicultural background).
Work experience (6 years total):
I started working in a small computer networking company. The company implements internet networks for hotels. I was a team leader in the tech-support department. My work duties include overseeing tech-support staffs, monitoring the client’s networks, and maintaining a good relationship with the clients.
After the networking company, I worked in a small retail business (a chain of two local cellular phone stores). I started as a IT Consultant. In one year, I was promoted as an assistant GM and became a business partner. In two more years, I became the General Manager (my current title). Under my supervision, the company structure was enhanced, new positions and departments were created, the total revenue was significantly increased, and four more new stores were opened in the upstate New York region.
Target Schools: McCombs, Cornell, Darden, Stern, (or something better?)
Questions:
1. Am I getting a good chance get accepted by the above schools? I understand my weaknesses include low under-grad GPA and lack of corporate exposure. Are my working experience and the 740 GMAT going to offset the weakness in my application? I heard about taking courses in community college to offset low undergrad GPA, but I don’t have such time because of work.
2. About recommendations: As a general manager, the only person above me is the business owner. He is going to give me a good recommendation demonstrating my achievement at work. I am planning to have my counselor at Christian fellowship to write me the second recommendation. I worked with her closely as I coordinated a couple music events for the fellowship. She should be able to give me some good words about my leadership skills. Is that a good combination of recommendation letters?
3. About area of interest, i am not so sure about entrepreneurship or general management. can i put both? or if i have to pick entrepreneurship, will it go with my long term goal just fine? I want to put entrepreneurship because i feel like it is closer to what i am doing at my job, therefore increases the change of acceptance.
4. My salary is significantly lower than average. Is that something bad for my application? That is because as business partners, both I and the business owner agreed that it is the best now to reserve the money for the company growth. Should I use the optional essay to make that clear?
5. According to my profile, would it be a waste of money to try one of the top 10? like sloan?
30 Aug 2012, 10:14
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi there,
I think your profile is very interesting. Let's break it down:
Academics. As you're aware, your undergrad GPA is quite low. I would suggest that you address this in an optional statement and take responsibility for your immaturity during undergrad (it's a pretty common story!). Point to your GPA as evidence of your analytic capability. I would suggest taking courses in accounting, statistics or finance if possible to show that you can do well in the classroom -- but if you don't have time, you don't have time.
Professional experience: I think your experience, while non-traditional, is very strong. Especially the recent experience as a GM and business partner. Entrepreneurial experience goes a very long way and I think you'll have a lot of strong leadership stories for your essays.
Extracurricular: I didn't see much mention of extracurricular activities - this would appear to be a gap in your profile.
Community work: Seems like you've been involved in an ad-hoc manner in community leadership activities through your church, but not much more than that. Is that a fair assessment?
I think your school list is pretty thoughtful and that you've got a good shot at McCcombs and Cornell. Darden and Stern are great target schools - definitely a possibility that they would overlook your GPA in favor of your GMAT and strong professional experience. I think that it's worth adding one more school in the reach category - Sloan or Columbia or whatever you choose.
The recommendation letters sound good -- I'm not sure what your other options are though! The business owner is an obvious one, but it might make sense to have someone else at the company (a peer?) write a recommendation instead of the woman you worked with on the music events... but it really depends on the depth of the experience and relationship. Difficult for me to say without additional details and options.
I would probably pick either entrepreneurship or general management as your career track. Saying you want to go to a big company and then start your own just isn't a very logical story given that you've already had a lot of entrepreneurial experience. Pick one and build the story one way or the other.
You can include that information about your salary in the optional essay - that would be fine.
Hope this helps!
Mili
Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
https://www.mbamission.com
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide
Visit the mbaMission Blog
Follow mbaMission on Twitter
I think your profile is very interesting. Let's break it down:
Academics. As you're aware, your undergrad GPA is quite low. I would suggest that you address this in an optional statement and take responsibility for your immaturity during undergrad (it's a pretty common story!). Point to your GPA as evidence of your analytic capability. I would suggest taking courses in accounting, statistics or finance if possible to show that you can do well in the classroom -- but if you don't have time, you don't have time.
Professional experience: I think your experience, while non-traditional, is very strong. Especially the recent experience as a GM and business partner. Entrepreneurial experience goes a very long way and I think you'll have a lot of strong leadership stories for your essays.
Extracurricular: I didn't see much mention of extracurricular activities - this would appear to be a gap in your profile.
Community work: Seems like you've been involved in an ad-hoc manner in community leadership activities through your church, but not much more than that. Is that a fair assessment?
I think your school list is pretty thoughtful and that you've got a good shot at McCcombs and Cornell. Darden and Stern are great target schools - definitely a possibility that they would overlook your GPA in favor of your GMAT and strong professional experience. I think that it's worth adding one more school in the reach category - Sloan or Columbia or whatever you choose.
The recommendation letters sound good -- I'm not sure what your other options are though! The business owner is an obvious one, but it might make sense to have someone else at the company (a peer?) write a recommendation instead of the woman you worked with on the music events... but it really depends on the depth of the experience and relationship. Difficult for me to say without additional details and options.
I would probably pick either entrepreneurship or general management as your career track. Saying you want to go to a big company and then start your own just isn't a very logical story given that you've already had a lot of entrepreneurial experience. Pick one and build the story one way or the other.
You can include that information about your salary in the optional essay - that would be fine.
Hope this helps!
Mili
Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
https://www.mbamission.com
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide
Visit the mbaMission Blog
Follow mbaMission on Twitter
30 Aug 2012, 10:43
Kudos
Bookmarks
first of all, i really appreciate your detail response.
in response to some of your questions:
Extracurricular:
1. one thing i really proud about myself is my photography skills. I consider my skill matches a "seasonal-pro", just that i don't charge people. i do photo shoot occasionally for some friends and families' special events. i do landscaping photography too, maybe i can include some of my works along with one of the essay that talks about myself?
2. I do magic tricks, but mostly for children at some private parties. I am not as good as profession who can make a living with such skills, but i would say i am experience enough to call myself an amateur magician.
3. I am a guitarist. played in a band in college time (one reason for the low GPA, lol). In college time, i also actively involved with the music worship for the student fellowship group. I am also a worship team member currently in my church (i guess that kind of overlaps with the community work.
4. I like skiing and snowboarding, but i don't think those have anything to do with my MBA application, correct?
Community work: I used to be an interpreter in my church, but I became too busy and didn't continue that role. I am currently a guitarist in the music worship team in my church.
About the person who writes me the second recommendation: besides worked together a couple times during music events, she was also my consular in the fellowship. so i think she should know me well enough to write me a recommendation. Other than her, the only ones i can think of are my subordinates.
about my low GPA: even though my GPA is low, but i think i got good grades in some of the core courses. does it worth to mention that in the optional essay too?
So with the new information, does my profile look a little better?
in response to some of your questions:
Extracurricular:
1. one thing i really proud about myself is my photography skills. I consider my skill matches a "seasonal-pro", just that i don't charge people. i do photo shoot occasionally for some friends and families' special events. i do landscaping photography too, maybe i can include some of my works along with one of the essay that talks about myself?
2. I do magic tricks, but mostly for children at some private parties. I am not as good as profession who can make a living with such skills, but i would say i am experience enough to call myself an amateur magician.
3. I am a guitarist. played in a band in college time (one reason for the low GPA, lol). In college time, i also actively involved with the music worship for the student fellowship group. I am also a worship team member currently in my church (i guess that kind of overlaps with the community work.
4. I like skiing and snowboarding, but i don't think those have anything to do with my MBA application, correct?
Community work: I used to be an interpreter in my church, but I became too busy and didn't continue that role. I am currently a guitarist in the music worship team in my church.
About the person who writes me the second recommendation: besides worked together a couple times during music events, she was also my consular in the fellowship. so i think she should know me well enough to write me a recommendation. Other than her, the only ones i can think of are my subordinates.
about my low GPA: even though my GPA is low, but i think i got good grades in some of the core courses. does it worth to mention that in the optional essay too?
So with the new information, does my profile look a little better?
