Dear
Accepted.com,
I would be grateful if you could help me identify the business schools that would fit my profile. Please find my profile below, under the format you suggested:
1) Brief description of your full-time work experience. What do you do?By the time I apply, I will have worked 3.5 years as "Manager of Legal Affairs" at a fairly known international organization working on a very mediatized topic. While I haven't been promoted as the organization is relatively "flat", I can demonstrate steadingly increasing responsibilities. Managed a few projects.
I also worked as an intern in another intl. organization in the Netherlands whose work is fairly known, and was also later recruited as recording secretary for expert meetings.
2) GMAT 770 (Q50/V47), IR 8
3) College info:Studied Law (LL.B.) at a lesser-known university in Canada. Graduated in 2008 with a GPA of 3.08/4.3. Semester abroad in Denmark.
Masters degree (LL.M.) in international law from the same school - graduated in 2009 with a GPA of 3.96/4.3
Masters degree in France (2009) - average ~80%
4) Significant extra-curricular activities or community service. During college, I was involved in the law students association as vice-president, and was supervising the publication of the weekly law students newspaper. In high-school, I was also president of the student union. Currently, I am sitting on the board of a committee of the city's bar association.
5) Important certifications:Bar Exam (2010)
Not a proper certification, but am fluent in French, English, Spanish, and have a working knowledge of German, Mandarin and Portuguese.
6) Your target programs:I'm really aiming for INSEAD as I feel it fits me the best, but I am open to suggestions. I'm also considering Harvard & Wharton Lauder, despite them possibly being stretch.
Honestly speaking, although I'm leaving the door open, I am not very interested by US programs as I would like to study abroad (US doesn't really count as abroad, when living in Canada!) and gain international exposure. For this reason, INSEAD really caught my eye, as well as Wharton Lauder.
7) When you plan to apply? R1 2014
8) Your post-MBA goal.Change! In terms of responsibilities, on the medium-long term, I would like to focus more on management of projects than on law, while continuing to work within the sphere of international organizations which, I think, have a lot to learn from management practices from the private sector. In that sense, I would be happy to work for a few years after the MBA within the private sector before going back. In terms of geography, I would also like to work in Asia (1) or in Europe (2).
I already spoke about my MBA project with my superiors who mentioned a door would still be open after I'm done with the program. Despite the goals I just mentioned, I'm wondering if I should use the angle of "coming back to my organization" in my application, knowing that things might change in the course of the program.
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Your help regarding my target schools and the approach to use during the application project would be very much appreciated!
Thanks
Tom