adw wrote:
Hi all,
Appreciate you taking the time to take a look at my profile!
Background:
Female, 27 (will be 28 when I start the program), married, no children
Born in Russia; left home at 15 to attend boarding school in the UK
Languages:
- russian (native)
- english (fluent)
- french (just started earlier this year; plan on going back to intensive learning once I am done with the GMAT/apps)
Education:
finished high school in the UK (A-Levels): Psychology, Economics, Politics, Maths
attended Syracuse University (USA) for undergrad; graduated with a B.S. in Communications and Rhetoric (2.94/4 GPA)
- no quant courses at all; low GPA because I was immature and needed some time to adjust to a new educational system (UK vs US)
- as an avid music fan, for the longest time I wanted to get into music industry
- while in college, I interned as a Spotify campus ambassador
- worked at a music venue off-campus as a promoter and led a marketing street team of 5 people
- wrote and did photography for a few campus magazines
- summer internships included marketing for a French social media company (Moscow, Russia), event marketing for a Russian media company (Moscow, Russia), marketing for a music startup in (NYC)
GMAT: 680 (42Q 41V IR6)
Professional:
- 4.5 years of experience post-graduation
- have a somewhat non-linear path; multiple industries, but most roles were in client relations in some capacity
- got into a highly competitive internship program with Red Bull (culture marketing) right after college in Atlanta, GA
- moved to NYC to start my career; ended up working at a digital agency as a project manager (bilingual environment; offshore team in Eastern Europe; US-based clients); consulted in UX and web design, managed client assets, received and shared technical specs
- was forced to leave my job and take a break due to a pending immigration case (did not have a work visa); spent this time volunteering for an events/music organization company, doing photo retouching, and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity as a Resource Development specialist
- joined an Ad-tech company in a rush to minimize unemployment, which backfired. for a brief time worked as an account manager until I realized I derive zero pleasure from working in advertising; left my job after 9 months to do some soul searching and decide what I wanted to do
- been working for an international ed-tech company (publicly traded) in NYC for close to 3 years; started as a coordinator, got promoted to manager after 1 year (and switched departments); got promoted a second time in October (two promotions in less than 3 years); my role is unique and involves project management and client relations, as well as instructional design consulting; I work with professors from top universities (currently: LSE and Harvard Business School); no direct reports
Extracurricular/Hobbies:
- avid traveler (been to 6 continents and 40+ countries)
- as mentioned above, I always wanted to work in the music industry but got discouraged when I saw the amount of discrimination women face in the music industry; nevertheless, I have been to hundreds of concerts and have proudly maintained a monthly favorites Spotify playlist consistently since 2016
- I have been doing photography since I was 15 (street, travel, portrait)
- volunteered for Sofar Sounds (an organization that puts on intimate concerts in bizarre venues, including people's living room around the globe); acted as the Show Lead for 2.5 years and organized dozens of concerts
- volunteered for Habitat for Humanity when I couldn't work
- huge cinephile, I adore film
- learning French for fun
Misc:
- my dad graduated from INSEAD
Goals and Aspirations:
- would like to lean into my strengths and continue on a path of client relations, but on a larger scale; interested in strategic partnerships and customer success in the tech industry (would like to stay in Europe and relocate permanently through the MBA); specifically interested in roles at Salesforce, Atlassian, Google, Amazon
- also interested in product marketing (also in tech)
My general thoughts/questions:
- my quant score is low for INSEAD; my instinct is to retake to make my score a bit more balanced; given that the R1 deadline for Jan2022 is not until March, I have the time to improve my quant (but also don't want to waste my time on a retake if it's not exactly needed) -- should I retake the GMAT? I know the average is 709, but I am also considering my profile as a Russian female with a lot of international experience
- is MBAmath something I should consider? I did not take a single quant course since high school
- does legacy help at all at INSEAD?
- curious to hear your general thoughts and feedback
Thanks!
Hi there,
First and foremost, you have a very unique academic background - B.S in Communication and rhetoric which sets you apart from the other applicants. Having said that, your GPA of 2.94 is a bit on the lower end, to remedy which, you can pose the right alibi by drawing attention to the other aspects of your profile such as your involvement in extracurricular activities or recent GMAT score.
Speaking of your extracurricular activities, you have a fair share of diverse extracurriculars that showcase your position in leadership roles, the extension of your expertise for the benefit of the society, and your proactiveness to go above and beyond in your endeavors. This shows that you have a diverse set of skills under your belt that will be a great value addition to the school. To further elaborate on these endeavors you can highlight the kind of events you organized, duties you performed, and your major takeaways from the same. Moreover, you can maybe take up certain certifications or short courses to portray that you’ve constantly voyaged on a path to upskill yourself
Moving on, the premise of your work background seems quite decent and diverse with 4.5 years in the professional circuit. Here, you have mentioned that you have previously worked as an intern at Red Bull and other companies in different roles before you finally landed your current job in the domain of project management and client relations. Though these experiences are praise-worthy, nonetheless, you will be competing against applicants who have worked in the big four companies like KPMG, EY, DELOITTE, and PWC, and thus you need to set yourself at par with them by talking about why you chose these companies, what kind of projects you undertook, what were your inputs and what skills you developed. This will help pose as a differentiator and grab the attention of the adcom.
Talking about your GMAT score of 680, considering the fact that you are targeting an MBA program from one of the top B-schools - INSEAD, a retake is what I would recommend. Targeting a minimum score of 710 should not only set you comfortable to meet the average GMAT requirement but would also authenticate your academic prowess and help overshadow your low GPA.
Moving forward to the school that you will be targeting, that is INSEAD, comes under the dream category where your chances of acceptance is 50%. Although you can increase your chances of acceptance by focusing on the kind of application you are submitting. Your application is basically what differentiates you by highlighting your strengths and overshadowing your weaknesses. Additionally, it also carries a 30% impact on your admission prospects which is why I would stress you to pay more attention to the same.
Additionally, it is always advised that you target a good mix of 6-8 schools in order to hedge your bets wisely. That said, some of the top B-schools that you can also be looking at are: HEC, ESSEC, ESCP, DUKE, and CORNELL.
To get an idea of which schools you should be targeting, you can also take up our Free Profile Evaluation service through which you can gain insights into the competitiveness of your profile and get access to a personalized list of schools.
The link to the free profile evaluation is given below:
https://www.mim-essay.com/profile-evaluationHere, you can also Book a Free consulting session with one of our consultants who through their expertise can help you plan a winning strategy to bag an admit from your target schools.
Hope this helped!
_________________
Abhyank Srinet
Founder & CEO
(MiM-Essay)