Bio: 1997, Australian, Engineer, Male
GMAT: 780 (Q 51 / V 46)
Intend to apply R1 for 2021 intake.
Education: Top 250 in the world uni, but nothing glamorous. Course Weighted Average 80% (Approx GPA is somewhere from 3.4-3.7 depending on what you convert with but there's no official GPA used, and Australian marks don't convert easily) Mechatronics Engineering
Full time work Ex - (at time of applying Sep 2021)
1. 1.2 years Technology Strategy and Automation Capability Development for same company as below. Global role looking at multiple initiatives within the business ranging from Machine Automation to Data Analytics, Machine Learning and Decision Automation.
2. 0.7 years as a Graduate Engineer based at a mine for one of the world largest miners and had the chance to work on multiple major initiatives with multi-million dollar impacts.
Part time/Intern ex:
1. 0.25 years full time as an engineering intern at a large mining company in reliabilty engineering.
2. 0.5 years part time internship as an engineering intern at a joint venture between a major networks company, major oil and gas company and govenrnment data authority.
Extra curricular:
School
1. Accumulated 100+ hours of volunteering with many large organisations including Meals on Wheels and Salvation Army.
Undergrad
1. University Leadership Program. Lead organisation of event between 5 people to raise 3.8k through a charity evening for Opportunity International.
The following year, I mentored incoming students to guide their journey in establishing plastic bottle recycling in Western Australia.
2. Volunteered in program addressing Higher Education Access Disadvantage, encouraging students from lower socio-economic areas to consider university or other tertiary education.
3. Volunteer Ambassador for University, helping create a connection for prospective students and enable to discover the right fit for themselves.
4. Volunteered as Treasurer for the university club for my degree, as well as committee member for a cultural club.
After undergrad
1. Ambassador for alumni association of college and created the social media presence - generating 20K+ engagement in 6 months.
2. Participated in education related CSR activities at Big 4 firm
Target Schools: Stanford/Sloan/Berkeley/Wharton
Post MBA Goal - Deciding between Management at a Technology firm vs Pursuing my own Start Up Venture in Automation related areas.
The questions I have are -
1. What do I need to build on in the next 12 months to get to those target schools?
2. Coming from the mining industry, does it impact the MBA application? I can say i've not seen many from that industry at all on these forums.
3. What sort of areas will help build the extracurricular area for a school like Stanford?
4. What else can I do to improve my profile?
5. Is there someone I've overlooked when it comes to Business Schools well suited to technology? Stanford's my #1, and i'd say Sloan/Berkeley are pretty level 2nd.