Intern
Joined: 22 Jul 2011
Posts: 1
Given Kudos: 0
Location: United States
Concentration: Operations, Technology
GPA: 2.65
WE:Military Officer (Military & Defense)
Unconventional applicant requesting peer review
[#permalink]
22 Jul 2011, 06:46
Hello all - any feedback is appreciated.
Demographic: Male, 31, American (half Asian, Half eastern european Jew)
Educational Background: B.S. Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (a top 25 engineering school), GPA 2.6 - I was in a fraternity, Navy ROTC, and varsity swimming - clearly academics were not my priority.
GMAT - 720 (94%) - Quant 80%, Verbal 92%, writing - 5. I think I did very poorly on the quant section - my mathematics are normally stronger than my verbal skills. I do have a tendency to make a lot of dumb mistakes by rushing through problems, which is what I think happened.
Work experience: Here's where I break off from the usual candidate - I am currently a military officer serving as a Navy Pilot. By the time I would matriculate, I would have been out of school for 11 years. I have attained the highest levels of qualifications available to pilots. A Major highlight includes a 7-month deployment to Iraq in which I flew close to 100 combat missions as the mission commander overseeing the tasks and performance of 10 other personnel on the aircraft.
My performance evaluations have been stellar. I was a fleet performance evaluator (think corporate level vice branch level), and now I currently serve as a squadron Weapons and Tactics Instructor where I supervise and standardize the qualification process of around 40 officers.
Extracurriculars: The military doesn't allow much time for extra-curriculars, as my daily schedule fluctuates between waking up at 4:00am for morning flights and getting home at midnight for afternoon flights. I tutor junior enlisted sailors for their math courses they take for their undergraduate degrees.
Short/Long term goals: My goal is to contribute to society in a manner I deem commensurate to my abilities - I do not have that here in the military (that's the generic dream). Specifically, my passion resides in the technology industry, problem solving, leadership, and decision making. I want to end up in a position working with many people to change the world for the better through technology.
Schools: Applications are a ways off for me. My friends, coworkers, and family say I'm easily qualified to get a position at a top-10 school. Looking at the admissions data however, I'm quite nervous given my lack of stellar undergraduate performance, and no extra-curriculars. I guess what I have going for me is my unique candidacy.
Here are the schools I'm considering:
Berkeley - Haas - #1 choice
Stanford
Northwestern - Kellogg
Georgetown - McDonough
Wharton (my dad went there for his MBA)
So what does anyone think? Will my military background serve to help me standout in light of my poor grades, low(ish) quant score, and no extracurriculars?
Thanks in advance!