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y0ungSir
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Urm applying to business school and need help with application 25 Jan 2017, 17:34
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Hey, I am an African American male and a first generation American and college graduate. I am a Teach For America alum that has been teaching for 4 years (will be 5 when I apply). I had a 3.64 Undergrad GPA from an average state school in the south. I currently have a masters in education with about a 3.1. I come from an inner city background with a host of adversity that I would want to write about in my application that makes me an untraditional candidate. I want to go to Business School to work more on the business side in eduction. I'm leaning towards taking the GRE and would want to apply to a top 5 mba program.

Are there any things I can add to make my application stronger? Also, are Ivy League MBA programs like other graduate school programs where URM (Underrepresented minorities) get a boost?

Thanks
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Urm applying to business school and need help with application 26 Jan 2017, 03:58
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y0ungSir
Hey, I am an African American male and a first generation American and college graduate. I am a Teach For America alum that has been teaching for 4 years (will be 5 when I apply). I had a 3.64 Undergrad GPA from an average state school in the south. I currently have a masters in education with about a 3.1. I come from an inner city background with a host of adversity that I would want to write about in my application that makes me an untraditional candidate. I want to go to Business School to work more on the business side in eduction. I'm leaning towards taking the GRE and would want to apply to a top 5 mba program.

Are there any things I can add to make my application stronger? Also, are Ivy League MBA programs like other graduate school programs where URM (Underrepresented minorities) get a boost?

Thanks
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Hey there!
Great to hear from you.
Well anything you have that has:
-leadership
- teamwork
- business results
- volunteer work

Would be a major help. Anything to broaden your profile or show that you have business skills.

From what I have seen here (which is not much.. meaning I could use a LOT more detail) I can say two things you should think about:
- Making your goals a LOT more specific. It helps if you know EXACTLY what you want to do, and you can show how this is connected to your past experience
- Since you have been into teaching, anything you can do to PROVE that you are capable of a) leadership and b) business will be very helpful.

Best,
Jon Frank
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Urm applying to business school and need help with application 26 Jan 2017, 08:48
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y0ungSir
Hey, I am an African American male and a first generation American and college graduate. I am a Teach For America alum that has been teaching for 4 years (will be 5 when I apply). I had a 3.64 Undergrad GPA from an average state school in the south. I currently have a masters in education with about a 3.1. I come from an inner city background with a host of adversity that I would want to write about in my application that makes me an untraditional candidate. I want to go to Business School to work more on the business side in eduction. I'm leaning towards taking the GRE and would want to apply to a top 5 mba program.

Are there any things I can add to make my application stronger? Also, are Ivy League MBA programs like other graduate school programs where URM (Underrepresented minorities) get a boost?
Hi @Youngsir! What I would suggest is that you talk to more people who are doing innovative things in "education." Saying that you want to work on the "business side of education" is a little- not a lot- vague and tells me you need to develop your why a bit more. And why do you only need a top 5 MBA program? I would be looking at programs that do a good job of understanding how a business education can be used for social good- as in developing education. Schools that come to mind that might be worth more research for you are Tuck, Yale, Georgetown, Fuqua, Kellogg, Booth, Stanford. And yes some of these are top 5- but I would not drive from the ranking but from what the school offers that can get you where you want to go. So I would use this time to talk to other TFA alums who have gone down this path- where did they end up? What interesting educational consulting firms might there be? Who is doing the most innovative work in the education space you seek- do those people have MBAs? Why? These are all the kinds of questions you need to ask before plunking down a good bit of time and money. The other thing I will say is that there are two programs I recommend you look into- the Consortium https://cgsm.org/ and also https://ml4t.org/mba-prep/
Both of these programs help URM get not only scholarships but also access and knowledge in the MBA landscape. And then also I encourage you to reach out to us for a free consult to learn how we can help you also! https://stratusprep.com/admissions/busi ... b-visitor/
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Urm applying to business school and need help with application 26 Jan 2017, 09:26
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JonAdmissionado & StratusMBACounselor

I apologize for not being more clear. I pm'd y'all with more details. However, I do have a focus. I would want to create a network of charter schools that have efficient financial management.