HelpfulFiance
Hi there,
Just wrote the GRE in preparation to submit first round applications out this Fall. Would love any feedback as I work on my applications.
Nationality: US citizen
Gender: Female
Age: 26
GPA: 3.6 (University of Virginia)
GMAT: GRE instead
GRE only: 167 Verbal, 164 Quant (roughly a 720 GMAT)
WE: 4+ years out of school
3 years at a top publicly-traded healthcare consulting company. Worked my way from an entry sales position to executive assistant to marketing associate to marketing manager (strategic marketing).
1+ year at a mid-sized tech start-up doing health care data privacy. Marketing manager (strategic marketing and customer success).
Volunteer Experience:
2 years marketing volunteer work for a non-profit that imports coffee from South America and re-invests profits back into the local community.
4 years as a youth leader at local church
Worked in a non-profit in SE Asia for 4 months during summer as an undergrad.
Undergrad:
Residence Life: 1 year as a Residence Advisor for a floor of girls. 1 year as the Residence Coordinator responsible for hundreds of students and a dozen Residence Advisors.
MBA Choices:
Oxford, IESE, HEC Paris, Georgetown, Darden
MBA Reach:
NYU, Columbia, Wharton, INSEAD
HelpfulFiance, you are in very good shape.
I'm actually very puzzled about why you feel NYU would be a reach school for you.
One of my clients with a very similar profile is at NYU doing an internship at Goldman Sachs right now. She also was admitted to Darden.
You check all the boxes - grades, GRE score. Balanced on verbal and quant. Perfect age, 4 years of consistent promotions at a brand name consulting firm. UVA is a very solid undergraduate. You have International exposure. I think it takes some guts to go to SE Asia as a young American woman, to work.
I hate to ask this, but what is your ethnic background? I'm trying to gauge if you would be overrepresented or add diversity to the class.
Do you speak French or some other language? I imagine you are aware of the language requirement for INSEAD? You need t speak 2 languages upon entry and 3 upon exit. It's recommended that you get the language requirement out of the way prior to matriculation, because you are already so busy cramming a lifetime of experiences into 10 months.
I imagine that you have some good anecdotes around teamwork and leadership, based on the diverse areas of leadership in your profile. I like that you have a social component here as well.
In addition to ethnic background, my main question is, what is your goal for getting an MBA? Have you been laying the groundwork for that with what you've been doing? It's best to keep either the function or the industry, so you look recruitable.
If you are going for marketing, I think it would be worthwhile to throw your hat in the ring for Kellogg. They are very attracted to those with a track record of contribution and leadership. If you are interested in expanding your international exposure, which I surmise based on your choice of schools, you might even consider the Lauder program. Your profile looks very solid to me, however as a former marketing professor I might be biased
My only area of concern would be your undergrad major and having a track record of success in quant-related courses. But you did well on the GRE and that its far more important, to be honest.
If you have any questions or would like to talk further, please email me your resume at
[email protected]I would be very interested in speaking with you.
Hope you find this helpful!
Farrell