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GMATaddict
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Profile eval request & question about work experience: 23 Jul 2009, 17:57
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Hi Alex,

I requested a profile eval from Pbodine as well, but I think 2nd/3rd/4th opinions can't hurt.

Here's my background:

GMAT: 710 (92%), Q44 (69%), V44 (97%), AWA 6.0 (90%).

27 y/o male Asian American; enlisted in the US Army for 4 years, had 2 jobs in the army - supply chain management & human resources administration (in civilian terms); promoted to Sergeant; had managerial experience.

Enrolled in college after the army, double majored in international affairs and foreign languages (Russian primary, Chinese secondary), GPA 3.5; participated in student government, model UN, language clubs/tutoring, etc.

After graduation, I took a job at a small financial consulting firm in Moscow as a business development manager, but I left less than a year into the job, because my company was unable to get a work permit for me, and the econ crisis made it less and less profitable to continue working there anyway.

My (general) career goals: helping to finance and increasing the profitability of renewable energy enterprises; promoting renewable energy cooperation/trade between the US and China; or as a backup, become a financial analyst.

Academic pursuit: I want a joint degree in MBA and international relations/studies, I've shortlisted a few schools offering desirable dual degree programs:
1. Wharton/Lauder (dream program)
2. Yale SOM
3. Chicago Booth
4. Ann Arbor Ross
5. Foster - U. of Washington (backup school)

6. Monterey Institute of International Studies (guaranteed backup school)

I have somewhat presentable GMAT scores & GPA, but my #1 fear is that business schools will disregard my army experience simply because it was work experience PRIOR TO undergrad, despite the fact that my job had ample business applications and gave me leadership experience. How likely is this to happen?

Thanks in advance for your insight.
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AlexMBAApply
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Profile eval request & question about work experience: 24 Jul 2009, 10:40
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Adcoms won't disregard your army experience - of course the majority of military applicants are officers who graduated from ROTC and the academies, so they may not see your army experience in exactly the same way, but the one advantage you have on them is your civilian experience - a lot of military applicants don't have full-time post-college experience outside the military (even though you don't have much civilian experience, something is better than nothing). If you're not working right now, hopefully you're keeping yourself productive somehow (other than writing the applications) -- either volunteer or organized extracurriculars that you may be doing in addition to job hunting. In any case, you're applying to a decent range of schools so you should be able to get into at least some of them.
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Profile eval request & question about work experience: 25 Jul 2009, 10:47
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AlexMBAApply
Adcoms won't disregard your army experience - of course the majority of military applicants are officers who graduated from ROTC and the academies, so they may not see your army experience in exactly the same way, but the one advantage you have on them is your civilian experience - a lot of military applicants don't have full-time post-college experience outside the military (even though you don't have much civilian experience, something is better than nothing). If you're not working right now, hopefully you're keeping yourself productive somehow (other than writing the applications) -- either volunteer or organized extracurriculars that you may be doing in addition to job hunting. In any case, you're applying to a decent range of schools so you should be able to get into at least some of them.
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Alex, thanks for your prompt reply. The "keeping myself busy" part is tricky. I plan to start my MBA in Fall 2010, which is about 1 year away. If I (by a long shot) get into the Wharton/Lauder program, it would start in May '09, which is even less time. This is not a lot of time to get a job that truly adds value to my resume.

Therefore, I accepted a scholarship to do some independent study in Beijing for a year, hopefully I can at least get some kind of internship/teacher's assistant position during the school year; I hope the adcoms don't see me as too "academic".
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Profile eval request & question about work experience: 27 Jul 2009, 19:10
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It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing. The worst you can do is to give the impression that you're sitting at home eating Cheetos all day, which is why doing something where you have some responsibility is important if you're not working.