Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
May 0108:00 PM PDT
-09:00 PM PDT
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!
May 0108:30 AM EDT
-09:15 AM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great, learn how you can present a strong MBA application, and connect with an Admissions Director to get your questions answered.- May 01
08:30 AM EDT
-09:30 AM EDT
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great and how you can present a strong MBA application. Explore the difference between our One-Year MBA and Two-Year MBA programs, talk to our admissions team, and meet students. 
May 0507:00 PM EDT
-08:00 PM EDT
In this live 60-minute masterclass, How to Get Ahead of MBA Recruiting Now, we’ll walk through the four biggest mistakes incoming MBAs make and how to avoid them so you’re not scrambling to catch up once recruiting begins.
May 0710:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions Founder Susan Berishaj is covering this live on YouTube, May 7: how admissions committees actually evaluate goals statements, who is in the room, and why the goals statement most applicants submit wouldn't survive that conversation.
14 Aug 2010, 17:57
Kudos
Bookmarks
I'm currently studying for my GMAT's, and am in the preliminary stages of looking at Business schools. I've already started to separate out my schools by "tier," depending on how I do on my GMAT's, but my studies so far have gone well. I'm conservatively hoping to score at least 700.
However, the other (non-GMAT) side of my application has been kind of bugging me. I don't have a completely "vagabond" profile, but I think it's a little different than most applicants:
Bio: 26 years old, Asian-American male, residing in California.
School: 3.25 GPA at a top-50 university, in Chemistry. Majored in Art History and Economics alongside Chemistry (at separate times) before proceeding with just a Chem degree (partially because I was getting busy with work, see below).
Work: During school, and after graduating, started and helped run a small family business. It's mainly a luxury brand/importer. I'd rather not get into the details on a public forum, but we mostly deal with men's accessories. Because of our small size (4 employees), I've had the opportunity to experience all facets of the business. I've drawn up financial projections, brand strategy/direction, visited factories overseas, visited customers, and traveled to conventions and shows around the US and world. I'm also our marketing department, public relations contact, ad designer, photographer, and bookkeeper and basic graphic designer, among many other jobs (packaging/shipping, quality control, etc.). The only part I'm not too heavily involved with is sales; I'm not a great sales pitcher.
It's been fascinating for me to see how a product can get re-branded and marketed into something quite niche and expensive, all while balancing cash flow and investment costs and advertising and presentation. We started off as a mid-end producer, but now have built up a small name, enough to be able to sell products marketed towards the ultra-rich (think Robb Report). Developing personal connections with luxury retailers, finding the best (or easiest to work with) suppliers, following the process from raw material and components to finished products presented in expensive polished wood boxes, working with international distributors and commission-based sales reps -- it's been a lot of hard work, but I think this experience makes me stand out from others. I've seen behavioral economics at its core and have tried to work with it and exploit it as best as I could.
I believe this is the strongest part of my application; however, I'm not sure how to fully explain my job. I'm really only able to spend a few hours a week doing each of the above. And I'm a little worried about the letters of recommendation -- I could easily get 1 letter from a non-family member (a consultant of ours), but the rest of our employees are family, and most of our suppliers don't speak English well (and I've only met them a couple times). I've read that letters of rec from family don't sit well with admissions.
Extra-Curricular: Up to several months ago, I had been fairly seriously pursuing a career in music. I DJ locally (infrequently as of late), have played piano since 4, and have studied music production for the past several years. I've since scaled back my dreams a bit, after coming to grips with piracy firsthand (as a DJ, and from working with professional producers), and after realizing how lucky you have to be to "break out." But I've learned many intangibles from the craft, and from working and chatting with other musicians. Being able to create and produce a piece of music from thin air requires a lot of time, dedication, and several epiphanies, and there's always the dilemma between making a song poppy (marketing it to a wider audience/selling out) or making it the way I want it (ambient, techy, hypnotic, relaxing), which is a bigger struggle than most people think it can be.
I initially wanted to base part of my application on music, because I was (and still am) fairly engrossed in it. I've built myself a small but respectable studio and I've been studying music and have taken online courses for years. But looking from the outside, with no notable income or success from music, it might seem a little bit childish to put too much weight on my experiences.
I've also taken up photography and graphic design, taking most of our photography and marketing design in-house, complete with DSLR, lighting/lightbox, Photoshop, and everything else.
Anyway, I just wanted to get some basic advice as to how I should be thinking about myself on my application. My GPA is okay, but I wanted to gauge how good/unique the rest of my resume looks so far.
Some of the questions I've come across so far look a little threatening -- I've honestly rarely worked with or led "teams" or dealt with "superiors" or managed employees -- it's really just me and a relative that take care of most of the operations, and we try to split up our jobs as much as possible to conserve time. Could you give me a few thoughts on how I should present myself to my desired schools?
Depending on how well I do on the GMAT, my desired schools are:
Top Tier: UCLA, MIT (stretch, I know), Cal.
Middle Tier: USC
Lower Tier: ??? (haven't done much research here)
I wouldn't be disappointed if USC was the best school I got into, and I'll also apply to a couple backup schools just in case.
I'm looking to study either the theoretical/philosophical aspects of business (a la Decision Sciences), to possibly pursue a PhD later on, or to go into the digital music business, or something related (digital/tech industries or music/entertainment industries). If you couldn't tell above, I have a hard time settling on just one study. I'm hoping to take my business studies towards something academic (Decision Sciences) or passionate (music) to focus myself on a direction.
I'd like to stay in California, to be closer to home and closer to these industries. I've looked at NYU and Boston College, and have considered Columbia and Harvard, but I'm not sure what my chances are, or if they're the right schools for me. Any advice here would be appreciated as well.
Thanks in advance~
Tony
However, the other (non-GMAT) side of my application has been kind of bugging me. I don't have a completely "vagabond" profile, but I think it's a little different than most applicants:
Bio: 26 years old, Asian-American male, residing in California.
School: 3.25 GPA at a top-50 university, in Chemistry. Majored in Art History and Economics alongside Chemistry (at separate times) before proceeding with just a Chem degree (partially because I was getting busy with work, see below).
Work: During school, and after graduating, started and helped run a small family business. It's mainly a luxury brand/importer. I'd rather not get into the details on a public forum, but we mostly deal with men's accessories. Because of our small size (4 employees), I've had the opportunity to experience all facets of the business. I've drawn up financial projections, brand strategy/direction, visited factories overseas, visited customers, and traveled to conventions and shows around the US and world. I'm also our marketing department, public relations contact, ad designer, photographer, and bookkeeper and basic graphic designer, among many other jobs (packaging/shipping, quality control, etc.). The only part I'm not too heavily involved with is sales; I'm not a great sales pitcher.
It's been fascinating for me to see how a product can get re-branded and marketed into something quite niche and expensive, all while balancing cash flow and investment costs and advertising and presentation. We started off as a mid-end producer, but now have built up a small name, enough to be able to sell products marketed towards the ultra-rich (think Robb Report). Developing personal connections with luxury retailers, finding the best (or easiest to work with) suppliers, following the process from raw material and components to finished products presented in expensive polished wood boxes, working with international distributors and commission-based sales reps -- it's been a lot of hard work, but I think this experience makes me stand out from others. I've seen behavioral economics at its core and have tried to work with it and exploit it as best as I could.
I believe this is the strongest part of my application; however, I'm not sure how to fully explain my job. I'm really only able to spend a few hours a week doing each of the above. And I'm a little worried about the letters of recommendation -- I could easily get 1 letter from a non-family member (a consultant of ours), but the rest of our employees are family, and most of our suppliers don't speak English well (and I've only met them a couple times). I've read that letters of rec from family don't sit well with admissions.
Extra-Curricular: Up to several months ago, I had been fairly seriously pursuing a career in music. I DJ locally (infrequently as of late), have played piano since 4, and have studied music production for the past several years. I've since scaled back my dreams a bit, after coming to grips with piracy firsthand (as a DJ, and from working with professional producers), and after realizing how lucky you have to be to "break out." But I've learned many intangibles from the craft, and from working and chatting with other musicians. Being able to create and produce a piece of music from thin air requires a lot of time, dedication, and several epiphanies, and there's always the dilemma between making a song poppy (marketing it to a wider audience/selling out) or making it the way I want it (ambient, techy, hypnotic, relaxing), which is a bigger struggle than most people think it can be.
I initially wanted to base part of my application on music, because I was (and still am) fairly engrossed in it. I've built myself a small but respectable studio and I've been studying music and have taken online courses for years. But looking from the outside, with no notable income or success from music, it might seem a little bit childish to put too much weight on my experiences.
I've also taken up photography and graphic design, taking most of our photography and marketing design in-house, complete with DSLR, lighting/lightbox, Photoshop, and everything else.
Anyway, I just wanted to get some basic advice as to how I should be thinking about myself on my application. My GPA is okay, but I wanted to gauge how good/unique the rest of my resume looks so far.
Some of the questions I've come across so far look a little threatening -- I've honestly rarely worked with or led "teams" or dealt with "superiors" or managed employees -- it's really just me and a relative that take care of most of the operations, and we try to split up our jobs as much as possible to conserve time. Could you give me a few thoughts on how I should present myself to my desired schools?
Depending on how well I do on the GMAT, my desired schools are:
Top Tier: UCLA, MIT (stretch, I know), Cal.
Middle Tier: USC
Lower Tier: ??? (haven't done much research here)
I wouldn't be disappointed if USC was the best school I got into, and I'll also apply to a couple backup schools just in case.
I'm looking to study either the theoretical/philosophical aspects of business (a la Decision Sciences), to possibly pursue a PhD later on, or to go into the digital music business, or something related (digital/tech industries or music/entertainment industries). If you couldn't tell above, I have a hard time settling on just one study. I'm hoping to take my business studies towards something academic (Decision Sciences) or passionate (music) to focus myself on a direction.
I'd like to stay in California, to be closer to home and closer to these industries. I've looked at NYU and Boston College, and have considered Columbia and Harvard, but I'm not sure what my chances are, or if they're the right schools for me. Any advice here would be appreciated as well.
Thanks in advance~
Tony
15 Aug 2010, 09:46
Kudos
Bookmarks
If you want to work in the music industry, you don't need an MBA. Frankly, if you're interested in the business side of the entertainment industry, you really don't need an MBA.
In any case, focus on the GMAT. That is what will dictate where you'll be competitive for. I could go on and on, conjecturing about if you got this score or that score whether you'll get into which schools, but then that tends to psyche people out when they're trying to prepare. Again, rather than overthinking school selections, why you want an MBA, goals, etc. -- they are distractions that will get in the way of your GMAT prep.
In any case, focus on the GMAT. That is what will dictate where you'll be competitive for. I could go on and on, conjecturing about if you got this score or that score whether you'll get into which schools, but then that tends to psyche people out when they're trying to prepare. Again, rather than overthinking school selections, why you want an MBA, goals, etc. -- they are distractions that will get in the way of your GMAT prep.
15 Aug 2010, 23:30
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for the reply. I am focusing on my GMATs heavily now, which will direct where I end up applying to. The part about sending scores out got me thinking about what schools to look into, but I'll update back once I've taken it in a few weeks.
I didn't want my post to seem like I wanted to be a musician or some sort of creative professional—I'm more gunning towards my first stated goal: decision sciences/theory side of business, behavioral economics, game theory, etc.
I'd hope business school provides opportunities for those looking to expand their horizons without getting strictly into the financial industry. I tried to frame my post to show my preference to *not* work for a company like Goldman Sachs. The music/entertainment slant was sort of a secondary thought—I've entertained the thought of working for a company like the Anschultz Entertainment Group or getting into the online music industry. Not as a musician or performer, but rather as an analyst.
Anyway, thanks again. Hopefully my GMATs go well~
I didn't want my post to seem like I wanted to be a musician or some sort of creative professional—I'm more gunning towards my first stated goal: decision sciences/theory side of business, behavioral economics, game theory, etc.
I'd hope business school provides opportunities for those looking to expand their horizons without getting strictly into the financial industry. I tried to frame my post to show my preference to *not* work for a company like Goldman Sachs. The music/entertainment slant was sort of a secondary thought—I've entertained the thought of working for a company like the Anschultz Entertainment Group or getting into the online music industry. Not as a musician or performer, but rather as an analyst.
Anyway, thanks again. Hopefully my GMATs go well~
