sincerely asking for evaluation - from a Chinese applicant

Question

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is my first logon to GMAT club. Would you take some time evaluating my profile? Thank you very much!

Below is my basic personal information:

Male, Chinese citizen, 29 years.

2005~2008: a private small information services company in Shanghai; title: supervisor of translation dept.; role: in-house translator, managerial role in translator/interpreter pool management, translation project management; the company had been seeking IPO but failed and is almost dissolved now
2008~: Fortune 500 company (top50?), division headquarter in the US, manufacturing industry; title: applications engineer; function: software-related project management, project coordination, translation, general management (1/3 time for translation/software testing, 2/3 time for management for recent 2 years)

Undergraduate education: BS, major in civil engineering, a non-famous university in China
UG GPA: terrible, not exactly known, perhaps no more than 2.5

Test scores:
GMAT: 750, 98% percentile, 5.5 AWA
PTE Academic: 81

Personally speaking, there are two aspects I’m quite weak in: GPA and work experience. I do not have any overseas work experience although I’m dealing with Indian, French… engineers in day-to-day work through teleconference and online sharing.

I’m selecting schools now, so the schools I’m interested in include:
Yale, Fuqua, Darden, Haas, UT Austin, Tepper, Georgetown, UC Davis (top 20)

Would you provide some suggestions about my school selection? Will some TOP30 schools be safe? Thank you very much!

fivedaysleft · Answer

i am no expert. but your profile looks pretty competitive. not a sure shot because of the GPA but definitely competitive.
try your luck!

mbaMissionBrianE · Answer

Hello Charisma1981, thanks for your question.

I won’t argue with you: your GPA is going to be a challenge, but there are steps you can take to try to mitigate that. Was there an extraordinary circumstance that caused your low marks? If so, you might try to explain them in the optional essay. Better yet, do you have any other analogue that is a better representation of your academic ability and potential? Programs will want to know that you can handle the material. Your high GMAT serves as an indicator, but you could use another one.

I can’t tell from your titles, but have you had leadership experience at work? It doesn’t have to be officially managing a team, per se, but you do have to demonstrate to admissions committees that you have led, driven results, and taken initiative. If you’ve done this, your work experience is not as weak as you think.

You haven’t mentioned extracurricular activities at all. What do you do outside of work to engage with the world, especially over the past 3 years?

What are you post-MBA goals? It appears that you have been a translator but also an engineer and a project manager. Is there an overall narrative to your career arc? How does your past and present connect to your future goals? You will need to paint a cohesive picture for the admissions committees.

It is difficult for me to recommend programs with so many unknowns in your profile. I’m happy to comment with more information!

Best of luck,
Brian

Charisma1981 · Answer

Hi Brian,

Thank you very much for your reply! By following your comments, I can add some more personal information here for your reference.
First of all, extracurricular activities. I did too many extracurricular activities in the college (e.g. reading, learning second foreign language, part-time job, etc.), but I might not be active in this regard especially for last 3 years. However, due to my preferences, I obtained the highest level of translator's accreditation in China last year. Do you think this contributes to my extracurricular activities as well? Meanwhile, as civil engineering was my major in university, I still think such accreditation can partially demonstrate my professional capabilities since one of my functions is translation.
Some people say how to demonstrate leadership and extracurricular activities is somehow "tricky" in Bschool application. Would you help me figure out a little bit? Leadership experience and teamwork spirit might not be hard to be extracted from my work. In recent two years, I always receive orders from the superior and assign projects in teams (based on project, a team can consist of 3~5 engineers). Then I can monitor the process, review results, and eventually submit final results and reports to the superior.
With regard to career goal, please let me elaborate. In my first full-time job, I did translation, organized translators and assigned translation works, and coordinated with customers. The job I've done for recent three years is also closely related to translation since my current function is to combine translate contents in software (we call it "localization"). I think I can aim at high-tech-related fields for my post-MBA career. Do you think it's okay?

Brian, I appreciate your help! I'm looking forward to your further reply. Thanks!

mbaMissionBrianE · Answer

Hello Charisma1981, thanks for your follow up.

Because you’ve worked in both translation and engineering, I don’t think we can call your work toward those accreditations “extracurricular.” They seem work-related to me, unless I’m missing something.

In terms of leadership, I recommend looking for “moments” where you went above the usual effort, where you were called on to actually lead through a tough situation, influence others, drive results under tough circumstances, or take the initiative to go further than what was expected. You will need these types of “stories” to discuss when applying. Otherwise, you’ll have a tough time communicating your assets to the admissions committees.

Regarding your post-MBA goals, I understand your desired field is high tech, but what is your desired function. This goal should make sense given your personal history and work experience. The transition/path should clearly require an MBA

I hope this helps.

Best of luck!
Brian

sincerely asking for evaluation - from a Chinese applicant

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