Hi there,

I'm getting ready to apply to Wharton's Lauder program and would appreciate any feedback on my profile!

Undergraduate GPA: 4.0/4.0 (BA Psychology - Honors, UW-Madison)

GMAT: Have not taken

After I graduate college in 2002 I joined the Peace Corps. I served 2 years in Mali, West Africa as an HIV/AIDS health educator. I worked with a local NGO to improve its outreach efforts to important high risk groups. Most notably, I worked with anglophone sex workers living near a large gold mine to develop peer education programs.

Ten months after returning home from the Peace Corps I took a job as a Project Manager with a software company that designs electronic medical records systems for large health care organizations. I worked in the clinical implementation division. After 14 months in this role, I transitioned to a more technical team, which requires programming and other "techie" type skills. I have still been able to manage internal projects despite my formal switch out of the "project manager" position.

My ultimate goal is to use my MBA education to do foundation work. However, for next 10-15 years I would like to work internationally in a different capacity - perhaps marketing high tech medical technology to emerging markets. I need to refine these goals.

The Lauder program requires that applicants obtain an Advanced - High ranking on the ACTFL for a foreign language. I am confident that I will be able to get this ranking in French (my last ACTFL ranking in French was at this level, but that was 5 years ago in the Peace Corps). In addition to the time I spent in Mali (French was the national language), I studied in Paris for a semester.

I also volunteer with local LGBT advocacy groups (is this something that would be good or bad to put on an application to Wharton?).

What is the minimum GMAT score that I would need to shoot for?

The 10-month employment hole post-Peace Corps and my somewhat random switch to the technical position seem to be my application's bigest weaknesses. Any thoughts on those?

I know that it's probably a bad strategy to put all my eggs into the one proverbial basket, but Wharton's Lauder program is really the only one that completely "clicks" with me. Is it ever a good thing to indicate in the application that you are only applying to one school? My ultimate plan if I don't get in this year is to reapply to the program. At that time I would play the numbers and apply to other schools as well.

Thanks so much for your input!

Hi dcmcintosh79

Hopefully you'll receive an e-mail about this post since I see that a few years have passed since you were on the forum.

I wanted to ask you about your experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer applying to MBA schools. I am currently a PCV in Peru working in environmental management. I just finished my two years and will shortly begin a third year as a Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator. I plan on taking the GMAT and applying to business school during this next year so that I could begin in Fall 2012.

So here are my questions:

1) How did being a RPCV help or hinder you during the application process?
2) What characteristics of RPCVs are particularly attractive to business schools?
3) You said that you came from a non-quant major. Did that prove to be a challenge in your application?

Do you have any other thoughts or insight on this issue?

Thank you for your help!

Brian
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To those who have struggled with them, the mountains reveal beauties that they will not disclose to those who make no effort. That is the reward the mountains give to effort. And it is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly to those who will wrestle with them that men love the mountains and go back to them again and again. The mountains reserve their choice gifts for those who stand upon their summits. (Sir Francis Younghusband)