Hi. I was dinged without interview from most of the Rd1 schools I applied to (HBS, Wharton, Stanford, CBS). I did interview at Sloan and am waiting to hear a decision. In the meantime, I am working on essays for Rd2 schools, including Yale.
After being dinged without interview at so many schools, I have concerns that my age and my profile are going to be tough sells at other top schools (Yale, Booth, Kellogg, Stern, etc.). Looking for advice on my chances and what I can do to maximize them.
Background and nationality: 32 y/o American white/middle eastern male
Undergrad: 3.66 GPA from public state university; Finance major; magna cum laude
GMAT: 760 (47/47)
Work experience: 10+ years WE including military deployments.
The Good: Currently in a compliance role at JPM while serving as a logistics officer in the Marine Corps Reserves, where I am a captain and command a company of ~175 Marines. Deployed to E Europe during the Crimea Crisis and again in 2017. Lots of stories there involving building trust and relationships with people of different nationalities across E Europe, overcoming language barriers, bringing multiple nationalities together for a common goal, etc. Also leveraged accounting background to discover and escalate $MMs in overpayments to a government contractor. Had to overcome bureaucracy as a junior officer to get the government recompensed.
The Bad: Long-winding road to get to my present situation as a 2008 recession grad: worked multiple blue collar and service jobs, was injured in Marine Corps training
twice, did not finally commission as an officer until 2013, 5 years after my initial decision to join the military. I sacrificed a lot of time and job opportunities on this commitment. Was an inner-city kid from a state school who worked full-time to pay for college so missed the boat on internships and networking that would have helped.
Extra-curriculars: As well as working for JPM and serving in the Reserves, I am a part-time video game developer for a Microsoft contractor; I am part of a team developing a blockbuster game series with 4 million players. I also prepared many of our marketing materials and am involved in customer outreach.
Post-MBA Goals: I hope to leverage an MBA to give credibility to a career transition to product management, preferably in entertainment software or another tech-related field. I believe I would be effective in such a role by combining my leadership and operations/logistics experiences from the military, my financial background, and an MBA coursework focused on marketing and operations management. My part-time experience in game development and marketing may also give me some credibility to transitioning to a full-time position with Microsoft or with another firm, such as Electronic Arts.
So, do I have a shot? Anything I can do to mitigate some of the red flags in my profile that probably got me dinged from schools?